It's the next day, but only because it's past midnight. In reality, it's only been minutes since they inserted the balloon catheter and for the next few hours, I get no sleep because of the pain from having the balloon catheter force contractions. That was pretty damn uncomfortable and a tad painful. It did get me from 1cm to about 2/3 cm's though. And then it totally just fell out. That's when the contractions started to pick-up too. They started to actually get a little painful. Still couldn't have my epidural though.. had to be at least 4 or 5 cm dilated. Eventually I made it there and it was time for my epi! Thank heavens!
This meant more needles though. Oh, that's right. I forgot to tell you that I needed antibiotics administered through an IV. They tried my right arm, but couldn't find a vein. So they tried my left side. Supposedly, the nurse got it in. But then my arm started to swell! She totally missed the vein and had the IV fluids blowing up my arm. Ugh. Finally they found a vein on my right wrist and in went the antibiotics, which created a burning sensation! Totally not fun. And now back to the epidural.
So the anesthesiologist comes in and gets me prepared. While I sit facing the nurse, the anesthesiologist gets ready to insert the catheter. First she gives me a shot to numb my back. She only gives me one though, thinking it would be enough. But when she tried to insert the catheter, I said it hurt, so she added another dose of whatever it is they use to numb me. She tries again and says I need to relax. The nurse was really kind, she knew I was way too much in pain and that the anesthesiologist was probably inserting it wrong. But the anesthesiologist said it's fine. After a couple of excruciating minutes, she finally got it in. She was about to begin administering the epidural and that's when she realized that the catheter was inserted into my vein. So, she had to remove it and try again. Waaaaahhhhhhh!
Second time around, she moves up my spine a few spaces. She begins numbing it, but hello! She still only administers one shot for numbing. I think two are highly necessary! I scream in pain again and then she decides to numb me twice. At this point, I'm pretty pissed. Again, she begins inserting the catheter. This time is much more painful! Yet, she keeps shoving the catheter! And I'm really in agony here. The nurse notices it and the anesthesiologist also can't seem to get the catheter deep enough. And the more she keeps trying to shove it in there, the more I scream out in pain. Eventually, she gets the message (yah, after the damage has been done) and calls for another anesthesiologist.
The new guy comes in and off the bat, after locating a good spot to insert the catheter, he gives me 2 shots to numb me up. And when he begins inserting the catheter, I cringe in preparation for severe pain, but I'm quite surprised to not feel a single damn thing!
Finally.. the epidural has been administered and my legs go numb! As they've reached maximum numbness, I have a bit of fun pinching my things. Hahaha. The notion of not feeling my legs when I touch them cracks me up a bit. And then the drowsiness ensues and I finally get some much needed shut eye.
Hours later, I wake up and it turns out that the epidural ended up slowing my dilation down and because of how long ago my water broke, I had to be induced with pitocin. Ugh. This got the ball rolling though and my contraction strength starts to increase and then the epidural wears off on one leg. Which is apparently normal. I clicked the little button that's supposed to give me more of the meds, but I swear it does nothing. I tell the nurse and she gets the anesthesiologist back. He increases my dosage and also has me lean on the leg that wears off so that all the meds flow down to that leg. It does it's job and my leg starts to numb again. But then, ugh, nurse flips me back to the other side. She said that she needs to keep flipping me from side to side in order to help baby move lower. But, common, can't you let the meds really kick in first?
Anyways, the pain starts to pick back up again and the numbness really seems to completely wear off. This time, I really couldn't handle it. It was extremely painful. So, instead of grabbing the anesthesiologist, the nurse thought it be best to wait for the Dr. since it's about time that she'd check up on me anyways.
When the Dr. comes in and checks up on me, she said, "Oh, no wonder you feel a lot of pain, you're ready to go!"
And so it starts...
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