Baby Emily Born! - Part II

After the Epidural was plugged into my back the pain mercifully waned significantly. Whew! It went from about a 9 with lots of moaning to a 5, then a 3 and I could talk through it again and I began to relax. But now I felt absolutely nothing in my bottom half. My legs were mostly numb and I could barely lift them. The nurse came in to rotate me every hour or so and I had a catheter put in. Definitely became the patient. But it was a blessed relief! I was supposed to try to get some sleep but I kept shaking all over, which is a common side effect about half the time. But I did sleep maybe an hour or so maybe twice. Another vaginal exam at 3:30 and I had become 4cm dilated and all the way effaced and then at 5:30 I was 9cm and mostly ready to go. But I guess they keep you waiting a bit to be more ready. The nurse shift changed and this amazing male nurse came it. (At my birthing classes for the hospital the midwife said that there is one male nurse in the labor and delivery section and that he is amazing.) So I was happy to see him. He gave me a great tutorial on how to push with lots of good examples, and actually laid on the floor and showed me how to hunch my body.

Then my doctor came in and we did a few practice pushes to see how things were going to go and the nurse gave me a few more tips. My doula was holding one leg up and the nurse the other. Alas, Fred had run to Peet's to get some coffee for the doula and some breakfast for himself and apparently stopped by the apartment as well! So we texted him to get back quick. He got back at 9:25 and the baby came out at 9:48. The pushing was actually not hard. Of course it didn't hurt at all and it was weird to have no reaction from the body. The nurse had turned the Epidural back to 50% a while before so that I could get some feeling back, but there was almost none. He asked me what my exercise regime had been during pregnancy and I was glad I ignored the advice of "Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy" which said exercise meant nothing during pregnancy. I told him that I had been doing 1-2 water aerobics classes a week, once a week strength training through week 36, once a week prenatal yoga, and a great exercise video once a week. He was very impressed. He thinks that's why I was able to push baby out in less than an hour. Which ended up being very good since she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.

So, Fred was there and baby came out pretty quick and the pushing didn't hurt and the stitching up the tear didn't hurt (until a little later, whew!) and baby was out.