Kai's birth story.

Ah, after 32 hours of labor, Kai has finally arrived. Well, actually he was born on the 22nd of July, but boy have we been busy. Let me just say it's the hardest F.O.E. that we've done so far. (Feat of Endurance). :)

Labor was hard. It hurt, it was long, and nothing seemed to have helped. I tried my hardest to pull it through, but since I only got 2 hours of sleep before labor and the overall duration of actual labor, at some point the energy required to pull through was simply exhausted. I think sometime after about 24 or so hours I asked for Fentanyl, thinking that since I never really had narcotics, perhaps it will take some of the edge off. Well, I wasn't the lucky one. Only after 30 minutes the effects (which were minimal at best), wore off and I was left with the exact same sensations and sheer exhaustion as before. But I still asked for all 3 doses, 1 hour apart. After that, I was ready to lie down and give up.

I wish I could explain the feeling of deciding to get an epidural. Sam has been asking me to get it for good 5 hours already, but I wouldn't budge. Didn't we talk about it honey, it's going to be hard and this insane amount of pain is just part of it. But I guess when my eyes became glazed over and Sam was literally scared for my own dear life, did he start pressing on it harder. When I finally made the decision I cried like a baby, thinking that I have failed myself. But another thought crossed my mind as well. If I am this tired now and I'm not even past the transition yet, what if I won't be able to push hard enough and will need a C-section. So, c-section vs epidural, I took the epidural.

It took what seemed like eternity for the anesthesiologist to get to the hospital, he already left for the night. When he did finally arrive, it took him just minutes to get the procedure done and it felt like an angel has descended next to me, took his gigantic wing and curled me up and took ALL of the pain away. I didn't think it was possible, but it is.

I was able to sleep for an hour, after which Sam has informed me that my contractions were about only a minute apart, lasting for about 4-5 minutes each, spiking really high (meaning would have been VERY painful) and after the nurse has checked me I was fully dilated, and Kai was in +2 position ready to come out!

So the pushing has begun. Before I could though of course, the nurse had to teach me how to do it since the natural sensation wasn't quite there. It took me a little bit to get the hang of it, but soon I was under way. I pushed for 4 hours, and one hour into it, it seemed like all the pain has come back. My OB said that the epidural does not take away the pressure sensation, boy was there a lot of pressure! The pushing was hard, probably even harder than the contractions before. With each push I was loosing more and more of my energy, but I was determined. I was determined not to have him be pulled out by other means. And I have succeeded. Well, I got a 2nd degree tear, but I still call that great success.

Out of this whole experience, I had three most surprising things: one, that labor could be so long and painful, two, that an epidural can make it bearable, and three that the "ring of fire" did not really happen to me because if you think the stretching of the skin would hurt more after feeling like your entire uterus is being run over by a train, think again.

But in the end, the experience was the most AMAZING experience of my life, and I have Kai to prove it. Will I have kids again, I doubt it, but that's just me.

In any case, that was that. :)