And the labor and delivery nurses roll their eyes...
Having a labor and delivery nurse for a sister is amazing. I had 9 months to quiz her on what to expect. She was very honest but also respectful of any ideas that I had. She also kept her mouth firmly shut about some things.
A few weeks before our birth, Daniel and I attended a birthing class and the teacher told us to have a birth plan. We were on the fence about this. I really trusted my doctors and nurses {and sister} and wanted to be respectful of their knowledge and experience. But there were some things I really wanted to happen at our birth.
As a compromise, Daniel and I made a one page "plan" to share with our OB. Our OB was also not a fan of having a "birth plan" but she humored us. Mostly it was helpful for me to discuss concerns I had and how I wanted my birth experience to happen {barring no medical complications}. I was fully aware that if problems occurred, my "plan" was to defer to the professionals.
That being said, I read a lot, listened to many personal stories, watched a documentary on birth and ultimately decided that if possible, a natural birth was the way to go. Realistically I also decided that if I had to be induced or if my water broke ahead of time, there was a good chance I would take a medicated route. Overall I wanted to have an open mind and do what was best for me and our baby.
And then my water broke.
When Daniel called Angela, she talked us through what to expect and do. I hadn't had any contractions so she thought I could labor at home for a little while, but since we had an hour drive to Chattanooga, she suggested we try to get there by midnight. That was totally doable. It was 8:45p.m. EST and an hour drive to the hospital, so we were in good shape.
We finished cooking our steaks and called the rest of our family to share the news. I finally started feeling contractions and we timed them for about an hour before finally calling my OB – who happened to be on call that night.
My contractions had gone from nothing to 30 seconds long and 3 minutes apart. This was not what I expected. I had been under the impression that once labor started I would have time to adjust and recoup between contractions. Instead they came on with a vengeance.
My OB was NOT happy that we were not on our way yet. She wanted us to get to the hospital asap. This posed a bit of a problem since we still hadn't packed our hospital bags. I failed to mention this to her, but said we would leave shortly. As soon as I got off the phone, Daniel proceeded to run around shoving things into bags while I tried to tell him what things not to forget.
Meanwhile, Daniel's sister, Amy, left Nashville to come to our house to stay with Sophie. I can't tell you how hard it was for me to leave our dog home alone. She is used to going everywhere with us and even got in the car while Daniel was loading our stuff. I was almost in tears at the thought of leaving her but so thankful to know that someone would be there soon. Daniel and I were both a bit nervous as to how Sophie would transition to having a baby around, but there was nothing we could do about it... we needed to get to the hospital.
We finally got on the road and I had a very uncomfortable hour-long ride in the car. Every 3 minutes on the dot, a wave of pain took over my body. You are supposed to relax through contractions, but that is easier said than done. I was gripping the "Oh Crap" handle in the car the ENTIRE time and Daniel kept telling me to relax.
We arrived at the hospital right at midnight. The lady at the information desk took one look at me and hurried us up to labor and delivery. The charge nurse on duty asked if I was sure I was in labor. I looked at her and told her my water had broke. She looked down at me and said, "Why yes it has" and proceeded to take me straight to a labor room.
Three nurses kept asking me the EXACT same questions over and over again. You would think they would just confer with each other and leave me alone with my pain. Daniel was very supportive and got me as comfortable as possible.
The nurse checked me and learned that I was already dilated to 3cm. Right after that my sister arrived. Thank the good Lord in heaven. She really helped us through that night. First of all she had the nurses raise the bed so that I could stand and lean over it. Then she got a hot compress for my back and showed Daniel how to apply counter pressure while I went through each contraction.
My nurse came back and said that we could get an epidural at 4cm if we wanted. At this point I was ready. My ideas of a natural anything disappeared in that one-hour car ride. If labor had been slower things might have been different.
About an hour later, my nurse checked me again and I was already 4cm. They called the anesthesiologist who came right away. By the time he had inserted my epidural I had progressed to 6cm.
My nurse turned me on my back to allow the medication to disperse evenly in both legs. While I was on my back, baby Jack started to show signs of distress. His heart rate dropped significantly and everyone became very nervous. Angela jumped up to help adjust the fetal heart monitor and soon Jack's heart rate leveled out again.
This was the beginning of many things that were not in my plan...
Stay tuned for Part III.
