Around 1 pm on Saturday, June 18, I started having contractions. Jason and I were out for a walk, and I had about three small ones not lasting too long. When we got back home we started writing down the times because I was having contractions on a continual basis. I think both of us were in denial that I was in labor because the contractions weren't overly painful. They came and went and I continued on about my afternoon. My parents arrived around 5, and my mom was sure I was in labor. I was hungry though and really wanted pizza, so we went to Firehouse. After 1 1/2 slices I had a pretty strong contraction and my mom cut me off of the pizza because neither one of us wanted to see it again later. I was still feeling ok and didn't really want to go home so we went to Walmart to walk around a bit. At that point the contractions were becoming very regular so we came back home to wait it out a little bit longer. Finally around 9:55, we thought it was time to go to the hospital.
At 10:20 we made it to Methodist, and I got admitted right away. Since I was having such regular contractions and already scheduled for an induction that next morning, the nurses in the ER didn't really ask too many questions or send me back home. When first checked, I was 3-4 cm dilated and 100% effaced. My doctor was notified and he had the nurse break my water at 11:35. The pain continually became stronger, and I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to make it to the end without an epidural, so I requested one and it was put in place at 1 am on Sunday. For about 20 minutes my legs were numb, and I couldn't feel much. After the epidural, I stalled at 5 cm, so my doctor started me on Pitocin at 2:20. That made my contractions even stronger and more intense, but I could feel them and I shouldn't have been able to with the epidural.
The anesthesiologist increased the dosage three times before saying that he couldn't do anything more except to take it out and replace it, so that's what we did. I got the second epidural at 3:20, and he put it on the maximum dosage he could. I couldn't feel a thing from my butt down to my legs, which were so heavy that I couldn't even lift them. At 6:00 I was dilated to 9-10 cm. The nurse turned the epidural down halfway so that I could still feel the contractions to know when to start pushing because my doctor said that if I couldn't push correctly that they were to turn the epidural off completely. I started pushing at 7:15 and luckily I was doing it right, so I got to keep the epidural and Layla was born at 8:35 am.
At 10:20 we made it to Methodist, and I got admitted right away. Since I was having such regular contractions and already scheduled for an induction that next morning, the nurses in the ER didn't really ask too many questions or send me back home. When first checked, I was 3-4 cm dilated and 100% effaced. My doctor was notified and he had the nurse break my water at 11:35. The pain continually became stronger, and I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to make it to the end without an epidural, so I requested one and it was put in place at 1 am on Sunday. For about 20 minutes my legs were numb, and I couldn't feel much. After the epidural, I stalled at 5 cm, so my doctor started me on Pitocin at 2:20. That made my contractions even stronger and more intense, but I could feel them and I shouldn't have been able to with the epidural.
The anesthesiologist increased the dosage three times before saying that he couldn't do anything more except to take it out and replace it, so that's what we did. I got the second epidural at 3:20, and he put it on the maximum dosage he could. I couldn't feel a thing from my butt down to my legs, which were so heavy that I couldn't even lift them. At 6:00 I was dilated to 9-10 cm. The nurse turned the epidural down halfway so that I could still feel the contractions to know when to start pushing because my doctor said that if I couldn't push correctly that they were to turn the epidural off completely. I started pushing at 7:15 and luckily I was doing it right, so I got to keep the epidural and Layla was born at 8:35 am.
No comments:
Post a Comment