When we checked into the hospital, my contractions were intense and I was ready for my epidural. They told me that I could have my epidural as early as I wanted so they ordered in as soon as I was officially checked in. I have seen this process done many times on TV and online so I was not at all afraid of this process...I welcomed it as sweet relief. When she started putting the epidural in she didn't warn me or anything, she just stuck my back and it scared me so that I jumped. As they were putting the epidural in I saw the reaction to Mr. Wonderful's face and he looked worried. I found out the reason he looked so worried is because when she put the needle in initially, apparently I was bleeding profusely from my back. She stuck me about 3 times to get the medicine in and it didn't work. She said she didn't have the correct needle and needed to go get another one. When she returned, we did the process again and she had to stick me 2 more times to find the right spot. Then she started dosing the epidural and it was so painful that she had to remove it and do it again in a higher spot and finally got it in. I was in so much pain by then I just wanted her to get it in and over with so I could get some relief. I didn't realize at the moment that this was an indication of how my labor was going to be.
When they put the epidural in, I had to use the bathroom but they wouldn't allow me to because I had the epidural in. They kept telling me that the feeling that I had to use the bathroom would go away but it never did. I could feel everything...each contraction and each time they had to check my cervix was very painful. The nurse ended up telling me that sometimes there are "hot spots" that the epidural can't get to and that was my problem...and I was going to have to deal with it. That made me so mad because I know that you aren't supposed to feel anything once you have the epidural. So I labored for quite a while feeling all of the contractions. And as I felt the pain, my blood pressure would go up significantly and the baby did not tolerate that well at all. They moved me on to my left side to help the baby get better blood flow and gave me oxygen. I had to stay on my left side and keep the oxygen mask on my face for the entire time that I labored. So I'm feeling my contractions, dealing with this oxygen mask, and laying on my left side...that made for an uncomfortable laboring situation!
Then my angel walked in, his name was Tom and I will never forget him. They had a shift change from the night to day shift and Tom was the anesthegiologist and he was able to fix the epidural. When he came, my doctor ordered him to redo the epidural and he did it in about 10 minutes and then dosed it with some wonder drug that worked...but it only lasted for 45 min to an hour before they had to come dose it again. I labored like this for 16 hours!!!!!! I made it to 9 cm but the baby never decended. My doctor told me that the reason she wasn't coming down was because she was facing up and her umbilical chord was short. So she was not destined to come into the world vaginally. At about 3:45 my doctor came in and said that I had labored long enough and she didn't think I progressed well enough to continue and she took us back for a c-section. We went back for the c-section and I was so happy when they pulled her out and she was crying, healthy, and perfect! She was in tears, I was in tears, and her daddy was in tears. We were just elated to have her here after all we have gone through.
So they brought me back to my room and we had to dress her up like the doll that she is...and that was fun to do :) I felt fine when I returned to the room but my delivery nurse made sure I knew that I had been through a rough ordeal with my delivery. That next morning, the nurse wanted me to get up and move around because it would help me feel better. So they got me out of the bed and we were in the restroom cleaning up. When they were talking, it sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher talking and I couldn't hear anything they were saying. I then saw these bright spots and told the nurses what I was feeling. They tried to rush me back to the bed but I fainted before I could get to the bed. Mr. Wonderful said he didn't know what to do because he was holding Kendal and knew they needed help with getting me out of the floor. They got me to come to and they were on top of me fanning. There were about 6 nurses in the room helping with me. When they got me out of the floor and to the bed I fainted again and they had to elevate my legs to get the blood back to my brain. That whole day I tried to get up and would get lightheaded and couldn't remain on my feet. It was awful . By Thursday, I was feeling a little better and was able to move a little better. My doctor kept me at the hospital until Saturday because she wanted me to be completely over the fainting spells. Apparently by blood pressure was fluctuating and my blood count was low and my body couldn't tolerate it. We made it home on Saturday and while I am not 100% yet, we have made a lot of progress since this time last week. We are elated that she is here and I am recovering as best as I can. Here are some pics of Miss Kendal Rose :)
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