The adventure begins...
Woke up at 7:15 am this morning to find that I lost my mucus plug over night. I also felt myself having contractions 10 minutes apart. I went back to bed and told Derrick that we might have a baby by tonight because I started having contractions. I kept timing them and by 9:15 am or so they started occuring every 5 minutes apart. We decided to wait about an hour to call the doctor to make sure that it was the real thing. So at 10:00 am we paged the doctor via the answering service who called us back shortly. She asked if my water had broken and how long my contractions have been occuring for, etc. She said, 'Well if you're ready start packing up and head over to the hospital.' So that's what we did. Most of the stuff was already packed in my truck as I was hoping to be induced at the doctor's office yesterday.
We headed over to the hospital after calling some of our family members to let them know so they didn't panic if they should call the house to no answer. We got to the hospital around 10:25 am. On the way up to the floor we met another daddy who's wife had been in labor 24 hours as of the time we got there. He also alerted us that the maternity ward was booming today. We went up to the second floor of the hospital and they put us in an examining room. I was told to strip down and put a gown on and they put the monitoring devices (for the baby's heart rate and my contractions) on me under my hospital 'tube top'. They also did an internal to see how dilated I was and where the baby was. I was 80% effaced and the baby was at a -2 station. I laid there for awhile and then they told me I needed to start walking around to bring on some action.
That was torture. I would walk around the hospital wing and when a contraction came I was in agony. We went down the hall where the waiting room was to find that my cousin had brought my mom to the hospital as well as her two kids and husband. I was surprised to see them there. I didn't stay long to visit them as a contraction came along and I just wanted to cry. So we kept walking around and I went back to my room because I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. They gave me some water to drink and also some apple juice (which did not settle too well with me). Thankfully I only took a couple sips of the apple juice. The contractions were awful and I kept telling Derrick I can't do this. And I was dreading how the contractions would feel once I got further along the labor stages.
Around 1:00 pm they put me into the labor and birthing room. They began the questioning routine and then asked me if I needed to use the bathroom. I said yes and they put the measuring dish in there to measure how much pee I was putting out. Well it didn't help because as soon as I sat down I had the urge to throw up. And throw up I did - three times in a row. Derrick came in to see if I was ok. I told him not to come in since I knew he had a low tolerance for vomit. But he came in and helped me out. So I got back to bed and they put the IV in me. I layed there for a couple hours as they monitored me. Derrick put the Pure Moods CD in the boom box and they turned the lights down to encourage me to rest. I held Derrick's hand as the contractions were painful and took my breath away. I kept apologizing to him for squeezing his hand since I was worried I was going to hurt him.
The nurse came in every once in awhile to check the sheets coming out of the monitor. She also suggested I sit on the birthing/exercise ball to help move things along and she said it would help with the contractions. So I did try that and tried to breath through the contractions while Derrick tried to help me through the pain. I have to say the contractions were much more tolerable while sitting on it.
The nurse also kept asking what my pain number was on a scale of 1-10. She said when I couldn't tolerate the pain anymore to let her know and they would call the anesthesiologist in to put the epidural in. I sat on the ball for an hour or so and then requested the epidural. Around 4:50 pm the nice anesthesiologist came in and did the procedure. Derrick was asked to leave the room and told to go get something to eat. The nurse was nice enough to hold my hand as I sat hunched over on the bed while he put it in. I hate needles and this was the second needle I had to endure in one day. The needle did hurt but the relief was oh so nice after the medicine kicked in. The anesthesiologist was very good and meticulous. He explained every step to me and what I might feel when he did whatever he was doing at the time. And it was good timing with the epidural because shortly after he put it in and left and Derrick came back my water broke and the my contractions on the monitor skyrocketed. I felt nothing.
Derrick went out and got the nurse who took a look and saw that there was a thin myconium in the broken water (meaning the baby had voided while inside me). She said it wasn't alot but they would have the people from Children's Hospital present when the baby was born to clean out her nasal passages and mouth with the suctioning pump built into the wall of the room. The night wore on and I slept off and on. The nurse came in and put a catheter in since I wouldn't be able to get up and go to the bathroom because the epidural had made my legs numb. Derrick slept for an hour reclined in the chair with his feet up on another chair. The nurse and doctor kept coming in and out of the room. The doctor kept doing internals and it was getting disheartening because the dilation wasn't changing much and the baby hadn't moved down. They started giving me pitosin to increase my contractions around 7:00 pm and increased it every hour or so to a higher level of pitosin.
