Labor Story

Well, she is two weeks and two days old, and I am just now getting around to this! Sorry guys. I left you with the "they want to use this wonder pill" story and then never followed up. I must have forgotten about it, what with the elections, my rotting kitchen floors, flat tire, irritating picture experience and oh yeah, the newborn!

Just so you know, I don't feel like I had a "horrible" hospital experience, it just wasn't my ideal. For a lot of people, this could have been a normal, expected delivery process. Those women probably have a lot more patience than I do!

So, here's the first part of what happened...
We got the boys all packed and ready, and headed to the in-laws to let them spend the night. After they were settled in there, Hubby and I headed off to go eat at Cracker Barrel. I wanted a big meal before the hard work of labor! (It's a good thing I did, you'll see why in a minute.)

We tried to take our time there, but we still ended up getting to the hospital at 6:30pm. I was told to be there around 7pm, and they would start my induction as soon as possible. Dr. M even told me at my last appointment, "We should have the baby around midnight." Since that timing was about right with my other deliveries, so I was fully expecting to have her here by midnight....

However, the nurses didn't seem to know what I was doing there, or which way we were going to go about this whole induction thing. Then, they came and told us that someone else was having a difficult delivery and everyone was helping her right now. Um, ok, but it's just supposed to be a little pill right? How long could that possibly take?? So, Hubby and I sat in the room, and watched television for another hour.... Getting frustrated. Could have been at the mall, looking at books....

At around 9pm, the labor nurse, we'll call her "D", finally came back in to check the annoying monitors they automatically stick you on. She said they had talked to Dr. M on the phone and now all of the sudden, he didn't want to use the "wonder pill." (Which by the way, is called cytogen, or cervadil. Not sure which one they had in mind.) We were back to the old arch-enemy Pitocin!!! Another um, okay...moment.

I also asked her for a drink of ginger ale or something and her answer was, "Oh, no, sorry all you can have now is ice." Nowadays, with a c-section and with most regular deliveries, the doctors won't let anyone eat beforehand. I've always understood that it's because they want your stomach to be empty in case of a reaction to the anesthesia or if you need a crash c-section. If you guys have heard something else, please tell me. However, in my Bradley method books, they are all for the mother having snacks during and eating before labor. Especially keeping fluids up, so the mother doesn't get dehydrated. In a hospital, they always prefer to stick a needle in you and hook you up to a bag of fluids!

Now, this whole time, I was still having the same old contractions I had been having for weeks! I tried to tell the girl, "Look, if y'all can just get this thing going, it's not going to take long at all!" So, she says something about Dr. M might not want to start the Pitocin until the next morning. Ha. Haha. Ha. I looked at Hubby and said, "If they try to make me wait until tomorrow morning, I am getting dressed again and we are going home. I will have this baby at home whenever she comes." He yawned and said "Ok babe."

10:15pm. D finally comes back in, and starts the Pitocin drip. Yup, 10 at night. So, I was having a scheduled induction that was about to take all night long. And now I couldn't eat or drink again until we were done. Not happy.

11pm. Still confined to bed, had silly monitors on and trying to stay still so that silly monitors will quit alarming everytime I move!

12am. Hubby gives in and falls asleep....about 4 feet away where I can't reach to wake him up. (Couldn't I call his name? No, you've never seen this man sleep. It's close to hibernation. Seriously.)

1am. Finally having some "working" contractions. Tried throwing gum wrappers at Hubby to wake him. Nothing. Finally got up, let the alarms DING and moved closer to wake him up. "Hey, I need you to hold my hand, buddy!" Hubby offers hand, stays asleep.

2am. D says she's talked to Dr. M and they can up the dosage of Pitocin a little more. I am thinking, "Alright! Let's get this party going!" Little did I know that they had given me a very, very low dose of Pitocin to begin with. It was barely more than what my body had already been doing for the past few weeks!

3am. I am getting very tired and cranky. My blood sugar is also getting very low b/c I haven't eaten or had anything to drink in hours. (I've had tests done to check for hypoglycemia, diabetes and all that, they were all negative. But, for some reason, when my blood sugar gets low, I get very weak and very dizzy. So, now that was factoring into the whole labor process as well.)

4am. They call Dr. M again and tell him I am getting closer. I am at 8cm. I am wondering what all this calling business is about??? Don't on-call doctors usually stay in an on-call room at the hospital??? Starting to think he scheduled me at night so that he could sleep. Hmmm...

4:30am. They call again, he is "in the area." What in the world does that mean? He stopped for doughnuts on the way? If so, he better be bringing me some because I am starving by now!!! The nurses are now impressed at the fact that Hubby and I are a great team. (And that I finally got him to wake up. Hehe.) Hubby is coaching me just like he has done before. This time, because I am feeling so weak, I need a big reminder on how to slow down and breath. None of the frantic panting and such that you see in the movies!

5:30am. I am very mad that Dr. M has yet to even make an appearance at this labor, wondering if he will show up just in time to deliver and get his $5000.... Probably. I am also frustrated that I have been in a bed all night long and I can just tell my uterus needed gravity to help bring Halia down further. Sure enough, the nurse tells me I will have to push a little bit longer when we get started because everything has not lined up quite as much as it should yet. I could lay in the bed a little longer, or we could go ahead and start in a few minutes...
Ha, I think we'll just go ahead and push, thank you.

6am. Guess who shows up? AND ASKS WHO DID THE EPIDURAL FOR ME. Right while I am in the MIDDLE OF THE BIGGEST CONTRACTION IN THE WORLD. All of the nurses looked at him like, "Are you serious??? She is doing this all on her own!" Someone said, "Nobody did an epidural! She didn't need anything!" I think they were a bit indignant for me at this point. He "helps" during a few pushes, and voila!

6:14am. Miss Halia shows up and lets out a big ol' wail! Mommy is ecstatic and asks Hubby to go find her some stinking food....

So! It doesn't seem that tragic does it? But here's why I will do everything in my power to not have a hospital birth again... The way they wouldn't listen to the laboring mother and how she knows her own body. Women in labor are not as helpless and needy as the medical system would like to have you believe. We can actually tell you when something doesn't feel right! I would have benefitted from being up walking around during labor, it would have made the pushing part a lot smoother. I also was irritated that they gave me such a low dose of Pitocin, when the entire objective was to begin the labor finally! (The dose was around 12, in my past labors it was around 25 or 30!) It could have been a faster labor, instead of all night long.

But, I learned that maybe my pregnancies just need the 41 weeks instead of 40! It's not like the baby is going to stay put forever and grow up in my womb....right?

I will continue with more in another post, this one has grown way too long!