xeryfyn's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another Angel Become Earthbound:Stage 1 WARNING: THIS IS VERY LONG 4am- I get up because this stupid bloody show is driving me crazy--Why doesnt anyone tell you that it lasts until you give birth? I had always thought that passing a mucous plug was a one-shot deal. Apparently I was wrong. Although it has never dripped down my leg before . Hmmmm. Could it be my water has broken?? 4:30am-Well I have started to get contractions. And boy are they starting to hurt! Ummm, I think I ought to wake hubby up. This is it. He wakes in a slight panic. Am I sure?? The fluid is now starting to puddle when I sit and smells slightly sweet--amniotic fluid, hurray! 4:45am-Hubby calls Beth and says "It's game time" and goes to pick her up since we are sure that I ought to go in. My contractions are time able--3 minutes apart. I empty the dishwasher while I wait for them to get home and have to kneel on the ground during contractions. 5:45am-After last minute instructions and settling in of Julia in our bed, we finally get on our way. The bumps on the road suddenly seem mountainous and rough�they are especially hard on curves or turns. The admitting lady in the ER recognizes us (how embarrassing is that?) and shuffles us quickly through the requisite paperwork and hustles us upstairs when it is apparent that this is not a false alarm like last time. I enter the room and drop to my knees during a contraction. The nurse looks down and says �Oh, you like the floor. OK.� 7am-An internal check shows that for all of that pain, I am *still* only at 1 cm but that my cervix is super soft. They test my fluid and show that it is indeed amniotic fluid so they will admit me and wait to see what happens. Our nurse is amusing and distracting and helps us go over our birth plans. �What?! I can�t drop this baby? Darn, I was hoping this would be the one.� We are sorry to see her leave on shift change at 7:30. The anaesthesiologist comes over to poke my veins for an IV and we are completely unsurprised at his lack of bedside manner. It seems to be a trait of anaesthesiologists. 7:30-I try to walk the hallways, since that seems like the right thing to do in labour in the hospital, trying to move things along. This attempt is foiled by two things: it is too tiring to walk and drop to the floor every time I have a contraction, and also the stupid IV pole is a piece of crap that wont roll properly. I decide when we get back to our room that I will just labour there, thanks very much. Our nurse is young and fun and has all sort of suggestions to help make things bearable�blankets on the floor for my knees, etc. The contractions are now fully in my back and it is a killer every time they hit. Hubby has fetched my birthing ball and though I can sit on it between contractions, I have to kneel on the floor to get through the brutality. I had pegged myself as a loud labourer but moaning seems to be the way I am handling things so I go with what works. Slowly, though, they move to my front and for awhile they would alternate between fierce back labour and less agonizing front labour. Eventually the contractions are about 2 minutes apart and all in the front. Hubby coaches me through the breathing techniques and in between we discuss what works and what doesn�t (Asking questions during contractions DOESN�T work!) I perch on the side of the bed and lean back into the pain. I find that having hubby in front of me so I can lean against his shoulder while I breathe through the pain is more helpful and gets me through faster. As intense as they are, I am aware that they are not lasting very long and I am able to look to the end of them, even as the pain crests. I am so tired in between that I almost fall asleep only to be rudely awakened by the next round (I am later told that this is normal, to ensure that my body rests between contractions). A nurse pops by and comments on how well I seem to handle the contractions. That encouragement is so great to hear and very inspiring. I am wondering though, if I will be able to continue to handle them so well if they get any stronger or last any longer. 9am-The nurse comes by again and says that I ought to get checked again to see how things are progressing. I am not hopeful, it�s only been two hours and the contractions, though 1.5-2 minutes apart are only about 30 seconds long (which is a LONG ENOUGH time during them, thank you very much). Lying on my back for the check is so hard, but she makes it quick and announces to everyone�s delight that I am already at 5cm! We can move into the next �phase� of labour and I can have an epidural if I wish. I DO, thank you! Unfortunately the anaesthesiologist is doing a c-section and would be a half hour wait, so would I like to try the shower while I waited? (Remember how having a bath a few days ago went, well�) So I get in the shower and it is LOVELY. The water is hot and feels marvellous EXCEPT THAT IT BEGINS TO SLOW MY CONTRACTIONS. They go from every 2 minutes to every five and then ten and twelve. I honestly didn�t notice that much, since I am enjoying the sensation of the water so much. Hubby is beginning to get famished though, so I ask the nurse if he could get something to eat and they offer him some toast to tide him over. He hands me the shower head and it is only then that I notice my hand. My hand with the IV looks like a balloon. I blink and call for the nurse-who, incidentally, had just changed the fluid for my IV and never noticed my hand either. Apparently the vein has gone interstitial and collapsed, causing all the IV fluid to collect in my hand, instead of travelling to the places it needs to go. I almost cry when they tell me I would have to remove the current one and get another one put in the other hand. (CONTINUED IN STAGE 2)
5:03 p.m. - 2004-07-31 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
||||||
|
||||||