Part 1        Part 2        Part 3        Part 4        Part 5        Part 6 Conclusion

At Saint Benedict’s Hospital I was offered, what at that time was making it’s way into the birthing world, a spinal epidural.  My father was very nervous of my decision to have the epidural block.  In his youth and in the Navy at the time he had known of a young lady who had experienced permanent paralysis during her procedure, one of the rare risks of a spinal epidural.  I remember his deep concern.  But, with my doctor’s assurance that the risk was extremely rare and it was becoming a common procedure, I had the epidural.  I was told to hold extremely still as I leaned over and the epidural was placed.  My daughter says they are not painful at all now.  But, I remember it being painful.

As I remember, because my son was gone, my body wasn’t going to go into labor on it’s own.  I was given medication to induce and imitate labor.  But, told that because my natural hormones are not helping that the labor was harder than the labor of a live birth.  Sometime later I was being examined and a needle type instrument was being touched up my chest starting low on my abdomen.  Each time he, the examiner, would touch the needle to my skin and ask, “Can you feel that?” I would say no.  I was numb.  He would then move the needle up a few inches and say, “Can you feel that?”  Again, my response was, “no”.  When he got as high as my chest and still received the same answer, he frantically called some code over the hospital intercom and several doctors arrived as well as Doctor Hurst.  I’m sure my father in the waiting room was panicked if he knew it was my room.  There were several huddled around me.  Once again Doctor Hurst came to my rescue.  I don’t know why but Doctor Hurst asked me if I could wiggle my toes.  I said that I couldn’t.  He then got closer in my face and it seemed as if her were yelling at me, “WIGGLE YOUR TOES!”  I did.  The atmosphere calmed and people started departing.  That’s how I remember it.

When finally taken to the labor and delivery room, labor was hard.  The medicine was producing contractions.  They just weren’t as hard as they would have been during a normal delivery.  I remember Doctor Hurst had to push down on my belly the procedure.

After recovery, I was returned to my hospital room and lying on my bed calm.  A nurse came in and asked if I would like to hold Joseph Courtney before they took him away.  Babies gain most of their weight in the last few months of pregnancy.  Joseph was about nineteen inches long and weighed about 1 and 1/2 pounds.  I held him.  He was wrapped sweetly in a little blanket and I will always remember him.  He had his own unique features, a mixture of mine and Jay’s.  He was beautiful.

Part 6 (Conclusion)