Braden's Birth story - pt. 6

So, we finally make it to the Jeep and away we go to the hospital.  Up until this point, I had had no contractions whatsoever.  Then about five minutes into the car ride, they began.  Uuuugggg.  So that's what those feel like.  Well, they did keep getting stronger and stronger, but to be honest, I was more concerned with the continuing flow of the "water".  It was so uncomfortable and it was totally grossing me out.  I just wanted to get to the labor and delivery floor and get checked into a room so that I could lay down and let nature take its course!  Well, we get to the hospital.  Yay!  Then I had to walk to the elevators, ride up to the fourth floor and walk to the labor and delivery ward.  Fun stuff.  Then when we got there the observation room where they do the preliminary stuff before checking you into your own room was full.  So I had to walk back out to the waiting room until they could get to me.  Yeah.  I was NOT a happy camper.  I thought for sure that I was going to leave a sopping wet mess on the chair.  Eeww.  Finally, I get in there and instead of having to go into the observation room, I was taken straight to a private room.  Woo-hoo!  Now, comes the most fun part of all.  After all the poking and prodding and who knows what else, I was finally getting into hard labor.  (haha, that's funny.  hard labor..)  The total time I was in labor from my water breaking to Braden popping out was 6 1/2 hours. The nurses kept asking me if I wanted an epidural over and over again, but I kept refusing.  I wanted to do without it.  Plus, honestly, I was scared of it.  I had read and heard stories about how people had had complications because of an epidural.  I made it to the 5 1/2 hour mark, was fully dilated at 10 cm and I said, "Can I still get that epidural?!"  Yep, the transistion period was taking so long and I just couldn't take the pain anymore.  Because, Braden hadn't crowned yet they said sure.  The anesthesiologist came up in a jiffy and told me I would have relief in about 3 contractions.  Well, I must say that the needle puncture for the epidural actually hurt more than the contractions!  He was hitting a nerve or something and it did not feel good.  So, he had to try again.  Finally, after that fiasco, I was feeling mighty fine! I need to add here that since the epidural, I have had some interesting back problems.  My back has gone out twice in the area he administered the epidural.  I mean I literally could NOT move, get up off of the floor or anything.  The first time I was bending over to get Braden out of his play pen when he was about a year old!  That was very scary!!!  The second time was in the shower when I bent over to shave my legs about 6 months after that.  Since then, I've had times where I can feel it start to act up and I just quit what I'm doing and relax until it passes........