The Middle
The birthing ward was surprisingly nice. It was private and I had my own nurse. I was also informed that my husband would be allowed to join me as he was not allowed into the labor and delivery triage. I then decided that I would call him at a later point so that he could get some rest. I was hoping I could get some rest as well because I was exhausted and the lack of sleep was starting to become concerning to me. I was so worried about developing post-natal depression as I have suffered from depression before. It was also becoming increasingly harder to talk myself through my contractions and stay strong through everything that I was going through.
At about 12 pm I had reached my breaking point. Every time I had a contraction I felt like I was about to break in half. I was in tears I could not take the pain from my contractions anymore and decided to get the epidural. (You know those parts in the movie when the woman screams give me the epidural NOW!!!! yip that was pretty much me) The anesthetist was the nicest guy ever and super gentle, the injection was slightly uncomfortable but the relief was almost instant. I fell asleep shortly after only to be woken up by the nurse about 10 minutes later. My blood pressure had dropped extremely low and my baby’s heartbeat was unstable. The nurse informed me that she had called the doctor to come and assess the situation and that the doctor was on her way. When the doctor arrived, she informed me that my baby was in distress and having natural birth would put my baby in danger and that it would be best if I had a c-section. This was not my plan but I just wanted what was best for my baby so I signed all the documents and I was told that I was not allowed to eat or drink anything. At this point, I called my husband because I needed him to be with me. My husband arrived about 30 minutes after my call and spent the rest of the evening sleeping on an extremely uncomfortable chair and waking up whenever I needed him to do something for me. I still believe that having him there calmed both me and our baby. During this time another nurse had come to give me the necessary medication she also did a quick oral check and ended up breaking my water which I did not realize had not broken up until this point.
My epidural kept wearing off rather quickly after this as I think it sped up the process so I had to be topped up at least every half an hour but the time I spent waiting for the anesthetist was not pretty! I felt extremely uncomfortable and hot to the point that I had asked my husband to wet my towel just so I could use it to cool myself off and feel some sort of comfort. I was also extremely dehydrated so every time the nurse left the room, I had him sneak me sips of water just to ease my thirst. When I think about it now, I think the worse part was all the waiting, the doctor had informed us that there were a few emergency cases and that was why my c-section was delayed and that they would come and fetch me as soon as the theater had been cleared. While waiting I just kept watching the monitor that recorded my baby’s heartbeat and prayed that my baby would be OK surprisingly enough as it was getting closer to the time for me to go to the theater the more my baby’s heartbeat slowed down. At around 7 am the next morning I needed another top up but I had to wait for a while as the staff members were doing the shift hand over. My new anesthetist arrived at about 8:45 am we were told that I should get ready as I would be going into the theater so she gave me a really strong dose of the epidural. At about 09:10 am as I was getting prepped, I had this urge to use the bathroom (for the lack of a more appropriate word. I needed to poop). When I told the nurse, I needed the bathroom she then said to me that she needed to call the midwife because that meant that the baby was coming. I of course argued and said I would know if it was the baby and I was sure I needed to get to a toilet. She just ignored me and called the midwife he then confirmed that my baby was already crowning and that I would not make it to the theater.
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