Labor

Really, it wasn't terrible. In fact, for me, labor didn't even really happen. I mean, I guess it did, but I didn't know it.

Please when you read this, don't think me too naive. Also, beware the gory details.

It all began for me on Tuesday at my 35 week-OB appointment. (Or maybe it didn't. I'm not actually sure when my labor began.) I went in to meet with Dr. Judd and to have the Group B Strep test done. When he asked me at the end of my appointment if I had any questions for him, I asked, "How do I not be scared of labor and delivery? Because I'm terrified." Dr. Judd said, "All you need to remember are these three words: Ep. I. Dural." He then went on to talk to me about how I should look forward to the next few weeks (rather than dread them) and how part of why labor was so scary was because I didn't know what or when it would happen. He joked around a little, and generally eased my fears about the whole process. I left his office feeling a lot better, and a lot less scared.

As we left his office, I turned to Tyler and told him that I wasn't feeling super well, that I might be having some gas pain and I was really uncomfortable. (Gory details: I had had some gastro-intestinal issues within the last week that made me super uncomfortable and only relented once I had a bowel movement. I just thought the same thing was happening again.) I swore off beans for the rest of my pregnancy then went home to try and get comfortable.

Unfortunately, I didn't get comfortable. I kept having pain throughout the night. Around 4 AM, I got up to take something for the pain I was feeling. I first decided to take some MiraLax to help my bowel movement (that I thought would bring relief) along. But when I looked at the bottle of MiraLax and read the symptoms, I realized--I didn't have any of those symptoms. So I turned the bottle of Pepto-Bismal and read the symptoms there. Again, no match.

Then I started getting worried. Had I somehow gotten food poisoning? (Was this what food poisoning was like?) Was this really just gas? (More gory details: I had had three bowel movements, and still no relief.)

And finally, it hit me. I was finally having/feeling Braxton Hicks contractions. The contractions were fairly regular, they weren't increasing in pain or duration, they'd just come and go every few minutes for about 30-40 seconds, peak in intensity, then disappear for a few seconds. I did some checking to verify my notion that these were indeed Braxton Hicks contractions (and not pre-term labor) and felt comfortable in my self-assessment. After all, I'd had periods where I'd cramped worse than this. And at least I was getting some relief between contractions. During a period, those cramps were prolonged and would last for hours. These were less than a minute long. No problem.

The contractions kept me up for the rest of the night, and I finally was able to sleep a little once morning came. (But still, I was woken up by the contractions.)

By the time Wednesday evening hit, I was so tired of feeling these contractions. They were very painful, and making it hard for me to get anything done. I kept trying to take my mind off them, but every few minutes, I'd have to stop what I was doing and just live through the pain I was feeling. (Interesting tidbit: I dealt with this by counting. I've realized this is how I deal with discomfort. I count through discomforts.)

 Tyler, worrying about me, kept trying to encourage me to call Dr. Judd's office. I told him I was fine and that these would go away eventually. But as the evening went on, they weren't going away, and I was starting to get very frustrated. If this was what the next four weeks would be like, I didn't want any part of it.

I tried calling McKenna to talk about the Braxton Hicks contractions she had been having and compare notes. However, she missed my call, and wasn't able to get back to me until later. I don't remember if I called my mom or if somehow she called me, but somehow I ended up talking to both her and her husband, Jay. Mom tried to encourage me and sympathize. Jay did the same, and cautioned me to watch out for my mucus plug.

Not long after talking to them, I felt the urge to use the bathroom, and (caution: gory details ensue) when I went to wipe, found bloody mucus on the toilet tissue.

At this point I kind of began to panic. My whole pregnancy, I had never had any blood show up to make me worry. And with the accompanying discharge, I thought this might be my mucus plug. I called Tyler in to the bathroom to see what he thought we should do. He suggested calling Dr. Judd's office (even though it was after hours) to find out if we should go to the hospital, or stay home, or whatever.

But we had no answer. The office was closed, and neither on-call nurse was answering her cell phone.

I then called McKenna, I think, to talk to her about her contractions and see if she thought this was my mucus plug, and get her input on whether it was time to go to the hospital or not. (I'd heard that lots of women lose their mucus plugs before they go into labor, sometimes weeks before.) McKenna suggested that since I couldn't get a hold of anyone from Dr. Judd's office, that I should indeed head to the hospital.

I called my mom to update her and ask for advice. She and Jay both encouraged me to go ahead and go to the hospital.

So, just in case, I hurriedly finished packing my overnight hospital bag (it was fairly well prepared over the weekend, I just needed to add clothes). And, panicking a little, I hurried Tyler out the door and into the car so we could go to the hospital.

As we got closer to the hospital, I started to feel calmer. I was only 35 weeks along, I was fine, the hospital was going to send me home. No problem. These Braxton Hicks would go away soon, and I'd get to finish making preparations for the baby to come.

We made good time in getting to the hospital even though I made Tyler take a wrong exit--luckily he figured out where we were before we got off course. (He took an off-ramp and then immediately took an on-ramp. No problem.) We got there in about 18 minutes or so.

But when we got to the hospital, we couldn't find the Women's Services because of all the construction, so we decided to go in the main entrance to try and find where we needed to go. Everything looked closed (it was about 8:30 PM) and we didn't see any nurses anywhere. Nor could we find an entrance to the Women's Services area. So we walked back to the main entrance, out the door, and into the ER.

When we got to the front desk and told the nurse why we were there, she escorted us to the Women's Service section (which we had previously passed), and took me to the front desk where I filled in the nurses there about my situation. I'd been having cramps for the past 24-hours, I thought I had lost my mucus plug but wasn't' sure, I'd called my doctor and couldn't get a hold of him, so there I was because I wasn't sure what to do next.

One of the nurses took me to one of their delivery rooms and told me to go ahead and put on a hospital gown and take a urine test so they could do a pelvic exam to find out what was going on.

So I did. Another nurse (Amanda, I think?) came in to register me with the hospital and to do the pelvic exam. She also let me know that my doctor, Dr. Judd was out of town, so the on-call doctor (Doctor Kory Harward) would be the one to take over if need be.

Amanda (?) performed the pelvic exam, and boy did that hurt! She was checking to see how far I was dilated so she would know if I was in labor, and if so, what stage of labor I was in. She was surprised at what she found.

And so was I. This is how it went down:

"You're at a seven." She said.

"A seven?!" I exclaimed, clutching the rail of the bed while she was checking my dilation.

"Mm, well. Maybe a six. It looks like you've got a big bag of water (? - I'm not sure exactly what she said here) that made me think it was a seven. Well, you're having a baby!"

I don't remember my exact response. It might have been something like, "Are you sure?" or "Should I call my mom so she can fly out here?" or some combination of the two. Amanda (?) told me that yes, it would be a good idea to call my mom and yes I was having a baby.

"But he's 5 weeks early." I said. "Does this mean that he will have to stay here?" She shook her head yes.

I think I must have looked totally shocked/scared/shocked because the next thing she said (or something like it) was:

"I'll leave so you can take some time to process." (This, I think was actually code for I'm going to go get the ball rolling on doctors and nurses so you can have your baby. But I'm not going to say again that you're having a baby because I think you'll freak out.)

Then I cried.

Then I calmed down while Tyler started making phone calls.

When Amanda (?) came back and brought a new nurse with her. (This nurse was April. April is our favorite nurse. She figures in to labor, delivery, and recovery.)

Amanda (?) asked if I wanted an epidural. I asked if it would have time to take effect before the baby was born. She said yes, so I said yes.

And thus my delivery began.