Part Three.

Part One. 

Part Two. 

I was so upset. I wanted a natural water birth more than anything, and had there been any progression, I wouldn't have given up. But when you're going through hard back labor for 12 hours and you are still only 2 cm dilated, it's nearly impossible to want to keep going. I had it written on my birth plan that they should refuse to give me an epidural if I asked. Dude. I am so glad they didn't refuse it. I think they could see how much pain I was in. I was given the epidural at 2:00 pm, and holy cow. It was amazing and strange. I was having the same super intense contractions, but I couldn't feel a thing.

At 2:30 they started me on pitocin. Carol came in and talked to me about the possibility of a c-section. At this point, I didn't care about anything other than having my baby in my arms. We went ahead and scheduled a c-section for 5:00 pm just in case there was still no progression by about 4:00. At 4:30, Carol came in and checked me. Guess what?! I was still at a 2, 80% effaced, and baby had reverted back to a posterior position. A c-section was pretty much all we could do at this point, and I was more than ready to meet my little girl.

We ended up going in for the c-section at 5:28 pm, but my epidural was starting to wear off and I could feel the contractions and back labor again. I was terrified that they were going to slice me open without upping the epidural, but Carol ensured me that they “aren’t into torture.” J I was wheeled into the operating room, moved from my bed to the table, and a sheet was put up so that I couldn’t see what was happening. Mike was by my side the entire time, holding my hand and comforting me, being sure to let me know that I was strong and that I could handle this. The anesthesiologist upped the dosage of my epidural and the surgeon gave me a hard pinch to make sure that I couldn’t feel anything.

There was a ton of pressure – it was the strangest sensation. I could feel everything, but nothing hurt. That does not mean that I didn’t shout out, though. After hours of dealing with incredibly intense pain almost completely silently, I was shouting for the entire five minutes that the doctor was pushing and prodding. 

Stay tuned... the best is yet to come (and it's about dang time, this is a stinkin' novel of a birth story).