I went into labor on my due date, April 5th, at 4:00 AM. I woke Michael up and told him that I was having contractions, and he timed them. They were 2 mins. apart, and so he called the doctor. We knew it had to be too soon, but the doctor's office said to go to the hospital and get checked out. The hospital was an hour away, so we packed up and were there by about 8:00 AM. They checked and I was only 2 cm. dilated. So they sent us packing. I had a doctor's appointment later that day & we didn't want to make another trip down the mountain. So, we stayed in town, trying to kill time, while I dealt with my pain. It was way different than I had anticipated, and a lot harder to act normal than I thought. We spent most of the morning in Babies R Us walking and walking...while I tried not to act like I was going to drop the baby right there in the aisle.
We went for lunch at Olive Garden, and I grew steadily more unable to handle regular life. Then we waited in the grass outside of the doctor's office for my appointment at 1:30 PM. At the doctors, I was only 2 cm. dilated, still! So they told me to go home, I was so disappointed that I hadn't made any progress for all of the contractions I had.
I went home, and the time seemed to pass, really quickly. Next thing I remember, I was in my bedroom, really grunting it out, when I told Michael that I needed to go to the hospital. He called the birthing center, and they said to come in. When we showed up at midnight, I couldn't walk down the halls, because I thought she was going to drop out. They wheeled me up to the birthing center, and found out that I was only 4 cm dilated. They kept me anyways, since my contractions were every 2 mins. and strong. I labored until about 2 AM before I asked for some pain medicine. By 3:00 AM I was still only 4 cm. dilated, but fully effaced & ready for the epidural. Finally, I had some relief!!!!! I'm telling you that the epidural is amazing!!!! I was actually able to sleep and get some of my strength back.
If you are considering whether or not to get an epidural, my advice is: have fun with your natural birthing techniques, but the epidural is simply a gift from God, and you're crazy not to take it, when you get to the point that you're too tired to go on. There you go, my advice, take it or leave it.
I forgot to add that when I was only 4 cm dilated, and fully effaced, the baby was in a +3 station position. Which means that the doctor could see her head. She was all the way down the birth canal, and that's why it felt like I couldn't walk without dropping her.
Anyways, time passed nicely after the epidural. My contractions eased off, and so they gave me some Pitocin to get them back in full gear. I couldn't tell what was going on. I had some pressure, and I felt like pushing, but I didn't feel any of the pain that comes with it. God bless the person who invented the epidural!!! The nurse walked in and checked me at about 11:30 AM, pulled some carts around, and told me very calmly, "OK, it's time." I couldn't believe it! It was time to push.
She called the doctor, & had my mom and Michael each hold up my legs. She told me "We're going to count to 10, and you push as hard as you can. I'll let you catch your breath, and then we'll do it again. We'll do that three times and then you can take a longer break." When I felt the pressure begin, we started pushing. If I hadn't done 24 hours of contractions before the epidural, I would've felt like it was too easy. In 10 mins. flat I pushed Lissette into the world.
It was fast. I couldn't believe that such a monumentous occasion wasn't heralded by the sky splitting open and angels playing trumpets... or something. I pushed, and she was born. That's it.
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