Birth of Ashley 3

During the drive to the hospital, I was still silent and contractions just hit harder and harder. I couldn't breath, couldn't talk and every inch of my body just seemed to be in pain. The idea of doing natural birth started to shake, I mumbled to AJ, "I don't know how long I am going to last without epidural. I think I'm going to ask for epidural. This is too much to handle."

I remember us rushed pass the security at the hospital as they could see in the pain in my face. In the elevator, I had to bend over and lean on the wall as the contraction struck again. It really felt like the end of everything.

It took a while before the nurse checked us in and she ran the same tests as the first time.

"You're now 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced."

"What?! That's all? It has been more than 10 hours since I was checked last. I was at 2 cm and 35%!" I cried out.

I thought to myself, geez, all that pain went to effacement, and only 2 more cm? I couldn't imagine how much more painful it would get and how much longer it would take to be 10 cm dilated? Another 20 hours? or more???

At that point, I knew I had to ask for epidural.

"On the scale of 1 to 10, 10 best the most painful. What's your pain level?" The nurse asked again.

"10! 10! 10! 10!" I screamed without any hesitation. Really, is there 20? It felt like 20!!!

"Do you want epidural?"

"YES! PLEASE!"

"Ok, we'll check you in. The time has come."

Finally, more than 20 hours after the contraction started, I was checked to a hospital room. It was August 30, 2009 around 2PM.

The hospital I went to is a teaching hospital and residents are the ones who give epidural. I always felt very uncomfortable having resident applying epidural on me. So I wanted to ask for the attending physician.

The anesthesiologist soon after I was checked in. He started giving me a bunch of information and asking some questions. I remember one of the questions was,

"What was your pain level on the scale of 1 to 10?"

"10! 10! 10!" Geez, can't you guys just give me the epidural??!!

Once he finished asking questions. It was my turn to interview him.

"What year are you on as a resident?"

"3rd"

"How many epidural have you done?"

"About 200."

"What was the worse come out from your patient?"

"...."

"Well, I'm sorry, I don't feel too comfortable having a resident to give me epidural. Can I have the attending physician to do it?"

"Any particular reason why you don't feel uncomfortable about it?"

"Not really. I just don't feel comfortable."

After a phone call, he said, "OK, the attending physician will come."

While the nurse and the resident were preparing me for the epidural, the attending physician came. For some reason, my body started to shake uncontrollably. "My body is shaking, I can't hold it still!" I cried out in panic.

"It's normal, it's due to the hormones from the labor. It's ok. Just relax and breath." Someone replied.

I guessed the doctor could feel that I was tensed and starting asking where everyone was from originally. It turned out that AJ is from Australia, the nurse is from Ireland, the attending physician is from England, the resident is from Oklahoma, and I'm from China.

"What an international delivery room!" Someone commented.

While my focus was shifted during the conversation, the resident finished applying epidural while the physician watched. I realized it wasn't the attending physician who did it, but it turned out pretty good, but I didn't bother to press the issue.

I had learned from the birth class that there is a button on the epidural line that the patient can click for more dosage if needed. So, I asked the anesthesiologist where that button is. I know, I know, this is 180 degree from doing natural birth without pain medicine, but the pain was really unbearable. He showed me where the button was, and I asked,

"What if I click too much and overdosed?"

"Well, it's computer controlled. It doesn't really give much more. It's probably more psychological than anything."

Soon after I got the epidural, I couldn't feel the pain anymore. 5 minutes afterwards, the anaesthesiologist came in and asked again what my pain level was now.

"0! 0! I can't feel any pain! I should have this a long time ago!"

Epidural is truly amazing. After I got it, I couldn't feel any pain. In fact, I couldn't feel any contraction. Every time the contraction, AJ by looking at all those monitors behind me would tell me, "Here comes another contraction." Finally I got to relax and rest a bit after more than 20 hours labor without epidural.

For a while, the labor was very uneventful except around 3:30PM, the water broke. Half hour later, while resting, we heard some sort of alarm went on, but no one came in. So I called the nurse, she came in, ran a couple of tests on the monitor and left. The alarm must have gone off a couple of more times, the nurse was pretty calm, ran some tests and didn't mentioned if there was any problem. Another hour went by, the alarm went off again and the nurse come, ran some tests again and said to me,

"It looks like the epidural slows down the contractions. We are going to use Pitocin speed up the labor."

Not long after the Pitocin was used, the alarm went off again. And this time, it was pretty loud. All the sudden, 4 or 5 nurses rushed to my room, each all doing some sort of tests and 1 nurse started to ask what my blood type was. I had to say, they were all very calm and professional, at least they didn't make me feel nervous.

Finally, my nurse said to me, "Looks like the baby can't handle the labor. Every time the contraction comes, baby's heart rate went down to 60 to 70."

60 to 70??!! The normal baby heart rate is supposed to be between 120 to 150. I started getting a bit worried.

"Is it because we use Pitocin?"

"No, even before that, the baby's heart rate went down as well. The heart rate recovers after the contraction. We normally give 30mm of Pitocin, and we only started 5mm with you. It happened almost every contraction."

AJ mentioned that he could see it from the monitor that one graph showed the contraction and one showed the heart rate and it seemed though the curves went on different directions with contractions. And we were both worried at this time.

"Well, I called your doctor, and she said we might need to do C-section. She'll come and talk to you"

C-section? It was my last reserve. I didn't really want to do it unless it's necessary.

My doctor came and explained more about the situation to me.

"It looks labor is putting the baby in stressed. The heart rate really went down quite a bit. It might be worse. C-section is an option. And you get to see the baby soon!"

"Are there any other options?"

"Well, we can wait and see what happens. But really, this is not true emergency yet, and I can take my time to make the cut and then stitches up. In the real emergency case, we have to rush to take out the baby in a couple of minutes and I might not have the time to do that."

"Can I think about it?" I still hesitated about having C-section.

"Sure, but I'm really worried about the baby." The doctor said.

Once I heard that, all the hesitations went away. The baby's safety is my first priority. "OK, let's do it then!"

Later on, we all found out that this probably turned out it was the best decision I had ever made.

It was around 6 PM on Saturday, August 30th, 2009, more than 24 hours since the contraction started, 4 hours after I checked in to the hospital room, 3 hours after I got epidural. I should have gotten the epidural much earlier had I know that I was going to end up with C-section. Really, you can't predict what can happen in a labor.

Pretty soon, I got to see my baby!