So, at 8:45 we were transferred to the Birthing Unit. I was hooked up to a fetal monitor.
Again.
But it wasn't a non-stress test this time. No clicker. I presume you're not given a clicker to minimize clicker damage when the contractions come.
(please note the joke here)
At 9:00am the attending OB came in and removed the Cervidil. We love Dr. W.
Next, she broke my waters, leaving us unsure about our feelings for Dr. W. This was a more horrible experience than the cervidil. I suddenly realized if I couldn't handle this, I REALLY needed the epidural for later. There was headboard punching involved. In a nutshell, water breaking was a "Bad Touch".
At 9:30 the Saline IV was started. Dad called his parents to update them and came back around 9:50
At 10:15, the pitocin drip was begun - 2mL/hour not a ton. I said, "okay, let's talk epidural." The OB said, "no you're not dilated enough. We need you to be at 3cm before we even think about it. You can manage the pain by walking around." I said, "okay" meaning "so you're gonna' check me regularly right?"
10:45 - the pitocin was increased.
At 11:00 my learning curve steepened as I said, "Oh no nurse, I can't talk through my contractions." But even the student nurse saw through that. Darn. Foiled again.
At 11:15 when the pitocin was increased to 6mL/hour we began to refer to it as a frenemy. It was a self-induced pain but it would lead to something wonderful.
At 11:30 we all remembered the 2 hour PC sugar test had not been done. Oh well. Not that big a deal today right? I mean, the kid can't possibly grow too much larger today right? It was somewhere around here that the student nurse took pity on me and asked if I was hungry. I said I could eat if she'd let me. I was under the assumption that I was allowed no food by mouth all day and I was willing to follow those instructions but if anyone else wanted to eat they would have to leave the room to do it. She told me she would track down some cheese and crackers. She came back at 11:55 with a full lunch tray! With restrictions. I wasn't allowed to eat the main entree - they called it Shepherd's Pie, I called it "Hamburger with mashed potatoes on top and a side order of green beans." Dad was allowed to eat the entree. I was allowed to eat the cheese and crackers, drink the milk... the small stuff. I was allowed to eat the small stuff. Not for carb restriction but for food intake restriction. Again, I'm perfectly fine with the whole "you're not allowed to have food" thing. I don't want to aspirate during surgery anymore than they want me to.
At around 12:15 the pitocin was increased again. Now we're in the double digits. 10 mL/hour. I was rewarded with an after lunch nap. Actually it was more of an after lunch veg-out.
At 12:45 my Mommy arrived with a laptop and music. The Jelly always liked Little Feat before, we thought it would be good to play it during labour.
The next pitocin increase came at 1:20 and with it another examination of the cervix. This was done by the student nurse who was very talented at hitting all of the nerves and making them hurt. I grabbed a hold of the rails on the bed for that one. She apologized profusely and I assured her it was okay - she had to learn how to do it. Of course, her exam was then checked by the nurse that was working with her. So I got two of those little gems back to back.
It was decided at this point that my waters were still in tact and needed to be broken again. Sometimes when breaking waters they only get an outer membrane, not the full bag. It didn't hurt as much this time and it worked MUCH better for them. We're talkin' Niagara Falls here.
This time we remembered to to do a glucose test at the 2 hour mark. And they were good thank you.
At 2:20 my Mommy helped me inform them that I REALLY wanted something for the pain. We also learned that I was not allowed to walk around because I needed to remain attached to the fetal monitors (that weren't doing anything anyway because the squirt was moving too much). After ascertaining that I would be allowed to get the epidural later and that I understood it wouldn't make the pain go away altogether, I was given an injection of morphine and gravol. I didn't even get drowsy from it.
A few minutes later we talked to the sister in law and let her know what was happening. Not much.
At 2:30 I got my next bag of salt.
Dad's Mommy came around 3:00 to take part in the festivities. It took us a minute to explain to the the Gestapo guards in the birthing unit that she belonged there - she was one of my support people and we wanted her in the room with us but they eventually got the hint.