Around 8:00 pm I had Derrick send in all our family who had been waiting in the waiting room this whole time. Visiting hours were almost up and I felt bad that nothing had happened while they were waiting. So two by two they came in to wish me luck, see how I was doing and to say good night. Derrick had been going out to give them the updates on what was going on and also to see how many babies were appearing in the nursery. There were two sets of twins born that day and he also ran into the guy who's wife was in labor when we got there. The poor woman was still in labor.
Me at 9:40 pm in the labor room:
Our least favorite saying of the night was the doctor and the one nurse kept saying I was 'still in early labor'. That is so hard to hear when you've been at the hospital since 10:30 am. And the other common statement we heard during our time in the labor room was 'what CD is this, it's nice! We should have this in all our labor rooms'. LOL
The night progressed and they tried to do an internal monitor of my contractions strength. They tried three different units (cables that are packaged from the company) and even changed the monitoring device thinking that the port on the computer was bad and they had no luck. The doctor and nurse were so frustrated and so were we! Because the next step we were told was to go in to have a cesarean section since she wasn't moving down much and I was only at a 4-5 centimeter dilation. She was afraid that my pelvis bone wasn't allowing the baby passage down. It was the last step (since they tried everything else). We learned that another doctor had the same problem down the hall with their patient and the monitoring device. Derrick stepped out in the hallway with the doctor and talked it over with her trying to figure out another way. He was especially bothered by the idea of me having a c-section. I was too but if that was what needed to happen, then so be it. The nurse on shift at the time told us that they weren't bad as she had had all three of her children the same way after laboring with the first one without success. It was still hard to hear.
Trying to put a little humor back into the night I told the doctor that we might have to rename our baby since she might insult her (our doctor) since she was being so difficult in coming out. The doctor on call and doing our delivery was named Elizabeth. She asked what the baby's name was going to be and was tickled when she heard the name since she said so many people use Elizabeth as a middle name and not as a first name.
The doctor told the nurse to position me so that I laid a little on my stomach and to position my legs a certain way. She said she would give me another 45 minutes and check again. In the mean time, she ended up going into surgery with another patient (who turned out to be the guy's wife we ran into) for a c-section. So I laid on my belly for the 45 minutes (as much as I could) with my legs positioned a certain way and then I started feeling some pressure down below...
We headed over to the hospital after calling some of our family members to let them know so they didn't panic if they should call the house to no answer. We got to the hospital around 10:25 am. On the way up to the floor we met another daddy who's wife had been in labor 24 hours as of the time we got there. He also alerted us that the maternity ward was booming today. We went up to the second floor of the hospital and they put us in an examining room. I was told to strip down and put a gown on and they put the monitoring devices (for the baby's heart rate and my contractions) on me under my hospital 'tube top'. They also did an internal to see how dilated I was and where the baby was. I was 80% effaced and the baby was at a -2 station. I laid there for awhile and then they told me I needed to start walking around to bring on some action.
That was torture. I would walk around the hospital wing and when a contraction came I was in agony. We went down the hall where the waiting room was to find that my cousin had brought my mom to the hospital as well as her two kids and husband. I was surprised to see them there. I didn't stay long to visit them as a contraction came along and I just wanted to cry. So we kept walking around and I went back to my room because I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. They gave me some water to drink and also some apple juice (which did not settle too well with me). Thankfully I only took a couple sips of the apple juice. The contractions were awful and I kept telling Derrick I can't do this. And I was dreading how the contractions would feel once I got further along the labor stages.
Around 1:00 pm they put me into the labor and birthing room. They began the questioning routine and then asked me if I needed to use the bathroom. I said yes and they put the measuring dish in there to measure how much pee I was putting out. Well it didn't help because as soon as I sat down I had the urge to throw up. And throw up I did - three times in a row. Derrick came in to see if I was ok. I told him not to come in since I knew he had a low tolerance for vomit. But he came in and helped me out. So I got back to bed and they put the IV in me. I layed there for a couple hours as they monitored me. Derrick put the Pure Moods CD in the boom box and they turned the lights down to encourage me to rest. I held Derrick's hand as the contractions were painful and took my breath away. I kept apologizing to him for squeezing his hand since I was worried I was going to hurt him.
