The Delivery

The contractions started coming quickly and I knew I would soon deliver this tiny baby. My husband was sleeping on the pull-out chair in the corner and a nurse was periodically checking on me. Once it became clear that things were truly happening, the nurse asked about an epidural. I told her it had been in my original birth plan but I was expecting a full-term baby so no longer knew what I wanted. She told me she would call the anesthesiologist for a consult as it would take some time for him to arrive anyway. Instead he came almost immediately and told me to sit up and get into position for the epidural. I was still confused but did as he suggested. It seemed to take forever and the only words that were muttered was whether I had a spinal curvature as he was struggling to get it in. I had never been told I had one...

Once the epidural was in I just lay there and waited. Time passed and I went from closing my eyes to staring at the ceiling to chatting with the nurses. My husband was standing next to me early on but I sent him back to get some rest as there was nothing he could do, and nothing really happening, at least that I could feel. When I was next checked I was 8 cm. dilated and things started to move. I was introduced to a number of different professionals that would be looking after the baby once he arrived, but they all just blended together to me. Once I was fully dilated I was told to start pushing. The problem was, I literally couldn't feel anything so had no urge to push. My husband was back beside me, and two nurses were trying to help me push things along. The OB came in to check on the progress regularly but I wasn't getting very far with the pushing, as hard as I was trying to figure out how to do it with no feeling. The first OB's night shift ended early the next morning and I was introduced to the next OB. She in turn introduced me to the resident that was with her. The OB quickly lessened the epidural and increased the oxytocin so I could start feeling the pressure. I still did not have an urge to push but the contractions became almost unbearable. It took four hours of pushing before the little boy finally popped out.

I was worried that he would fit in the palm of my hand but he actually looked like a normal baby, just mini size. I only got to see him for a second before they whisked him over to have him checked out prior to taking him to the NICU. I didn't know or understand anything that was going on, but I did hear him cry so I knew he was at least alive...