8pm- I feel my first contraction come on. With the epidural I didn't feel any pain with the contractions but still felt a sensation that's hard to explain. It's instinct at that point- my body was telling my to push this baby out. I tell everyone that I'm ready to push. Chin to chest, hands behind my thighs, Jake's hand on the back of my neck...Nurse Jenny counts to 10. And I breathe one more time and go for another 10...and relax. I can already feel Jennie descending in me...what a weird feeling. But it's true- you feel like you are taking the biggest poop of your life. One that you're not sure you're even capable of doing, but know you have to. And guess what? Because you are pushing like that, you poop. Not alot, but if you are able to see what the nurses are cleaning up after you push, you know it isn't just water (I warned you). Still resting, waiting for my next contraction to come on. Nurses and my doctor are busy getting everything in order and they call the "catch" nurse in, so called because she literally catches the baby after the doctor brings her out.
8:02pm- Next contraction, 2nd push. Chin to chest, hands behind my thighs, Jake's hand on the back of my neck...Nurse Jenny counts to 10. And I breathe one more time and go for another 10...and relax. Jennie is a little further down and even while resting, my body still wants to push her out. Have to fight the urge, and save my energy for the contractions when my body is more ready to get her out. Nurse Jenny checks Jennie's progress- she says she is RIGHT THERE! She can even see a little hair! Everyone starts looking (except Jake, I didn't want him to, and he didn't have any interest haha) and everyone says "look at that hair!" She is so close! And by Nurse Jenny checking progress, I mean feeling an entire hand in my vagina. Doesn't hurt because of the epidural. Yep, here goes the gross part...
8:04pm- Next contraction, 3rd push. Chin to chest, hands behind my thighs, Jake's hand on the back of my neck...Nurse Jenny counts to 10. And I breathe one more time and go for another 10...and relax. This time, I didn't feel any movement from down there. But the whole time I was pushing, all I heard was "keep going, her head is right there...look at that hair!" Nurse Jenny checks Jennie's progress again (please don't make me explain that again) and says "just a couple more pushes!" She calls the doctor in, and we all start getting anxious. Dr. Khalek checks me (another hand!) and drops a bomb. She looks at Nurse Jenny and says that Jennie's head is stuck behind my pelvic bone, something I had kind of already felt happening. But she says it is ok to keep pushing, so we keep going.
8:15pm- multiple rounds of pushing. Still no progress. But she is RIGHT THERE! Look at all that hair!
8:30pm- Getting tired. Pushing is some of the hardest work you will ever do, even if it is just for 10 seconds. Pushing every 2 minutes now, contractions are coming faster.
8:45pm- Push for 10 seconds, relax, push for 10 seconds again. Nothing. She isn't budging. I'm starting to give up hope. The doctor comes in and confirms what I know- Jennie hasn't moved since last time. She is stuck, but doing fine- her heart rate and breathing are registering just fine on the monitors, so she tells me I can keep pushing. But she drops another bomb- she doesn't like her patients to push for more than 3 hours because it's too hard on mom and baby. If Jennie isn't here by 9:30, I'll have to think about a c-section. Then she looks at Nurse Jenny and says "Looks like the black cloud has followed us tonight too."
Wait, what?!
Good luck! Hopefully your little one will decided to come out on her own, but if not you and she will both be fine :). I had a c-section with all 3 of mine. My first was not planned and the other 2 were. Congrats on your new addition!
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