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My Spinal Block WORE OFF

Erika • Mon, Aug 12

I think I’m finally ready to share my story😅 Honestly, the whole thing is sort of a blur. It was a couple weeks ago but during labor all I could think about was the pain.

Here’s what I remember....

I gave birth to my son on July 27th. Went in for an induction when I was 41 weeks on the 26th at 7pm. I’m a first time mom so I expected the induction process to be long and didn’t think I’d be seeing my son until late afternoon/evening the next day.

When I got to the hospital they hooked me up to nonstress test and saw I was already having contractions about 6 minutes apart. I was 2cm 50% effaced at that point. They decided to go ahead and continue with the plan by administering Cytotec and continuing to monitor contractions. By midnight my contractions were 3 minutes apart and they told me that I should try and get some rest now.

I woke up at about 4am and was unable to fall back asleep due to the pain. My midwife checked me and I was 3cm now. I hopped in the giant jacuzzi tub to try and relax. By 7pm I was really hurting. I received a dose of IV fentanyl for pain but it did nothing. Midwife checked and I was 5cm 80% effaced. I decided to go ahead and ask for an epidural which was a part of my birth plan. Turns out the anesthesiologist was on-call due to it being a Saturday... and the nurse told me she had a 2 HOUR WINDOW to get to the hospital after being called. What. The. Fuck.

So yes...I waited 2 hours for the anesthesiologist who arrived at 9am. And by that time I was screaming in pain and 9cm. They decided to go with a spinal block due to the fact that I was progressing fast which I didn’t question I was just yelling at them to get rid of the pain 😫

The spinal block was amazing. I was able to relax, I brushed my teeth, my mom finally got to the hospital, and I felt ready now. After about an hour I was still 9cm and not progressing so they broke my waters. About an hour after that I still hadn’t progressed any and I was starting to feel my contractions again... the worst pain of my life. THE SPINAL BLOCK WORE OFF. I seriously don’t know how women choose to give birth with no pain medication. If that’s you, you’re incredible! and insane 😂 Seriously, my throat hurt the next day for how much yelling out I was doing. Also, the anesthesiologist went home...?????!!!?!

Even after it wore off I still wasn’t progressing. I think they were saying his head was tilted and he didn’t want to come out. I tried 3 different positions to get things going because I still wasn’t 100% effaced. But at this point I felt the urge to push and I couldn’t hold back. So my doctor tried moving his head and finally told me I could push.