The best laid plans

I've been around long enough to know that things rarely go as planned. Why I thought I could "plan" my labor is beyond me. And even though my first labor went completely array I couldn't help myself from making a "birth plan" for the second time around!

My birth plans are pretty specific. Absolutely no drugs, no episiotomy, let me eat and drink during labor, no I.V., let the cord stop pulsating before it's cut...you get the picture. When I wrote my first Birth Plan for Haylie, Tom made me revise it. He told me it sounded condescending and the nurses were going to hate me after reading it. I didn't think it sounded that bad, but on the other hand I tend to think Doctors don't know anything when it comes to natural child birth. Okay, it may have been that bad.

Things with Haylie didn't go as well as I wanted. After 22 hours of labor I had pitocin (I just wouldn't dilate past nine) and morphine. I thought for sure this labor would go much more smoothly. After all it was going to be my second and everyone knows the second one is easier, right? Wrong.

I went into the hospital at three in the morning. I was dilated to a three. I didn't progress despite the regular contractions. They gave me Pitocin. The labor pains became worse and I started feeling that old familiar pain in the back. Oh yes, back labor! How the H could I be having back labor I made sure at every appointment that the baby was not posterior like Haylie had been. For anyone who has endured back labor you understand how it is, if not let me say that back labor is one of the worst feelings on the planet. It is pure agony. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It is that painful. A little while later the nurse came and announced that the baby had somehow turned and was now posterior. I was pretty angry. And after nine hours on Pitocin I was still only dilated to a four. How was this possible? It all started to feel like Deja Vu. It was all going exactly wrong!

Around 12:30 pm my doctor came and broke my water. The pain had been pretty bad up until that point but after that the pain became unbelievably intense. Worse in fact then it had been with my first labor. I have a fairly high pain tolerance. I mean, I went 22 hours without drugs with Haylie, and that was with the back labor. I started talking to Tom about possibly getting some drugs. He told me no. He did the right thing. I had written out a list for him and one of the things on the list was to make sure I didn't get any drugs. He told me to wait just one more hour and then I could make a decision. He then left the room to go call my Mom for a quick update in AZ. As he left my new nurse, Susan, entered the room. The pain was getting worse, I was actually crying through the contractions, and still only dialated to a four! That's when I broke. I asked Susan what my pain management options were. By they time Tom entered the room again I had called in the Anesthesiologist. Tom was baffled. He knows how much a natural birth means to me.

The epidural was the best thing ever. This is coming from someone who is so anti epidural I could form my own anti epidural corporation. Sure I still felt pain, especially during transition, but it was manageable pain. I can honestly say I think I would have died without the epidural intervention. Don't misunderstand me, I still believe in a drug free childbirth. I'm pretty sure my next labor will go as planned. Unless it's posterior again, in which case I'll gladly accept the epidural the moment I walk in.

Within 45 minutes of getting the epidural I ended up giving birth. I only had to push for a few minutes this time. It probably helped that Huck was more than a pound lighter then Haylie had been. I will credit the epidural with the speediness of the delivery. Sometimes you just need to get one despite your best laid birth plan.