They started off pretty far apart, but over the next few hours got closer and closer. We timed them on a contraction app on my phone, we got in bed at midnight but shortly after that got back up when we realized they weren’t stopping. The contractions hurt! They were about a minute and a half long and mostly in my back. We packed our bags with some last minute items and headed to the hospital around 2:45am. We called our parents to let them know what was going on and that they should probably start making their way to the hospital (a 2-hour drive).
When we got to the hospital I was put in a triage room and put on monitors and I was still only one centimeter! I was so bummed that I was there so early and wished Neil would’ve let me labor longer at home. They admitted me and put us in a delivery room.
Mid-contraction in the triage room!
The rest of the labor is pretty hazy as far as details and times go, but I’ve tried to have my parents and Neil fill in the blanks.
I labored until 6am or so with no problems. My contractions were getting stronger and stronger but still not terrible. My parents arrived and things seemed pretty routine. Then it got crazy.
My regular nurse left the room and said she’d be back shortly. A few minutes later 2 nurses I’d never seen rushed in and started frantically checking things and flipping me from side to side. Soon about 15 people were in the room. No one was telling me what was happening. They threw an oxygen mask on my face and I overheard things like “low fetal heart tones” and “not recovering” and “c-section”. I was absolutely scared out of my mind and was so afraid for Lila. Finally after flipping me almost on to my belly her heart rate recovered after quite a few minutes of her heart rate being well under 100, apparently as low as 50.
After she finally recovered, the doctor came over and explained what happened and that Lila was probably just laying on the umbilical cord or squeezing it, and that she should be okay.
Then it happened again. This time the doctor and nurses rushed in, threw my legs apart and broke my water. Then they put an internal monitor in, that attaches to the baby’s head to get a more accurate heart rate reading. The pain of my contractions was a lot more intense after breaking my water. They got Lila to recover again but it seemed to take longer this time for her to get better. I was still only 2 cm, but the doctor recommended getting my epidural placed just in case they did have to do a c-section. I hadn’t planned to get an epi until 4 or 5 cm so I could move around in early labor, but since they broke my water and with the internal monitor getting out of the bed wasn’t an option anyway.
I got the epidural. It took the anesthesiologist 3 tries to place it, but once it was in everything was fine. I was so nervous about the epidural, I was shaking so bad. But after it was placed it was really pretty easy. The epi took away the pain of the contractions pretty well, but I had to pee really bad and with each contraction my bladder was killing me! After practically begging, they finally gave me a catheter. Never thought I’d be looking forward to that!
At some point later that morning, the midwife came in and checked me and I’d progressed to almost a 5. I was so happy that I was progressing! But, the celebration was short lived when Lila’s heart rate again dropped down. After she finally recovered, the doctor came to my bedside and said that she needed to do a c-section. Neil was not in the room then, apparently he was in the cafeteria eating pancakes...
To be continued!
I like the cliffhanger of Neil having pancakes :) Can't wait to read the rest, especially knowing that everything turned out fine!
ReplyDelete