Continuation
When we last left off in my recollections from having a baby, I had just received my epidural and was feeling much much better. It was about 4 or 5 in the afternoon by this point. The nurse checked on me regularly, and soon decided that the epidural had caused my contractions to slow down too much. She said this was a common side effect, so hooked up Pitocin (sp?) to my IV (which I received in the side of my left wrist shortly before getting my epidural) to speed up my contractions again. I also had a catheter hooked up shortly after receiving the epidural, since I couldn't get up anymore (couldn't lift my leg at all actually). The other things I was hooked up to was a contraction monitor on my stomach (which moved constantly, then the machine would beep and I'd have to call the nurse to fix it) a heart monitor for baby, also on my stomach, fluid bags going to my IV, and a heart rate/oxygen monitor for me, oh and a blood pressure thing which just stayed on my arm all the time and would inflate randomly.
Various machines would start beeping randomly so I buzzed the nurse often. About six Jason and I were starving, but I was pretty sure I couldn't have anything, and I told Jason that he couldn't leave. I convinced Jason to call my secretary Rebecca to bring him some Burger King, which she did cuz she's the best. I also had Jason sneak me two french fries because they smelled amazing.
There was a shift change in the nurses at about 7pm. My next nurse was way more amazing then the first girl. This lady was older, her name was Annette, and she had an awesome Austrailian accent. She was way more open to letting me know stuff too (hell I don't know what questions to ask) and made me feel secure. She asked if I had any worries and I said that I'd heard from other ladies that had given birth here that the epidurals get turned off when its time to push. She said Dr. Callahan will turn off the epidural, but Dr. Combs (who was on call right now) would not unless I asked. So I said "how long do I have until Callahan is on call" and she said until 7am so I knew I needed to push out this baby before 7am because I did not want my epidural taken away!
I asked if I could eat something, and she said I could have water and jello, and showed Jason that there was a fridge stocked with jellos in the hall. Then she provided me with a just in case barf bag. She said that as it gets closer to time to push, it's not uncommon for the stomach to empty itself and that its a good thing. She wasn't wrong, I threw up the jello and water shortly after eating it. So I got more water and another bag....and threw that up too. So I stopped drinking water, but I still felt better having eaten something, even thou I didn't get to digest it.
Jason and I took a nap for a little bit. The nurse and Jason helped roll me on my side, and put a peanut ball between my legs (its a giant peanut shaped ball). The chair Jason was in unfolded into a bed. Around midnight...maybe later, I started shivering real bad, so I asked for a blanket and that helped.
Around 1 am my epidural machine started making a weird noise, so I buzzed the nurse. I was dialated to like a 9 and would start pushing soon. The nurse pushed a bunch of buttons and spent a long time messing with it, but the beeping continued...so she called in the other nurse and the two of them shook thier heads and pushed a bunch of buttons and replaced the batteries and checked all the tubing. I was getting nervous. Annette said I'd have an hour until it wore off, and it'd already been like 30 minutes. The nurses couldn't figure out what was wrong so they had to call the Anesthesiologist back, and since he was at home it took him a while to get to me. I could feel my toes and lift my legs. I asked the nurse if maybe we should unhook the Pitocin since the epidural wasn't working and she said nope its too late for that.
Before it wore off completely, the dr arrived and switched out the epidural unit for a new one. I don't know if they turned down the dosage (they said they didn't), but I could move my legs and I wasn't as numb as before. I suppose it was about 2am when suddenly I had a new nurse again - Julie. That made me nervous too, I already really liked Annette. But there was another lady in labor that had to get a c-section so Annette was called away to help with that.
Then it was time to push. It was a lot less scary than I imagined. The room was dimly lit. Julie turned out to be very nice and comforting. She held my right leg, proping it against her shoulder. Jason held my left leg the same way. She'd watch a monitor to tell me when I was having a contraction, but I soon realized that I could tell when they were coming faster than they'd show on the monitor. Pushing was interesting, and after the first two I thought I'd pass out from lack of oxygen, which must have showed on my charts because she put me on an oxygen mask and instructed me how to breath between pushes. She said I was pushing really good. She'd put her fingers in me to check the cervix and the baby's head. She continued to coach me through each one. Pushing and contractions didn't hurt any, but that might be because as it turns out, baby never descended any.
We pushed for an hour, then she left the room and came back with Dr. Combs - my doctor. She reached in my vagina and said very firmly "This baby isn't coming out this way." Three things have to happen for the baby to come out - cervix completely thined (done) cervix dialated to 10 (done) baby be tilted the right way (not done). He wasn't breach, he was head down, but there are 'stations' measured in degrees that he tilts within the pelvis, and he wasn't tilted right. Julie also hypothisised that he was face up instead of face down, which makes it harder.
The Dr. and nurse said both baby and I were doing good, and i hadn't done anything wrong, and neither of us were in danger or stress. I could choose to keep pushing, which might cause the baby to undergo stress, or I could get a C-section, which even if I kept pushing I might need anyway. She seemed pretty convinced that I'd need one, so I said OK C-section. I didn't want the baby to undergo stress because my coworker Jennifer that had her baby back in April, her baby got stressed and had to be airlifted to Lubbock immediatly after an emergency C-section and I didn't want that.
Dr. Combs did two C-sections back to back. I laid in my room for a while and realized that when I wasn't pushing, those contractions were painful, and as I continued to wait I started to cry a bit. It felt like forever. They brought in a gown and mask for Jason to wear. The Anesthesiologist was back. He said he'd be injecting medicine in me directly as I felt pain,and it'd be stronger than my epidural. Then I was wheeled to the surgery room and I started to get scared but tried to be calm.
