Labor & Delivery

Well, this is more for me than anyone else, but if you are interested you can read this.  It is essentially what I remember from L&D two weeks ago.  I don't really want to forget it and I may want some of it for a baby book at some point, so I want to get it typed up now.  Chris has A, and I've got a few minutes of missing sleep I can do for this.  I've slept off and on all day, so we'll see how I sleep tonight...

We started out Monday the 16th as usual -- getting up way too early to get Chris to the train.  I was having contractions about 30 minutes apart on Sunday night, so Chris wanted to time them when we got up in the morning.  We realized they were much closer than we thought -- about 10 minutes apart so Chris decided that he was staying home to help me since it seemed a hospital trip was imminent.  There is already a post on here about that morning so I'll basically pick up from there...

About 1130 we went for a walk because it was a BEAUTIFUL day outside.  Plus walking and changing activities is supposed to help you know if you are in "false labor" or "real labor".  We took our walk on the pond that I normally run by across the street.  We saw a Mallard family that had three ducklings.  I wanted to get close enough to take a picture but the Mother Mallard hid the ducklings in the grass since the water is so high and I couldn't get them on camera.  We cut the walk a bit short as walking was increasing my contractions.  As we were getting close to the street I felt a small pop in my abdomen and said, "I think my water just broke," because that was the only thing I could think of to say.  When we got home I checked to see if it was amniotic fluid or urine (since that's a common mistake).  It looked like water and didn't really have a smell, so Chris thought it was the amniotic sac.  I wasn't sure so I wanted to wait around and see what happened.  We ate lunch and Linda came over.  We went for another short walk about 130 and I got more fluid to come out.  Once we got back from that walk Linda and I played some Mario Party until I decided maybe it really was my amniotic sac that broke and I rang the OB office.  While calling the OB office I found it very odd that of the "options" there wasn't one for, "I think I'm in labor."  In fact, when I finally got a person to speak to, they were like, "Why are you calling this number, but let me connect you to a nurse."  When I told the nurse what happened, she agreed that my bag of waters had probably broken and that I needed to get to the hospital ASAP.  We got to the hospital about three. 

At the hospital I got "triaged" in L&D.  We walked in and I said, "I think my water broke."  The nurses were like, "When is your due date?"  I answered, "Today" and you could see them thinking, "well, we do this all the time and she'll be going home."  The nurse triaged me and took a few samples.  Apparently amniotic fluid crystallizes, so they do a quick pH test as well as a couple of slide tests to see if crystals grow.  Crystals are supposed to take 5-10 minutes.  The pH for me wasn't right, but the slides showed crystals in about 2 minutes so the nurse came back in to the room and said, "You're getting admitted."  This meant that I was on the clock since you only get 24 hours after the amniotic sac breaks for the baby to get here, and often after about 16 hours the doctor goes in for the baby. 

We started the admission stuff while the nurses attempted to start and IV since I needed antibiotics and the electrolyte solution since I was no longer allowed to eat.  During the admission stuff I had to educate my nurses about eosinophilic disorders, and the proper way to start an IV.  Apparently I have tough skin and veins that roll.  I told them this and told them that typically IVs end up in my hands.  They wanted me to have my hands free so that when it came time to push I could easily, but after three sticks they called an anesthesiologist in to start the IV for them.  He put it in my hand and then asked if I was a phlebotomist since I knew so much about the IVs.  They also called in a lab person to draw blood because the nurse wasn't going to have any part in trying to stick me again.  I was having contractions but they were simply causing me to efface, not to dilate. 

At shift change we got a new nurse, Jackie, and our friend Laurie (a mother/baby nurse) was also there off and on all night.  About seven Jackie came in and said they were going to start pitocin.  This was a problem for me because I really wanted everything to be as natural as possible.  I didn't want drugs and felt that my body was getting mixed signals since I was having mild contractions and this was a major hurdle for me mentally and emotionally.  By about 8 we had the drip going, so I now had three bags attached to my IV pole.  The pitocin contractions started getting bad and all of a sudden I had the urge to go clear my bowels, this was probably 830-900.  Jackie let me go since I was only dilated to a 2.  By about 1030 I had dilated to a 4 and deemed in "active labor."  From then on the contractions started coming rather quickly and it seemed like I would only ever get a minute or two break between contractions.  Both Chris and Jackie were helpful in getting me through a few of the later contractions. 

At one point, the time completely escapes me, but it was probably 12-1230 on May 17, I had the urge to push.  I remember telling Jackie this and she said she needed to check me for dilation, she estimated me to be about an 8.  She kept telling me to breathe through the contractions but that I had to take shallow breaths.  What seems like a few minutes later I had the pushing urge again and she once again checked me, I was at a 9 and change.  Apparently you could already see hair though, so baby was coming, and coming soon.  At this point the room became rather active and I remember hearing, "get the doctor in here."  Jackie had me give a "little" push at this point to see if I'd complete the dilation and hit 10.  It worked and baby was intent on coming.  I also remember hearing that the doctor was finishing up another labor and would be a minute.  This meant that I had to "not push" through several more contractions.  This is probably the most difficult thing to do.  Jackie and Chris both tried to give me breathing patterns to get through it, but I ended up kind of laughing almost, but the artificial laugh more than a true belly rolling laugh.  When the doctor came in I finally got to push!  The first contraction I almost knocked the doctor and the baby nurse to the ground.  I had missed the pegs.  Chris at this point was asked to help hold one of my legs -- a job he had repeatedly said he NEVER wanted to do.  The doctor also helped coach me through the next contraction and wanted me to put my hands on the inside of my knees versus on the hand holds to help me push.  That was contraction #2 of pushing.  Then the doctor told me to both hold my breath and stop arcing my back during the pushing.  I did this for contraction #3.  At the end of the third big "push" the doc told me to try one more, and out came Alexis.  I didn't have to push for shoulders or anything else after that.  She was immediately screaming and fussy and I got to see her before they cut the cord.  Chris did cut the cord, and the Alexis was dried off, weighed & measured before being put on my chest.  The doc sewed my minor laceration up and kept telling me not to move my legs that were shaking worse than any run I've ever done.  I also kept having to move them since I had a bit more feeling and my back was a bit uncomfortable.  He tried giving me a local anesthetic that didn't really do much seeing as I could feel the threading and stitches going in. 

We tried to breast feed and Jackie helped me do a couple of "holds" that were difficult simply because I had so many machines attached to so many different parts of me.  Alexis latched quite well though to both sides with all the different holds and Jackie gave me a few pointers.  Jackie also gave me a lot of numbers as to how many people come in and get the pitocin and end up with an epidural.  Apparently I am one of a few who managed a pitocin induced labor with no epidural as well.  I did have a mg or two of an IV opiod anesthetic, but that was towards the end and really to take the edge off the never ending contractions.