It all was supposed to start on Friday, Sept. 10th. I was to call in to the hospital at 5:30am and see what time they wanted me to come in for my induction. I anxiously woke up at 3:30am..I just couldn't sleep out of nervousness/excitement. I made the phone call. Unfortunately, labor and delivery was full at that time and they told me to call back at noon. They told me to go back to sleep *(yeah right)* We went to lunch, and then I called back again at noon. Still full! Seriously?! They told me to take it easy and call back on Saturday morning. So again, I was up at 3:30am, showered, got ready, and made the phone call. Denied...again. This time, I started crying. For the last 9 months, I have had elevated blood pressure, a concern enough for 3 out of 4 doctors to suggest a scheduled induction and now that the day has come, they don't have room for me!?! I asked the nurse if I could come in for an exam because I had not had an exam in 11 days because I was scheduled for my induction. She agreed and brought me in.
As we got to the hospital that morning, I realized the on-call Dr. was the one Dr. at the Army hospital that I absolutely HATED!! Of course, that made my heart pound seeing him there. The nurse proceeded to tell me that the Dr. didn't want to induce on a Saturday and after looking at my chart, that he felt I could wait until Monday. Oh, and even though I was undressed from the waste down, he wasn't even going to come in and check to see what I was dilated. I was so upset, but at the same time, relieved. Relieved because I didn't want the stupid, arrogant doctor delivering my baby. The nurse checked my cervix, 2 cm. I was going home.
We had decided the night before that if we weren't having a baby on Saturday, that we were going to go to Topeka and take Lauren to the zoo. After lunch, and the zoo, we did a little shopping at Slumberland. They were having a HUGE inventory clear out sale. Now, we had not planned on purchasing any furniture until Kevin got home from Iraq, but these prices were too good to pass up. Kevin called it my "birthing gift" :)
Sunday, I slept in and relaxed. It was fabulous. I was actually able to get a good nights sleep, because I knew that I wouldn't have to call in that morning and fear of being denied again.
Sunday night I began having contractions. They were about 20-30 minutes apart and not painful. My stomach would just get extremely hard. I went to bed, waking up with contractions about every 10 - 15 minutes about 3am. I decided to take a bath and just relax. They seemed to subside after I did that.
I made the dreaded call at 5am...I couldn't wait til 5:30am. I was just too excited. They said I could come in at 7:30am!! I was going to have a baby today.
When we arrived, the nurse informed me that I was the only woman in labor. I had the full attention of everyone in labor and delivery! It was amazing. The nurse and resident examined me and I was already 4cm dilated. They decided to start pitocin around 9:45am. They informed me that at any time I could have my epidural since I was already in active labor. Because I was hooked up to pitocin and knowing the pain I felt with Lauren after they broke my water, I chose to get my epidural around 12noon. They broke my water at 12:45pm. Unfortunately, the epidural did not take. The only thing that was numb was my left leg. I could feel every contraction. I could even feel the cathether they had placed because of giving me the epidural. That was almost worse to feel that move than some of the contractions. After a while, I buzzed the nurse and explained that I could feel everything! She called the anesthesiologist back. She took out my epidural and gave me a spinal. She then re-did my epidural but decided that because she had administered the spinal that she was not going to hook up any medicine to my epidural. The spinal was instant pain relief. The Dr told me that it would be good for a few hours. This was at 2pm. I finally decided to rest a bit around 2:20pm. However, within a few minutes, I began feeling everything again. As the minutes passed, the contractions got stronger and stronger. After about 15 minutes of dealing with the pain, I had a doozy of a contraction and could feel some major pressure! I told Kevin to go get the nurse. She came in around 2:45 and I was fully dilated and the baby was crowning. She said it was time. I was freaking out. I could feel everything!! I called my mom and told her that we were going to get things started. The nurse went and got the Dr. They got everything ready. I pushed 3, maybe 4 times, and we had our beautiful daughter: Kaelin Deborah at 3:00pm on the nose!
1 comments:
Wow, what a beautiful story! So glad she is here! :)
Post a Comment