Ilah's Birth Story, Part 2

To quickly recap:

Tuesday, January 11:

• 7:30 p.m. - Checked into the hospital. Got attached to fetal heart rate monitor and got hooked up to an IV.
• 9:30 p.m. - induction drug was administered vaginally to further thin out my cervix {was at 80% when I checked into the hospital} along with helping the cervix to dilate and contract.

Wednesday, January 12:

• 5:00 a.m. – Given an enema {I had previously posted that I was offered a pill. Correction: It was given in the rectum {how could I forget that!? I guess because I didn’t find it to be uncomfortable}. You can go here to read how an enema is given if you’re curious.
• 6:00 a.m. – My Dr. came to my room and checked my cervix, which was now fully thinned to 100%, but I was still just a half a centimeter dilated. The Dr. proceeded to break my water to help promote the onset of labor.
  
  Onto more details…
  
  As I previously relayed, once my water broke, I began to feel contractions. They came about every two and a half minutes a part. Whoah – “What happened to five minutes apart?!” I thought to myself. But I was rollin’ with it – doing my best to maintain. I knew there was pain that existed that was much more excruciating than what I was experiencing so I kept things in perspective and just kept my eyes on the prize! It also helped knowing that soon enough I could get an epidural{which I always knew I wanted; I had determined ahead of time that I wasn’t going to try and brave a natural delivery}, but I had to wait until I was dilated to a 3. While in the restroom I finally saw that I was beginning to pass my mucus plug and bloody show was present. Because of how close together my contractions were I had asked my nurse if the Dr. could return check to see if I was any further dilated {my nurse was actually the one who checked my cervix and she said, “Yep, you’re at a 3!”. To which I replied, “Thank God”. It was epidural time!!
  
  Let me break into the story for just a minute to talk about my nurses. From the time that I checked in, to the time that I delivered, I had 3 different nurses. All were great. But the one that was the most wonderful was the one who was assigned to me at 5:00 a.m., the morning that my labor truly got underway, and stayed with me up until Ilah was born just before 5:00 p.m. Her name was Heather, and she was an exceptional nurse! My husband I prayed on the way to the hospital that every medical staff personal that we came in contact with would be people that would be exceptional - and they all were!
  
  At 11 a.m., I got an epidural. I didn’t look at the needle. The anesthesiologist also told my husband that maybe he shouldn’t look at it either because people had been known to pass out at the sight of it! Yowzers! The anesthesiologist walked me through the different stages of what I would feel – I was calm and relaxed since I knew that in a few minutes relief would hit. I recall telling him jokingly, “Please get it right the first time – and make sure it goes deep”! ha! Thankfully, it did work the first time. I feel so bad hearing stories of women who had to get stuck time and time again before it would successfully take.
  
  So what did it feel like to get the epidural? The nurse had me sit up on the side of my bed and had me round out my back {which was exposed} to prep for the anesthesiologist to come in. When the anesthesiologist arrived, he cleaned my spine and in went the needle. I felt just a tiny bit of pressure when the needle was pushed into my spine and there was a strange popping feeling. I also felt a cold chill run through my entire body as if water was dripping down my back. The entire process was pretty painless and it didn’t take long to begin feeling numb. From that point on, I was connected to a catheter. I thought that would be totally uncomfortable, but again, I didn’t even feel it and didn’t bother me in the least.
  
  When the Dr returned at 3:00 p.m he said, “Do you want the good news, or do you want the good news?”. I was dilated to a 10 and it was time to start pushing!! I remember saying, “Whhhat?!?!? Are you serious?!?!?”. It was ALREADY that time? Where was the long, drawn out, emotionally and physically exhausting experience that I thought I would have? This was too much of a breeze! From the time that my water broke, up until it was time to push, it had only been 9 hours!....