They moved me onto a operating table (I guess?) and hung a blue curtain that hung right at my chin and went all the way to my outstreched finger tips immediatly, so I saw nothing. The table had these two long bits for my arms, which I had to lay out kind of crusifix style? That was scary to lay like that.
Trevor is crying. to be continued.
Various machines would start beeping randomly so I buzzed the nurse often. About six Jason and I were starving, but I was pretty sure I couldn't have anything, and I told Jason that he couldn't leave. I convinced Jason to call my secretary Rebecca to bring him some Burger King, which she did cuz she's the best. I also had Jason sneak me two french fries because they smelled amazing.
There was a shift change in the nurses at about 7pm. My next nurse was way more amazing then the first girl. This lady was older, her name was Annette, and she had an awesome Austrailian accent. She was way more open to letting me know stuff too (hell I don't know what questions to ask) and made me feel secure. She asked if I had any worries and I said that I'd heard from other ladies that had given birth here that the epidurals get turned off when its time to push. She said Dr. Callahan will turn off the epidural, but Dr. Combs (who was on call right now) would not unless I asked. So I said "how long do I have until Callahan is on call" and she said until 7am so I knew I needed to push out this baby before 7am because I did not want my epidural taken away!
I asked if I could eat something, and she said I could have water and jello, and showed Jason that there was a fridge stocked with jellos in the hall. Then she provided me with a just in case barf bag. She said that as it gets closer to time to push, it's not uncommon for the stomach to empty itself and that its a good thing. She wasn't wrong, I threw up the jello and water shortly after eating it. So I got more water and another bag....and threw that up too. So I stopped drinking water, but I still felt better having eaten something, even thou I didn't get to digest it.
Jason and I took a nap for a little bit. The nurse and Jason helped roll me on my side, and put a peanut ball between my legs (its a giant peanut shaped ball). The chair Jason was in unfolded into a bed. Around midnight...maybe later, I started shivering real bad, so I asked for a blanket and that helped.
Around 1 am my epidural machine started making a weird noise, so I buzzed the nurse. I was dialated to like a 9 and would start pushing soon. The nurse pushed a bunch of buttons and spent a long time messing with it, but the beeping continued...so she called in the other nurse and the two of them shook thier heads and pushed a bunch of buttons and replaced the batteries and checked all the tubing. I was getting nervous. Annette said I'd have an hour until it wore off, and it'd already been like 30 minutes. The nurses couldn't figure out what was wrong so they had to call the Anesthesiologist back, and since he was at home it took him a while to get to me. I could feel my toes and lift my legs. I asked the nurse if maybe we should unhook the Pitocin since the epidural wasn't working and she said nope its too late for that.
Before it wore off completely, the dr arrived and switched out the epidural unit for a new one. I don't know if they turned down the dosage (they said they didn't), but I could move my legs and I wasn't as numb as before. I suppose it was about 2am when suddenly I had a new nurse again - Julie. That made me nervous too, I already really liked Annette. But there was another lady in labor that had to get a c-section so Annette was called away to help with that.
Then it was time to push. It was a lot less scary than I imagined. The room was dimly lit. Julie turned out to be very nice and comforting. She held my right leg, proping it against her shoulder. Jason held my left leg the same way. She'd watch a monitor to tell me when I was having a contraction, but I soon realized that I could tell when they were coming faster than they'd show on the monitor. Pushing was interesting, and after the first two I thought I'd pass out from lack of oxygen, which must have showed on my charts because she put me on an oxygen mask and instructed me how to breath between pushes. She said I was pushing really good. She'd put her fingers in me to check the cervix and the baby's head. She continued to coach me through each one. Pushing and contractions didn't hurt any, but that might be because as it turns out, baby never descended any.
We pushed for an hour, then she left the room and came back with Dr. Combs - my doctor. She reached in my vagina and said very firmly "This baby isn't coming out this way." Three things have to happen for the baby to come out - cervix completely thined (done) cervix dialated to 10 (done) baby be tilted the right way (not done). He wasn't breach, he was head down, but there are 'stations' measured in degrees that he tilts within the pelvis, and he wasn't tilted right. Julie also hypothisised that he was face up instead of face down, which makes it harder.
The Dr. and nurse said both baby and I were doing good, and i hadn't done anything wrong, and neither of us were in danger or stress. I could choose to keep pushing, which might cause the baby to undergo stress, or I could get a C-section, which even if I kept pushing I might need anyway. She seemed pretty convinced that I'd need one, so I said OK C-section. I didn't want the baby to undergo stress because my coworker Jennifer that had her baby back in April, her baby got stressed and had to be airlifted to Lubbock immediatly after an emergency C-section and I didn't want that.
Dr. Combs did two C-sections back to back. I laid in my room for a while and realized that when I wasn't pushing, those contractions were painful, and as I continued to wait I started to cry a bit. It felt like forever. They brought in a gown and mask for Jason to wear. The Anesthesiologist was back. He said he'd be injecting medicine in me directly as I felt pain,and it'd be stronger than my epidural. Then I was wheeled to the surgery room and I started to get scared but tried to be calm.
They moved me onto a operating table (I guess?) and hung a blue curtain that hung right at my chin and went all the way to my outstreched finger tips immediatly, so I saw nothing. The table had these two long bits for my arms, which I had to lay out kind of crusifix style? That was scary to lay like that.
Trevor is crying. to be continued.