Been really forgetful in the recent days. I should have finished the labor and delivery story sooner as now it wasn't as fresh in my brain cells anymore.
After the epidural was done, I felt no pain at all. I would highly recommend epidural for delivery (but the bill from the anesthesiologist was expensive - total fee was around $2300 and we paid $308 out of the total, the rest was covered by the medical insurance). No more moving around for me, as I was basically adhered to the bed. In the meanwhile, I should have rested but I didn't. I had all these adrenalines running all over my blood streams, just too excited for my baby's arrival. My hubby looked at the monitor and saw the peaks and asked me if I felt the contraction. My answer was, "NO!"
The nurses kept coming in and out checking on me. They assured me that my OB/GYN has been informed regarding my status/condition and he will be arriving soon to check on me. Now as I am typing this, I really don't remember exactly when my OB/GYN arrived. I know he was there once before I started pushing. But he came and broke my water but there wasn't much that came out. That was why I was induced because the water level was very low. During this time they also set up the room for delivery where they brought in a lot of equipments including the weighing machine, baby cot, the baby warmer (actually when I looked back the pictures, I realized that this one was already in the room when I went in) and the tray for suturing.
Anyway, around 10am, the nurse said it's time to start pushing as she said the cervix has dilated to 10cm. A labor nurse was with me all the time (sorry to say I forgot her name as well). She taught me the right way to push - 'push like you have a bowel movement'. So my job was to concentrate on the pushing - chin to the chest, hold my breath for the count of 10 and PUSH HARD (repeat three times during each contraction). But everytime after I pushed, I would ask her if I was pushing correctly and she assured me that I was doing great. As I couldn't feel the contraction, we had to view the monitor for it. She let me rest (may be 10-15 mins) after each session of pushing.
Baby was still very high, I've pushed until around 1130am and my OB/GYN came in and said that if baby didn't come out by 1pm, we'd go in for C-section. He said he would give me a total of 3 hours to deliver the baby and 1pm would be the cut off time (actually 3 hrs is pretty long, as I've heard that some mothers just push one or two times, the baby is out already). So from then onwards, I was really pushing really hard and I pushed up to count of 11 or 12 each time. I could tell that the nurse seemed a little worry at my determination to get the baby out ASAP. She kept asking me rest. During that time, the nurses used warm pad to prepare the perineum area for the delivery. But she told me it tored really bad. The doctor also said earlier that it would be either a 4th degree tear or a C-section. Thanks to the epidural, I felt nothing (until I went home).
Then came 1230pm, and the baby was still inside. I was now getting nervous, really nervous. I think my face was white or pale. We continued pushing. I pushed even harder by then. Baby's crowned (head seen) around that time. But still, the baby wasn't moving down quick enough and the chances of me being in the C-section room was pretty high. Then came 1pm, luckily my OB/GYN was with another patient and the labor nurse was trying hard to get the baby out by that time.
Eventually, around 115pm, the doctor was called and he came in while giving me a smile said to me that we didn't have to go for C-section after all. He then prepared himself (dressed up with apron, and a face shield) for the final process - the delivery. He cut the perineum but I didn't feel anything though I heard the sissor's sound. I didn't care about that. Just want to baby to come out. After the cut, he used the vacuum and sucked the baby's head out, head and body all out at once.
"NGWAWH! NGWAWH! NGWAWH!" We heard the baby cries. Saw baby had a lot of hair. Hubby cut the cord and they carried the baby to clean up and weigh. During that time, the doctor was sewing me up. We chatted about my sister's condition as she was in the hospital too and her baby's could arrive anytime. It took him pretty long to sew me up. I couldn't imagine how bad the cut and the tore were. AIKS! I did ask him how many stitches he did on me, but he said that only in the old times they count the stitches as they needed to be removed. Now, they don't do the counting anymore as no removal was needed, but he could tell me that it was a lot of stitches.
Finally, the baby was wrapped up in the delivery blanket and given to me after all his measurements were taken and all shots and eye cream were given. Baby was still crying ... I still remember the cries ... very small, petite, gentle ... unlike now ... *shake head* he cries so loud. The three of us were left alone in the room. Hubby and I were still in cloud nine. Slowly the baby stopped crying and went to sleep while still in my arms.
2 comments:
Sounds painful ouch! Thanks for sharing your story. I would hv opted for epidural too had I been able to deliver naturally.
g: it wasn't my idea to get an epidural. but the doctor already told me earlier to have one so it will be less stressful on me. at that time i still a bit skeptical about his words. but in the end i had it anyway.
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