Nitty Gritty #2

Patrick has just informed me that he got to the hospital before they moved me into my own room. As I said earlier the details are fuzzy. I do remember wanting him to get there. I think it was around 1:00 or1:30 that I was moved to the delivery room. I don't think I was in there long before the pain of the contractions started getting to me. I wanted to avoid an epidural but had no qualms about taking the Nitrice Oxide. I am not sure how effective it was at dulling the pain but it was a great aid in controlling my breathing. I had to inhale slowly to get the gas and I just concentrated on my breathing through the contractions.
I would have to look at my hospital charts to tell you when I was 3cm dialated and when I made it to 5cm. I know that it only took an hour for me to go from 5cm to 9cm. Sometime in there I decided to get a shot of morphine for the pain. Once again I am not sure how effective it was but it did lead to some bizare dreams later on. After 9cm things got tough. My body started telling me to push, but the nurses kept telling me not to.
It was almost like having had to go to the bathroom for an hour and finally getting home to find someone already on the can having a good long read. Waiting in the hallway apoligising to your body for not being able to go like you promised it. Your body says "You told me I could go now, so here goes." And your mind says, "Wait, wait, wait, not on the floor, just relax those muscles, soon I tell you soon."
The little pushes that I couldn't hold back were almost as much work as the real thing. The real pushing hurt more though. Oddly enough though I have crystal clear memories of wanting to push and those feelings I don't remember the pain of pushing. I know it hurt though. It took about half an hour for me to push Elizabeth out. At the begining I wasn't terribly effective but the Doctors and Nurses coached me along and I got the hang of it. Patrick and my mom were right there with me for the whole thing.
Finally the Doctor asked me not to push while she did something with Baby then it was push, push, push and Elizabeth was born. It was 7:12pm when she emerged. We had been trying hard for a 7 11 baby, but I didn't push her out quite fast enough. She almost sild right through the Doctor's hands but she caught her. Right away they clamped her umbilical cord while suctioning out her mouth and airways. Patrick got to cut the umbilical cord then they whisked her onto the baby station and checked her Afgar scores and did other stuff. I was kind of out of it at that point.
Her Afgar scores were both 8, which I think is good, but they wanted her to have a good cry and she was having none of that. Part of it was the Morphine that I had and part of it was the dirty amniotic fluid.
I wanted to hold her right away, but she wasn't squaking and the Doctor was still trying to get the placenta out. After about twenty minutes of constant traction on the umbilical cord the placenta was still in place so they summoned the expert. I was told that he may have to reach up inside my uterus and pul the placenta free, not a pleasant procedure. It was about forty minutes after Lizzy was born that the expert showed up. By this time I had only been allowed to reach over and touch Lizzy in the baby station and then they wheeled her off to the nursery. My mom stuck by her like glue andPatrick stuck by my side.
Well the expert got all gowned up and took a hold of the cord and said, "Give it a bit of a push." I pushed and out ploped the placenta.

Terri