My Story - Part Two; The Pain

    So now, I am finally admitted and laying in the labor and delivery room. It was a nice room. My contractions were slowly getting worse, but I wasn't dilating very quickly. After a little bit, the midwife came in, saw I wasn't dilating very much and decided to break my water. Sure, no problem. I guess sometimes that helps. 

    Not with me though. Things were still going well, just slowly. Then they decided it was time to get me the epidural so they could give me that drug to get my contractions going double time. 

    Everything went smoothly with the epidural. It hurt, but the nurse was great and helped. The anesthesiologist was super nice and cracked jokes. It seemed like it was working, so I was left alone. It was around lunch time so Jared went out to grab something to eat. This is when the worst part of the whole day happened. 

    I was watching Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on our computer. The hospital had wireless, so I figured I would distract myself with Netflix while Jared ate. During the first episode I watched, I realized I could feel some discomfort in my abdomen. That was weird. So I pushed the little button thing to give me more drugs. They went in, I rolled over and continued watching. A few minutes later, I had the same terrible feeling. 

    For some reason, I didn't want to call the nurses. I wasn't sure if the epidural was just taking a while to work, and it really wasn't any sort of emergency. Just a little pain. I started the second episode just waiting for the pain to subside. It was coming every few minutes and lasted about a minute. 

    Jared came back from lunch and I told him I didn't think the epidural was working. I was feeling the contractions. I asked Jared to get the nurse and tell her the epidural wasn't working. By that time, I had pushed the button twice and was losing feeling in my right leg. Could barely wiggle my toes!


    The nurse came in and began to check the monitor to see what was happening with my contractions. She had been asking me throughout the morning what my pain level was on a 10 point scale. The highest I would ever say is 7.5. When she noticed the tears streaking down my face with every contraction, she knew my level was at a 10, I just refused to say it. This went on for quite a while. I would squeeze Jared's fingers with every contraction and just let the tears fall. Not only did I hurt from the contractions, but I felt bad that Jared was upset I was in pain. 

    The contractions were coming every two-three minutes and lasted about a minute. I barely got any break time between the pain. I tried to practice those silly breathing tips with each contraction, but half the time my breathing came out like quiet sobs. I refused to be loud like the people in movies.

    After a bit, the nurse called a lady who came in to give me another dosage of the epidural. We waiting for a little bit to see if it would help. Nope. Then I got another dosage...still nothing worked. Now was the time to discuss if I needed the epidural completely redone. 

    Because it didn't really hurt in the first place, I was fine with getting the second epidural. But ONLY if it would help. I didn't want another one for nothing! Now, my right leg was completely dead. There was no feeling in it. At all. 

    The anesthesiologist came back and got ready to redo the epidural. He wanted to try something else first to see if it would help. They gave me some other kind of drug to see if it would help, but it didn't. I didn't even ask what it was. 

    Plan B to the first epidural was redoing the whole thing. Fine...The nurse had to move my leg for me and help me sit up. I was numb up to my hip. The anesthesiologist wanted me to scoot back, but I couldn't. That part of me wouldn't function. He had to pull the blanket I was on so I would move back. 

    Things went well again with the epidural. The first time I felt the pain my right leg, but because it was completely dead, I felt nothing except the quick prick of the thing going into my back. They said though that Plan C was him bringing in a bat (trying to joke about just knocking me out so I'd feel nothing). The lady with him cracked a good joke about agreeing to Plan C was if I got to hold the bat (and hit him over the head because the epidural wasn't working).

    There was no need for Plan C. This time, it worked. After one epidural, 2 extra dosages of it, some mystery drug and a completely redone epidural, I was able to survive the contractions. 

    It was so great not being able to feel anything! The nurses were relieved not to see me crying, Jared was so happy not to have me squeeze his fingers (and happy I wasn't sobbing anymore), and I was in bliss being able to relax.