At 4:00pm after fighting the good fight and with the pitocin at 14mL/hour and having endured double and triple contractions at 2:00 minute intervals (which seems to mean two minutes from the start of the first group to the start of the second group, NOT two minute rests between them) I asked, no BEGGED for the epidural.
At 4:20 someone had the brilliant idea to let me out of bed (I'm allowed out of bed? You said I wasn't!) to go sit on the birthing ball - most people call these "exercise balls." It's true. They're wonderful. They open EVERYTHING. The whole pelvis opens up and all the pressure you've been feeling goes away.
Around 5:45 or so I was told the anesthesiologist was on his way and I needed to walk back over to the bed so I would be in the right position for him when he got there. This took all of about 5 seconds to achieve so I went to the bathroom for a bit. Then I came back to the bed and waited for what seemed like HOURS as the contractions got stronger and stronger. At 6:15 the new nurse in charge decided it might be a good idea to turn the pitocin down. We dropped to 8 mL/hour and 5 minutes later the Epidural Man arrived. We're going to call him that because it's easier to spell. During this period only Dad was allowed to stay in the room. So his Mommy and his Dad went out to get some dinner. My Mommy went somewhere to get food and sretch her legs. Dad was allowed to stay but was pushed aside. I was sitting on the edge of the bed with the useless nurse in front of me and the Epidural Man behind me. I was told to tell them if I was having a contraction and I was told to stay still. I figured I was meant to inform them of contractions so I could flail like crazy while they waited to stick a needle in my spine. Instead I got "you have to stay still." Finally useless nurse grabbed my shoulders and held me still, scolding me most of the time. Epidural Man took three tries to get the line in and apologized continually. It was a good cop/bad cop scenario. I briefly entertained the idea that the epidural may not work and then pushed that thought out of my head. When the line was in and taped securely to my lower back, middle back, and shoulders (that puppy wasn't going anywhere) the Epidural Man sat at a desk and filled out his charts and stuff and we chatted for a bit, "do you know what sex the baby is? This is your first, are you excited?" stuff like that. Somewhere in there I said "I love you" and he said, "well let's see if it works first" and I said, "I love you for trying!" Seemingly seconds later someone asked me if my legs felt any different. I said, "yeah, they're a little - no a LOT warm." Everyone said in unison, "oh good, it's working." I said, "you rock!" as the Epidural Man left the room. I must remember to send him flowers.
We had a slight problem with the bolus cable for the epidural. It seems the cable was a bit wonky so every time they hooked it up to the pump, an alarm would go off. We went through three pumps before we figured out what the problem was. Oh well, learning curves and all. At some point in here my cervix was checked again and I was at 6cm. Wow... 6. How did that happen? When did that happen? And oh dear, the epidural could slow this down. Well maybe it won't.
The next hour and a half was a fun time for all as we steadily re-increased the pitocin drip - which finished at 16mL/hour at 10:25pm. The OB also came in to attach a fetal heart monitor to the Jelly's head - which was apparently visible to those who were looking at the right angle. These are lovely things that attach to the baby's head via a small corkscrew like thingy. I told the OB that I knew what it was and what it was for and that it kind of creeped me out and I didn't want to talk about it so she said, "okay" and attached the device.
At 8:00ish, the evening staff nurse came in and checked my cervix again. 9cm. I said, "excuse me? 9? When did that happen?" She laughed. Good sense of humour that one. From this time 'til about 9:00 we got to rest. I honestly can't remember what everyone else was doing but I had a lovely nap which was interrupted only a little bit by vitals checks.
At 9:00pm my cervix was checked one more time.
The nurse said, "so, you're 10cm. Can you feel contractions still?"
I said something along the lines of, "Huh?! Yes. I can feel a bit of pressure." She said, "okay, well when you can feel the next one, let's do a push to see how you do.
I said, "okay."
The practice pushes went really well.
I was thrilled - the epidural was not turned down. I was to have full epidural for the whole delivery!
See Part III for delivery and postpartum
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