Stevens and I were headed to our weekly 9:45AM check-up (Week 39) and I just didn't feel quite right. I was irritable, uncomfortable and having odd cramps. As we were sitting in the second waiting room, a nurse noticed the look of discomfort upon my face and asked what was wrong; I explained and she sent us right in to an empty room. The doc arrived shortly thereafter and I explained, once again, to her what was up, to which she replied, "I think you are having contractions. Let's set you up to a monitor and check things out."
Sure enough, I was having contractions 5 minutes apart. But, I was only 1 centimeter dilated - argh! So they sent us to go walking with instructions to come back between 1 and 1:30 so they could recheck dilation.
Upon our 1:30 arrival I was still only 1 centimeter, maybe 1.5. As the doc was rechecking, I started to experience stronger contractions - more like 2-3 minutes apart. The doc explained our two options...
01. Go home, ride it out through the night and call her every half hour freaking out and return in the morning...
-or-
02. Get wheeled over to the hospital right then.
Going with option #2 (because we are 40 minutes away from the hospital in GOOD traffic), I was wheeled over, prepped and in my hospital bed at 3:15PM sharp. Stevens ran home to pack the dogs and a bag for himself. While he was gone the good doctor stopped by, broke my water and started to administer pitocin since there was still no change in dilation and my contractions were consistent.
Stevens returned just in time for my epidural. Mind you, I begged and begged the staff not to ring the anesthesiologist until Stevens came back as I was scared out of my mind to go through it alone - they offered me some real nice narcotics instead to take the edge off. Whatever narcotic they gave me really worked.
Around 6PM, the edge was surely back 100%, along with Stevens and I was more than ready to get the epidural. Let's just say, getting an epidural is unpleasant. It is not painful - the contractions while bent in half on the edge of your hospital bed are painful, but not the epidural itself. The most pain from the procedure were the little pricks for general anesthesia to numb the area. After about a half hour of squeezing Stevens' hand AND arm AND leaving marks that lasted for about 2 days I was able to rest painlessly - I didn't feel a thing.
So, we just pretty much chilled in our L&D room. I watched some of the DVDs that Stevens brought from home while he got some work done with his boss - they set up shop right next to me.
Fast forward to about midnight - I am starting to feel some pressure but nothing compared to before. My night nurse comes in to check my dilation and sure enough I am at 10cm. She sent for the doctor, who checks my dilation once more and 10cm sure enough - it was time to start pushing.
I really thought that streamers and glitter and balloons would appear out of nowhere since it was FINALLY time to push. But, no. It was simply just time to push. Just another day.
To wrap things up, I pushed and pushed and pushed for an hour. I was so exhausted - never felt anything like it. I was in tears and begging and begging for the doctor to help in any way. So, she made a deal with me - I was to push real super hard for another three rounds and then she would try the vacuum. Well, I did what she said and they, of course, had to prep for the vacuum. Three more pushes (and some pulling) later, our little lady finally made an appearance. It was simply amazing. And, you know what? I would do it all over again (of course, not for awhile just yet, but it really is so worth it).
Even better — she was born on her daddy's birthday. What better present could anyone ask for?
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