A Baby Story

Ok......here is the labor story. It was quite horrifying for me and I am still having a hard time when I think about it.

As you know, I went into the hospital at 10pm on Wed. March 4. By the time we got up to our room and settled in, it was close to midnight. They came in and started me on the Cervidil (which is used to soften your cervix). Supposedly, this is supposed to happen gradually and you should start having contractions "within a few hours". 5 minutes later....I was having contractions with no break in between. It was just one big non stop contraction. Nothing too painful, and I was actually happy with how fast things were going. After 2 hours of this...my midwife came in to check me....I was barely a 2. She said I couldn't go on having contractions like that without a break in between, so they decided to take me off of the Cervidil and just start the Pitocin in the morning. They did this and gave me some meds for pain and to make me sleep. Keith said I was asleep before she left the room. I woke up several times during the night feeling "drunk".

About 6 am they came in and started the Pitocin IV drip. A while later the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural (I have never had one before). Some of you probably remember that I have been anxious about this for months and everyone basically said to go ahead with it..."it's great, you'll love it". Well, it wasn't and I didn't. She put the needle in my back and realized that she had it in a blood vessel so had to take it out and redo it. She did it again...laid me down and said that I shouldn't feel anything from the breast up. My hands went dumb immediately. I told them and I could tell by the look on her (anesthesiologist) face that something was wrong. The next 30-45 minutes are a blur. I remember that I couldn't breathe, swallow or talk. I was in a total panic. My blood pressure dropped several times. I passed out and came to numerous times. When I came to, there were no less than 10 medical staff in the room. I could hear them calling for an emergency in my room. I also heard the words c-section. I could see Keith standing in the corner looking helpless with tears in his eyes. It was an out of body experience. I really thought I was going to die and asked (without really talking) if I was. Finally, after what seemed like hours, I started coming out of it and eventually I was talking and feeling (somewhat) normal. OMG! I literally saw my life flash before my eyes.

The rest of the day they kept me on the piocin but I wasn't really dilating. The only good thing about the epi was that enough of it stayed in my body to numb the contractions until about 3pm. By this time they were really hurting so they brought me 3 Tylenol (yep). I guess you can only stay on the Pitocin for 12 hours so at 6pm they were going to take me off of it...give me food, a shower and sleep and start over on Friday. Uggghh!

About 5:15 she came in and checked me and I was a 3 maybe a 4. I was watching the clock waiting for 6:00 to come so they would turn it off......I was in severe pain by now. At 5:30 I had to go to the bathroom so I got Keith to come help me up. He walked around the other side of the bed and right then my water broke. He called the nurse, she came in and checked me and I was a 7. She couldn't believe it. She called for the doctor and started bustling around getting things ready. The Doc came in 5 minutes later and said I was at 9. 6 pushes and 21 minutes later.........Little Miss Addison came into the world screaming. Whew! I was so relieved....mentally and physically. You guys know I am a HUGE worrywart and I had told Keith, she better be screaming when she comes out or I might have a heart attack. Thankfully, she was.

I am trying to adjust to life with an infant. She has been pretty good at night, only waking up once, maybe twice. We just love her to death!!! If I still haven't returned your phone call or email, please bear with me. I promise I will soon!