Women give labor mixed reviews. My mother always made it sound like she walked in to the hospital, painlessly pushed out a baby, then went home to cook dinner. I recently found out that in the seventies, when she did the majority of her baby birthin', women were allowed to be totally knocked out during childbirth. When I heard that, her description made a lot more sense to me. When I found out I was pregnant,I considered what level of pain management to use. I opted for an epidural because I'm not crazy. I have total respect for women who want to go it naturally, I'm just not one of them.
I was in labor for 26 hours. After 26 hours, the doctor decided that I wasn't going to dilate past 8 cm, so I had a c-section. these are people who went to college for 10 years. 26 hours seems like along time for them to figure out that this labor thing was hitting some snags. I built up a tolerance for my epidural in the first few hours after I got it. I felt bad for the anesthesiologist and worried for myself as he pumped vial after vial of pain medicine into my epidural tube. I could feel the cold liquid go down my back, and we would all look expectantly at my legs, as if they would change color if the medicine was working. It never did, and my legs remained flesh colored. By the time I was prepped for surgery, I could have walked to the OR, I was near tears and even the hippie/Douala's techniques weren't helping much. I was begging the nurse to hurry and get me to surgery or let me push. Then I heard Charlie asking, "Are cameras allowed in the OR?" I didn't say anything because I knew if I opened my mouth, I was going to curse and scream and demand a divorce, and there was no way I was raising two babies on my own.
Turned out, they do allow cameras in the OR, so we have a photo of a baby head sticking out of my abdomen. It's very gross and alien, and I'm not even sure what to do with a photo like that. it's not really appropriate for framing..
There were literally 20 people present for the birth of my children. It was surprisingly noisy. There were lots of side conversations and the doctor had the radio tuned to classic rock. I don't mind classic rock, but I don't love it. It seems like I should have been able to choose the music my babies first heard when they came into the world. I'm not sure what I would have picked, but it wouldn't have been Foreigner or Journey.
I'd think the Rocky Theme might be appropriate.
ReplyDeleteWe should get together and talk about epidurals not working.
ReplyDeleteIt would be great.
That and husbands that were spared divorce only because we were busy doing other things at the time.
Tell me when and I will put it on my calendar.