Labor Day

Lola Abigail Dora Torres:
June 25, 2008, 9:18 pm:
6 pounds, 12 ounces & 19 inches.

Just because I think it should be documented somewhere, here is my lovely labor story!

At about 12:30 am on Wednesday morning, I woke up to empty my bladder. Upon using the restroom, I noticed that my liner was completely soaked. Although I had a mild suspicion that it may have been my water leaking, I figured I would go back to sleep and see if it was maybe just a little pee coming out since the baby was resting completely on my bladder. So, I went back to bed and at 4:30 am, I awoke again and noticed that I had indeed soaked another liner. At that point, I knew that I must be leaking amniotic fluid. So, I woke up Max and told him that I will probably be having the baby today. He woke up to get ready for work and I told him that I would call the doctor at 8:30 when they opened. I know, I know! I totally should have called at 4:30, but I wasn't having any contractions or anything, so I figured I could wait a little bit! After all, I had said since the beginning of the pregnancy that I don't want to go to the hospital too early. So, Max went to work, but he was coming back by 9:00 because I knew that we would need to go to the hospital. So, I began a massive cleaning frenzy around the house and finished packing both the baby's bag and our hospital bag. From 5:30 am to 9:00, I was running around, water leaking and all, cleaning and doing laundry anticipating the arrival of our baby. I was so nervous. I had no idea what to expect.

We got to the doctors office at about 9:45 am and upon examining me, she confirmed that I was having a baby today and to head on over to Labor & Delivery. Unfortunately, I was still only 1 cm dilated and thick, AND my "bag" was still somewhat full. But, I guess that doesn't matter much when your baby girl wants to come on out.
Once I was admitted into the hospital, everything became a blur. I know that for others who were there it was a long time waiting, but for me it all happened so fast. I undressed and was hooked up to all of the monitors. The doc came in and had to break my water in order to get my contractions and dilation going. Whoa momma! That hurt like a bitch! Then they started the Pitocin to help my contractions move along.

Good times. Since I knew the pain would be starting at any point, I opted for the pain killer to take the edge off of the fast-approaching contractions. I was given Stadol at about 1:00 pm. At that point, I was pretty comfortable for a little while. About an hour into the Pitocin drip, I began to feel the contractions. There is absolutely no way of describing the sensation that is a contraction. I don't know if it was the Stadol or my body's way of coping with the pain, but in came the nausea. Normally, I stay away from pain medicine because my stomach is a bit on the weak side, so I'm sure having a very strong & steady dose of pain medicine had everything to do with the nausea.

At about 2:00, I told the nurse to call for the epidural. The pain was definitely increasing and I DID NOT want to feel it anymore. I was dilated to 3 cm at this point. The epidural was awesome. It was crazy to feel a tube being inserted into my spinal column, it tickled my knees. Epidural went into effect immediately. I was in heaven. I layed there joking around and laughing with Max. I was in a good place for a good 2 hours or so. The nurses came in and continued to check on me. They began to examine me and place monitors for the baby's heartbeat. It was at this point that I began to feel an annoying pain, which began to feel more and more like a contraction. It started out on my right side. I asked the nurse if I was supposed to be feeling any pain. She checked my epidural drip and noticed that it was turned OFF! So, after the initial push of medicine, I was not receiving any more. I was pissed! She turned it on, and told me to push my button so I could start getting the meds again. The painful contractions continued...now all the way across my belly instead of just on the right side. Every 10 minutes, I pushed that little button, hoping for some relief. The fact that they had increased the Pitocin didn't help my cause any! The nurse kept telling me to just keep pushing my button and if I didn't feel any relief in 15 minutes they would call the anesthesiologist to come give me a direct push. I swear, she told me that about 3 times. Needless to say, my legs were absolutely dead. If I ever wanted to know what being paralyzed from the waist down felt like, I was successful. I eventually got another direct dose and it was worked immediately. From that point forward, no pain was felt. Great relief. Too bad for me the mixture of all of the medicine, the transitioning phases of labor and nerves really got to me. I began to throw up and remained very nauseous for the rest of the time I was in labor. At about 8:00 pm, the nurses came in and told me I had to change positions so the baby's head could get into position. I had NO idea what the hell they were talking about, "the chest-knee position". What tha? My legs were no help and this was by far the most frustrating part of the whole ordeal. Two nurses and Max had to literally turn me over and position me how they wanted me. I was miserable.

Within 45 minutes of being in that position, they brought in the "table" and told me that I was ready to begin pushing. I ended up pushing for 23 minutes and Lola was out by 9:18 pm! It was amazing.

When they put her on my stomach, there are no words to describe the overwhelming emotion that overcame me. Seeing my daughter's face and hearing her first little cries and watching Max cautiously walk towards her and finally take her into his arms was one of the greatest feelings I had ever experienced.

'Tis true what they say about a baby changing your life. This was the beginning of the rest of our lives. And we couldn't be happier.