Ainsley's birth, part 2

 [In this one you can tell the pain was there, but it hadn't gotten to it's worst! ]

Once they started the pitocin my contractions got going even worse! Man, they were intense. The worst part of being induced is that you can’t use coping mechanisms like I was planning on. The hospital I went to had a Japanese soaking tub I really wanted to use. They also have a garden you can walk around in. I was planning on using different positions, etc. Instead, I was basically tied to my bed. However, I was able to use a peanut ball in bed which was nice. I used that for several hours.

 [All the cords I was hooked to]

I was dilating really slowly. I think around 10am I was only to a 4. Once I got to a 6, I progressed really quickly. I think it only took about two hours to go from a 6 to a ten.

Now I was sitting on one of those birthing/exercise balls. I thought it would help with the pain, but it didn’t. It still felt nice to get out of bed. Then I started getting those horrible triplets. I didn’t know what they were previously. Basically, it’s 3 crazy instense contractions in a row with no break. It was awful. Having a minute or so break between them is bad enough but not having a break…I can’t even describe how much worse it was. I kept having triplets in a row too. I felt like I had gone half an hour with no break. I felt like someone was stabbing my insides.

Before being in labor myself, I thought women in labor always looked/sounded ridiculous. I didn’t think I’d be one of “those”….but I lost all concern for that once the pain actually set in. I was getting insanely exhausted and was in intense pain. My whole body ached. I asked for my epidural around 1pm. I’m proud of myself for waiting so long. It didn’t seem to slow down my dilation or contractions at all, thankfully. Let me tell you, once that epidural set in, I was a happy camper. I told Clint I wanted an epidural every day. Although I would have liked to have gone completely natural, the relief was amazing and gave me what I needed to keep going.

The epidural lasted for several hours and Clint and I were able to just hang out. I honestly don’t remember what we did to pass the time. I think we might have turned on the TV for a bit. I remember thinking time was going so slowly but now looking back it seems like the day whizzed by and I can hardly remember it.

Around 3:00 or 4:00ish pm I started getting some pretty bad pain. They tried to give me another dose of the epidural but it didn’t seem to work. I felt like my tailbone was breaking and my hips were just going to fall apart! I swear I could feel my hips expanding as she moved down. I can’t even describe that type of pain. Nothing I could say would give it justice.