labor and delivery part II

OK, so we're in the thick of it. . . very painful, painful pain. The pitocin was VERY effective for me, so much so that the nurse dialed it back to a lower dose than I even started at and I was still having some major contractions! At this point I was shaking pretty badly from the pain and I guess the adrenaline my body was pumping in response to it. The anesthesiologist came in and asked me a bunch of questions, none of which I could answer because I was trying to be calm and breathe. Lucky for me, my husband could answer them all for me. The epidural needle was pretty painful, but only for a couple of seconds at first. He had a little trouble getting it into the correct space and told me that the next time I get an epidural to let the doctor know that I have very "tight spaces".

The worst part of it was having to sit there hunched over while having the worst contractions of the day and wondering if he'd be able to get the needle in there. He did get the needle in after a couple minutes and then the first push of meds hurt quite a bit- probably because I'm not used to liquid being injected into my spine! Once the drip was set up the meds kicked in pretty quick. Basically it changed the contractions from unbearable to barely noticeable. I commented that it was ridiculous how well it worked! Here's a post-epidural pic:

I was able to relax and rest for a few hours in the afternoon and both grandmas and my sister came in to visit around 2:30 or so. I made really good progress in dilation, a little more than a cm an hour I think, and at about 4:30 the nurse said I was 10 cm and could start trying to push! I think they gauged my epidural dose well because I could feel pressure with each contraction and knew when they were coming and going.

Tyler counted out 3 sets of 10 at a time and almost right away they said they could see his head- crazy! After a little while, the nurse went and called Dr. Michelsen to come in for the grand finale. He moved a little more with each set of pushing which made me feel good that I was doing it right. Let me tell you, even with the epidural, pushing is exhausting! I felt pretty good all day despite the epidural and pitocin medication, but after pushing for a while I got really nauseous. I think it was the combination of having an empty stomach since the night before and the physical exertion. They gave me a barf bag, (which I didn't end up using), I put all I could into each contraction, and after about an hour, Palmer arrived!

The doctor and nurse were surprised at how big he was and so was I when I heard the weight. While the doctor fixed me up, Tyler got to go over to the bassinet and watch Palmer's APGAR before I fed him for the first time. We spent some time in the room just the three of us for a while and then the family couldn't wait any longer and a few of them came to meet our boy.




Even though throughout my pregnancy I was adamant about not being induced- I think it ended up being a good choice for us. Who knows how long he would have stayed in there and how much bigger he would have gotten! Hopefully with my next baby he or she won't wait so long and I can experience natural labor as compared to pitocin induced. Tyler and I had a great delivery day experience and I'm so happy that we share those memories together.