The Gory Details

I guess it’s true that the best laid plans often go awry. That being said, the only elements I had in my “birth plan” were to get an epidural and to shoot Panda out my vag. I figured that was pretty simple and attainable, right? Well, I guess one out of two isn't bad...

Finally, Monday night, though the contractions I’d been having all day long never got 5 minutes apart for an hour, they did pick up in both frequency and intensity around 7pm. From there, things happened very quickly. Around 8pm, my water broke at home while I was having a contraction. We quickly headed to the hospital.

After getting checked in and upstairs to labor and delivery, I was checked by a nurse and determined to be 5-6cm dilated. Immediately, I became concerned that I would not get my precious epidural, and my concern was well justified. Apparently, it takes about 30 minutes to get the paper and blood work done to get the green light to receive the epidural, which is usually administered at 4cm of dilation. Maybe there was still hope....

Once I had signed the papers and just before the nurse was to draw blood, she checked my cervix again to find I was fully dilated and ready to push, thus no time for an epidural…my worst birthing nightmare! I didn’t think things could get any worse, but they did. My Dr. was still on his way to the hospital and was 15-20 minutes away. The nurse asked if I could wait to push until he arrived. Oh sure! No problem! I was in intense pain, on oxygen, having contractions every 2 minutes, but I was cool to ride it out another 15. Or 20.

Somehow, though all I wanted to do every time I had a contraction was push, I was able to wait until Dr. Litrel got there at 10pm. He took a quick look and told me when I was ready, I could push. Avery was born at 10:08. She really did shoot out of my vag. Somewhere in there, Dr. Litrel gave me an episiotomy and Greg cut the cord.

I really can’t describe the intensity of the pain, but can say it’s the worst pain I’ve ever been in. Slow, steady breaths during the contractions did help, as did thinking that it would all be over soon. Ironically too, I felt like the half marathon training I’d done also offered some “I can do this” positivity to my thinking. All I can say it though it was awful while I was enduring it, I can hardly remember it now that my beautiful, sweet daughter is here.

Speaking of Avery, she's starting to fuss, so I'll update more when I can on what we've been doing the past couple days!