Friday, October 2, 2015

what do you mean you're turning it off?

At 7am on Sunday, September 27th I started having contractions.  As I'd had them for several hours for three consecutive days, I (incorrectly) assumed they'd just go away.  They did not.  By 11am I figured it was time to go to the hospital.

When I arrived at the hospital and they checked me out, I was only 2.5cm dilated, the same as Friday in the doctor's office.  Which couldn't be correct as I'd had contractions everyday and I paced around all morning trying to move this along (staying upright and walking helps labor progress).  The nurse told me that the doctor wanted me to walk for an hour and get checked again.  An HOUR?

Now at this point I should tell you, I was insanely nauseous with this labor.  With Teddy I threw up twice, but with Oliver I pretty much threw up after each contraction.  They told me I could walk anywhere on the first floor, but not to go outside as it scares people to see women in labor huffing around the parking lot.  So off I go walking in two hospital gowns, worn opposite (one front-ways and one backwards), contracting and puking in a small green bag every 2-4 minutes.  After the allotted time was up, I headed back to get checked and lo and behold I was at 4cm.

I was quickly shown up to labor and delivery, hooked up to my IV and got my epidural.  My mom and sister came in, however, before the epidural was administered, mid-contraction and pre-vomiting.  I'm pretty sure my sister wanted to leave and never come back and forget that she was 33 weeks pregnant herself.  The epidural was administered and my nausea and pain subsided.  All was well in my world.  Briefly.

They checked me again and found out I hadn't progressed any further.  The doctor started making noises about sending me home.  At 4:30pm they TURNED OFF MY EPIDURAL!  Once it wore off, I wanted to die.  The contractions were about a minute apart and insanely painful.  Nausea returned.  By 6:30 I begged the nurse to check me again to see if they could turn it back on.  5cm!  She turned it back on.  I wasn't going anywhere.

Finally, the epidural was working again, I was comfortable and my water broke on its own.  Just before 10:00 I started feeling a pain/pressure situation with every contraction and it was time.  I'll spare you the details of the rest.  Suffice to say it took about 40 minutes and even though this little 6 lb 14 oz booger should have come right out, he was face up and slightly stuck.  Teddy's 8 lb little self was way easier!

The labor was interesting and the fact that he had to go to the NICU was distressing, but I'll save all that for another post.

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