A Lamaze coach ended up coming in to help me with the contractions since I wasn’t handling them very well. She coached me through breathing which helped a lot. By the time I was dilated to 7cm, I had had enough pain and decided that anything would be better than contractions, even if meant facing needles. I actually did really well with the IV that time around, but by the time they got enough fluids in me and we waited an hour for the anesthesiologist to arrive, I was already feeling the pressure of pushing.
I hardly even felt the epidural going in because the pain of the contraction I was having at the time completely overrode the poke of the needle. Within minutes after receiving the epidural, my legs felt warm, I felt a couple of light contractions, and then I felt nothing at all. It was pure sweet bliss.
The nurses told me that I had gone through the toughest pain of labor with no medication and I probably could have done the whole thing naturally, but I loved having that epidural. It was completely worth it to me, even though I only had it for the tail end of my delivery. I regained energy and even carried on civil conversations with the nurses and midwife, apologizing for my screaming and indecisiveness.
Shortly after receiving the epidural, I became fully dilated and it was time to start pushing. I pushed for about an hour, but I could have pushed all day because I couldn’t feel a thing! My midwife had to tell me each time I was having a contraction based on the monitor I was hooked up to. I wasn’t sure exactly which muscles to tighten for pushing because I couldn’t feel anything. The baby’s head started crowning at the same time that I began to feel really nauseated. I actually threw up, which tightened the exact right muscles to give the baby his final push.
Blake William Tanner arrived at 7:56 pm, about 7 hours after my water broke on the massage table.
I have to say that I was a bit distracted the moment he arrived because I was worried about my face and gown being dirty, and I was mad that the nurse was wiping my face with a cold washcloth as if I was a two year old. But when they laid that sweet, tiny, perfect little boy on my chest, I was completely taken back by the whole experience.
I couldn’t believe that Blake was really here. We cried a little when we heard his tiny cry for the first time. I hardly knew what to feel at the time; I was so happy and yet it took me a while to feel like he was really ours.
Troy went out to the lobby where our parents were anxiously waiting and told them the happy news. It was surreal to get to share our firstborn son with our parents and Troy’s siblings. We were so elated and completely in awe of our tiny little miracle.
No Comments