Power of the Priesthood

Some of you know this story already but I thought I would share it anyways.
I had an awesome experience in the hospital when I had Anna. When I delivered Paige I tried to go through labor with no help of an epidural but towards the end of my labor I was in so much pain that I got an epidural to ease the pain, I remember it hurting and the anesthesiologist having trouble with it but I was in so much pain that it didn't hurt too much more than I was already hurting.
Then, when I had Brock I remember getting the epidural pretty early in my labor and it hurt so bad, I was swollen with about 40lbs. of water weight on me, making it very hard for the anesthesiologist to find the right spot in my back and it took about 4 different tries to get the needle in the right place, but again I was in labor pain so I was willing to do whatever it took to make that pain leave, including having someone dig into my spine with a needle!
Well, towards the end of my pregnancy with Anna I began to worry about going in for my scheduled C-section and not being in any kind of pain and having an epidural put in, I thought about this so much that I couldn't sleep the night before she was to be delivered. I voiced my concerns to the nurses and the anesthesiologist before we got started and they assured me that it wouldn't be a problem this time, and that the only reason they couldn't get it in with Brock was because I was so swollen. Well, I wish this was the case! As I sat on that table leaning into this poor nurses shoulder(they wouldn't let Joe in the room while they put in the epidural) the man began to dig and dig and dig into my spine, it is literally the worst pain I have ever been in, and to anyone who hasn't had an epidural, you aren't supposed to feel the pain because they are supposed to deaden the area first, but for some reason this man didn't wait for my back to deaden all the way before he dug into my spine, I could feel him "screwing" the needle into my back and I couldn't hold back the tears, that's how bad it hurt, my nurse was so wonderful she was the same nurse that was in the delivery room with me when I delivered Brock and she reminds me of my mother so much that it was like my mom sent her to me to take her place, she was keeping me talking to take my mind off of the pain, asking me what Anna's room looked like and if Brock was ready to be a big brother. As soon as he inserted the epidural into the right spot I immediately had a horrific headache and was sick to my stomach. They laid me back and explained to me that I had lost spinal fluid out of the epidural spot and that is why I had a bad headache, he said that my headache should subside but if it came back then they could fix it at a later time. I forgot all about feeling bad as soon as I saw my little Anna and didn't have any problems with my head.

Day two in the hospital they let me get up from the bed(finally!) and take a shower, the minute that my feet hit the floor I had the headache again, now this was no normal headache it was pounding and the room was spinning and I thought I was going to throw-up, the nurse came in and told me that it was a result of the epidural being put in incorrectly and that the only way to cure this was to either lay flat on my back for up to a week or to have another epidural put in and then they would take two huge vials of blood from my arm and put it into my back to fill up the hole where the spinal fluid had leaked out and to sort of stop up the hole until the fluid could fill itself back up. (i'm no doctor so I may have a this a little mixed up, but to my knowledge this is what I understood)
I was honestly debating whether or not I wanted to stay flat on my back for a whole week instead of enduring another epidural. Just when I found out this news my friends called and told me that they were on the way to see me, I almost told them not to come until she offered to have her husband help Joe give me a priesthood blessing. I said that would be a great thing, a new anesthesiologist came in and told me what he would do if I let him, he promised me that he would try to put the epidural in once and he wouldn't dig around on my back at all. I agreed to le them put a second epidural in if my favorite nurse would come back in and be my support. She was just about to leave for home and said that she could come in and help me.

All the staff left the room and Joe and our friend Otto administered a priesthood blessing to me, in the blessing Joe said, "please help her to endure what she is about to go through" and all I could think was that I didn't want to endure anything else!

As he started to put my epidural in the only pain I felt was when the nurse stuck the needle in my arm to draw blood, and then that was it! I couldn't feel any pain in my back and my headache was gone immediately. I literally wanted to kiss that new anesthesiologist! He was truly an answer to my prayers! I didn't feel a thing and I know without a shadow of a doubt that the priesthood blessing that I recieved was the reason that I felt no pain. My Heavenly Father never ceases to prove to me that He hears and answers prayers, I am so grateful that my husband is worthy to hold the Priesthood and that he was able to ease my worries and stop my pain by laying his hands on my head and blessing me.

It was an experience that I wouldn't want to go through again but I definitely learned that through our weaknesses if we look hard enough we will see the hand of the Lord reaching out to help us we just have to ask for it.