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Thursday, October 13, 2011

Birth Story, Part 1

I have so many details I want to remember from the labor and delivery of Lane, so be warned- this is long!

Monday, September 26, I was 39 weeks, 2 days pregnant. And miserable. I worked that day as usual, but I noticed I couldn't feel the baby move like usual. I spent the better part of the afternoon poking him, trying to get him to respond. By 4:30, when I was about to leave work, I decided to call my OB's office. They suggested I go to Labor & Delivery, just to be checked out. So, I headed over, and Josh came into town to meet me there.
As soon as I was hooked up to the monitors, we heard his strong heartbeat. The doctor could tell he was moving but I still couldn't feel him. The doctor also noticed that my blood pressure was high, and recommended I take the next day off work. So that's what I did.  That night, I had another night of strong, painful contractions, but after getting down to 5 minutes apart, they slowed down again, and we were again disappointed.

That next day, Tuesday, I had my weekly appt. at 2 pm. My mom went with me, as she wanted to hear Lane's heartbeat.  The doctor came in, and said my blood pressure was still slightly high, and that discontinuing work might be a good idea.  She offered to strip my membranes, to hopefully get things moving, and I jumped at the offer!  When she checked for progress, I was a "good" 3 cm, and after a "vigorous" sweeping, I was 4 cm.  Lane had also moved down quite a bit, which was a big relief.  The doctor told me if the sweeping was going to start labor, it would probably happen within 48 hours.  So, off I went, hoping for something to happen!

Josh and I had plans to go grocery shopping that evening, as our cupboards and refrigerator were EMPTY.  Around 3 pm, however, (one hour after my appt.), I texted Josh that I didn't think I'd be able to walk through the store that evening, as I was getting pretty uncomfortable.  I stopped at the gas station on my way home, and filled up my gas tank.  I made it home, and just wanted to crawl into bed because I was getting REALLY uncomfortable.  Josh got home around 4:30 PM, and we decided to do things around the house to keep me upright and moving, to hopefully keep the contractions coming and help move Lane down.  We went outside and I threw clay pigeons for Josh while he shot, I vacuumed, did laundry, and Josh went to the store to get a frozen pizza.  We started timing the contractions, and noticed they were getting more and more regular, and while neither of us wanted to admit it for fear of jinxing us, we thought maybe this was it.  

Around 6:30 PM, I asked Josh if he was going to take a shower that evening.  He asked me if he should, and I told him that it might be a good idea, just in case.  So, while Josh was in the shower, I cooked the frozen pizza.  Josh scarfed his part down, while I had a hard time eating mine due to the contractions.  I should mention that these contractions were all in my back, like every other time.  I could feel my belly get tight, but that part wasn't painful; just my back.

Finally, at 7 PM, we both decided maybe we should head to the hospital.  At that point, my contractions were 5 min. apart.  Josh had been trying to convince me to go for about an hour, but my biggest fear was getting sent home due to not being in labor.  Josh's biggest fear was having to deliver our baby on the side of the highway!  Josh went to feed Molly and lock her up, and I grabbed my pillow, our phone chargers, and fed the cat.  We got in the car, and headed towards town.  In between contractions, we were joking that I couldn't really be in labor, because there was no middle-of-the-night, water-breaking, panicky drive to the hospital.

We arrived around 7:45 PM, after getting stuck behind several slow drivers.  The whole drive in, I was texting my mom and cousin Jessica in between contractions.  Both wanted to know if anything was happening after that afternoon's appointment, but Josh and I had decided to not tell anybody we were at the hospital until we knew we were staying.  By the time we arrived, the contractions were 3 min. apart.

Once we parked, we headed for the Labor and Delivery entrance, having to stop once on the way for a contraction.  The waiting room was packed.  There was one couple ahead of us checking in, and a bunch of people waiting (I'm assuming) for babies to be born.  Finally it was our turn, and the admissions person told me to have a seat.  I calmly informed her that I could not sit down, due to the pain.  So, she quickly checked us in, and off we went to room LE04...

To be continued...

1 comments:

HD said...

Tease! Part 2 please! (o: