So where were we???
Ah yes, I was starting to climb the stairs and I soaked my pants. How could I forget? ;)
I actually had a hospital bag packed for this kid, so there wasn't much to get ready in that regard. I found myself in Ryan's room, kneeling at the side of his bed, and staring at a small boy who, unbeknownst to him, was going to do a lot of growing up in the coming days. I turned and saw that Dennis had quietly come up beside me and all I said was "this is his last night as our only" and we collapsed into each others arms and cried. The reality of what was happening really hit both of us hard in that sweet moment.
So we left his room and Dennis called our neighbor who had agreed to come over if labor happened during the night and while he was doing that the contractions really picked up. The only way I could find relief was sitting on the toilet and breathing deeply and calmly. Dennis, meanwhile, was scurrying around and asking all sorts of questions. Eventually, I told him to just decide everything himself and leave me out of it until we were ready to get to the hospital and I would be fine with whatever he came up with. I had grabbed a clock off the wall that had a second hand and couldn't believe I had 4 contractions in about 15 minutes. I was convinced I calculated the timing wrong (denial again, people). Dennis found out my parents were only a half an hour away for a getaway weekend (they live an hour away), so Dennis called them to ask if they would stay the night so Ryan would be more comfortable when he woke up. They agreed which we were so appreciative of!
So our neighbor came over and we were off to the hospital at around an hour after my water broke. The hospital is only about 3 miles from our house, but each bump drove me completely insane with pain. It was unreal and I was just trying to breathe and keep my upper body relaxed so all the energy from the pain would go into the contraction. Not too shabby for not having a birthing class in three years! Dennis prayed for all of us on the way which was so awesome and I asked him to pray that through everything, I would be gracious to our nurses and doctors. I was really nervous about getting out of control with pain and saying something I'd be embarrassed about later.
We got to the hospital and up to the maternity floor all the while slowing every few minutes so I could get through a contraction. I kept getting redirected to this room and down that hall, etc and finally I got into a room, ripped my coat off and made my way to the restroom. This was seriously the most comfortable place to get through contractions. I ended up having Dennis turn down the heat in the room because it was 74 in there when we got in. 74?! Seriously!? So he turned it down to 60-something which felt great to me and I remember asking the nurse and Dennis if that would be too cold for them.....they both yelled at me since I was the one doing all the work, so what I say goes. :)
After a while the nurse has me hop into bed so she can do the test to make sure my water really broke, which was really a formality since I was losing fluid all over the place (hence the staying in the restroom bit). Contractions while laying in bed were so much worse and I had a hard time keeping up since by that time they were coming 2-3 minutes apart. Good news is my water had indeed broken. Happiest I'd been to have a positive test since the whole thing started in May! It was also around that time (about 10:00) the nurse checked me and said I was about 3cm dilated and I found out my favorite doctor was on call that night until 8am! I was really hoping she would be the one to deliver so I was keeping my fingers crossed we could get this baby out in the next 10 hours.
Enter the Medical Resident.
Now I know they are learning and maybe they don't have the bedside manner skills that a seasoned doctor (or even the person taking blood pressure at Walgreen's) would have, but seriously, this lady made me nuts. The nurse had warned me she was going to be asking me a lot of questions, but to just take the time I needed to get through contractions and she could wait. Sure. Great. I was thinking the questions would be along the lines of "when do you want your epidural?" or "what are your preferences for forceps or vacuum use?", but instead she asked me....
"have you thought about what kind of birth control you'll use after birth?"
I asked her to repeat herself since I couldn't quite believe what I just heard, and when she confirmed her stupidity, all I could muster was a "let's talk about that later." I mean does she not see me clutching the handrails of the bed for dear life as my body is getting itself ready to birth a human? Oh well....she needed a serious reality check and I just wasn't in the mood to be the one to give it to her.
That gets us to about 10:00 when my nurse comes in to break up the inquisition and talk pain relief. Yay! I went for the epidural. I had heard these can slow the progress of labor, but I had also heard it can take quite a while for the anesthesiologist to show up to administer the dang thing so I was hoping I could get another centimeter or so under my belt before they showed up.
Enter anesthesiologist 10 minutes later with his miracle cart. I guess at 10 at night there isn't a big demand for intravenous pain relief. :)
He explained the risks, etc and I promise I would have signed away my 401k at that point if it meant getting some relief! Got the epidural in and a couple contractions later, I was feeling groovy. At that point, Dennis went home to get my mom and while they were gone, my blood pressure went down to about 100/50 and the nurse rushed back in. She put some stuff in my IV that burned like crap and she left. She wasn't gone long and when she came back I started feeling really woozy and she got a throw up bag to me just in time. It was really hard to have my abdomen violently contracting in two different directions at the same time. Den and Mom were back by about 10:30. Enter my awesome doctor who checks me and I'm about a 3-4 and we all settle in for the long haul. We visit for a long time and at about midnight we debate whether mom should maybe go back and get some sleep (absolutely not) and whether I should get some sleep (probably). The nurse comes in at around 12:20 and says she's going to place the catheter sicne my legs are dead and check for progress. Now here is where my mom starts getting squeamish. She hates catheters. I happen to love them. Pump me full of fluids and I don't have to get up to use the restroom? Sign me up!
What's particularly funny about my mom getting squeamish about anything is that this lady lives on a farm and is tougher than nails. She delivers horses for crying out loud! She has given mouth to mouth to just-born puppies to save their lives! But an itty-bitty catheter?? No way, no how man!
So the catheter is in and just for kicks the nurse checks me and as soon as she does, her mouth drops open. Not really the reaction you are going for when someone is checking around your unmentionables, but then she says "Seriously?" Then she asks us to guess how far I have dilated. What is it with these medical professionals and their questions anyway? Dennis guesses 5, I guess 2 (as an act of self-preservation in case there was absolutely no progress, you know?) and the nurse tells me I can't go backwards. Then she says "she's complete, she's ready to push!"
Huh? When did that happen?
You know I've only been here like two hours, right? And I've never had a natural delivery, right?
Then everything starts to feel really surreal........finishing the story tomorrow I promise!!
No comments:
Post a Comment