Jessa Duggar Reveals 'Hardest Part' of 21-Hour Labor With Her Newborn Baby
The former reality star had unexpected complications with her epidural.
Labor and delivery comes with a lot of emotions. And while most women expect to experience the worst physical pain of one's life while bringing a beautiful baby into the world, unless you've experienced it firsthand, it's hard to put into words how taxing labor and delivery is. Just ask Jessa Duggar, as the TLC alum recently endured a 21-hour labor. In a recent YouTube video, she opened up about her pregnancy and delivery, noting that at the time of the video, she was 38 weeks and preparing for the holiday season as part of her typical schedule with her four other children as she wasn't showing any signs of labor. She did predict that her baby would be on the heavier side, something she speculated about for much of her pregnancy. And while she's given birth before, this time around was different. She revealed that throughout the 21-hour labor, she eventually had her epidural, a medication used to ease labor pains, turned off.
"After laboring for about 12 hours, I was able to be moved and get an epidural," she explained. "It worked great on one side [of my body] but it was kind of spotty on the other side. It wasn't a perfect take, but I would say 80% better than it was before getting it. And, we thought things were moving along just fine, but then when the doctor came in, he said the baby was still pretty high and not in the most ideal position. So, I was able to have the epidural shut off, and I called my midwife, and she was able to come to the hospital…she helped me get into a bunch of different laboring positions to help rotate the baby. Having had the epidural on and then shut off was probably the hardest part."
Most health care professionals warn women that once they have an epidural, while it eases the pain tremendously, because one's body is numb for the medication and they are hooked up to a machine, he can prolong labor as the woman isn't able to "control" or feel what's happening with her body.
Jessa had the epidural turned off after the baby was descending to a better position, but there were still some challenges. "One leg was working great…the other side, I could feel everything, and so we ended up taking the epidural out, getting it replaced, and it did work the second time," she explained.
Jessa said she pushed twice and her baby came out. From the video, it appears her mother Michelle Duggar was by her side.