Pitocin's been going for about 2 and 1/2 hours now, and there's little change to report.
Sarah, in answer to your question, the epidural that Laura got when she had Morella did not really work very well, if at all. As the anesthesiologist explained it, this is because the space around the spinal cord into which the drug is administered was obliterated by the injury and subsequent surgery, and this prevents the drug from circulating completely. He suspects that the pain relief that Laura initially felt was from a spinal shot that some of the anesthesiologists here will administer when they give an epidural. That shot provided the 2 hours of pain relief that Laura got, but then wore off.
So, because of this, he will not administer it, because it is too risky for the very strong likelihood of no gain.
Morella and grandma are on their way to the hospital to join me in the cafeteria for dinner, and to hopefully cure Morella's 5 o'clock 'da das'. Besides, Laura needs a little pick-me-up from Morella's smiley face.
posted by hadjare @ 5:40 PM
3 Comments:
Tim, Mike here, when Rachel had Henry she didn't have any pain meds, for a variety of reasons, and we had a dulla to help out instead. The dulla, in my opinion, was not worth it except for one piece of advice she gave me that really seemed to work.
She advised me to apply counter pressure to the base of Rachel's spine during the early to mid phases of labor. Apparently during contractions if you push against the lower back, just above where the spine comes into the pelvis area (give or take depending upon the person) it really lessens the pain.
It really, really worked for Rachel for quite some time. I don't know, given Laura's back surgery, if it will work the same for you two but I was shocked when it actually did something. All of the breathing stuff really didn't help that much, at least from my point of view, but this did.
Anyway, I'm sure you two will be just fine. Rachel and I are keeping you both in our thoughts and prayers and wishing you a speedy delivery of you new baby girl.
Thanks for the explanation, Tim. I was confused because it had sounded like it went comfortably and well with Morella.
I hope those IV drugs are helping take the edge off. The pain of non-epiduraled Pitocin contractions is still a sharp recent memory!
-SECP
Just a note to let you know that we're thinking of you and pullin' hard for an easy(er) time. Looking forward to meeting this new little one!
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