My birth story- induction w/ epidural "not taking"

Julie Danielle Fields

Born: November 11, 2008 at 1:37 pm

6 lb 13 oz and 19 ? inches long

Julie?s birth was induced on November 11^th, 2008. We woke up around 5:30 am that morning and got ready to go to the hospital, Nathan took Natalie (2 1/2 year old daughter) to the babysitter?s house and Debbie (MIL) came to pick me up from the house and we went on the hospital in order to be there at the 7:00 scheduled induction time. We got there and met our nurse (Faith) and she went ahead and got me all admitted. Nathan and Will (BIL) got to the hospital soon after. I told the nurse that I would like as little pain possible, however I would like to avoid the Staidol because it had made me so sleepy during my labor with Natalie.

Around 8:00am they started my Pitocin to induce the labor and things started out pretty well, it was uncomfortable but bearable. However around 10:15 I asked to get an epidural because the contractions had started becoming very painful. The anesthesiologist came in soon after and I was given the first epidural. I immediately lost feeling in both of my legs and thought things were going well. About 20 minutes afterwards I called the nurse back in and told her I felt a ?bubble? in my back and the anesthesiologist came back in and said that I would either have to deal with it or re-do my epidural. I decided to deal with it, for it wasn?t painful just annoying. Just about 5 minutes after that I started getting all feeling back and was in immense pain and unable to concentrate and asked them to come back. . Just a few minutes later I felt very nauseous and told them that my head was pounding and I thought I head ?supersonic? hearing.  The anesthesiologist came back in and did a new epidural, however it never took and I never felt numb anywhere again.

I went a short while after this without any additional medication however I became in such intense pain I had to ask for the Staidol. The next few hours I was in and out of sleep? in between contractions I would wake up crying and asking for someone to help me. One time the anesthesiologist came back in to check and see what was happening and I grabbed onto his arm and just begged him to ?please help me and not do this to me?, however he said that sometimes they just don?t work and it?s out of his control. Around 12:40 pm I woke up once again with a contraction and told Nathan that I was feeling as if I needed to push and he paged the nurse to come in. The nurse came in and checked and said I was only dilated to an eight and just to wait. I told her right away that I had to push that I couldn?t stop. From there it all became very busy in the room with nurses and I kept pushing and was just unable to stop.

Not too much longer after that we overheard them calling for my doctor to come in because I was unable to stop pushing and all of the sudden the baby was there. However Dr. Moss had gone to her daughter?s school reception and told us that she would be back around 2:00 (she said earlier that she didn?t see the baby coming until late afternoon). I could hear the nurses scrambling around and I just kept telling them over and over to please hurry because the baby was coming and I couldn?t stop. We then heard Faith tell one of the other nurses to call Dr Moss that it was time, just a few seconds later; the nurse came back in and said that Dr Moss was on her way. Faith was finishing getting me  ready and  told that nurse that there was no time, ?this baby is coming NOW, go find any doctor to get in here?, well just as that nurse was walking out of the room in walks Dr. Moss (dressed in her nice clothes) and she was just shocked, she said that she couldn?t believe that I was ready to go already. I starting begging her to please hurry the baby is coming and at one point she said ?I?m hurrying? in which I replied ?no your not?. 

Dr Moss then got in her scrubs and from there I really pushed with all the strength I had for about 3 to 4 minutes while squeezing Nathan and a nurse?s hand the whole time. Julie was born at 1:37pm. I remember hearing her making a small little crying sound and then them sitting her on my chest? Nathan and I just sat there in amazement staring at her for a moment (of course, crying) then Nathan and the nurses took her to clean her up a little while the doctor finished taking care of me, while Debbie stayed with me by the bed. Due to the Staidol I was very tired and wasn?t really alert once the doctor was done. I was only able to hold Julie another brief few minutes before falling back to sleep. From there a few family members came back in to see the baby while I rested, until Nathan and Faith carried Julie down to the nursery to be bathed, weighed, and examined. A little while later Faith returned to my room to help get me moved over to the recovery room, on the way she let me go look at Julie through the nursery window.

They brought Julie down to the recovery room to me about 2 hours later, she had a little problem maintaining her body heat so we got strict instructions from the nurse to keep her swaddled because if her temperature went back down they would have to take her back to the nursery. I immediately tried nursing with Julie, since we were unable to in the delivery room, and she did a great job latching right on. Since I wasn?t able to really spend a lot of time with her in delivery, I really spent the next few hours just looking at her, examining her, and nursing.

Around 5:00 that afternoon Rebecca (SIL), Seci(niece), and Natalie came to meet Julie. As soon as they walked into the room and were taking their jackets off Natalie tried peeking her head around the corner, she could see me lying in the bed. When they came around the corner and she got her first glimpse at Julie, her eyes got very big with amazement. She immediately climbed onto the bed wanting to look at the baby and give me kisses. Then she asked to hold the baby. Nathan held Natalie and helped her hold Julie and she just sat there so amazed at her new little sister. They stayed for about an hour and a half and all Natalie was interested in was holding the baby and checking her out.

We had quite a few visitors that came to the hospital to meet Julie over the next few days. We left the hospital Friday morning and Nathan dropped Julie and I off at our house and then went and picked Natalie up from the babysitters? house and brought her home.