We checked into the hospital at 6:30 AM on July 13th. There was a lot of paperwork and people coming to talk to us, so we didn't start the pitocin drip until about 7-7:15 AM. It started at a low dose, which gave me contractions, but they weren't that painful and didn't seem to really do anything. To be honest, I was getting a little nervous this wouldn't work.
The nurse steadily increased my dose until I was at the second to highest setting. This was at about 11:30 AM. Suddenly, the contractions got super painful. My husband was a champ and coached me through them.
I was worried about taking an epidural so early, since everyone says it can slow down progress, but I asked the nurse about one. I wasn't ready yet, and she said she'd check again at 12:30.
When 12:30 came around, she checked, and I had gotten to about 4 cm, which meant I could get the epidural. She told me she was going to ask the doctor if she could break my water.
While waiting for the epidural, I felt a gush of warm liquid. I got the epidural around 1 PM, and the nurse checked to see if my water had broken. It had, and I was at 5 cm. She told me to try to get some sleep since I would need energy for pushing later, and that first time moms tend to dilate at about 1 cm an hour.
Around 2 PM, she came in and asked how I was feeling. I told her I could feel some pain, but it was the same type of pain I had from early contractions. She thought maybe my bladder was full, but there wasn't much there. Then she checked my cervix, and discovered I was fully dilated. She had me sit up so that Leah could descend through the birth canal.
Around 2:40, she set me up to push. We only pushed 3 times before the doctor got there, mainly because she was coming down quickly. My doctor showed up, and we had 3 push sessions, and she came out at 3:05 pm at 7 pounds 4 oz and 20 inches long. I did have to get a small episiotomy because the head wouldn't come through. I cried when they put her on my chest...I couldn't believe she was here.
Also, after delivery, I started feeling fuzzy and passed out. Apparently, my blood pressure dropped to 40s/20s, but I woke up after about 5 seconds. When they asked me where I was, I asked "What do you mean?" thinking "are you really asking me if I know I'm at the hospital?" The nurse laughed. Because of the passing out, they had DH hold her, and told me not to hold her right away. After I drank some Sprite, and it didn't seem like I was going to pass out again, they let me hold her. We are so in love and can't believe we brought this little person into the world.
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