Anastasia Leigh Ebersole
July 24, 2009
7lbs 4oz 19in
On Tuesday (7/22) night I began having sharp pains in my back and by 2:45am on Wednesday (7/23) I was able to time them at 5 minutes apart! I had really wanted to go through labor and delivery med free so I was hoping to stay at home until my contractions got to 3 minutes apart. So I stayed home until about 10 am that morning. By that time, the contractions were still 5 minutes apart, but I was feeling like my medical condition was kicking in and I was having to fight the urge to pass out as well.
Once in the hospital I was only 1cm dilated, but I was 90% effaced! This was a huge improvement as the day before I was still 0-0. An hour or two after I got there, my doctor came in and said I was 3cm and broke my water. The nurse thought that I was only 1-2cm but went along with it. By 1pm I was actually at 3cm. I was still really struggling to stay conscious through the contractions even though I did not find the pain to be unbearable.
A few months ago, I had done some research regarding my medical condition (neurocardiogenic syncope) and the epidural. It was recommend against gettin the epidural because the resulting episodes could be a lot worse (even as bad as a coma!). So I was really trying to stay away from that, but due to the struggle of staying conscious, I asked to consult with the anesthisiologist and see what he thought. He came in and, to my surprise, actually knew what my condition was and asked some questions to access the severity of my condition. After talking, he told me that in most cases it isn.t recommended, but that in my case, with my eradic blood pressure, high heart rate, and the severity of NCS, that I'd be better off with the epidural than without it. He left my room and came back rather quickly to administer the epi. He was super fast and didn't miss! He also knew enough to keep me from sitting up until he was completely ready!!
Once the epi had set in I was no longer having to deal with the contractions AND staying conscious! However, everytime I rolled onto my left side the baby's heart rate would drop! :( So they kept me mostly on my right side, therefore, the epi wasn't that strong on my left side. Eventually her heart rate evened out and I was able to be on both sides. Even after the epi I was having problems staying conscious. The anesthesiologist came in to up my dosage to help it reach my left side, and by midnight (7/24) he came in to up my dosage again so that I could sleep. An hour later, I was no longer able to sleep so he upped the dosage one more time and this time I slept VERY soundly!! By 1:45 I was fully dilated and not feeling anything! :) Not even pressure! With my dad and mom each holding a leg and my neck I was able to miraculously push out my baby in about 30 minutes!!! Anastasia Leigh was born at 2:14am very healthy and EXTREMELY alert (the pics are literally minutes after birth)!! :) She was even born on her due date!! :)
