Juliet Grace's Arrival, Part 2

So after I was given the epidural, I was feeling great.  I did notice a small ache in my right back side. The nurses said that it's normal for epidurals to not work completely on your back and sometimes the baby's position can effect how it works.  The main nurse that helped throughout my labor, who was a rockstar and I wish I remembered her name, asked me if I was feeling like I needed to push or bear down at all.  I said I had no idea and she asked if I wanted her to check to see how far along I was now.  The second she checked me, she turned to the other nurse and told her to call the doctor right away because I was complete.  Which means, I went through the entire first part of labor all the way to 10 cm dilated WITHOUT an epidural.  I felt much more validated about the pain I had been going through.  Keep in mind, I got the epidural about 45 minutes after we arrived at the hospital.  I went from 6 to 10 cm in FORTY FIVE MINUTES.

The doctor arrived shortly after, which was sadly not my doctor since it was the weekend and she wasn't on call.  They let me take a 30 minute break before pushing since I had been in so much pain and wanted to rest before having to go back at it again.

Once we started pushing around 1 am, I noticed that the back pain that had been bothering me was getting severely worse.  It was starting to become unbearable with every single contraction.  It also seemed to get worse as I pushed.  The nurse said that this might mean the baby was posterior but they couldn't tell.  I pushed a good hour and the nurse seemed to think that she was posterior because she kept trying to move her body around but she wasn't making any progress out of my body.

We tried a ton of different techniques like pushing on my side, the nurse wrapped a sheet around her and had me pull on it as I pushed, using the bars on the hospital bed to pull as I pushed, pulling on my legs as one nurse held one leg and Chris held the other.  None of them seemed to be working.  I could tell that pushing wasn't doing anything because after every contraction that I pushed through, it would be silent.

The doctor came in for a bit to try to help me push as well, but once again nothing seemed to be effective.  At this point I started feeling funny and my mouth felt strange.  The doctor asked me if I was feeling sick, I said I think I might be, then the second the nurse punched open the bag for me, I threw up into it twice.

The doctor left for a bit and we were back at it again. No progress.  I was in so much pain.  The epidural had completely stopped working and I was feeling every single contraction in my back.  My legs were shaking as one of the nurses and Chris held them up for me to push.  I couldn't push because it hurt so much.  I begged for more medication and they got the anesthesiologist back in there to give me more.  However, it wasn't the same medication as an epidural.  Just something else he said would maybe help a little, but it did not!

The nurses then decided to let me take a short 30 minute break.  Chris went to move the car from the 4-hour parking since we knew we'd be here for the long haul.  I laid on my side and would fall asleep in between every contraction and then wake back up as they came along.  At this point I was so discouraged.  I thought there was no way this baby was going to come out.  I just kept hoping that I would pass out and they'd just do a C-section and I'd wake up with a baby!  No such luck.

The doctor came in as I was resting and told me I needed to start pushing harder or she would need to use forceps or do a C-section.  I was so discouraged.  I had no idea how I could physically push any harder!! The nurses came back in once again and we pushed probably for a good 30-45 minutes and then the doctor came in, saw that I still had made no progress, and asked if I would be okay with forceps.  At this point, I could care less I just wanted this baby OUT.

She finally got the forceps out, which I thankfully did not see.  After using the forceps through 2 contractions of pushing, I pushed on my own and our beautiful baby girl was born at 3:26 am, which was really 4:26 am, but the time changed an hour back while we were there.

8 pounds, 15 oz

20 inches

Poor baby girl had quite a big bump on her head when she was first born from the forceps.  Luckily it went away very quickly.

Chris came and showed me this picture of her right after she was born, because I only saw her for a second before the NICU nurses had to make sure she was okay.

It was confirmed after she was born that she was posterior and the doctor said there was no way she would've come out without the forceps.  Which I wish we could've realized before I pushed for 3.5 hours!!  I sadly did not get to hold her right after she was born because she had passed meconium during labor so they had to have her taken straight to the NICU nurses in the room to make sure she was okay.  After she was checked by the nurses, Chris got to hold her as I was stitched up, as the forceps caused me to have really bad tearing.

First time holding baby girl and enjoying some skin to skin.