Bring on the Good Stuff

Well, since it's inevitable that I'll be getting an epidural, I went ahead and asked for one because the nurse said that it takes about an hour after you request it, and the contractions are getting stronger and fairly frequent.  Contractions aren't exactly what I expected them to be.  I guess I can feel the pressure, but more than anything, it feels like I really need to go.  That is not at all what I was thinking it would feel like, and I find myself not knowing exactly how to deal with it.  My first thought is to get up and go to the bathroom (which I'm not allowed to do at this point.)
__________________________________________________________________________________
At 11:15, I got the epidural.  I was pretty nervous remembering what it felt like at first when I got my spinal two years ago with Witten.  Mitch came over to hold my hand and gasped when he saw the needle that feels like it's setting your back on fire.  SO helpful!  I told him not to say other word or make another face when he saw anything else.  From then on, he was quiet and let me sqeeze as hard as I wanted. 

The epidural wasn't too bad.  The fire feeling from the shot didn't seem like it lasted as long as it did last time.  I could still feel the pressure from the epidural though which was a little gross because I knew what they were doing.  At least it didn't hurt, and I don't feel much of anything now.  Mitch actually made a comment a couple of minutes ago about how one of his legs was a little numb from the way he was sitting, and we both had a good laugh about that one.

The nurse warned me of headaches and vomitting from this point on.  Mitch was nice enough to remind me that I threw up when I delivered Witten.  I had completely forgotten that, and it actually took about 20 minutes for me to regain that memory after he brought it up.  I hope it was just situational, and it doesn't mean that I'm doomed to do it again.  As for the headache, well, it's definitely there and getting a little stronger.  I think it has to do with a drop in my blood pressure from the epidural.  It's nothing bad...just noticeably, and I'm feeling a little out of it.

When the nurse put in all of the tubes, she attached a monitor to Reese's head.  It made me sad when she described that it screwed in to the top layer of skin, but she assured me that we wouldn't notice it when Reese comes out.  As a fun fact, my mom informed me last night that I was only the 2nd baby in Arlington to get that done.  I thought that was interesting. 

The nurse also checked dilation, and at noon, I was at a 3-4.
 
Mitch took some pictures of me blogging.  I can see the swelling in my face already from all of the liquids they're pumping into me.

I am excited that the olympic trials are on today to help destract me from just sitting around and waiting.  I absolutely LOVE the olympics; I drop everything for 16 days and put all of my time and attention into them.  This will be my first olympics with kids, and I hope that I will get a cute picture of Reese sleeping on my chest when she's a month old to match the picture of me sleeping on my dad's chest during the 1980 winter olympics when I was a month old.