Lucy's Birth Story

Lucy Angel Werner
8lbs 7ounces
June 5, 2011 @ 2:56pm

Since I always love a good birth story, including all of the nitty gritties- I share with you mine & baby lucy's! So, if you're not into the nitty gritties, you should probably stop reading now.

It was Sunday morning and I was 1 day past Dixie's official due date of June 4. Since I thought she would come 3 days early, just as Dixie did, I was fully expecting her to come on June 1. So, by the time Sunday morning rolled around, I was going stir crazy with no baby! I thought I'd have a new born to care for by now, and since I'd already been off work for 3 weeks I was prepped and ready to go!

On Sunday morning, I had a lot of bloody discharge, so I thought, Yeah, Today is the day! I wasn't feeling any cramping yet, but because of the mass amounts of bloody discharge and the fact that i was 1 day over D-Day, I was willing it to be the day. I called Sean (who was at work), and Angel, and got my stuff together... which of course had been packed for weeks at this point. Angel and Sean came home, and we all just kind of waited for my contractions to start.

I started feeling contractions around 10:30am. They weren't that painful, but they were consistent, coming every 5 minutes for an hour, Sean and I headed to the hospital at 11:30am while Uncle Angel stayed home to watch Dixie. At this point, the pain was still completely bearable... but i really wanted this to be the day... so although they probably could have sent me home, I went anyways.

We checked in and then we were sent to the observation room. The observation doctor asked my symptoms, and when i told her the pain was totally bearable she looked at me funny and asked in a rather rude tone, "So why did you come in?". I told her that my contractions were steady for an hour and a half at this point, so following my OBGYN's instructions, I came in. (you don't see your regular doctor at Kaiser HMO for Delivery, just who ever is on call for the day). So anyways, I felt totally stupid, until she measured me, and I was 6cm dilated and 100% effaced. She said, "well, you make this whole thing look easy", and then admitted me. Pheufffff.....I didn't feel so stupid after all.

At this point, I told the nurse I wanted an epidural. I had not been able to make up my mind about this for the whole pregnancy, as I figured I'd done it natural once, I could probably do it again?? But, 18 months was not long enough to forget the pain I felt with Dixie. The pain that can only be described as your body tearing in half from the bottom to the top....... and I just was not ready to deal with that again, so i told her to get me an epidural stat, as I would probably progress quickly. This was around 12:30pm.

The whole epidural process took a long freakin' time. They had to draw blood, send it to the lab, get an available anestheologist, ect ect. So by the time all of this was done, I was already in very heavy contractions coming every 2 minutes. But in the back of my mind, I knew that I wouldn't have to feel the worst pain of all (during pushing), because I'd have the magical epidural... so that got me through these contractions.

Then I Finally got the needle in my back and one tiny tinee "test" dose of medicine to make sure that the needle was correctly placed. At that point it was now 2:40pm, and i was LIVID, because the pain DID NOT go away and I was Feeling the exact same PAIN i felt with Dixie's labor. I was soooooo distraught... I abruptly asked the doctor and nurse... "So is this it? It's just not going to work?!?". The doctor answered as sympathetically as possible, that my labor had just progressed too fast for the epidural to take effect. So there I was stuck on the table, fully dilated and ready to push, with a needle in my back and NO MEDICINE. ARRGGGGHHHH!!! I remember saying a lot of somewhat mean things at this point. I was frustrated and ready to cry until I realized that I needed a new game plan if i was going to push this baby out.

So i focused and with the Nurses awesome coaching I pushed Baby Lucy out in 15 minutes flat, and she was born at 2:56pm. I do have to add that when the doctor realized how disgruntled I was with the fact that the epidural was not effective, she did give me unsanctioned doses of Fentenol via IV to take the edge off during the pushing phase. This definitely helped take the edge off. I still felt a lot of pain, but i was not screaming bloody murder this time around... and the nurse was a much better coach that last time, which also really helped me to push more effectively.

So then, Lucy Angel was born, and there was no more pain..... isn't it amazing how the pain just goes away so freakin fast, and then you have this cute cuddly baby to snuggle??

The only really great thing about this ordeal (besides baby Lucy of course) is that I didn't rip or tear from any orifice this time around... NO STITCHES!!!! I'm not quite sure how this happened, as Lucy is 1 lb 4 ounces larger than Dixie, and I did tear in various places with baby Dixie... which was traumatizing for many many months after birth. I think this was my little gift from god, since the epidural didn't work.

So thats it folks. The Down and Dirty. I dont think I'll be doing this again for a VERY long time... much longer than 18 months, I assure you! And next time, I will demand an epidural upon entry, and I will go to the hospital at the slightest contractions! I think people who do it natural are crazy. I've experienced this pain, and there is just no need for it. If you can get an epidural fast enough... do it. That's my 2 cents anyways... and that's coming from 2 almost completely natural births besides a hit or two of fentanol.


XOXO

Eve