Epidural Now! Please

Thursday, July 29th was the birth of our third little girl: Brynlie Hope. And she's a cutie weighing in at a full 5 lbs 12 oz and 18 1/2 inches long. When they handed her to me I couldn't believe how little she was. (Abs was 5 lbs 13 oz and apparently Ellie was our chunker at 7 lbs 11 oz). But how she got here was not part of the birthing plan. Mine had full use of drugs in mind, but God, well, he had another plan.

10am: Doctor appointment and was dilated to a 3 when the good doc stripped the membranes which he said would cause labor in 24-48 hrs and if not, come back Monday.

11am-ish: The girls and I picked up lunch and came home just waiting for the water to break or contractions to start. Absolutely nothing happened. All day. No pain. No twinges. Nothing. Even after researching about stripping of the membranes I realized it most likely was not going to work because of the overwhelming replies I could find of women who said it had been ineffective. (Later Dr. Wilson told me it works with women who have had children prior and are dilated to at least a 2) Brian and I talked about him going to work on Friday because she wasn't coming-even though I had my heart set on it.

6:30pm: Headed to the park with the girls to "walk" her out :) When I walked quickly, I felt pressure but when I slowed or stopped, so did the pressure. We came home, bathed, watched a bit of TV with the girls, read them bedtime stories and tucked them in around 8.30.

After 8:30 pm: I worked "just in case" and did laundry and began to feel cramps but figured they were Braxton-Hicks as I have had before and continued on with our evening. The cramping did get a bit worse but I thought "real" labor pains were in the back because that is what I had with Abbie. I did begin to time them around 9:30 and they were about 5 minutes apart.

10 pm: Our insurance has a nurse hotline where you can ask questions. She informed me they don't have to go the back and that if they are 5 minutes apart for an hour, head in and we were closing in on an hour. (At this point, I was just embarrassed I'd show up at the hospital and it would not be real).

10:15 pm: Called my mom to come over because we were going to check it out. The pain was intensifying. Told Brian to not call Dr. Wilson till we got there just in case it was false. (You would think I would have understood the "realness" by now). I figured we would get to the hospital and see what they said.

10:30 pm: Jumped in the van to head to hospital. Told Brian that we needed to page Dr. Wilson. Along our drive Brian made a funny little comment about needing to get gas. Um, not funny in the middle of a contraction. Maybe I can snicker a bit now.

10:45 pm: Entered the hospital in quite a bit of pain with contractions and managed to shuffle to L&D. Brian signed us in and off to room 7 we went. Got all the hospital stuff on and the nurse guessed I was at an 8. She was wrong. She said, "No, you're at a 9. No, you're complete. The only thing that kept you from having that baby at home was that you're water didn't break."
I requested an epidural. Several times. Was denied every time. No tylenol. Not even baby tylenol. It was going to be natural. This was not part of the plan.
There were nurses everywhere. Taking blood, putting in IV's, asking me questions. They were getting ready for the very soon to be birth.
What I remember was pain. Just a constant amount of pain. I now know why women on TV scream. It hurts.
By this time, Dr. Wilson had been called and must have drove 100mph to make it. He came in, put on his gear, popped the water and said, "Push." And I did. Boy, those contractions hurt but I did what I was told to do then I heard something that almost panicked me. The cord was around her neck and her heart rate was dropping. Dr. Wilson had them put NICU on standby "just in case". He told me to focus and that we needed her out now. I just prayed God would protect her. (Unbeknownst to me at the time, he had to cut me in order to his finger in to unwrap the cord from her neck.)

11:31 pm: Brynlie was born. Safe and sound, a bit banged up. They did have a NICU nurse come in and check her. During this time I could see her, but not hold her. They wanted to make sure she was OK and that was fine by me. They took her away to check her breathing and then brought my little girl back where I thanked God she was OK.

All in all, labor was about 2 hrs. All natural. At the time I would not have chosen this route, but now that it is over, I am glad that I got to experience a natural birth. So now, Brian owes me a bumper sticker...or a badge.