They put a balloon in my cervix to dialate me to 3-4 centimeters manually since I hadn't done anything on my own. 3 hours later I was dialated to 4 centimeters. They wanted to start petocin right away, but I told them to wait an hour to see if my body would start dialating on it's own. 2 hours later, we didn't have any more dialation so they had to start the petocin. The contractions started coming on harder and much closer together as they kept upping the dosage. Finally I was in a lot of pain and they lowered the dosage of petocin and my body started taking over. The contractions were very strong and I was in a lot of pain. Ben was an incredible encouragement and was constantly there to support me and help me through each contraction. The doctor decided to come in and check me... I thought "ok, if I'm 7-8 centimeters then I can do this the rest of the way without drugs."
She said I was only dialated 5 centimeters.
After a little while, I believe it was about 630pm I requested an epidural. He put it in while I was in the middle of a horrid contraction so I didn't feel it, but it was really hard not to move at all during this process... of course Ben was again my support and I was able to lean on him. The doctor said that I would probably have about 4 more painful contractions before the epidural took effect.. so I started the countdown and he was pretty much on the dot with his guess.
Because I had waited to do the epidural AFTER I was in active labor it did not slow down the process at all. I kept dialating, but was feeling much better and more rested between contractions. I wasn't really able to sleep because they were still strong enough to keep me awake. In this time I dialated from a 6 to an 8 in 35 minutes and around 9:00pm I told the nurse that I had the urge to push. The doctor came in and I was at 10 centimeters. I pushed for an hour and 10 minutes and had to have a small episiotomy. Soon after that our sweet baby girl was born. She only cried lightly a couple cries and was put on my chest. Right away she was looking around and starring at me silently. She is a very healthy beautiful baby girl. We can't believe how lucky we are!
She said I was only dialated 5 centimeters.
After a little while, I believe it was about 630pm I requested an epidural. He put it in while I was in the middle of a horrid contraction so I didn't feel it, but it was really hard not to move at all during this process... of course Ben was again my support and I was able to lean on him. The doctor said that I would probably have about 4 more painful contractions before the epidural took effect.. so I started the countdown and he was pretty much on the dot with his guess.
Because I had waited to do the epidural AFTER I was in active labor it did not slow down the process at all. I kept dialating, but was feeling much better and more rested between contractions. I wasn't really able to sleep because they were still strong enough to keep me awake. In this time I dialated from a 6 to an 8 in 35 minutes and around 9:00pm I told the nurse that I had the urge to push. The doctor came in and I was at 10 centimeters. I pushed for an hour and 10 minutes and had to have a small episiotomy. Soon after that our sweet baby girl was born. She only cried lightly a couple cries and was put on my chest. Right away she was looking around and starring at me silently. She is a very healthy beautiful baby girl. We can't believe how lucky we are!
Alexis McKenzie Lubenow
Born 1/18/09 at 10:15pm
7 lbs 3 oz
19 1/2 inches long
No comments:
Post a Comment