Lydia's Arrival- Part 4

By this time I was really needing to concentrate and breathe through contractions.  But I was still only 3 centimeters dilated.  I was so tired and felt completely overwhelmed with the thought of laboring all through the night and then still needing to do the big work of pushing a baby out.  I was spoiled with the boys- they were born late in the evening, after a day (or 2) of laboring. 

I tried the nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, mask.  I couldn’t tell if it helped or not.  Kendall even took a turn with the gas mask when the nurse was out of the room.  He didn’t think it helped much either.  We discussed it and decided that I would get an epidural.  My thinking was that I could sleep for awhile while my body worked at getting ready for delivery.  Honestly, as I read the information about epidurals, one thing that scared me the most was the fact that the numbing felt like a bee sting.  Kendall just laughed at me.

The anesthesiologist was there before too long and before I knew it, I was hunched over leaning against Kendall, squeezing his hands harder than I’ve squeezed anything and waiting for the bee sting.  Well, the whole process was way worse than a bee sting, but much of that was the thought of what was happening.  Soon my contractions were becoming less painful.  However, when I laid down to rest, Baby didn’t like that.  The doctor asked me to sit up again.  Somehow that position put less pressure on Baby and her cord.