The week before Drake was born was not fun (like most full term pregnancies). And with Drake, every single day that week I was sure was the day. David even opted to work from home just in case. I was really nervous because my previous labors progressed so quickly, I didn't want to be one of those stories of having the baby in the car. So on Monday the 7th at my doctor appointment, when the doctor said I have the option of waiting for labor to come on naturally or of being induced, I agreed to having an induction.
Tuesday night the whole family stayed the night at David's parents home. This way we could easily make my 5 a.m. appointment without having to wake up the kids. I woke up about every hour that night.
We arrived on time. They didn't have my appointment scheduled ... first telling me I am supposed to come in next week, later changing the story to the next day, Thursday (which I would have happily agreed to). Either way they were fine with taking me then, especially since they had zero other patients. It was later confirmed by my doctor that I had the date right... in fact another doctor said "of course he scheduled her on a Wednesday ... that's why we call him Nguyen Wednesday".
After lots of paperwork, setting up an IV, taking some blood and checking to see if I'm dilated at all (I wasn't... which convinced them it was going to be a long labor that I might not even have the baby that day)... they finally started the pitocin. This is around 7:30 a.m.
Around 9:30 a.m. after two hours of very mild and uneven contractions the doctor checks me and I'm "almost" dilated to a 3. He decides to break the water. I was worried this would hurt some but it didn't and after it was just gross and wet feeling. The doctor said it would be a while still. About 20 minutes later around 9:50 the contractions become incredibly painful and regular ... I would call this active labor. Around 10:30 a.m. the contractions were nearly unbearable and having had two children naturally I would've bet my life I was in transition ...
now the reason I didn't have an epidural with my first born is because I had a very bad feeling that something would go wrong with ME and I try not to ignore those types of feelings when I get them... but try to get anyone to understand that logic... instead I found myself having to defend my decision while friends who got one became defensive over their decision... sad we feel the need to do that though. Friends who had one would say "why feel pain when you don't have to?" Or "I guess I don't tolerate pain well" and almost all... save a few who it didn't work for... said "it took a few minutes and it was such a relief". Taking all this into consideration when I became pregnant with Violet I prayed about getting one with her to see if I still had those bad feelings... I did. So I prayed that somehow I could make it once again without one. Sure enough I arrived at the hospital ready to push.
But this time was different, in a different hospital too. I had assumed I would have to go without so I hadn't yet prayed on it. So while going through these horrible contractions I said a quick prayer and asked Heavenly Father if it would be safe to have an epidural this time around. I didn't get a bad feeling so I asked David what he thought and of course he said "it's up to you, I think you should get one if you want to".
So when the nurse checks me around 11:20 and says I'm only a 5 and still have a long ways to go, I tell them I want an epidural. It doesn't take long for the anesthesiologist to arrive and start prepping me. He tells me it will only take a few minutes to get in. Meanwhile painful painful contractions are happening. Don't know how to keep from moving while this needle goes in my back near my spine. The anesthesiologist, frustrated because he cannot get the line in (or whatever the proper term is), tells me I have a mild form of scoliosis making it harder for him to get past the spine.
He keeps telling me to curve my spine more.
Now imagine if you will, me with a huge belly with baby inside trying to curl my body into a ball. knees up into my belly *nurse pushing on them, me with head tucked down to my breasts. I could curl no more... yet he keeps telling me "you need to curve your spine out more"... I finally yell "I can't curve it any more, I can barely even breath!" ALL the while, horrible, painful contractions that last for a minute at least with only about 15 seconds of relief in between.
David was scared. He said blood was just pouring out of my back. Nice.
The nurse tells David to hold my hand so that I could squeeze it. But David starts squeezing the heck out of my hand. I rip my hand away and say "No! Let me squeeze YOUR hand" I take his hand back. He starts squeezing mine again... like he was going to break it! I yell again "NOOO!!! Let me squeeze YOUR HAND!" once again he crushes mine. So I say "JUST FORGET IT!" and take my hand away. I hear the nurse say "he's just worried about you, sweetie".
The doctor tries for about an hour to get the dang thing in.
Finally they make me sit up. I can't even describe the pain here. I don't even want to remember it. But I hated it. And I wanted to just stop and leave. The nurse puts a pillow in my lap and tells me to hug it, she presses her body on mine, crushing me down to try to get as much curve as possible.
He finally gets in. But he can tell it might not work. I can feel the medicine and it's strange. It kind of starts to numb one of my legs... just barely. It takes the edge off of the next contraction. It's good enough for me. It still hurts a lot, but not as bad as it was. I think I might just live through this. It's close to 12:30
Nurse checks me right after and says "She's a 9! Go get the doctor!".
It is quite obvious that they were not expecting that.
THIS MEANS that I was going through TRANSITION whilst getting the stupid epidural. Had I KNOWN this, I would have just not bothered with it. It's my fault. I know that I progress quickly, why couldn't I trust that?
The doctor arrives about 5 minutes later and declares that I am a +1, ready to push. He says "we are going to do a practice push on the next contraction, how long did it take to push your last baby out?" I say "about 3 minutes" he says "oh, then this might not be a practice push!" I push. And his head appears. Next push, he is out.
Phew. Took like a minute. Awesome. 12:39 p.m.
He cried right away. He was so red and so beautiful. He started to pee all over the doctor. Everyone laughed.
They put him on my belly. David got to cut the cord. 1st time he was able to do this for any of our kids... probably the last time too as it is our last planned baby...
Then when they were cleaning, weighing and whatever it is they do, he peed on the Nurse. He kept crying and crying.
I tore a little bit because he came out so quickly. Just a few stitches were needed.
The anesthesiologist comes in. He seems annoyed. He asks "what time did she deliver?" they say 12:39. He shakes his head, walks over to me, asks me to sit up, pulls the stuff out, walks out. I'm thinking "yeah, I'm at least as annoyed about that as you doc".
Every nurse that helped me the rest of the stay told me I was a superwoman. They had heard about going through transition while getting the epidural.
In the end I'm grateful for a safe delivery and my beautiful little son.
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