Holy Labor!

So the 24th came and went in a blink of an eye!  I can't its already here and gone when I was waiting for it for so long.  Anyway it was a very long day with a lot of surprises.
So we arrive at L&D at 6:15 in the am ready to be induced.  I get undressed placed in a robe hook up to the baby monitor and get the IV started.  No problem.  They start the pitocin about 7 and we are on our way to having this baby.  They start the pitocin really slow so at first I couldn't even tell I was having contractions.  They slowly ease it up as the day goes on.  About 9:15 they come in to tell me our Dr wants to check me and then break my water.  Its then and there I decide I want the epidural.  It's not that I don't like to be checked, in fact I hate it and it hurts like crazy.
So the CRNA comes in and does the epidural.  He is the coolest guy in the world, his name is Ron.  Ron is great not only does he do a killer epidural he stayed around and talked to us for about and hour about getting into CRNA school and stuff.  Really cool guy.
So Dr. Nichols comes in and breaks my water and tells me I'm at a 4! Yippee my cervix is working which is something I was a little worried about.  So we continue to labor.  Unfortunately the baby starts to react poorly.  She starts having decelerations of her heart rate every time I have a contraction which signifies the cord is being compressed, not good.  So they come in and start messing with me and move me on my side.  This is where the problems start.
All of a sudden for no reason at all I am now able to feel every contraction.  My legs are still numb I can't move or feel them but uterus is wide awake and I can tell you when every contraction comes.  Needless to say ouch.  Dr. Nichols comes in at this time and sees what's going on with baby and orders an amnio drip which is where they put fluid back into my uterus to float the baby off the cord and help her deal with the contractions better.  Weird, I've never heard of that before.  So now I'm totally laboring in pain lame.  The irony of it all is I was whining to Rich about being induced because he and I wouldn't have experience of him coaching me through every breath and dealing with the pain together.  This was a really cool time when we labored with Dex and I was sad we were going to miss it with this one.  Well I got my wish, in a bad way.
So we labor in pain for an hour they bring Ron back in a they give me a booster of pain meds it works for a few minutes then its back to the pain.  They try again with a different pain med, no good still in pain.  This is about 1pm.  So my nurse Janette gets the idea that she should check me because maybe I'm just progressing too fast for the epidural to keep up.  So she checks me and I'm a 9! and fully effaced.  Yeah so we can start pushing.
So we start, which I am so grateful for because it didn't hurt as bad when I could push through the contractions, the bad part is my legs are still numb, lame.  So we push for about an hour and half.  No progress at all.  So the nurse decides we should just try to labor a little longer and let my uterus push the baby down into my pelvis.  This sounds great because I'm really tired the only problem is I can still feel every contraction.  So we go through a bunch of pain meds and nothing works final we decide to back up the epidural catheter and see it that works.  In mean time they give me fentanyl.  For those of you who have never had the stuff I am very sorry.  It is amazing it sent me to a different very happy, funny planet.  I think everyone enjoyed it.  Well after about half hour it wears off and I'm still in pain.  Finally we decide to replace the epidural.  Ron comes in and moves it just a little higher and bingo!  It works I'm finally without pain and it is such a relief.
So now we are just laboring and moving me from side to side to see it that will help this baby engage in my pelvis.  About 4:30 we start pushing again yeah, I'm think we are getting close to the end.  So we push for about an hour Dr. Nichols comes in and helps as we push.  I know it's not looking good when after ever push he is closing his eyes and lowering his head looking like he praying or contemplating while the nurses get really quite and are giving each other looks.

Yikes this is scary for Rich and me we never even thought we'd be at this point.  So we talk to our nurse who agrees Ron is in the room he agrees.  I'm tired of pushing and not making any head way at all so we finally decided its for the best.
As soon as I say ok things are in motions consent is signed I'm shaved and moved to the OR in about 15minutes!  Crazy how fast that went.  They prep me which is weird I can feel pressure but no pain.  They scrub down my belly put a drape in front of me, dress Rich in a cute little outfit and then we are ready to rock.  Ron is doing my anesthesia, just an epidural and I can remember him grabbing my face at one point and saying "ok hun you're gonna feel a lot of pressure."  Then Dr Nichols pushes hard on my stomach and out pops babies head as I'm saying "ouch."  They clean her nose and mouth out and then tada baby Ras is here!
She is beautiful with lots of black hair. She was 20.5 inches long 7.25 pounds born at 6:55pm.  Her name is Finley Marie Rasmussen and she has been really good baby so far.  We are so excited to have her in our life.  Check her out!