Griffin's Birth - Part 2

{see part 1 here!}

I was dilated to a 2 and 75% effaced.  Seriously the sweetest news to our ears after Dr. Mascorro delivered the message! In hindsight, I realize that being on the pitocin for 2 hours helped me to progress to this point and that Chatty Kathy nurse was probably correct when she checked me at 5 a.m. In the moment though, when I heard Dr. M's news, I really wanted to find the nurse and give her a nice "I told you so!!" {nobody ever said that a 9 month pregnant lady is known for rational thinking!)

After checking my progress, Dr. M grabbed a tool {seriously looked like a 15 inch plastic knitting needle!}  from one of the nurses and just like that, she broke my water. I had a fear throughout my pregnancy that my water would break and I wouldn't know it.  {this fear was more of a slow trickle water breaking, not the gush.}  Y'all, there is NO WAY I would have missed this gush! My dr. was actually laughing and commented how hilarious it was as they were trying to get enough towels to catch all of it.

All of a sudden, it really set in for Cody and I... we're having a baby today!! After months, weeks and days of waiting to see how I would progress on the day after we checked into the hospital, it was so nice to finally have our answer and know that within a matter of hours, we would meet our son!

Because of the pitocin, I was having regular contractions up until this point. When the nurses asked me if they just felt like a tightening of my stomach, gave this short sweet smile and nodded their head, I got the feeling that the contractions weren't really getting me anywhere.  As soon as my water was broken though, things got real. You read and hear that you'll just know when it's time and know when they're real, but I still questioned towards the end of my pregnancy, "Are these real?" And once I experienced real contractions, I got it.  Because it's true, you will totally know when they're real.

On a side note, they had a nurse change at 7 am and I lucked out and got the sweetest nurses ever. They seriously made for such a great delivery experience and I could not have hand picked a better pair to help me out. {special thanks to Cari and Krystina if they ever happen to read this!} Around 10, they came in and offered some pain medicine to me to help carry me over until I was progressed enough for the epidural. I quickly took them up on the offer because of the amount of pain I was in.  I remember asking them how often they would check my progress and what I had to be at in order to get an epidural. {not very often because of risk of infection and a 4} I cringed and said I wasn't sure I was going to be able to handle the pain until then.  The nurses commented though that I was having really good, hard contractions that all of the other nurses were jealous of. That made me feel a lot better about the pain I was in. I was really worried that these were just the start of contractions and it was going to get a lot worse from here.

They gave me Demerol and Phenergan to help with the pain. Really though, all it seemed to do was knock me out, then I would wake up to try and breath through a contraction and pain, only to I pass out again once the contraction finished. I don't remember much of what happened when I had this medicine, only that I could distinctly tell when it made it's way into my body because I felt so drugged. I know my speech was starting slurring as it was taking effect, which was probably slightly humorous. All I really remember during this time is that family was coming in and out of the room, but I didn't really know anyone was there unless I was having a contraction. If I was in the middle of a contraction, I had no desire to interact with anyone, I only wanted to keep my eyes closed, grab on to the bed and try to breath through it.

Around 11, the nurses checked me again and I was at a 3. She said they would check me again in another hour to see if I was at a 4 and then call the anesthesiologist to get the epidural. Waiting another hour sounded like pure torture at that point. Unbeknownst to me, my sweet nurses went to check with Dr. Mascorro to see if they could go ahead and get an epidural for me and she said yes. By noon, the anesthesiologist was there to give it to me. I was worried about the epidural and thought it was going to be very painful.  All I really felt though was a small pinch from the shot he gave me to numb the area, and then sweet, sweet relief from the medicine.

Y'all, I have a great deal of respect for women who deliver naturally without any drugs. You are so strong and people should praise you. I do have to say though, why?!?!?!?!?!?! The epidural is SERIOUSLY THE GREATEST INVENTION EVER.  Once it kicked in, labor actually became enjoyable!  I was a totally different person, chatting up everyone who walked into the room. :) Truly, I cannot say enough wonderful things about the epidural and if you are currently pregnant, I HIGHLY encourage you to get one!

After getting the epidural, one of the nurses checked me and said she thought I was at a loose 6, {around noon} but hadn't been working in L & D very long so she wasn't totally sure she was right.  About 30 minutes later the nurses came back in and the more experienced nurse checked me again, trying to see if the first nurse was right, and said she thought I was at an 8.  Shortly after that, we had a slight scare. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but all of the sudden the nurses came in, made me lay down and put me on oxygen because Griffin's heart rate dropped down to 90.

I ended up spending the next two hours laying on my left side with the oxygen for Griffin's sake.   They did come back in again to make me switch to the right side because his heart rate dropped again and seemed to take a little while to come back up and stabilize.

After the second time his heart rate dropped around 2:30, the nurses checked me again and said I was at a 9 and almost ready to push. At this point the nurses started readying the room and getting it ready for delivery.

Cody sent out a few texts to update friends and we prepared to get the real show started!