The Labor And Birth

We headed into the hospital at 7am on Thursday for me to be induced.  I was already dilated to a 4 when we got there so I was anticipating a fairly quick delivery.  I got all hooked up, and started on pitocin.  Things were going good. The contractions weren't that strong and I was feeling great and happy.  Around noon my Dr. came in and broke my water.  Immediately the contractions were much stronger.  I received my epidural about an hour and 1/2 later.  The epidural was just starting to work, when I suddenly felt a ton of pain on one side of my uterus.  The nurse checked and the baby had flipped, turning face up.  The pain on my right side was intense, and took a while to fix with the anesthesiologist.  Around this time the baby's heart rate began dropping with each contraction.  The nurse kept coming in and having me move around and flip sides to try to find a position the baby's heart rate wouldn't drop in.  About the time the right side of my uterus was feeling bearable, my lower back began hurting with excruciating pain.  The epidural seemed to have no effect on my back.  Unlike the contractions the pain in my back never stopped.  It was constant, and that wore me out.  Apparently I was in "back labor."  Still with each contraction the baby's heart rate would drop.  I continued to dilate but very slowly.  

Finally around 3pm I was at 10cm and ready to push.  I began pushing, and immediately knew it was not going to be easy to get the baby out.  He was stuck on my pelvis and with each push his heart rate would drop to almost nothing.  I could tell the Dr. was getting a little stressed about the situation, and they kept having me take breaks to let the baby recover.  The Dr. continued to try to flip the baby with each contraction to turn him face down but was unsuccessful.  Finally after 57min of pushing (my other labors were just a few pushes and the babies were out) he was born at 3:57pm.  He had the cord wrapped around his neck which was causing his heart rate to drop during the labor and pushing.  I was just so grateful he was born and immediately all the pain stopped.  They put him on my chest and I could not help but feel a tremendous amount of love for that little baby.  Later the Dr. told me had this been my first delivery I would have ended up with a C-section.  I was so thankful that didn't happen and mostly grateful that he was born safe and healthy.