Labor, Part Two

Hi again all--i apologize if I missed you on the first part of this email, but here's the labor wrapup.

Part one was long and uneventful. 26 hrs in the hospital. Around 1 pm, after pre-laboring on a very pleasant epidural for about 3 hrs, progress: my water bag released. It felt amazing and reliecing and freeing.

The ob resident came back and checked my cervix--she poked around a bit and opened me up a little more. 4 cm. Active labor, finally.

Dr deborah gahr, the ob on duty from our practice, soho ob-gyn, arrived around 2. She said it's great that your water broke naturally--i was about to do it manually for you.
She started increasing the pitocin and the contractions started getting pretty intense and frequent. One of the labor nurses asked if I wanted the epi dosage increased. I sort of did, but was managing ok--the epi doesn't erase the pain, but rather dulls it and takes the edge off.

Next thing I know, dr gahr comes in and says, "let's check the dilation." She did, and told me I have an "amazing cervix and pelvis!" (We all know I'm gonna get some mileage out of that) and that btw 2 and 4 pm, I have become fully dilated-10 cm--and it's time to push! They turn off the epidurqal at that point to allow you to feel the pushing, but the meds are still helping block the pain big-time. I started getting nervous. I was sweaty and cold and my teeth were chattering. Ing said, "baby, you are in the home stretch--you can DO this."

So at 445 pm we start pushing. As each contraction started, I have 2 labor nurses, ing, and dr. Gahr holding me. (My mom has been here since 11 am but left the birthing room bc she's squeamish.) We push sitting up, legs in stirrups. They say, don't focus energy in your chest, arms, face, neck, but really try to poo--to bear down on the rectum. We did about 3 pushes per contraction. Good progress first time--we could see the head! She has hair--lite brown!

Next couple pushes were harder--i was tensing my neck and face, and no progress. We tried using the push bar on the bed, but no progress. Dr. Gahr suggested putting her fingers in my vagina, and me pushing back against them. She's a genius--it worked, and after 25 mins of pushing, tiny slithered out! I saw it all on this big mirror--incredible! Ing was in tears, and saying how amazing it is that our daughter has arrived. Ing cut the cord--i love that. They put tiny, all gooey and crying, in my arms. She quieted down and was just looking all over her new world. Ing held her while I got stitched up--my perineum tore a teeny bit--i guess the massaging helped! Then they put her back in my arms, and we tried to get her to breastfeed, and she took the nipple--for about 20 mins, both sides!

Pretty incredible that the pushing her out did not even really hurt--i didn't feel the "ring of fire" at all, actually.

So I'm trying to get some sleep now--here at nyu--and ing had to go hm--we couldn't get a private room and partners can't stay in the semi-privates. But I'm alone in the delivery room, waiting for a bed to open up upstairs in recovery. I had a good hour of sleep, and am gonna try again now. Tiny is in the nursery here. If she needs fed, they bring her to me.

That's about it--im thrilled and stunned and blessed. Can't wait for you all to meet her. Still working on the names...

Love again to all.