The nurse came in every once in awhile to check the sheets coming out of the monitor. She also suggested I sit on the birthing/exercise ball to help move things along and she said it would help with the contractions. So I did try that and tried to breath through the contractions while Derrick tried to help me through the pain. I have to say the contractions were much more tolerable while sitting on it.
The nurse also kept asking what my pain number was on a scale of 1-10. She said when I couldn't tolerate the pain anymore to let her know and they would call the anesthesiologist in to put the epidural in. I sat on the ball for an hour or so and then requested the epidural. Around 4:50 pm the nice anesthesiologist came in and did the procedure. Derrick was asked to leave the room and told to go get something to eat. The nurse was nice enough to hold my hand as I sat hunched over on the bed while he put it in. I hate needles and this was the second needle I had to endure in one day. The needle did hurt but the relief was oh so nice after the medicine kicked in. The anesthesiologist was very good and meticulous. He explained every step to me and what I might feel when he did whatever he was doing at the time. And it was good timing with the epidural because shortly after he put it in and left and Derrick came back my water broke and the my contractions on the monitor skyrocketed. I felt nothing.
Derrick went out and got the nurse who took a look and saw that there was a thin myconium in the broken water (meaning the baby had voided while inside me). She said it wasn't alot but they would have the people from Children's Hospital present when the baby was born to clean out her nasal passages and mouth with the suctioning pump built into the wall of the room. The night wore on and I slept off and on. The nurse came in and put a catheter in since I wouldn't be able to get up and go to the bathroom because the epidural had made my legs numb. Derrick slept for an hour reclined in the chair with his feet up on another chair. The nurse and doctor kept coming in and out of the room. The doctor kept doing internals and it was getting disheartening because the dilation wasn't changing much and the baby hadn't moved down. They started giving me pitosin to increase my contractions around 7:00 pm and increased it every hour or so to a higher level of pitosin.
Around 8:00 pm I had Derrick send in all our family who had been waiting in the waiting room this whole time. Visiting hours were almost up and I felt bad that nothing had happened while they were waiting. So two by two they came in to wish me luck, see how I was doing and to say good night. Derrick had been going out to give them the updates on what was going on and also to see how many babies were appearing in the nursery. There were two sets of twins born that day and he also ran into the guy who's wife was in labor when we got there. The poor woman was still in labor.
Me at 9:40 pm in the labor room:
Our least favorite saying of the night was the doctor and the one nurse kept saying I was 'still in early labor'. That is so hard to hear when you've been at the hospital since 10:30 am. And the other common statement we heard during our time in the labor room was 'what CD is this, it's nice! We should have this in all our labor rooms'. LOL
The night progressed and they tried to do an internal monitor of my contractions strength. They tried three different units (cables that are packaged from the company) and even changed the monitoring device thinking that the port on the computer was bad and they had no luck. The doctor and nurse were so frustrated and so were we! Because the next step we were told was to go in to have a cesarean section since she wasn't moving down much and I was only at a 4-5 centimeter dilation. She was afraid that my pelvis bone wasn't allowing the baby passage down. It was the last step (since they tried everything else). We learned that another doctor had the same problem down the hall with their patient and the monitoring device. Derrick stepped out in the hallway with the doctor and talked it over with her trying to figure out another way. He was especially bothered by the idea of me having a c-section. I was too but if that was what needed to happen, then so be it. The nurse on shift at the time told us that they weren't bad as she had had all three of her children the same way after laboring with the first one without success. It was still hard to hear.
Trying to put a little humor back into the night I told the doctor that we might have to rename our baby since she might insult her (our doctor) since she was being so difficult in coming out. The doctor on call and doing our delivery was named Elizabeth. She asked what the baby's name was going to be and was tickled when she heard the name since she said so many people use Elizabeth as a middle name and not as a first name.
The doctor told the nurse to position me so that I laid a little on my stomach and to position my legs a certain way. She said she would give me another 45 minutes and check again. In the mean time, she ended up going into surgery with another patient (who turned out to be the guy's wife we ran into) for a c-section. So I laid on my belly for the 45 minutes (as much as I could) with my legs positioned a certain way and then I started feeling some pressure down below...
posted by Anne Marie at 12:00 AM
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