Why Epidurals are the Greatest Thing Ever

Thursday night around seven I started having some heavy contractions that I knew would lead to labor. We stayed at home watching t.v. to make sure that they were going to last long enough for us to have reason to check into the hospital. One of my biggest worries was that we would get to the hospital and they would turn us away for not being in "real" labor.

After the hour was up and I was still having contractions we decided to wait it out a little longer because I didn't want to be stuck in the hospital for hours on end. Plus we wanted to see as much of Hell's Kitchen as we could. Half-way through I decided the contractions were too strong and that it was definitely time for us to go. After stopping to return a movie (it was Steel Magnolias which I had to see before Easter) we made our way to the hospital.

We checked into the hospital right around nine and after checking me for dilation they concluded that I hadn't progressed at all from my appointment earlier that day. I was so bummed and mad that I almost started crying right there. My contractions were hurting at that point and it was so frustrating to think that it had all been for naught. It was decided that I would have to walk around the hospital for two hours and then they would check me again and if I still hadn't progressed I would be sent home.


Walking around the hospital was no fun because of how much pain I was in. At every contraction I would have to stop and wait against the wall. We made it to the end of the first hall and were just starting back when my water broke. Seriously that was the grossest thing ever. I was and am so grateful that it broke at the hospital and not at home so I didn't have to be the one to clean it up.


From there the contractions became much more painful. They were about two minutes apart and would last for about a minute each. I really was going to try and not have an epidural, but at this point that was no longer an option. It was here that I really thought this was going to be our first and only child. The guy came in to do the epidural and Stephen had to leave.


My epidural was seriously life-changing. Immediately it started working and I didn't care if this slowed things down or not, life was good again. They came back to check me again and in a hour I had progressed from a 3 to a 9.5. The nurse was really shocked and so were we but mostly I was just happy from that dang epidural. We started pushing around 1 on Friday morning and the doctor arrived at 1:30. From there I pushed for a little longer and Stephen the Kid was born at 1:50.


I didn't tear or need an episiotomy or anything and was feeling really good afterwards. The epidural had started to wear off right when he was coming out, but all that meant was that I could feel the pressure of it, but it didn't hurt at all. I was impressed that Stephen watched the entire thing! He was really interested and kept asking questions that made the nurses laugh the entire time. With a lot of prompting from the nurses he even cut the umbilical cord which he swore he'd never do!


So if you count my labor as starting with the first heavy contractions at 7, it lasted about 7 hours, but if you count from the time we got to the hospital at 9, it only lasted 5 hours. I think that's fantastic! He came in weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz. with a length at 20 1/4 in. I haven't needed to take any additional pain medication and we were released from the hospital on 4/4/09 at 4:00pm. It's just too bad I couldn't wait that extra day to deliver ;)