My Birth Story - Part IV

4:20am - With the Pitocin finally kicking in, my labor went from 0 to 60 in a heart beat. I knew that it was time for drugs because I was out of my mind. DG asked me if I was sure that I wanted an epidural. This is what he was trained to do in our birthing class. And since I had been fine all night, and the contractions had not bothered me, even I was surprised with their sudden onslaught. However, I knew that they were not going to get any easier, and since I wasn't able to walk around, use the tub, the birth ball, or get in any positions we had practiced since I was wired up with monitors, there was no way I could let my body relax.

4:45am - There was a long line for the anesthesiologist, but Stephanie, our nurse, who had been with us since the beginning, got us to the front of the line. Forty-five excruciating minutes later, and Lois came to save me. Earlier in the evening, I had been more terrified of getting an epidural than making it through the contractions. However when I hit the wall and was confined to the bed, there was no amount of breathing that I could do to remain present. The scariest part of the epidural was leaning over the bed with a needle in my back and having to remain perfectly still through a contraction. But once it was injected, I was like a brand new woman. I went from out of my head to fun and joking in two minutes.

I had asked for a light epidural because I still wanted to be able to feel my legs and push through the birth. It was beautiful the way this worked out. The one thing that I remember about Lois is that she noticed my overbite and made reference to how dramatic it was. Few people notice it, but that's what we call the Allbee overbite, uh huh. I think Hadley is getting it as well. Poor thing.

5:30am - Stephanie put in the catheter. At this point, I didn't care. Stick me with whatever, let my pee sit in a bag next to the bed, but give me my baby.

5:00-7:00am - DG slept on the bed/bench next to me, but I could not. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve. I was too excited to sleep because I knew when I woke up that I would get to have a baby. Well that and the heart pressure cuff cut blood flow off in my arm every 10 minutes.

6:55am - Out of nowhere, the baby's heart rate dropped. Stephanie sounded really nervous and yelled for the doctor. She put me on oxygen immediately.