5am: Rise and shine, valentine!
We began the day with a blood drawing and a shower. I was having contractions at this point about every five minutes,so, taking a shower on my own was impossible. Robert went down for breakfast and my mom helped me get a shower-bath. Have you ever had a shower-bath? It goes a little something like this.
I really wanted to take a bath in that deep jetted bath. I ran the water, got in and sat down into the tub. However, when your as big as I was, the tub seemed a lot bigger from the outside looking in. Lol. I just barely fit and washing and contracting wasn't quite working,so, I tried to switch to a shower, only standing was just as painfull so I ended up on my knees with my mom washing my hair at the same time I was trying to wash my body. I got everything but my feet, so we found out later. Lol.
I got out, got dried and made it back to my comfy bed. My favorite midwife of all came through the doors! "Yay" I was so happy to see her! She told me that my iron levels were up to 12.5! That was awsome news considering I had gotten it up all on my own, doing it my own way. How did I do it, you wonder? I stopped taking my anti-acids and took my prenatal plus 2 gummy vite c's and one iron tab in the morning and at night minus the prenatal, every day and in just 2 weeks I went from a 9 to a 12.5! How awsome am I! I wanted the mean midwife to see my chart so badly so I could rub it in her face that just because I don't have a masters in nursing doesn't mean I'm a complete idiot.
Anyway, this was the big moment, she was going to check me to see if the cervidil had worked. We were all crossing our fingers. She checked and said," it worked! Your 2cm dialated and about 80% effaced and at -3 station." This meant I was going to be induced! She told the nurse to start my pitocin at the lowest level.
At 7am we began the pitocin and almost imediately my contractions got stronger. Not so strong that I couldn't handle it. My mom called my dad and told him that we started the pitocin and that it was going to be a few hours before things were going to get going. He came and got her to go eat and do some shopping and what not. Robert and I watched tv and talked with my nurse when we saw her, which was about every 20mins or so.
At around 9am my contractions started to feel different, painfull but more like constipated pain. My midwafe came in to check me and I discribed to her what was going on and when she checked me said that she could feel that I was constipated and it was applying pressure on my uterus. I was 3cm dialated at this point. She aske what I had eaten for my dinner. When I told her pizza, she replied with,"oh, cheese. That'll do it." When you go in to labor your bowels begin to work differently and your digestive system slows way down. She offered me an enema or to up my pitocin and basically contract it down. Id never had an enema and so I opted for the pitocin, for ten minutes. Lol. That was all I could take. I had the nurse get her back to give me the enema. She asked if I wanted to give it to myself. "Yeah right. Id probably end up shooting that thing in the wrong direction or something." My contractions were quite painful and I had no idea how I was going to get from the bed to the bathroom in time because they tell you to stay laying down until you feel a great amount of pressure. Luckly I made it just fine but having contractions and trying to go to the bathroom and hold all your wires and tubes that you have hanging everywhere plus getting the toilet paper off the roll. Yeah not fun or easy at all. And its not like I was going to ask for help. I mean I was already mortified enough that I had to have the enema in the first place. I finally made it back to the bed.
I was ready for some pain meds for sure! The nurse went to get the order for it and came back with a shot of the one that starts with an f. I can't remember the full name of it. I was so happy to see it! She put it into my I.V and it kicked in so quick. I couldn't feel a single contraction and felt good enough to fall asleep. I dosed off for a while and when I woke my parents were back. I started to feel my contractions coming back,so, I asked the nurse if it was supposed to wear off like that. She said it had been a few hours, so, yes. She said I could have it every hour if I wanted it. I said, "sure, why not." That was making labor a breeze! She gave me my next dose and my midwife came in to check me again after about a half hour. She said I was still at 3cm but when I get to 4cm, I could have my epidural. Epidurals should not be given before 4cm because you run a risk of the epidural stopping your contractions.
