It began on Tuesday night. I had been having random contractions for a few days, pretty much just at night. I hadn't been getting much sleep because of them, and was really struggling at work. On Tuesday I cried uncle and told my boss I was beginning my maternity leave the next day. Fast forward to 7pm as Dan and I are eating dinner, and I realize the contractions are getting close enough to start timing them. They were never a consistent length or interval, but they did gradually get longer and closer together. I told Dan to pack up stuff "just in case". We attempted to go to bed, but I was in quite a bit of pain and eventually got up. Contractions were still irregularly spaced, sometimes with as much as 7-8 minutes apart, others only 3 minutes apart. But, they were all very strong, I couldn't talk/walk through them, and most of them lasted a minute or longer. So even though I didn't really meet the criteria to call the doctors yet, I did. The nurse told me to head into L&D. I woke Dan and started to get things ready. As I did this, the contractions got really close together and incredibly painful. The car ride was excruciating, every bump sending me into a contraction, and I knew my plan of a natural birth was going right out the window.
We arrived at the ER sometime between 1 and 2am and got registered and wheeled up to maternity. We were sent right to antenatal where they started measuring my contractions. Realizing they were about a minute apart, some literally right on top of the other, they checked my cervix and noted that I was 3 cm dilated. "Congratulations, you're in labor". Whoop de doo, I was in so much pain all I could think about were drugs, and I told them as much! After getting an IV placed, they wheeled us into Labor and Delivery, got me set up in there, and eventually (felt like a lifetime) called for the anesthesiologist. They prepared me for a painful epidural, but compared to the pain of the contractions it was nothing. I mean, really nothing. I barely noted any discomfort... just enjoyed a lull between contractions when he did his work!
By this time I think it was 3am, and things were great. They set Dan up with a cot. I was in no pain and tried to sleep. That was unfortunately difficult because the blood pressure cuff stayed on my arm and was inflating every few minutes to monitor me. There were also people coming in and out of the room the whole night.
Our nurse for the night checked my cervix at some point and said that I was completely dilated, and would likely deliver before her shift was over at 7am. I got Dan roused from his nap as it looked like the time was approaching. However, the doctor checked me and determined I was only 7cms. The rest of the morning is a blur. Dan slept, I started to update everyone on what was going on and tried to relax.
The day creeped on, and progress was slow. I started to feel pain again. A few shots of extra drugs didn't really help. The anesthesiologist began talking about removing my epidural and placing another one. I started to feel everything. I was shaking uncontrollably and began to vomit. My doctor came in and told us that before they placed a new epidural we needed to talk about a potential C-Section. I was progressing so slowly that she was not optimistic that I would be able to deliver vaginally. She said if they gave me the second epidural, that they would not be able to give me a spinal block and therefore if we went to c-section I would need to be put under general anethesia. She was willing to give me another hour of labor if I wanted to though. I could barely handle this decision under the pain I was in... I completely melted down sobbing. I told her I wanted to do this vaginally and would risk it. Luckily, she ended up being wrong about the spinal- the anesthesiologist said that even with a 2nd epidural they would be able to place a spinal block. Phew! I had made the right decision.
A little while longer and although it was not nearly as bad as before, I was still in pain. I was given a dose of "c-section quality" drugs that made my lower body go numb. I couldn't feel my legs at all. I had to actively think of other things to keep from panicking about that feeling.
I was checked for dilation again, and still was not fully there. On one side I was fully dilated, but there was still a rim of cervix on the other side. They tried to flip me on my other side, but BBH hadn't been handling that side the entire labor. His heartrate would fall during contractions. We started to creep back towards the c-section route. Lucky for me, my BTT teammate Elaine, another OB at Newton Wellesley, was working with my doctor that day. She suggested trying to check the pressure in my uterus or something. If the pressure was there but I wasn't progressing, it meant I was not capable of going vaginally. But if it was not there, there was hope it would develop. I really had no idea what she was talking about, but trusted her. She began the procedure, and while she was in there she noted that the baby's head was turned to one side. She was able to easily turn it, so she did. I think that was the magic trick, because 30 minutes later I was fully dilated and ready to go!!
Time to push!! The strong drug was just beginning to wear off, so I felt a little contraction pain (and also unfortunately some low back pain). This probably helped with the pushing though. Pushing went on forever. They didn't page my doctor until more than 2 hours into it. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, my doctor arrived and I knew we were getting close. After more pushing, BBH finally came out! He pooped upon exit, creating a terrible mess, and after a quick stop on my chest he was whisked away to be cleaned up.
The doctor delivered my placenta, and stitched me up while I was peering across the room to try to get any glimpses I could of my new son. Finally he was brought back to me all cleaned up. Really, truly, love at first sight. I couldn't believe this little guy had grown in my belly.
It was a long and painful day... but more than worth it!!
No comments:
Post a Comment