Ok so where did I leave off?? That's right... contractions 5 mins apart and lots of pain. So as you can imagine that was it! Brett got home about 12:45 PM or so, showered and grabbed a sandwich to eat on the way to the hospital. He loaded up our car and was shocked by how much stuff I insisted on bringing. Hey, I had no idea what to expect so I just packed everything I could even imagine we might need! lol
We got to my Dr's office about 1:30 and I got checked by some Dr I had never met. Remember my Dr was in California at a triathlon. Bummer!! So they checked me and I was at a 3. They said, we are sending you upstairs to be admitted! YAY!!! I was so thrilled... I had told Brett that if I wasn't at least at a 3 I was going to punch the Dr in stomach! lol A nurse walked Brett and I up to labor and delivery and they started the process of checking me in. Let me tell you, they need to figure out another way check in women in labor. Why are you making me fill forms out and sign like 100 things like I am buying a house?! I AM IN LABOR!! Its hard enough to remember to breathe and now you want me to read and sign all this stuff? Yeah Right!
I have to thank my L&D nurse friend Lauren ... she told me to bring chocolate for the nurses because they LOVE that. So we had a basket of ghirardelli chocolate for them. Boy was that a hit! Every nurse and Dr hit up the chocolate...and I am convinced it made them want to come to my room to check on me more often :)Thanks for that advice Lauren!
Anyway, we called all our family but told them to stay at home for a little while until I was totally checked in. Of course that didn't last long...my Mom was about to pass out excited so we went ahead and told everyone to head up to the hospital. Brett went down to move the truck and start bringing in all of our gear that we brought.
After they got all the monitors hooked up and my IV in (OUCH!) they checked me again and I was at a 4. The nurse told me that there were like 5 other women in labor at that time so if I wanted an epidural I should go ahead and say so cause it would be a while before the anesthesiologist would be able to get to me. So I said well I am ok now, but if its gonna take him awhile to get to me put me on the list. 45 mins later I was in some really good pain and the nurse checked me again... I was at a 5. Ok where is that dude with the pain meds?! I really want my epidural now!!!
Finally about an hour after I asked for it the first time he came in and gave me the epidural. Its not nearly as painful as I thought it would be. Seriously not that bad. I sat on the bed and hunched over and stayed as still as I could. He put the numbing stuff on my back and then it was over! After the needle goes in it feels like a glass of ice water is being poured down your butt and your legs. I actually asked him if something had spilled cause it sure felt like it! He said it was just the meds flowing through my body. Weird!!
WOW...talk about amazing! I felt so great now! No pain, just enjoying being in labor and the thought that I was going to be holding my baby girl sometime that day! We hung out, chatted with family and just relished in the moment. I was shaking quite a bit and the nurse said it was just a side effect of the epi, but it was weird. I was shaking uncontrollably. Not in any pain though. But then it came... one of the things I was worried about. Nausea! Crap, I don't want to be in labor and throwing up! But I couldn't help it... I needed a barf bag. Dang it! I threw up once during this time. I think it was because of the ice chips. I had been munching down on them and I even drank the water once the ice melted. That was what did me in I think. I need to back off the ice and water!
About an hour and a half went by and I started feeling cramps and contractions again. Not super strong but I told the nurse so she could get the doc in there to give me some more meds. They call it a "bolster". So 20 or so mins later he came in and gave me some more magical meds but nothing changed. Actually it got worse. I was now in some serious serious pain now. So I told the nurse and the doc came in really fast and gave me another bolster. This time it numbed my left leg but I was still feeling each and every contraction. And I was at an 8 at this point. And for those of you who don't know the phases of labor I was in the "transition phase". This is the phase you go through right before you get to a 10 and start to push. Contractions are back to back and you really don't have time to relax between the contractions. Brett was awesome, he wouldnt leave my side. He held my hand almost every contraction and let me squeeze as hard as I needed to. But on top of all this pain I was feeling nauseated again. I threw up 2 more times during this painful period. Can you imagine being in insane pain AND throwing up... not fun!!
At this point there were a ton of people in my room. I was in so much pain and crying at almost every contraction. (I don't remember this that much but I was told I was crying) My husband was AMAZING during the whole labor, but I remember thinking that I just could not take all the people in my room. They were all talking and being loud and I just wanted to concentrate and try to survive the contractions. Brett could see it in my face that I was annoyed and asked me if I wanted everyone to leave. YES PLEASE!!!! So he kicked everyone out except my Mom. That was a nice break, but I was still dying in pain. At this point the left leg numbness was even gone and I could feel everything. I mean EVERYTHING! I bet this went on for ohhh an hour or two. My Dad and Brett's parents & sister came in and out a few times.... they couldn't stand to sit in the waiting room for that long. So as long as they stayed quiet I didn't mind them being in there. My best friends Andrea and Lauren came in for a little while too. Everyone took turns being at my side holding my hand and feeding me ice chips. I had a really great support system that I will forever be grateful for.
The nurse checked me and I was at a 9, and I assumed that it was too late for any more magical numbing medicine. Apparently I was wrong... in walks the anesthesiologist. He says that the catheter in my back has probably moved which is why the meds weren't working. He wanted to take it out and REDO the whole epidural right then. Really?? I am at a 9 and having contractions like every 30 seconds!! How am I going to stay still for that long to take it out and put a new one back in?? Ok lets do this! So everyone left and they raised the bed all the way up so I was like chest level with the Dr laying on my side. I had a death grip on my nurses hand and squeezing like hell. She was wonderful at keeping me focused and breathing. It seemed like it took like 5 times longer than it did the first time. I even asked him "Is everything ok??" he said "Yes, why?" "Because its taking you FOREVER!!". lol I actually started feeling like I was going to throw up while he was doing the epi, but I never threw up. I don't even want to think about how bad it would have been if I had thrown up during that moment.
Finally he finished and I could feel it working almost immediately. There is that ice water being poured down my butt again. Thank the lord! I told Brett that he could go get the family and friends and let them all back in now. I could still feel the contractions but not too much. It was totally doable! Somewhere in there my photographer showed up... yes that's right I had a birthing photographer. I didn't want to miss any photo opps so the same lady that did my maternity pics was there. I think she actually showed up when I was at like an 8 before the 2nd epidural but I didn't notice that she was there. Now that I was feeling better she started snapping some pics. She snapped some when I was in serious pain too, but I had no idea until later! lol
The nurse checked me again and said I was 100% effaced and almost at a 10, but Ella was still kinda high. So he had me sit up a little more to see if gravity could help us out. I would say about 30-45 mins later she checked me and I was at a 10 but Ella still needed to move down a little more. She said when I felt like I needed to push to call her.
Well Ella has been napping for about an hour now, so she should be waking up soon. I am going to go shower before she wakes up. Stayed tuned for Part 2 where I talk about the "ring of fire" and getting to meet my precious baby girl!!
I clicked over from a comment you left on my blog a long time ago, and wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your birth story. And I almost used Keri Duckett as my birth photographer as well!
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