Labor and Delivery, for me, actually went pretty well...even though I seriously thought I was going to die while I was actually experiencing it (sorry, there is just no other way to describe it). We left our home at 3:30 am in order to make it to Central Baptist Hospital by 5:00 am to begin our induction. We were having our baby induced only a few days past our due date. During the ride to the hospital, I actually started to get really freaked out, because although I spent weeks complaining about how huge I was and how I just wanted to "get this kid out" I never really sat down to think about how scary it was all going to be. I was surprised to see my husband so calm (of course it was 3:30 am). Anyways, we got to the hospital at about 4:30 am, and ended up having to wait about a half hour for our room to be ready.
When we were finally taken back to our room, we met the first of the three nurses who were going to be taking care of us for the next 19 hours. I cant remember this ones name...but she was NOT the type of nurse I had hoped for. She was very rigid and way way way too mater-of-fact for my taste...since I am very sensitive. Anyways, she told me to get dressed in the famous "butt-less" robe...so i did...and got into the bed I would be in for literally the next 19 hours.
When that nurse left, I was glad to meet my new nurse, and her assistant. They were the ones who began the IV with the meds. to start my labor. I liked these nurses so much better, because they were much closer to my age and talked to me honestly like a friend. They made Brian and I feel much calmer. Soon my contractions began slowly, but then came on quite strong. I asked for some temporary pain meds first...which were freaking awesome! They just made everything awesome....and they made it possible for me to get a few moments of sleep here and there.
Next, it was time for my epidural. When the anesthesiologist came in, I realized that she was a very peppy person...and since I was in huge amounts of pain, I cant say I appreciated her jokes too much...but at least she was nice. Anyways, they make you sit up and lean on your nurse, while they do their business with the epidural into your spine. I was surprised at how I did not mind the epidural insertion at all, and I was shocked at how fast it worked! I was completely numbed from the chest down before I knew it. I really loved how my pain was instantly relieved...but I did not like how I could not feel my body at all! I started to have some panic attacks because it was way to weird not feeling my legs.
Soon after the epidural was in, Jacob (my unborn baby), began to have some problems responding to my contractions. So, for the next few hours my nurse had to make sure Jacobs heart rate went along with my contractions in the way it should. At this point I was only 3 cm dilated, and the doctor and nurses began to talk about a c-section due to his unusual heart rate.
Thankfully, Jacob's heart rate leveled out, and it seemed like only minutes before I was 9 cm (although it was NOT only minutes). By this point I had received my next and final nurse, and soon after she became my nurse Dr. Owen decided it was time to begin the pushing phase because I had reached 10 cm.
My nurse went over breathing techniques with me, and we practiced some real pushes. Because of my epidural I had a very hard time figuring out what muscles to use when pushing. By then Dr. Owen had gone and returned from another delivering mother. When he checked to see how everything was going with my cervix and all that good stuff, he realized that Jacob was face up. They also call this "sunny-side up". Apparently this is a problem during delivery because the baby's head gets stuck behind the pubic bone. This resulted in Dr. Owen attempting to manually turn Jacob around inside my uterus. Needless to say, I did not like Dr. Owen during these many turns. It hurt like crap. When Dr. Owen decided that Jacob just wasn't going to be turned, he decided to go ahead and try to finish delivery with an end result of a sunny-side up baby. This meant a likely longer delivery process for me.
Halfway during the pushing phase I just remember begging my doctor and nurse to give me a c-section because I "couldn't do it anymore". I'm sure these doctors and nurses hear that all the time, so they knew just how to keep me going. My hubby, by far the best contraction counter ever, also helped me to keep going.
I feel really sorry for my doctor and nurses, because I think I asked them a million times over "how much longer" and "do you see the head yet?".
I think I was expecting a much shorter time between the moment they first see the head, and the moment the head actually comes out. I also became VERY tired from all the pushing. I really did not see an end in sight.
The last hour or so is a whirlwind, and I don't remember much of it. I just remember the doctor calmly announcing that he was going to do an episiotomy (sp?) and use a vacuum to get Jacob out. I semi-remember Jacob coming out, but I definitely remember the Doctor placing him on my chest. Jacob did not cry when he first came out, as in most cases of sunny-side up babies. This really scared me, because they ended up having to send him off to the NICU (in the end, he turned out to just be stunned from his difficult delivery).
I also remember the delivery of the placenta, and the episiotomy (sp?), but I was so happy to have accomplished such a difficult job that it hardly phased me.
I also remember saying "I'm not trying to be a brat, but could I please get some pain meds!" right after the placenta delivery.
After delivery, I was happy to see that they had turned my epidural down so low during labor that I could actually walked 10 minutes after delivery. Yes, I'm proud to say I went to the bathroom by myself!
Overall, labor was pretty much horrible. Seriously, I think I messed my sister Mallory up by telling her a little too much about it all, and how painful it was. There is just NO way to describe the pain, other than HORRIBLE! But the awesome part of it all, is that it is all worth it. Its weird that something to awful would actually be worth it! It was completely worth it because now I have this completely awesome baby! He is just so cute and sweet and I just love him so much. I am just so happy he is healthy and out of the hospital.
Having our family there with us at the hospital was the best thing. We really appreciated everyone sticking out 19 hours in the waiting room. Yall's support is such a blessing to us!
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