Labor and Delivery

Okay, now that things have calmed down a bit I'm going to tell my labor and delivery story. There's nothing too extraordinary but for now, this is the only record I'm keeping so this is for me as well. If you aren't in to all the gory details of childbirth feel free to skip it :)

Friday 1/9 OB appointment--3 cm dilated. They wanted me to come back on Monday just to keep an eye on me since I went so fast with Annabelle. Also, the doctor said he could strip my membranes on Monday.

Monday 1/12 I had decided that I would not go in for my appointment. I hadn't felt any changes over the weekend. I wasn't feeling any contractions and I decided I didn't want my membranes stripped since it wasn't even my due date yet. It had only been 3 days since my last appointment and I didn't feel like driving all the way up to Iowa City for nothing. However, early in the morning I thought I might be starting to pass the mucus plug so I figured I'd better keep my appointment after all. Ben and the girls came with me since he had the morning off and we took my hospital bag and overnight bags for the girls just to keep our options open.

10:00 a.m. OB appointment. I'm 4 cm dilated and the doctor is willing to induce anytime but he also said it was totally my choice. I could wait if I wanted to. He said he wouldn't be suprised if things happened in the next day or so but he also wouldn't be surprised if it was several days before I went into labor. I really did not want to be induced but I was also nervous about making it to the hospital on time. (With Annabelle we left very shortly after my contractions started and she was born less than 20 minutes after we got there.) There was supposed to be snow starting soon and blizzard conditions overnight and we are an hour away. The weather would be bad on and off throughout the week so we decided that rather than gamble with weather and labor time we would go ahead and induce to insure a safe delivery. It was only 3 days before my due date so even though I felt a little bad about not letting things happen in their own time I would have probably been a nervous wreck watching the weather and feeling for every little twinge of a contraction. And, I would rather be induced than have a baby on the freeway in a blizzard.

The doctor would have been willing to let us go up to Labor and Delivery right away but we left to drive the girls to my parents' house (one hour each way). I was actually happy to have that time to process what was happening and think through my decision to be induced since I was kind of disappointed to go that route. We got the girls settled and headed back after grabbing some McDonald's to eat in the car. I was starving and I knew they wouldn't let me eat anything once we got to the hospital. We hit snow a little ways outside of Iowa City and it was slick and slow going the rest of the way. That helped me feel better about our decision.

1:00 p.m. Arrive at labor and delivery and get checked in.

For some reason I thought this was a pretty funny picture of a pregnant lady on the bed.

2:00 p.m. They start the pitocin. Originally, I was under the impression that I could get an epidural first and then they would start the pitocin. When I had Katie they induced me because my water had broken and the contractions came hard and fast from the very beginning. I was not interested in doing that again but now they were telling me that I needed to start the pitocin first before I could have the epidural. I was a little nervous about it but they started at the minimal doseage and it was totally fine. They told me that I was actually having contractions on my own, I just wasn't feeling them. I would feel a little one here and there but apparently I was having more than that. I could tell they picked up once the pitocin was going but they weren't even uncomfortable. Ben and I sat around playing Skip-Bo and watched part of Napolean Dynamite and the movie Cars on TV. Every 1/2 hour to hour they would up the dose of pitosin and the contractions would get a little stronger but still very manageable.

6:30 p.m. I'm at 5 cm. They break my water. The contractions start getting stronger and I have to get myself through each one but they are fairly short and still not too bad and since there is a break between each one I really don't feel the need for an epidural yet.

7:30 p.m. I'm at 6 cm. Contractions are getting significantly stronger now. I think I'm going to need something soon. Next contraction....oh yes, i'm definitely done with this.

The anesthetist (a resident) comes in and starts working. I keep thinking... okay, just a couple more contractions until this thing kicks in. But he keeps poking, and fiddling and poking and meanwhile the contractions keep coming stronger and stronger. I think I have like 6 pokes my back. I actually DO NOT LIKE the process of getting an epidural. Someone is poking a needle into your spinal cord and then you feel all these weird twinges down your leg and little jiggles in the nerves around where they are poking. The end result is totally worth it but it's no fun getting it. Finally, the resident's superior comes in to watch and supervise because he obviously wasn't getting it.

8:20 p.m. FINALLY they got it in and the relief started to come. At first I was kind of annoyed at the fact that this resident was doing it and I was basically his guinea pig but I later realized that because we were in a hospital where I had a less than expertise epidural placement, we were also in a place that had the very best expertise for Natalie when she needed. That's just the deal with a learning institution and I was fine with that trade off.

I am comfortable and even dozing for a bit but then I start to notice that I'm feeling some contractions in the right side. At first it was just that I was aware of them but they kept getting stronger and stronger. It was discouraging because the epidural was supposed to be my magic fix. I had gone as far as I wanted to (and then some because it took so long to get in) and I thought I was done but here I was in total pain again. Because my right side was somewhat tingly they knew I was getting some medicine on that side so the anesthetist came in and upped the doseage. At first I wondered if that was working but eventually the pain started to subside. I never went numb completely...there was little corner in my back that I could still feel the contractions but it wasn't uncomfortable, I could just tell when they happened.

9:00 p.m. Still at 6 c.m.

9:45 p.m. 10 c.m.

(Who knows what timetable I would have had on my own but this quick change was enough to make me glad we induced.)

There was another delivery happening right then so they had me wait to push until they finished up with that one.

10:10 p.m. I pushed through 1 contraction and she was here!