The Birth Story Part 3
With the epidural in place, I was more comfortable and thought I would be able to get some rest. Unfortunately, the cervidil wasn't doing anything more than make me contract so it was time to bring in the big guns. Two hours after getting my epidural, they removed the cervidil and started the pitocin. I was in for a long night. With the pitocin in place, Chris and I tried to settle in for the evening. However, with nurses checking on me periodically and the blood pressure cuff going off every 15 minutes, sleep was not to be had. One of my night nurses even asked if I ever slept to which I responded that I was resting but the noise from the BP cuff was keeping me awake.
At some point during the night, I got quite a scare. The nurse had come in to make some adjustments to my IV and I started to get a tightening in my chest. It felt like I had something sitting on my chest and I couldn't breath. Since I was still on the potassium, I freaked out thinking it was messing with my heart. So somewhere around 1 AM I received an EKG to see what was going on. Fortunately everything came out OK but I was still worried.
My doctor showed up around 8 AM the next morning to check my progress. After more than 7 hours on the pitocin and a full day on the cervidil, I had only made it to 2 cm. I was annoyed. So she decided to break my water and see if that improved my progress. She told me she'd be back around lunch to see where I was then and to decided what to do next. At her next visit, I had still only made it to about 3 cm so they decided to reduce the pitocin levels and then slowly bring them back up to see if that would kick start my labor. By this point, I had been in the hospital in early labor for 24 hours. I still wasn't in active labor. The doctor said if I made it to 4 cm and didn't go any further then we would start talking c-section. At that point, I reminded her that my mom had 3 c-sections and I fully expected things to go the same way for me. However, my doctor didn't remember us having this conversation before so this was news to her. She then told me she would see where I stood at 5 when she made her rounds again.
I have to admit I was praying I would stall at 4 cm because I was tired and I was ready for Jackson to come out. I was perfectly fine with the idea of a c-section because I had always suspected I would need to have one. I also didn't have my heart set on having Jackson delivered naturally. I just wanted him to come into the world safely and healthy. So you can imagine my disappointment when I was checked again and the nurse determined I was between 5 and 6 cm. However, she also commented on the small size of my pelvis which would indicate that it would be difficult for the baby to come out that way. Unfortunately, that particular nurse went off duty shortly after all this and wasn't there when the time came for me to try to push.
My parents arrived from Alabama somewhere around 4:30 that afternoon and brought my brother and his wife with them to the hospital. Chris's parents also showed up some time that afternoon. I am not really sure when everyone got there. I just remember them having a lively conversation in the corner of my room while I was in pain on the bed. I was none too thrilled about this at all but I was way too out of it at that point to tell them to do anything different. However, they did finally get kicked out of the room when it was time for me to start pushing.
I should also mention that sometime during the night, I realized that my epidural wasn't working properly. My legs were pretty much numb and my upper abdomen was as well but nothing in between was numb. I could still feel all the contractions. It was miserable. I had to have my epidural increased twice before I started pushing. Even that didn't help though. By the time I started pushing, I basically couldn't feel the epidural anymore.
At some point during the night, I got quite a scare. The nurse had come in to make some adjustments to my IV and I started to get a tightening in my chest. It felt like I had something sitting on my chest and I couldn't breath. Since I was still on the potassium, I freaked out thinking it was messing with my heart. So somewhere around 1 AM I received an EKG to see what was going on. Fortunately everything came out OK but I was still worried.
My doctor showed up around 8 AM the next morning to check my progress. After more than 7 hours on the pitocin and a full day on the cervidil, I had only made it to 2 cm. I was annoyed. So she decided to break my water and see if that improved my progress. She told me she'd be back around lunch to see where I was then and to decided what to do next. At her next visit, I had still only made it to about 3 cm so they decided to reduce the pitocin levels and then slowly bring them back up to see if that would kick start my labor. By this point, I had been in the hospital in early labor for 24 hours. I still wasn't in active labor. The doctor said if I made it to 4 cm and didn't go any further then we would start talking c-section. At that point, I reminded her that my mom had 3 c-sections and I fully expected things to go the same way for me. However, my doctor didn't remember us having this conversation before so this was news to her. She then told me she would see where I stood at 5 when she made her rounds again.
I have to admit I was praying I would stall at 4 cm because I was tired and I was ready for Jackson to come out. I was perfectly fine with the idea of a c-section because I had always suspected I would need to have one. I also didn't have my heart set on having Jackson delivered naturally. I just wanted him to come into the world safely and healthy. So you can imagine my disappointment when I was checked again and the nurse determined I was between 5 and 6 cm. However, she also commented on the small size of my pelvis which would indicate that it would be difficult for the baby to come out that way. Unfortunately, that particular nurse went off duty shortly after all this and wasn't there when the time came for me to try to push.
My parents arrived from Alabama somewhere around 4:30 that afternoon and brought my brother and his wife with them to the hospital. Chris's parents also showed up some time that afternoon. I am not really sure when everyone got there. I just remember them having a lively conversation in the corner of my room while I was in pain on the bed. I was none too thrilled about this at all but I was way too out of it at that point to tell them to do anything different. However, they did finally get kicked out of the room when it was time for me to start pushing.
I should also mention that sometime during the night, I realized that my epidural wasn't working properly. My legs were pretty much numb and my upper abdomen was as well but nothing in between was numb. I could still feel all the contractions. It was miserable. I had to have my epidural increased twice before I started pushing. Even that didn't help though. By the time I started pushing, I basically couldn't feel the epidural anymore.
Comments