I’ll warn you all now that some of the following might be a bit more information then you want to read. So be forewarned…
Before she left, the same res. Doctor proceeded to break my water. Basically they stick a smallish hook like mechanism into my hooha and proceed to nick the amniotic sac. What happens then is a gush of warm liquid comes down and out. An odd combination of feelings. It’s as if you pee on yourself but you don’t feel yourself peeing. And I just drained and they observed the color of the drainage. It’s kind of funny to see people just stare and kind of mix up whatever goop just came out of your body. Thankfully I didn’t see it. But they do that to see if any merconium is visible. My goop was thankfully clear.
All along, the whole process of labor to this point was pretty much uneventful. Contractions came and went but weren’t horrible and Rob and I found ourselves relatively calm. But once my water was broken…things changed radically. Rob called his mom and my mom to start heading over. It was just after 6am. And that’s when contractions started to ‘really’ happen. I’d hold on for dear life to the railings on either side of my bed and push out in an effort to get through the pain. At first it was annoying but bearable and quickly became ‘take your breathe away’ and supremely excruciating. This is when I started to cry. It just hurt like a mother. And I tried to keep my sense of humor with it and consistently told Rob to leave the room if he needed to. He looked at me worried but wasn’t as annoying as I thought it’s be. For 10 minutes I made it through these contractions that came every minute and barely gave me a moment to relax between them. And for the last 5 of those 10 minutes my fabulous nurses tried to convince me to just go for the epidural. I was in so much pain, I was crying hysterically and I was adamant that I could make it through the pain…
I didn’t.
The anesthesiologist rolled in with all his stuff the second I gave in. Rob was scooted to the other side of the room and I was made to sit up in my bed with my legs over the side towards him. The nurses hugged me in this weird kind of slouched position as they prepped me, contractions were still coming and they would whisper how fabulous I was doing and how we’re almost there. I cannot thank those women enough for being so encouraging and calming. I felt the needle go in (and Rob says from a distance he saw it and it was HUGE) and then I felt the cooling sensation of the drug. They patched me up and lied me flat and almost instantly, my body became less tense and I went into a complete state of calm. My tears stopped. The pain subsided and I reached an amazing state of Zen. I proceeded to watch my contraction numbers go up without feeling any pain. I touted the miracle that is the epidural and thanked heaven for the ability to be able to relax. I thought I’d feel less of a person for not being able to make it through birth naturally but I didn’t. I was supremely happy and relaxed and got to see my mother and my mother in law and my father in law arrive in the hospital and were able to greet them with smiles instead of tears and with laughter instead of pain. They had arrived just before 8am. A whole 2 hours later then originally anticipated. The reasoning was simple. First, my mom in her haste to get to my mother in law’s house, drove past the house 3 times until my Mother in Law finally FLAGGED her down. Then on the route to the hospital, my Father in Law takes the wrong exit and ends up taking a tour of Short Hills Mall’s parking garage. But they got there and that’s what matters.
The next resident doctor ended up being the same resident who took care of me the Tuesday before when I had come in and was told to go home. She came in to check me periodically and see how I was progressing. Then in came Dr. Dresdner came in. Of all the doctors in my practice, I had never met Dr. D yet I instantly liked him. Charismatic and efficient, he embodied the perfect mix between the wild Dr. Victor and the stern Dr. Boffard. He checked me out. I was progressing nicely.
While in the room, I got an odd sensation that I really needed to poop. It was pretty fierce so I buzzed the nurse who sent for the doctor, who assured me that I wasn’t quite there yet, but that the sensation was not to poop but to push and that they were similar feelings. I just had to wait a bit longer. Before long, the resident came in and announced that I was officially 10cm’s along and that I should get ready to push that baby out. So the nurses asked whether I had the sensation to push. I didn’t. So they told me to alert them when I did…This is when things got interesting.
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