Our Labor and Delivery Story

Tuesday November 4th at 10 PM- Went in to be induced. I was 39 weeks along.

11PM - Pitocin (medicine administered through a drip IV to start contractions) was hooked up and the contractions began about an hour or so later. The contractions were mildly painful and tolerable at this point until 6AM. I was up through the night feeling them about every 2-3 minutes. Like I said, I could deal with them and they weren't TOO bad at this point.

6 AM- My water broke on its own. My contractions immediately became stronger and more intense. 6 AM until 9 AM (which is when I received the epidural) was very painful. The contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes. I was miserable. It was a pain I had never felt before, not even when I got in the car wreck and broke 7 vertebrae. These three hours were the hardest part of it all.

9 AM- I received the epidural. Normally, they like to wait until 4cm dilation to give the epidural, but I got mine at only 3cm. I was in too much pain, so I was allowed to have it early. Keep in mind, I have a very low pain tolerance and mentally I am not the type of person who can block out pain and discomfort. Yes, I am a total wuss. I felt no pain about 30 minutes after receiving the epidural. Things were soooooo much better after I received it! If I could do it again, I would have done it exactly the same. It made me relax and made me focus on Karmella, rather than my pain and discomfort.

9 AM to 4 PM - A waiting game. I continued to have contractions and slowly dilated, but I didn't feel them AT ALL thanks to the epidural. During this time I was able to relax and doze in and out. I could not get out of bed after the epidural, though, because once you get it you can't feel your legs. In fact, I could barely move my legs. It's like I was paralyzed from the waist down. However, I'd rather not feel my legs than feel painful contractions. That's just me, though!

4 PM - Time to push. I was finally 10 cm dilated and my cervix had moved from posterior to anterior. My mom and Austin were in the room with me. I pushed for an hour and that was extremely exhausting, but not painful (again, thanks to the good ol' epidural). I was very relaxed during the pushing. It's not like the movies where you see screaming and yelling. At least it wasn't for me- it was actually very peaceful in the room during this time. Karmella's heart rate was very steady and she was not showing any sign of distress! Yay!!! Great news because I didn't want to have an emergency C-section! Austin held my hand the whole time and kept telling me how good I was doing and encouraging me. He was even holding his breath when I had to and breathing along with me! I would look up into his eyes and it immediately calmed me down. I love him more than ever after this whole experience.

November 5th @ 5:01 PM - Karmella entered this crazy world and my life is now changed for the better! I looked at her after she was out and I can't even put into words what I felt and thought when I saw her. "THAT is what was in me the past 9 months- THOSE are the feet that kicked me all that time- THAT little human is something WE created!" I cried and got to hold her right away, even before they cleaned her.

Then they took her to the nursery and daddy got to go with her. They brought her back about 8PM after making sure everything was ok and giving her the routine shots and checkup.

She slept in my hospital room that night with daddy and me as we watched and took care of her. We ended up staying another night after that to keep an eye on her jaundice. So, we were at the hospital for 3 nights and finally went home with our new baby girl on Friday.