For those of you interested, here are the details about my labor...
Keep in mind, this is really for the benefit of all my pregnant friends out there! If you're not interested in the "gory" details, you may want to skip this page:)
Friday, September 20 - 11:00am
The ball started rolling at the loss of the "plug". Not much more activity during the day other than a trip to the doctor's to confirm what I had thought, and to check dilation (2.5 to 3 cm). My doctor's words exactly: "I can feel your 'bags of water'; they're really tight. My guess is that you're going to have this baby this weekend!"
Saturday, September 21 - 4:05 am
Basically, I heard a faint *pop* sound as I rolled over in bed and knew that my water had broken. Then it was confirmed... We called the doctor who told us to head to the hospital when the contractions got severe and 5 minutes apart. So we gathered our things and waited for the contractions to kick in. Meanwhile, Ron fed Halle, made coffee for himself and frantically fired off emails to his work saying he wouldn't be in for two weeks!
4:30am
Okay - they've started and quickly progressed to about 5 minutes apart (as I was having difficulties blow drying my hair; had to stop when I contracted). I finished getting dressed and we headed to the hospital. We left home around 5:30am and arrived there at 6:00am on what felt like the longest ride ever.
7:00 am
Dr. Gross arrived as he said he would and examined me; still no change. Then he ordered the epidural; much to my relief.
The Epidural - 8:00am
At this point I was a mere 3cm dilated - not much more than what I was at the doctor's office a day earlier... Shortly after I got the epidural, they started the pitocin to get the dilation going. Then the contractions were REALLY starting to come fast and furious. By this time the epidural didn't seem to be working anymore and had to be increased. It worked for a few contractions, but then seemed to stop working again!
Long story short, the epidural did not work, even after it was jacked up to the highest amount of medication they could give me. This was pretty much due to the back labor and pressure from all the fluid. By 12:00 noon, I was 9.5 cm dilated and the doctor said I was going to have to tolerate the pain by "using my breathing and position"... Great.
12:15 pm
I started pushing. It sure took me a long time to figure out what I was doing. Next time won't be so long pushing, I'm sure.
So, after nearly an hour and a half of pushing, Collin entered the world at 1:50pm... That's about all I have to say. It was all worth it!
(One other final note: No episiotome, no tears (don't ask me HOW) and therefore, no stitches! Yahoo! Aside from feeling like I was run over by a Mack truck the next day, the recovery was quick and painless :)
Rhonda |
