The Birth Story Part 2: The Waiting Game

Right before Dan strolled in I gave the okay to start Pitocin.  My contractions hadn't changed in the 9 hours or so since my water broke - still at 10+ minute intervals and same intensity.  Around 8:30am the drugs started and I was silly enough to think that this meant things would start to progress quickly.

We chatted and were all giddy with excitment that the day was finally here.  Dan add to the birth plan section of the white board right before delivery baby 'dan passes out' - every new nurse, DR and resident found that to be hilarious throughout the day.  Dan went to get something for breakfast... and came back with sushi rolls.  He had sushi rolls for dinner too.

We went on walks back and forth down the hall, dragging the battery pack for the monitors and IV.  We talked through the short list of names to decide on the top one for each gender.  We watched Seinfeld reruns, and we talked about random things that I can't even remember. 

I am not the most patient person and waiting is killer for me.  Now that the big looming question of when was this labor thing going to start was answered I was dying to know if we were having a little son or daughter.

Periodically the doctor would come in to check on me and baby.  At about noon I was anxious for progress but I was still to chipper to be very far along (according to the DR) and my contractions were only down to 8 minute intervals.  Between noon and 2:30pm I was no longer comfortable in the bed, I spent those hours sitting on the exercise ball (the only way I was comfortable) while Dan napped. 

By 2pm my contracts were very strong and just under 5 minutes apart so the DR did the first internal exam (they don't do them very often when your water breaks to avoid introducing anything/infection).  In the office that week I was barely dilated so thought for sure that with the contractions all week and the pitocin and progress with contractions that day that I would be much further along... but only just over 2 cm dilated at this point.  It was going to be a long day with birth estimated as most likely being after midnight. 

I was very tired at this point having only had maybe 1.5 hours sleep since I woke up at 8am on Sunday morning.  With contractions being so frequent and strong now there was no way I was going to sleep through them and another 12 hours would leave me exhausted.  I decided to do the epidural so I could try to nap.  I had been extremely freaked out by the epidural, but it wasn't so bad to have put in, and I almost instantly went to sleep.

Around 6pm my doctor had ended her office hours and was at the hospital.  She came in to check on me with the exclamation of "you waited for me!"  A quick exam let us know that there had been progress but we were still quite a few hours away from go time and she advised to rest.  Sleeping was kind of hard with the frequent checks of vitals and the monitors from the nurse and I was getting uncomfortable.  Dan headed down to get something for dinner and I asked if there was anything that I could possible eat in the clear liquids department... they gave me the option of jello or a popsicle.  Dan snuck up a piece of apple pie for me to along with the jello.  This was all I had to eat between Monday at 3am and Tuesday at 4am.

We watched another episode of Seinfeld.  I tried to rest but was pretty uncomfortable so sleep was not happening.  During one of the checks from the nurse that evening I discovered that not only was my left leg tingling but I could no longer lift my left arm (the one with the IV) to move it without some serious pain. 

Around 11:30pm I was seriously ready to get this show on the road and my epidural had essentially worn off.  By midnight I was now fully dilated but baby was not quite to the position needed before I could start pushing.  So they gave me another dose of the epidural and said that we would probably start pushing in an hour and a half. 

Also noteworthy, at midnight the nurse who had check me in before her shift ended was now back on duty... we had come full circle on the nursing schedule.  I believe we had six different nurses during labor and delivery.

I tried to rest... was completely exhausted and my body was not feeling so great.