Get Born! part 2

So once you've read ALL the books and websites about labor that there are, like I did, you will realize there are basically two opinions:
1) Write a birth plan! It's important to communicate in detail how you do or do not want your labor to proceed. Or
2) Don't write a birth plan! It never happens that way and the nurses will just laugh at you.

So I didn't write a birth plan, though I had a few loosely formed rules in my head, the gist of all them being that I wanted to do it as much on my own as possible. And it's a good thing I didn't write that down because, as it turns out, it really does never happen that way. And I hate being laughed at.

In my case the issue was that my water had broken but the contractions were not kicking into gear. The fetal monitors revealed that I was having some contractions (I couldn't feel anything), but they weren't doing much good. Once your water breaks, there is no longer a shield to keep bacterias and whatnot out of your baby baker. So, the nurses explained to "I-Don't-Need-No-Steenking-Drugs" me - in no uncertain terms - that the show needs to be moving on down the road. Thus....my "birth plan" was out the window and Pitocin, drill sergeant of contractions everywhere, was in the window, or IV, or whatever. For the time being though, I held off on the epidural, even though I remembered reading that drug-induced contractions got bad faster than when they came naturally.

I think I started the Pitocin around noon and for a while it was okay. I started to feel the contractions, like little twinges in my insides, every now and then. But after a while the twinges got worse and it seemed like they were non stop. I sat. I stood. I leaned against that dude that had caused all this trouble in the first place and drooled on his USC sweatshirt. Finally, around 4:30, as my guts were turning themselves inside out at a constant rate, I sheepishly sent said guy out to find the nurse to tell her I was ready for the big spine needle. And by 5:00, honestly you guys, I was napping peacefully. I hadn't even realized I was tired until the pain stopped, which it did, immediately after receiving the epidural. God bless my strong baby-making body. But God bless anesthesiologists who are good at their jobs too.