Before I forget the details, and while she's sleeping, I figure I'd better go ahead and write it up now!
On Monday, 1/5, I went to work as usual. Sometime in the morning I started having contractions that were more painful than any that I'd had up to that point--not anywhere near unbearable, just more in my back. And for the first time ever they were coming at regular intervals (10 minutes apart). That went on for about an hour, and then stopped.
I went to my regularly scheduled OB appointment that afternoon at 2:00. I was 1cm dilated and 75% effaced, and my doctor said that it could be any time now (though neither of us thought it would be THAT night!). She told me her schedule for the week so I'd know where she'd be if I went into labor. I then went grocery shopping and home, planning to cook supper. A friend stopped by to drop off my maternity pic CD, and when she was here I started having contractions again--this was around 6:30pm. I posted my pics on Facebook & here, and the contractions kept coming every 10 minutes, so I decided to go rest and wait for my husband to come home and cook supper, since I didn't feel up to it. By the time he got home, the contractions were every 6 - 7 minutes apart and getting more painful!
He started packing our bag (since I had never finished doing so)--I had luckily made a list already. He was a little freaked out, I could tell. By the time he got the bags packed, and the carseat installed, I was having contractions every 5 minutes. After an hour or so we decided to go ahead and go to L & D.
When we got there I had been contracting for about 6 hours, and they had been 4-5 minutes apart for an hour and a half. They put me in triage to monitor my contractions, which stayed consistently 5 minutes apart, but were getting much more painful. While I was there, there were 3 emergency C-sections back to back, so the doctors were all too busy to assess whether or not they wanted to keep me. Finally around 4 am they decided to admit me and put me in a room.
My first nurse was HORRIBLE. She is not normally a L&D nurse--she floats around. So maybe that's part of it, but she just was not good. When I went to get in the hospital bed, she had not even locked it, and it rolled out from under me, and I nearly fell on my you-know-what!
She was not the least bit helpful or friendly the entire time, and my husband was NOT happy.
Anyway, she basically left me there for the rest of her shift without doing much of anything. I was dying of thirst (I'd already been there over 4 hours with no IV and nothing to eat/drink...and I had not had supper at home before I went in). She finally started IV fluids and hooked me up to a monitor. At some point she came in, and before I knew what she was doing, she pushed Demerol in my IV, and I was pretty much unable to talk or respond to anything, though I was aware. My husband asked what that was, and she said, "Demerol. She'll want that if I'm going to start this Pitocin." And Jon was like, "What Pitocin?!" He knew I didn't want Pitocin unless it became necessary for some reason, and certainly not BEFORE I had my epidural...I was already in a lot of pain. And I couldn't speak up for myself, so luckily he argued with her--and yes, she did argue. But she finally gave in and did not start it. After that, we did not see her anymore. She told me that the anesthesiologist was on the way to do the epi...he didn't show up for at least 4 more hours, though, so thank goodness she didn't start the Pitocin!
At 7:00 (shift change) my new nurse came in, and she was GREAT! She got me some ice chips and made sure I was comfortable. My mom showed up around 9 or so. And I think around 9:30 the anesthesiologists finally arrived and put in the epi. My doctor came around 10 and checked me--I was still just 3 cm dilated, so she asked if she could break my water or if I wanted Pitocin. I said to break my water, and see how it goes, and maybe start Pitocin if necessary later. She agreed, and broke my water. There appeared to be some meconium in my fluid, so they made sure that the peds team was aware so that they could be there at delivery to suction her.
So for a while I could still feel contractions on one side, but not the other. My nurse made sure to let the anesthesiologists know--they came back and readjusted it, and it worked like a charm! NO MORE pain! I was able to relax, carry on conversations with my husband, mom & sister. It was really a pleasant afternoon, except for not being able to eat or drink.
At some point my nurse came in and said that since my contractions were not getting closer together, the doctor wanted to go ahead with the Pitocin, at a low rate. So we did that for a while, and it did help move things along. After a while she came in and turned it down even lower, because she said it looked like my body was going to be able to do it on its own with just a slight help from the Pitocin. Anyway...I actually took a nap for a while, since I'd been up for well over 24 hours.
My doctor had surgeries all day, so she had left the chief resident in charge of checking on me. Around 3:15 or so she came in to check me (I had not been checked since 10:00 when my water was broken). She said, "Are you feeling a lot of pressure?" And I really wasn't, but she said, "You're complete, and the baby is RIGHT THERE!" It was time to push, and I didn't even know it! They called my doctor, who had just finished up a surgery across campus. She said she'd try to make it, but to go ahead and set up and let the chief resident deliver if necessary.
So once they got set up (around 3:30pm), we waited for a contraction so that I could push. I still couldn't feel a thing! The worst part of pushing was holding my breath for 10 seconds at a time, back to back. After the first contraction/pushing, my doctor showed up, and I was glad she could be there. I think I pushed through 3 or 4 contractions (can't really remember) before she finally arrived at 3:40 pm! They had to take her right away to be suctioned due to the meconium risk. After that, they cleaned her up, bathed her, and finally gave her to me. She was just perfect--6lb 4oz, 20 inches long, and just beautiful! The nurse said to try breastfeeding, and she latched on pretty much right away--it was amazing!
Things went very well in the hospital, and we were discharged the next day. The first couple of days at home were a little rough until my milk came in, and also due to me having a UTI (with high fever & chills, and eventually a trip to the ER). But all is better now. She had her 1 week appt today, and is doing very well--almost gained back to her birth weight.
We are very much in love!
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Grace Marie, born 1/5/10
At least she wasn't your nurse when you delivered...
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