For the next few hours we just all hungout and talked with the nurse about where she grew up, where we were from and what not. At about 3pm I got my 3rd dose of pain medication and I was checked again, I was finally at 3 and a 1/2cm. Lol. At this point the pain meds aren't really working on my contractions much but it was still calming between the contractions. Somewhere around 4:30pm, I was checked again! I was at 4cm! I didn't ask of my epidural right away. The nurse asked me what id like and I said id try one more dose of the pain medicine. I wanted to get at least to 6cm to guarentee that my labor wouldn't stop. Well, I didn't make it to 6cm, I made it til almost 6pm though. I tried to eat some jello and when I threw that up after one bite, I knew it was time for my epidural. I wasn't in screaming pain but enough that I was clenching pretty good and I knew if I'd waited longer, I wouldn't be able to sit still for it. I told the nurse she may aswell order it. The doctor came in, it was a man. How embarrassing. He was going to see my butt crack, while I was awake to know about it! I decided i'd just play it as professional as possible.
My parents had to leave the room because it was a sterile proceedure and my dad couldn't handle the needle anyway. I sat in the bed and hung my feet off the side. I had to lean over the bed table with a pillow on top and hold Robert's hand and my nurse's hand. We were all talking about being from Bakersfield,Ca. The Doctor had family in Delano, Ca and used to drive down there every summer as a kid to visit. He was talking about how it was the worst trip ever, every year because they would drive down in a VW bus with no A/C. Lol I totally knew what he was talking about. If you are from the area or have ever been in the summer, you know too. Lol. Anyway, he was really personable and took my mind off the fact that he was sticking this needle in my back 5 times! He explained that the normal area for an epidural to go wouldn't work in my back, my spine was too thin. He ended up about 6 inches lower than the normal place. I didn't know what that meant and wasn't concerned with it as long as it worked. I did however want to know what was going to happen if I had to have a C-section. The way he explained it was that the meds that is in my epidural at the moment is like beer and if I have a c-section, he would replace it with wiskey. That was a pretty good referance, which I figured out later.
My parents finally got to come back, they were freaking out a bit at how long it took. They thought something happend. Right about this time, everything started to go numb. I was feeling great and updated my facebook about it, as I had been doing throughout the whole day so far. Things were great for the next hour and the nurse noticed that my contractions had started to slow, tramendously. She was ordered to kick up my pitocin to almost the max and raise it more every half hour. When she did all ice broke.
My epidural couldn't even touch the pain I was now experiencing. My abdomin was still numb, along with my legs but I was experiencing the worst pain of my life in my vaginal and rectum region. The pain was so bad that the only thing I could do when I had a contraction was grip the rail and shake and chatter my teeth. My midwife came in and we kept trying different positions, laying on one side and switching to the other, my contractions were only at half mass. We weren't even toping the charts yet. I went through this for a while because I couldn't have anymore pain medication yet at the risk of my contractions stopping again. The pain was litterally like trying to pass a bowling ball. I thought was just going to split open at the bottom and my was just going to fall out. Appearently most women don't feel what I was feeling. Usually women feel a pressure there but I was feeling pain, lots and lots of pain. At almost midnight my midwife checked me and said I was 10cm dialated but that he was still sitting up a little high. She said I needed to labor down a bit and she went to get the doctor to give me the wiskey for my epidural!!! She said that she wanted me to be comfortable while pushing. He came in and gave me my wiskey. He said it will hopefully take the edge off but that since it was so low in my back, he couldn't be sure that it would completely numb the pain I was experiencing. I didn't care as long as it took some of it away. At this point there was no way I could push. I was in the kind of pain, that it hurts so bad that I don't want to push.
After about 10mins on the wiskey, I felt like I needed to push. My midwife said it was okay to lightly push but she left the room and the nurse came in and didn't know that she had told me it was okay. So, she told me to try not to push. I was so pushing. I was doing the pull bar method that a girl in school had told me about for going to the bathroom. You put both hands in the air and slowly clinch and pull down on the imaginary bar, while letting your air out and pushing at the same time in the same slow motion. It makes you concentrate more and it really works! I was doing that while my nurse went to get my midwife, by the time she got back, he was down far enough to start pushing harder.
12pm, time to push! And the joy and burn that followed!
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