At week 38 I thought she was coming. I had a day of pre-labor craziness. Body cleaning itself out, intense contractions, although they were 9-10min apart, and contractions for a long period of time-7hrs. I was stunned when after 7hrs...it suddenly stopped! And after that...nothing much was happening...
At week 39 I was starting to show signs of Pre-eclampsia - a disease/disorder that basically tells your body that the baby doesn't belong and it should rid itself of it. Nice, I know. So, I did a bunch of tests and had to pee in a jug for 24hrs so they could determine if it was serious enough to have to induce.
Now, I have been convincing myself for over a month now that this baby needs to stay in the cooker for as long as possible because ultrasounds were showing that she was very small and my weight gain was so low. Now I might have this pre-eclampsia and there would be no way they would let me go past my due date.
I got the tests back and they showed I was stable again and not showing signs of the pre-eclampsia. Whew! The midwife was still concerned it might reappear, so she stripped my membranes to see if things might get moving on their own. (this should get labor going within 24-48hrs if your body is ready) Now every day was a waiting game. I felt good though, definitely in the nesting mood. I wanted to get everything ready, cleaning, vacuuming, scrubbing toilets...haha, everything. This was an awesome feeling after months of barely being able to make it off the couch.
My due date past and I was back in the doctor's office. My body hadn't been quite ready for labor just yet. My midwife walked in and apparently, the pre-eclampsia signs were back. Yuck. The thing I dreaded most about this was peeing in a jug again...haha...no really I know this can be very serious stuff, so the midwife decided to check my dilation and asked if she could strip my membranes again, and I said why not, if it was going to get things moving before induction was the only answer, then I was for it. So, she did her thing and all of a sudden, a warm, wet feeling came over me. Yup, my water broke. I never imagined what that would really be like, but it doesn't stop. It just keeps coming and coming, although it does slow down, until you deliver. To the hospital we would go!
I left the office wrapped in what I call "puppy pads," cause they look like those puppy training pads you use in your house. I had 4-5 on and could barely walk. I imagine it is a similar feeling for sumo wrestlers with those huge diaper things on. Now, I knew once I checked into the hospital they weren't going to allow me to eat anything. I was already starving, so we swung by taco bell...yeah interesting choice for labor, I know... and I got a couple things and ate quickly before checking into the labor and delivery floor. I walked in with "water" running down my legs and all the ladies near the registration desk were looking me up and down and turning to the receptionist saying "Oh!, baby coming, baby coming." I wanted to laugh because other than having my water broken, I couldn't feel much. I was having a few contractions, but nothing serious, so I knew she wasn't coming too soon.
They rushed my into my room and set me to filling out my paperwork, while Marcus ran home and got the dogs situated and grabbed a few more things for us. Once he returned and all the paperwork was done, we set to work trying to get this baby to come. I did squats, walked stairs, walked hallways, sat on the yoga ball, did more squats, and after 6 hours, I had progressed one more centimeter...making a total of 2...who hoo(very sarcastic)... My midwife came in and laid out the dilemma for us. I could keep trying on my own and most likely go another 24 hours without too much progress and then a c-section, I could start on Pitocin, a hormone that the body releases naturally in labor to get things moving, and really move things along, or I could wait a few more hours and see how far I progressed and re-asess the situation. I was already bored of the hospital, so I opted to get things moving. Pitocin was hooked into my IV and gradually increased over the next 3 hours.
By the 3rd hour I was finally starting to feel the contractions. I would hold onto Marcus, or sit on the yoga ball, or brace myself on the wall. My midwife came in and checked how things were progressing. I was almost to 4cm. Ugh. She informed me that getting to 4 is sometimes the hardest part. Unfortunately, I was going to have to stay on the Pitocin and the dosage was going to need to be upped even more. She told me I was looking at another 6-7hours of double the pain I was already experiencing. I also was still experiencing what they call "back labor" meaning the baby's head is facing the tailbone instead of to the front and side like it needs to be to get the shoulders through, so I was going to have to lay down and switch from side to side every hour. She encouraged me to try a painkiller or the epidural, but said that she had seen women get through the Pitocin-induced pain with no painkillers. She left us to decide what we wanted to do...
(to be continued)
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