Aliya Juel's Birth Day

We went to the hospital Monday morning at 9 AM. I was already dilated to a 4 and 80% effaced so my midwife broke my water and wanted to wait and see if I would progress without any pitocin. No such luck, so at 11 I got started on Pitocin. At 1 PM my contractions were 2 minutes apart still so I asked for an epidural. I was in no hurry for it, I figured it would be another few hours so was just planning for when it got really uncomfortable. The anesthesiologist had someone ahead of me and so it took a little bit. I was still smiling and laughing in between contractions until about 1 minute before the anesthesiologist came in. It hit me like a brick wall. My contractions were unbelievably painful and I didn't feel like a was getting a break between them anymore. The Dr was explaining the procedure for the epidural and I had to sign something. I just remember I could hardly hold the pen and I was just moaning with pain. The Dr. had me roll on my side and then the pain came even worse. I could feel her head and told them I had to push. He pushed my leg down and told me to give him 5 minutes and to not push. So with everything I had in me I laid still and rubbed Jer's hands and just kept saying "Owie". Yes, I am a mom, of all words I could use I chose owie. I was saying it rather quiet because if I was too loud it made the pain worse. The Dr. told me I would start to feel warm, that I did and then I could feel a thing. I was NUMB. They rolled me on my back and said it was time to push. All I could do was laugh. How was I ever gonna push when I could feel my lower half of my body? I grunted and made the noises like you always see when women push. I would stop and say, "am I pushing?" Apparently I was because her head was out. I pushed two more times to get her shoulders out and the midwife had me reach down to catch my baby and put her on my chest. It was very fast and absolutely amazing. The anesthesiologist ended up giving me a spinal block instead of an epidural so that it would hit hard and fast. I am so glad I got it, even if I only needed it for two minutes. It was worth it. It took a few hours to slowly get my feeling back.