Birth Story April 20, 2012

We arrived at Mercy hospital around 8:30pm and got checked in. We stayed in room ob 10 in labor and delivery and our night nurse was Amanda. She was very nice and helped me relax a bit as I was very nervous about being induced. She put me on an iv of lactated ringers and oxytocin to help get my contractions started. She said the contractions were all over the place but starting to get closer together.

Around 11:30pm, the nurse checked my cervix and said I was almost 3 cm!! She said she's been increasing the oxytocin every time she comes in to the room. I can feel the pain of the contractions slightly now and they are coming 2 to 4 minutes apart. They had to bring in a doctor to break my water, which was the weirdest feeling I have ever felt but it was not painful. Then they brought in Dr. Yassa to give me an epidural. He was very nice and he explained everything he was doing to me while putting the epidural in. He tried to put the epidural in my lower lumbar region but there was so much pressure in my back I couldn't stand it. The pain was in my left lower back and it went down my entire left leg. He tried 3 separate times to place the catheter but couldn't do it. They gave me pain medication in my iv instead that only lasted 2 hours. I was thankfully able to get a little sleep during the night before I really started to feel the contractions.

Around 6:30 am, my contractions were so severe I thought I was going to go insane from the pain. The pain medication they were giving me through the iv was not touching the contractions. I would have a contraction, ride it out, and pass out in exhaustion but before I knew it, I was having another contraction again. Dr. Yassa came back in and he was able to place a catheter in my upper lumbar region. Amanda helped me so much by letting me lean on her for support while the doctor placed the catheter. It felt so nice to finally be rid of the pain I was feeling and I was able to get some real sleep before the daytime nurse, Sarah, came in to check my cervix. While Sarah was in the room, she noticed Kerrigan's heart rate fall as well as my blood pressure and they put me on oxygen. I was so scared something was happening to her but in a matter of minutes my blood pressure went back up and so did her heart rate. At 8am Sarah proclaimed I was 9 centimeters along and said she'd be back in in hour to check again.

By 9:30 am I was ready to push! It felt so weird to push. I felt so much pressure I thought I was going to be ripped apart! I was not expecting all of the pressure when I was crowning and I thought the epidural would have taken that all away. Boy was I wrong!! But she came out with only pushing for 30 minutes! I also had no tears which surprised all of the nurses and doctors! In total I was in labor for 11 hours and 40 minutes. She weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces and was 21 inches long with her head circumference being 13 ½.