Well, it's the next morning so I feel that if I'm going to tell the story, it better be now - while the baby is sleeping and the visitors haven't arrived yet.
We arrived at 9am with the idea of undergoing a version procedure to get the baby head down, followed immediately by an induction. Abby's history has been one of a little womb swimmer, with the position of her body (predominantly transverse) changing literally minute by minute. So we were very pleased to find that she happened to be head down, so we happily proceeded with the induction, which consisted of a pertosin drip increasing every 20 minutes.
Soon contractions began - 5 minutes apart, then getting more intense and more frequent. The thing about the pertosin is that it is essentially a time compression drug, so everything about the labor process is exaggerated and accelerated - particularly the discomfort. Being wary of this, we ordered the epidural so as to stay ahead of the increasingly uncomfortable contractions. In this timeframe Abby turned transverse again, so the epidural was particularly important because the new plan was to force the baby head down, then break Angela's water to make the baby less mobile. The anesthesiology guys arrived and did there thing, with the knowledge that it took two attempts to 'take' with our previous baby - and then it only kicked in during the final crucial minutes.
Although it began to look as if the epidural worked initially, it was obvious is short order that it failed completely. Unfortunately the contractions were becoming monstrous, and in the process of them trying to effect another epidural, Angela thought she felt the baby's head drop, and shortly thereafter her water broke. Hello, natural childbirth - with the dubious benefit of petosin induced monster contractions.
The good news was that Abby's head had indeed dropped, and after chasing away anesthesiology, 12 minutes of very intense but conventional pushing was all it took.
It turns out inducing was a very, very good thing. I.e., Abby was so mobile that she actually formed what they call a "true knot" in her umbilical cord. If, during the duration of a normal gestation, any tension would have been placed on her cord, that knot could have killed her. I apologize to the squeamish among you in advance, but you can see what it looked like in the image above.
While Angela soaks in the tub I think I'll try to change back into my street clothes without getting caught by one of the nurses :-).
