At my 39 week appointment (on Monday) my OB talked to me about scheduling an induction for the next week, as it looked like this baby was pretty content and not gonna come any time soon. I agreed. I was tired of being pregnant, and even more tired of all of the false labor.
Thursday I had contractions all day. They were regular intervals and some were pretty strong. All day long I wondered if this was another fake labor. They never got stronger, and often they would stop for a bit and come back. Its pretty classic braxton hicks stuff. But, with a due date approaching and constant contractions, we called my sister over to be safe. She came over Thursday night and everyone stared at me waiting for a baby to come ;)
We told her that we might be leaving in the middle of the night to head to the hospital and all of us tried to get some sleep. I got about zero hours of sleep. The contractions were enough to be irritating (and keep me awake), but I wasnt in labor. In the morning I woke up and apologized to my sister for wasting her time (yet again, as we had gone through this in the past). We went to Starbucks with Brooke for some breakfast and hung out ... all the while the contractions still happening.
I called my OB's nurse just to make sure what I should do. She told me it didnt sound like labor and to rest and drink some water. I asked about signs of my water breaking ... what if I had a leak? I thought maybe I did. The nurse told me to go into L&D to get checked out. But, all of our conversation sounded like she thought I wasnt in labor and it wasnt serious ... so I decided to keep waiting out the contractions. I misunderstood that she was calling L&D to tell them I was on my way ;)
So, a few hours later I get a call from her again, asking why I hadnt arrived at L&D. I told her the truth - I didnt think it was the real thing and I didnt want to get sent home. I was waiting it out. She told me to go to L&D (and I'm sure thought I was an idiot) so I called Jeff and told him he had to come home so we can head to the hospital. I was irritated. Mad at myself for calling the OB's office and having to go into L&D when I knew it was going to be a several hour trip followed by a return home to continue waiting.
And basically, I was right. Sort of.
We get to L&D and they hook me up to all the machines. Check to see if my water was leaking and it wasnt. Once you are on the machines they have to monitor you for an hour - we were stuck. The triage nurse told me I would likely be sent home after the hour, but they just had to monitor the baby to make sure there were no issues. We hung out for about 20 minutes and my contractions started picking up. They got stronger and much worse. After the hour the nurse came in and said that due to the frequency of my contractions now I had to walk around for another hour while drinking water, and then come back to get re-checked. They needed to know if these contractions were progressing my labor or if they were just more braxton hicks.
So, we walked in a small circle around triage for an hour. My contractions stayed the same. They hurt, but I wasnt crippled in pain. Now its been over 2 hours since our arrival and we go back in to get checked again. I was told there was no progress and they were sending me home, but the nurse had to call the OB to confirm and she left the room. At this point the pain became unbearable. By the time she came back to tell me I was being discharged, I was in tears. She checked again and this time there HAD been some progress. Back for another call to the OB as I sat crying in the triage room ;)
She came back again and told me I was being admitted. We arrived at 12:30 and it was about 4PM when I was admitted. As I had clearly not been in labor when we walked in, we werent quite prepared. We had our stuff with, but it was in the car. We hadnt arranged childcare for Brooke. Honestly, we were a bit stunned. (Silly, since it was 2 days from my due date, but yet we werent expecting a baby just quite yet).
I get up into L&D and (of course) the anesthesiologists were changing shifts, so I had to wait for the drugs! By this point I was getting a little bit tired of the pain and dreading the next few hours to come. I finally got the epidural, and all was great for about 2 hours. Then the pain started again and I had the guy come back to give me a boost. Suddenly, things were better and I was ready to settle in and wait. Unfortunately, I didnt really have that option. Not long after the boost I was informed it was push time, baby was coming whether or not I was ready. I thought I was ready, since I was heavily medicated and Brooke's delivery was so easy. I was wrong again. Why?
Ryan Jeffrey
11/5/2010
11:26PM
9lbs 15oz
21.5 inches
