*Disclaimer: If you do not like to hear people's labor and delivery stories, don't read this post. If you don't like to hear stories of women who have easy labor and delivery, you probably shouldn't read it, either...
On Monday, January 3rd, I went to the hospital at 6:30 am for an amniocentisis. They are done routinely here, if the doctors plan to induce you before 39 weeks. By some miracle, the first IV they put in worked and all appeared to be going smoothly -- except that this baby was our most active in the womb. As they were prepared to draw the fluid, the baby kicked and almost hit the needle with his knee. The doctor moved the needle rather suddenly, and I about passed out. At the same time (probably due to my lack of oxygen) the baby's heart rate dropped from the 140s to the 60s. It stayed down for about a minute. (It felt like forever.) They rushed me to the OR and prepped for an emergency c-section. Thankfully, when they got the monitors back up, the baby was fine, so they proceeded with the amnio, instead. The second time they were ready to draw fluid, the baby tried to get the needle with his head. Luckily, third time's the charm and I went home with only 5 needles (2 numbing and 3 amnio) stuck in my belly...
Tuesday night, the doctor called to tell me that the results were in and we were clear to start the induction. Could I come in now? Because I know how this hospital works (10 rooms, dozens of pregnant women due to pop at any given moment, routine inductions obviously come as last priority), I said we'd be in as soon as we could make arrangements for our other kids.
We arrived at the hospital around 8:30pm. After another successful IV, my pit was started at 9:20. I was 2cm dilated and about 50% effaced. By midnight I was 5cm dilated and still 50% effaced. I promised the doctor I could give him half an hour's warning before the baby actually came. Forty-five minutes later I finally started feeling the contractions pretty strong and I felt like vomiting, so I asked for anti-nausea meds. They checked me, because they were all excited thinking I was in transition. I was 6cm dilated and 90% effaced. I was still walking and talking and feeling pretty good. I decided that I was going to have one baby without the pain and suffering, so I asked if I could still get an epidural. The doctor replied, "It's never too late for pain management." Derek was standing in the background making comments like, "The baby will come before the epidural does." None of us believed him. By now, it was nearly 1 am.
Over the next few minutes, the nurse started another bag of whatever fluids they give you and was adjusting things to be ready for the anesthesiologist. I went to the bathroom one last time, since I figured I wouldn't be able to walk for a while. Then I started pushing. At first I didn't even realize what I was doing, but Derek did. I knew something was up when he jumped up out of his chair to stand at the end of the bed. Meanwhile the nurse was too busy with other things to notice what I was doing. Derek told her the baby was coming. She kind of blew him off, then looked at me and asked if I felt like pushing. I sort of moaned a yes as I pushed and breathed (that made her happy). Derek suggested calling the doctor. She decided to check me first. When she hit the baby's head, she called the doctor. When he walked in, the baby was crowning, and Derek contemplated asking if it was too late for pain management now, but he resisted. I was thinking how ticked off I was that my pain was not managed. A couple of contractions later, at 1:20am, Daniel screamed his delight at the new world he was part of.
Epilogue: Once the baby was pronounced healthy and passed off, the doctor's first comment to me was, "That was not half an hour." What can I say? I was just glad the pain was now managed. And I was relieved that it hadn't required any large needles.
032823-SC-Mountain-Slide
3 years ago
