Birth Story

I had to go back and read what I wrote last Thursday (the morning before going into labor that evening). Quite entertaining to think of all the plans I had.

So I get home from work that evening, still having mild cramping every 10 - 12 mins apart. No big deal. I eat leftovers from our wonderful dinner the night before about 5:30. It was fish and crab cakes. About 6:30, I started having diarrhea. And lots of it. I decided in between bathroom trips we better go ahead and go get the remaining items needed to pack our bags for the hospital, just in case. I thought the stomach upset had come from the leftovers (yes, still in denial at this point). We get almost to the store, and I am not feeling well again. my parents house is nearby, so we decide to take a detour over there, so I can use the bathroom and feel better. I am starting to feel nauseous at this point as well (yes, I am still blaming it on the leftovers). At my parents, I start to feel a lot of pressure down there. It seems to be more on the pubic bone than anything. I just assume baby girl had moved into a different position.

I decide I better call the nurse and ask her opinion. She suggests coming in to be checked due to the pressure. So, just after 8:00 pm we leave for the hospital. On the way there, at 8:18, I have my first real contraction. OMG!! I could not get comfortable. Little did I know it was only going to get worse. These were NOTHING compared to the mild cramps I had been having the last 24 hours. I start timing contractions, b/c they do not seem that far apart. Well, 3 mins to be exact. We get to the hospital, and you would think a woman in labor, would be rushed off the L & D floor. Whatever! You have to fill out your name, ss #, give them the insurance card. And yes, I did pre-register. One of the ladies made the comment, "you didn't pre-register". She is lucky I was in so much pain. Then another woman found my file. Good thing. So, they call the L & D floor, and tell them I am on my way up.

We get up there, and there are about 10 nurses standing around. Not one, ask to help me. I speak up and tell them I think I am in labor and need to be checked. (Apparently still in denial). I am leaking fluid like a mad woman at this point. The nurse then tells me to clean myself down there, pee a little in the toilet, and then the rest in a cup. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I politely ask her, did she expect me to get all the fluid off of me before attempting to pee in this little cup? She said no. Good thing. It is now 8:45 pm, and my water had broken, but I am only a fingertip dilated. From all of our labor classes and internet info, I am thinking we are in for a long night. Don't first baby's take 14 - 16 hours? Isn't the longest laboring time between 0 and 3 cm's? I told the nurse I was nauseous feeling and she gives DH two of those little puke trays. Well, I have never puked so much. In between puking, DH has to combine trays to give me something else to puke in. It was all over me, him, and the bed.

At this point I want an epidural STAT! But they say you should wait until at least 5 cm to make sure it doesn't slow or stop labor progression. I had to wait until we could get all the info into the computer. The lady who checked me was warning me not to push even if I felt the urge. They get me into a room, start antibiotics and fluids. She gave me a stad.iol for the pain. What a joke that was. Before you can have an epidural, you have to get one bag of fluids in. By the time we got the epidu.ral, I was already 8 cms. By 12:30 am or so, I was fully dilated and ready to go.

Since we were trying to get the 2nd bag of antibiotics in before delivery, and the fact that I had had an epi.dural, we decided to labor down for a little while and see if baby girl would come down a little further and reduce the number of pushes. I was all for that. At this point, I really didn't care, I was feeling very little. My DH videoed the entire thing, and I am laughing while I am pushing. How do they expect you to push when you can feel anything? Its kind of like, you just pull your legs back, grunt, squeeze, and hope something happens. We started pushing about 2:30 a.m. and baby girl was born at 3:06. It was the oddest feeling when they pulled her out.

Daddy stopped taping for long enough to cut the cord. I was thinking he was going to be squeamish and maybe pass out, but he was a super trooper!

Since this is so long, I will detail our hospital stay next time. It includes a 2 day stint in the NICU.