I told you this was a long story. :) While on the epidural, I continued to progress and thankfully the epidural worked just like it's supposed to. The anesthesiologist inserted it painlessly, I could feel my legs the whole time, and the contractions were barely noticeable until I needed to push, at which point I could feel some pressure. Husband took a nap, we semi-watched a movie (Hotel Transylvania), and some friends from church stopped by for a quick hello. All in all, my labor lasted approximately 13 hours from start to finish.
I didn't want to start pushing too soon because I know that some women push for hours, which seemed impossible to me. But, I trust my doctor, so when she said we were ready to push, I gave it a try. My contractions never got very strong, but at the end, they were very close together. I only had to push for 45 minutes, and the epidural was still working fantastically, but because I didn't have much time in between contractions to breathe, I had some trouble catching my breath.
My doctor and nurse were great at encouraging me, and having my husband there was the best. I did ask him to please stop breathing with me at one point because he wasn't inhaling when I felt like the pushing needed to start, and it was throwing off my rhythm. :) I made the request for him to either breathe with me or stop breathing so loudly very politely: the most polite woman in labor ever according to my doctor. And the nurse who was counting to ten during each contraction wasn't starting the count when I actually started each push, so I started counting silently in my head. And, seeing all of this written out, I seem extremely particular. Or maybe just super in tune with how I needed to breathe and push to actually deliver the baby. Let's go with the second option.
Once I figured out how to best push with my contractions, and I started only pushing every other contraction so that I could catch my breath in between, it went really quickly. I hung out for a couple of minutes with her head very low (if you know what I mean) while they prepped for delivery, and then she was out. Some nurses took her to the heat lamp bassinet area to my right, and I watched her squirm as they suctioned her mouth. Husband headed over to report that she looked beautiful and had long fingers. (I have short fingers, and fingers apparently affect which instruments a person can successfully play, according to my orchestra director husband. Thus, her fingers are important.)
I got stitched up while all of this was happening. There were a lot of stitches. My baby had a beautiful round head. Those two things are related, and I'm sure you can figure out how. The epidural started wearing off as the stitching was being completed. Enough said. After my doctor was finished stitching me up, I got to hold my daughter for the first time and feed her. She immediately latched on and ate like a champ as I gazed adoringly at her.
My parents were waiting in the lobby by that point because they just couldn't stand the anticipation, and they got to meet their granddaughter for the first time before we were moved to the recovery room where we stayed for the rest of our blessedly short hospital stay. The transfer from LDR to our permanent room was delayed because of the bustling hospital, but Baby Girl stayed with us the whole time, and we eventally made it to our new room.
To be continued
Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
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