I had a good pregnancy. In fact, Jake, my now six year-old son came exactly on his due date, which is unusual. I took good care of myself during my pregnancy and also made plans for how I wanted to manage pain during the birth. I have had a back injury since I was four years old and my fear was that my labor was going to be all in my back so I wanted to be prepared. I decided I wanted an epidural.
When the day came to delivery Jake, the labor was indeed all in my back. The anesthesiologist was great. He offered the epidural and I said yes.
He could tell I was frightened that I would have a contraction while he was administering the epidural, but he was a true professional and it went well. I had some issues with my labor and ended up being in labor so long that I required an additional epidural. The anesthesiologist administered a second epidural.
Giving birth is exhausting both physically and mentally. I was grateful for the pain treatment while giving birth to Jake because it gave me the opportunity to rest between contractions and mentally and physically prepare for the next one and ultimately, Jake’s birth.