Delivery

Last: Labor

Delivery

Once I got up to the delivery room, I knew things were about to get real.

Also, check this place out. It was dangerously close to the size of my apartment.

Fancy.

Anyway, first order of business was to get my epidural.

The anesthesiologist came into the room and asked me a bunch of medical questions before sticking that needle in my back, but as soon as he did, it was instant relief. I felt a warm wave rush through my lower body and my legs got tingly. I laid back down.

"Did you feel that?" the nurse asked, looking at one of the monitors.

"Feel what?" I asked.

She smiled. "You had a contraction."

DON'T CARE, DON'T FEEL IT. World is happy again.

...And then, it wasn't.

After maybe two hours (90 min.? one hour? I lost track of time), I started feeling my contractions again. They weren't bad, but they were definitely there -- and they shouldn't have been. Even though I kept clicking my little re-up dosage button as often as it would let me, nothing seemed to help. The anesthesiologist was called back to up my dosage. Dave called me his "little Lindsay Lohan."

Upping my dosage just seemed to make my left leg more numb, not really alleviate the contraction pain. But I waited it out and finally told the nurse that I was still feeling contractions. She wondered if the epidural tube got kinked. We called the anesthesiologist back to change the concentration of the medication, which did seem to help (again, numbed the shit out of my left leg).

At this point, the nurse determined that I was fully dilated and ready to push. It was around 8:30pm.

And so I pushed.

For 3.5 hours.

Dave and Med Student Ryan (hi, Ryan, my name is Lisa and here's my hooha) each held a leg as I pushed through the contractions. Surprisingly, delivery wasn't painful. It was just exhausting.

And then, at 11:55pm, Ava FINALLY made her debut.

They placed her on my chest, but only for about 15 seconds before they needed to grab her and suction fluid out of her lungs (she didn't immediately cry). They cleaned her up and gave her back to me.

And, yes, that's what 20 hours of labor looks like. Oy.

(TMI, but I didn't tear whatsoever. Super lucky on that front.)

After delivery, you're kept in the delivery room for two hours so they can monitor you. Except for me being so tired I couldn't see straight, everything was fine there... until I got transferred to postpartum.

Next: Postpartum drama