Labor of Love
I was due on the 28th of August, and had been planning on going over as is the norm in my family. So, on the 22nd when I woke up at 5:19 in the morning to a large cramp that lasted about a minute, I didn’t think much about it. I tried to go back to sleep, but 5 minutes later, I had another minute long cramp.
Luckily, Justin and I had taken a birthing class the week before, so I was aware that these were at least “like” contractions. Five minutes later, when I had my 3rd minute long contraction, I had to laugh to myself, “What if I have this baby today?’..Ha, ha…
“Hi Honey,” I say “I don’t think you’ll be going into work today.”
“Well, you know how in our class they said not to go into the hospital until your contractions last 1 hour, are 1 minute long and 5 minutes apart… Well it has been an hour, and they are 1 minute long, every 5 minutes …”
I decide to get up and see if there are any changes. I am secretly getting excited, but I do NOT want to be the girl who goes into the hospital with false labor only to be sent home a dozen times. I take a long shower, and they are still getting closer. They are starting to hurt more and more.
At this point the contractions are almost 3-4 minutes apart, and they really hurt. I have showered, dressed, had Justin load the car, eaten breakfast, fed the cats, checked on the chickens and I know that I am 15-20 minutes away from the hospital and am getting more nervous. Of course the one good story I really remember is my friend telling me how she gave birth to her son in the car.
We drive to the hospital, I am excited! I can’t believe what might actually happen today. I kept looking at the drivers around me thinking, “They have no idea that a miracle is occurring right at this very moment.”
Sidenote: Please take a tour of your hospital before you go into labor. No one knows where you should go AT ALL, and it is really frustrating…..
We had driven by the drop off months before, so we thought we knew, but we couldn’t remember exactly where. The emergency guard tells us to go “here”, Once we get there, they tell us to go “there” and finally after 10 minutes of driving all around, we find the right place.
We hand the keys to the valet. We start to head in, but have to take a break, while I am leaningagainst a wall to get through a contraction and a sweet lady offers a wheel chair. Thank you how nice. But she is unsure where to go, we pass the info desk… and takes us to admissions.
We start looking for signage. There, “Labor and delivery” we walk to the other side of the building. Once we get there a I man says, no you need to go to THE OTHER SIDE OF THE (DANG… my thoughts added) BUILDING. I am about to cry… again. We walk all the way back to the first info desk where the entrance is…. Finally, we arrive in Maternal Observation.
The new midwife on call says to have me start walking the hall for an hour. As I walk the contractions start getting closer again, uh and they are really starting to hurt… But I am only dilated to a 3. (it hasn’t changed)
At 11:30 we check in, get i.v’d, and then start walking the halls around 12:30. By 1:00 I am dilated to a 6. (in about 1/2 hour, it changed that fast- I am glad I didn’t leave!…) At this point, I am having awful back labor, I can hardly stand.
I LOVE EPIDURALS!
I REALLY REALLY LOVE EPIDURALS!!!
And while I stand in awe of the brave women who don’t need them, “as for me and my house, we will always have an epidural.”
At 1:30, I decided I had had enough and wanted it to be pain free. Of course, when I got the epidural I had 3, 1 minute long contractions, 1 minute apart and I was actually screaming in pain. I also got the shakes like you cannot believe, all this while they are saying, be calm, don’t tense and and DON’T MOVE A MUSCLE!. I think Justin was a little terrified, by the dramatic change in his happy, serene wife, to the screaming shaking wife.
But about 1 hour later, I was happily watching Divine Design on HGTV, sipping apple juice, and wondering if I was still having contractions… BLISS!
What?
Where?
I don’t know what I’m doing?
Are you serious?
I have to do what?
Where’s the doctor?
So, Justin, the nurse and I listening to the Coors, with our candle warmer perfuming the air, begin to push. And what do we see, and tiny bit of a head full of black hair? What?
….You wanna know something kinda funny, – They set up a mirror, so I could see what I was doing. You may think gross, but it was kinda cool. Just a little disheartening, when you find out the “Good Jobs, wow that is really good” Only mean you can see an inch of baby head… You have got to be kidding me…
About 45 minutes later the Midwife comes in, and they actually gave me some handles to pull on instead of my thighs, thank heaven! Why not sooner? It was so much easier.