Rob was my rock. Amazingly calm about the whole thing, even in the drive out to the hospital he seemed at peace. I do know that he was partial to getting induced and found it much more calming to him. As he said he didn’t have to worry about not being there or running around in a mild panic because things were happening. The whole thing was much more controlled for him. I on the other hand was a nervous wreck. On the verge of tears several times, I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to think about other things. Didn’t quite work. So Rob kept me entertained with useless conversation as we made our way to the hospital.
Now I was told to come in at 9pm. We got there at the ever on time 9:30pm. Whatever. The parking lot was so different then what it was on Monday. Whereas on Monday we parked all the way in the back, at 9pm, the lot was quiet and we got a space up close. We walked into the hospital and security barely stops us as we head to the elevators. Up to the third floor. My anticipation level had decreased and oddly enough, I was calm for the first time in the whole day. It was odd. We made our way into the sign in room and took a seat as they were taking some other lady.
This other lady was in the throws of contractions. She was breathing heavily and looked unbelievably uncomfortable as the contractions came on. I tried not to stare. Her two female companions were of no help to her – laughing when she would cringe in pain and joking in the French Creole of Haitians. I felt bad for her, but happy when a nurse came for her so that she’d get some relief from her ‘friends’ and I would get some relief from one of them who sat next to me and was wearing some heavy musk scent. ICK.
There was another lady there who didn’t even look pregnant. She was alone and I’m not sure what she was there for. Then I got called in, signed in all my paperwork as requested and was soon on my way back to a room. I was on the 3rd floor and they had told me that I was lucky as I was getting a solo room. The nurse who took me back and who was my nurse for the remainder of the night was just the sweetest woman. She had transferred over to St. B from a catholic hospital in Paterson not a year ago where she was in pediatrics. She liked maternity but missed pediatrics. I credit her for making me feel unbelievably calm. She told me as I got in to get undressed and we’d get started. So Rob thought what more opportune time to take a picture. My last pictures as a fully pregnant woman. I look like hell.
And my last belly shot.
Fully undressed, I crawl into the hospital bed and watch Rob try to figure out the weird chairs they have. You would think they’d just get some recliners or something. No. They have these weird chairs that fold out to a flat cot of sorts, but they are NEITHER comfortable nor easy to quickly pull out. And once they do come out into a cot, they are oddly situated LOW onto the floor. So Rob left it as a chair, we watched some stupid TV (for what is on that late at night anyhow) and my nurse came in. Blood Pressure taken, hooked up to a heartbeat monitor and a monitor for contractions. She told me the doctor would be in shortly. I went to the bathroom. The bathroom was small and had a LARGE mirror on the door which I find odd. There you are sitting on the toilet staring at yourself. ODD. The nurse then inserted an I.V. into me. Basic saline drip to keep my hydrated.
The resident doctor was another lovely woman. She came in a bit after midnight. She gave me an internal exam and announced that I was NOT effaced but had dilated less then a centimeter (hell, something was better then nothing.) She told me the plan as specified by my doctor. They would initially be using the Foley Catheter. This is a balloon catheter – basically this large rubber tube put up into the cervix and filled with saline solution. The purpose of this is to help start you on getting dilated without the use of external drugs. She said that if all went well, that I would probably be dilated a good deal in 4 hours and they would start me then on Cervidil which is a tampon looking contraption that is a pharmacological cervical ripener. In essence it would help efface me and continue my dilation. It was about 1am when the doc and the nurse came in to insert the catheter. Now the actual thing in itself wasn’t all that painful. A bit weird and uncomfortable, but definitely not painful. What was painful was the goddamn speculum that they used to be able to view into me and place the thing correctly. Good lord was that thing stretching me out. So after they inserted the catheter, I was told to basically take it easy, try to rest and that it would take effect in another few hours. Remarkably, although I asked Rob if he wanted to leave the room, he stayed. He watched TV during this but he stayed. So after they left, Rob and I talked nonsense, watched TV, became fascinated with the contraction and heartbeat monitor, etc. I started having what felt like period pains and then contractions shortly after. They were no where close to being painful and just came along quickly and eased away just as fast.
Shortly after 2 in the morning, I shifted in the bed and felt something move. It felt as if the catheter had fallen out. I felt down there to see and it was technically still in me but it felt different, so I called the nurse. She checked me to find that it had shifted and that there was a bit of blood (which she mentioned was normal) and that she’d call the doctor. I panicked for a time period, but Rob took my mind off of it. So we waited. While we waited my contractions came and went. It was funny because although most times they’d just be mildly annoying, every now and again, one would be strong enough to bring on pain. In one instance we were watching TV. The Miller lite commercial comes on and it shows the original Miller ‘house’ in Wisconsin. When I went to Wisconsin, I visited the miller house and brewery. The house is now where they have a bar and tastings and such. I was telling Rob about it and I was facing him and feeling a contraction coming on, but being ‘superwoman’ and all, I basically acted as if I wasn’t having one. Rob on the other hand is observing past me at the monitor that is rapidly increasing in numbers. At one point my conversation was cut short and Rob started laughing. He was seeing when it would be when the contraction was too strong for me to talk. Sometime during the wait I had fallen asleep.
At 4am, the doctor comes in. She was in an emergency in Labor and Delivery (L&D) and couldn’t get up to me sooner. She checked me to find that the catheter was completely out, and that the use of the Cervidil would be unnecessary as I was already dilated to 5 centimeters. Go me. Next step was to move me over to L&D and to break my water and start waiting for the fun to begin. Oh Joy. Rob gathered my stuff and the nurse came over with a wheelchair. I told her that I felt wonderful – hardly any pain whatsoever and would prefer to walk over to L&D. She stared at me kind of dumbfoundedly and then announced “you are the first person that I’ve met so far that’s 5 centimeters dilated and wanting to walk to L&D. Most people are moaning with pain and already asking for drugs.” Go figure. This is where I said goodbye to my nurse. She was so sweet.
L&D was nothing of what I expected it to be. I thought that the room would be kind of ‘operation’ or medial like. It wasn’t. It in essence was a larger version of the room I was previously in. Rob didn’t even think this would be the labor room at first. They had a rocking chair and another of the weird recline cot chairs in that room. On the TV was what Rob and I called the relaxation channel. Some odd channel that plays the beach and such. Oddly enough, I did not find it relaxing. Sitting in L&D on a December morning and staring at a screen playing scenes of beaches and sand….just wrong. So of course, we change it.
Accommodated into the bed in L&D, I was put back on the monitors but now had a blood pressure checker and they added a Pitocin line to my I.V. to really jump start things. So, Rob decides that it’s another opportunity for a picture. Goodness I look like hell…no sleep and bad hair.
The resident Doc came in to say goodbye. Her shift was up and she introduced me to my new nurse, a lovely older woman who was amazingly calming. There was another nurse there to who had just transferred into L&D and who was being ‘taught’ so I had 2 nurses on me. Both very nice, unbelievably sweet and calming. Before she left we asked the doc some questions to figure out what would be the best time to call our mothers to head out here. She told us that the next step is to break my water (I was already at 6cm) and that labor would basically start actively then. Her estimation was that I’d have the baby by 1pm but it could always come sooner. So, Rob and I decided that once they broke my water we’d call.
More to come…
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