Birth Story of Gwyneth Eden: Part 2

 We walked and found our labor and delivery room.  Since we were both not thinking correctly, we forgot to check in at the desk and instead went straight to the room.

After 30 minutes, the nurse came in and said she had been looking for us!  Sorry nurse, we had absolutely no idea how to follow directions at that point.  We just waited in the room for awhile.  It was nice to have some time alone to process what was about to happen.  I had to get my mind around that I soon would have contractions, push a baby out, and then officially have a daughter.

At 4:30 p.m., I was started on pitocin.  We figured we would be in for a long ride and tried to rest before the contractions really started.

From this point on, they would increase my pitocin.  Each time the nurse would come in and ask how I was coping with the pain.  I was in mild pain, but still coping very well.  They warned me that things would get much more painful, but I thought I was handling the pain great!  I had no idea what I was in for :)

At 6:15, Dr. Choi came in to break my water.  From others' experiences, I knew this would intensify the contractions.  I explained to the doctor that I had this fear through pregnancy that my water would break and I would have no idea.  Everyone laughed when I said this and reassured me that you would definitely know.  Sure enough, she broke my water and there is no way you wouldn't be able to know.  There is a WHOLE lot of water that baby swims in for 40 weeks!  At this point I was 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced.

Up until my water broke, the contractions were gaining in their pain level.  I still felt calm and confident that I could work through them just fine.  I would hold David's hand, close my eyes, and get through each one as they came.

I had no idea it was about to get way worse.

By 7:00, David timed my break in between contractions to be about 1 minute.  It was starting to get harder to make it through.  The pain had set in much more after my water had broken.  At this time, I was moaning and in a severe amount of pain.  Shifts had just changed and we got a new nurse, Katie.  She would end up becoming a huge blessing through the whole process.

Katie could see how much pain I was in and asked if I was interested in an epidural.  I explained that I wanted to see how long I could make it without one (side note: this was a terrible decision).  I was in a lot of pain, much more than I had ever experienced, but I was making it through.  At this point I was 3 cm and 80% effaced.  Again, I wanted to try and make it farther than this.

David coached me through breathing and relaxing with each contraction.  On the monitor, he could tell they were only getting stronger and closer together.  Katie suggested other ways to help with the pain other than sitting in the bed.  We prepared to walk around the hallway to progress labor more quickly.  As soon as I stood up I hated the idea of this.  Walking around would not provide relief for me.

She then got a birthing ball for me to try.  As soon as she got it set up and I sat on the ball, my break down happened.  I had lost all hope in fighting through the contractions.  I began thinking there was no way I could handle not even one more.  This caused me to panic because I knew we had a while to go still.  I starting crying and crying and crying.  I didn't know what to do.  I wanted to make it farther without an epidural, but also could not stand the pain.  I would have done anything to make it stop.  David told me he could see I was not doing well and thought this would be a good time for the epidural.  I agreed and our nurse walked us through our options and how it would be given.

At 9:30, David left the room and I got the epidural.  Katie was amazing during this time.  Since David was not there to help me through the contractions, she had her hands on my shoulders the whole time reassuring me that I was doing great and just to breathe.  The epidural seemed to take forever, but I was so relieved to have the pain slowly going away.

At 9:45, I was at 5 cm.  My contractions were overlapping each other and coming on far too strong, so Katie stopped the pitocin.

I thought this would be the time I would get to take a nap, relax, and have that warm and cozy feeling.  The problem was I was still in a lot of pain.  It was so much pain that I was still working through each contraction.  At this point, I should not have been feeling pain, only pressure.  I asked Katie if they could increase the epidural to provide me some relief.  She first tried turning me from side to side.  I had a lot of pain on my right side and she was not sure if the medicine was reaching it.  After an hour of trying to provide some relief and no success, she checked to see how dilated I was...

I was 10 cm.  She could feel the baby's head.

Birth Story of Gwyneth Eden: Part 1
Birth Story of Gwyneth Eden: Part 3