And Here Comes Norah! (Part 2)

After arriving at the hospital, we were registered and taken to triage where they hooked me up to the monitors and let me just hang out there for a while.  When the nurse checked me, she confirmed that I was 4-5 centimeters!  She left to call the doctor on call to see what he wanted to do and I told her to pass along the message that I was not going home!  A few minutes later, she came back in and said that we were moving into birthing room 1 and that the doctor was coming to break my water!  Yippee!

I called my mom andtold them what was happening, and texted a couple of friends to let them know too.  At that point the contractions had gotten a little stronger, but nothing too bad.  That all changed after my water broke (which felt really weird, by the way).  Once that  cushion was gone, it was game on.  I actually had to really focus and breathe through the contractions.  I found that sitting on a birthing ball did a lot to help me get comfortable.

As you can see from the picture, Evan was pretty cool about everything, he had Cat in the Hat on the iPhone.

After a little bit of sitting on that ball, and having some extreme contractions, I was totally ready to talk epidural.  I’d had enough.  They called the anesthesiologist, but he was at home, so it was going to be about 45 minutes until he got there.  45 LONG minutes.  In which time I had a giant contraction, cried, and screamed at Josh to shut up.  The nurse then offered me some Nubain… I gladly took it.  That stuff was amazing.  I actually was falling asleep in between contractions.  And I fell asleep HARD.

When that doctor got there, I don’t think I had ever been so happy to see someone in my life.  I have to say, the epidural was welcomed with open arms, although it didn’t take the pain completely away like I thought it would.  The pain from the contractions was gone, but I still felt such intense pressure that it quickly replaced the pain from the contractions.  Along with Norah shoving her foot into my rib with every contraction.  But I know I would not have been able to do it without one.  My hat really goes off to all you mamas who have delivered med free.  I salute you.

After a few minutes, the nurse checked me and found Norah had moved way down and I was 8-9 centimeters.  That’s when I got mean.  Seriously, the grinch in me really came out!  I had to have my mom rub my feet with each contraction and when she didn’t, she got an ear full.  And Josh had to stay next to me, but he couldn’t talk or rub anything.  He held my hand.  That’s it.  And nobody was allowed to talk during contractions, which at this point seemed to be never ending.  Then 10 minutes later, it was time to get ready to push.  I was complete.  And then I started to cry… again.  I was scared!  I was already in so much pain, the idea of adding to it did not sound good.  Dr. Perez got there, and just like that, it was time.  It was time to bring Norah into the world.

Advertisement