Overall, Zadie's birth was really great. We checked in around 9, started Pitocin at 9:30, broke my water around 12, and started hard contractions shortly after. I went in with an open mind about the epidural. Sort of wanting the experience of giving birth without it, but not ruling it out. In retrospect, I think that's a dumb idea, I feel like the experience was had, and next time I'll ask for it when I get there. I definitely did not have an appreciation for the amount of pain that labor involved. Prior to this experience, I'd never been in any real pain so I didn't know how much it could hurt. My mistake involving the epidural was waiting until long past when I wanted it to actually ask for it and subsequently finding out that I needed TWO liters of fluid to get it and I'd only had one. So around 3, at 8 cm, my nurse let the fluid run wide open to get that last liter in. As a consequence of my waiting, the epidural worked very briefly, and only on my right side. Despite all of my repositioning that the nurse wanted me to try before giving me something else, it wouldn't cross whatever nerve that it needed to cross. According to my nurse, this was because since Zadie was already so low, her head was blocking my nerve. The epidural did, however, offer about 20 minutes when I felt like I could catch my breath.
Finally, after trying all of the "nursing interventions" to get my epidural working, she finally called the anesthesiologist back at around 5:00. He gave me something else that worked like a charm viscerally and allowed me not to feel any of the pushing. After seeing the aftermath, I'm really glad that I missed out on what that would have felt like. Hence, I feel like I got the experience and am glad that I didn't get the rest of it.
Zadie arrived at 5:36 weighing in at 8 pounds, 11 ounces, and 21 inches long. She looked just like Sean and was mad as a hatter.
