That evening Lance was feeling a bit better so we headed outside to play. Jeff used sidewalk chalk to create his interpretation of Lily.
After watching an episode of Mythbusters that made me laugh so hard I joked I would go into labor (since everyone had been telling us hundreds of ways to induce labor for weeks now) we went to bed. That was 10:30ish, maybe 11.
At midnight I woke up in pain, a contraction, and it finally hurt. The contraction subsided so I tried to go back to sleep but 6 minutes later another one hit. I laid in bed for about 40 minutes and realized that I wasn't going to go to sleep so getting up and doing something might help. I called my mom to warn her that labor seemed to be near and that we would like her to come over soon. I got up took a shower, got dressed, and packed up all the things we needed for the hospital. I couldn't believe I was in labor. We then watched a Nova special on tv that we had recorded, not a great way to pass the time, considering every 6 minutes I would hit the info button on the tv to check the time and all I really wanted to do was sleep, but in the wee hours of morning there isn't a lot of options on tv. We were starting to get antsy because the contractions were painful, but not increasing in frequency so we called my mom and had her come over so we could take a walk around the neighborhood. It is amazing how many people still have lights on or music playing at 2 in the morning. By 3 a.m. my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart so we got in the car to go to the hospital, we joked that we should have walked there since it is kind of across the street, but I felt weird walking down the street with my pillow. We got to the hospital and was taken to a triage room since my water hadn't broken (they are discriminator against those of us whose water doesn't break naturally). The nurse hooked me up and checked me, 1-2 cm, no progress. AHHHHH, I was disappointed. I was having painful contractions 2 to 5 minutes apart and they weren't doing anything. The doctor came in and told me that I had a weak uterus and that they wanted to give me some pain medication to see if I made any progress or if the contractions stopped. He also told me that the contractions I was having are more painful then actual labor, great all pain and no gain. I was so upset, I was really hoping for a short easy labor. "They" say the 2nd time around is easier, yeah right. They gave me morphine and told me that I wouldn't need an anti-nausea medicine with it. The morphine was HORRIBLE!! I couldn't lift my head off of the pillow, the room was spinning, I couldn't keep my eyes open, the pain was still there, I was nausea, I was clammy and sweaty, I felt worse then I did when the contractions were full strength. After two hours of me begging the nurse for something to help me feel better the doctor came back in to let me know that they would be sending me home because the contractions had slowed down to every 14 minutes, I was only 2-3 cms dilated, and that they would not keep me in the hospital because they already had 3 inductions and 1 c-section that day. I was so upset, there I was, 41 weeks pregnant, miserable, sleep deprived, and I had just been told that I was going to be sent home just to return in 24 hours to be induced or possibly sooner if the contractions picked up and made more progress. The nurse did ask if I wanted to leave right then or if I wanted to wait until the morphine wore off. I was shocked, here I was unable to lift my head off the pillow, they didn't allow me to walk to the bathroom by myself, but they were going to send me home? Fortunately Jeff, who was in sound mind, said that we would wait until the morphine wore off, which they said could take hours, 4 hours actually.
Then things got better.
Shift change of nurses. Our new nurse came in, way too chipper for 7 in the morning, but what I didn't know then, but I know now, is my angel had just arrived. She introduced herself and then gave me the best news I had heard in a long time, the doctor who was starting his shift at 8 am would not send me home and would most likely induce me and she believed that I was indeed in labor and it would be silly to send me home, especially since I would be back in a matter of hours. I was so happy I could have hugged her, but that morphine kept my head glued to the pillow. This was at 7:30 and the morphine was only given to me from 5-6 and I was still doped up, how people get addicted is beyond me. Dr. N came in at 8:30 and told me I had two options, he could induce me or I could go home and let my doctor induce me the next day. My response: I am 41 weeks pregnant, hadn't had any sleep, and I was not going home unless I have a baby in my arms! He asked me if I was planning on getting an epidural, I said yes, because at this point natural labor wasn't going to be happening, with no sleep, hard contractions with very slow progress, and I was about to get a dose of pitocin which I heard can be intense, I didn't want to feel anything anymore. The nurse left and shortly thereafter I needed to use the restroom and so I called for a nurse. My nurse wasn't available at the time so her supervisor came in to help, I sat up and that is when the nausea really hit. It was horrible, the nurse asked why I wasn't given anti-nauseous medicine, I told her I was told I didn't need it, she said that you always need it with morphine and left quickly to go get some. They gave me a very mild one that they give to cancer patients and it helped me feel better quickly. It didn't take away all of the yuck with morphine, but it helped tremendously and I was quite frustrated that my first nurse didn't ever think to give me this drug especially when I was crying and begging for something to take away the funk I was experiencing and she kept telling me there was nothing they could do for me. So after getting a new drug to make me feel a little better we headed over to a labor and delivery room. I should note the morphine I was given at 5 am, finally wore off by 10-10:30, that was some strong stuff. The nurse ordered the epidural and though I felt weird getting an epidural when my contractions were so far apart and not as painful as they had been or could be I went ahead and signed my life away. Fortunately my contractions started coming a little closer together by the time the doctor came in to give me the epidural so I knew that it was better than sticking it out till things got worse. I did have a painful contraction right when the anesthesiologist was putting in the needle so it was really hard to hold still, but Jeff and the nurse were very supportive and I though crying was able to hold still. I was terrified the whole time, it is scary getting a needle in your back, but the anesthesiologist said that he loved skinny people like me because it makes the process easy to do because he can see/feel where everything needs to go and he told me that I had a great backbone for the epidural. So my back was made for getting the epidural, what a trait to have, too bad my body doesn't seem that great on making progress in labor on its own. When I first got my epidural and the nurse was monitoring my blood pressure I had a bit of a scare when I realized I was having a hard time swallowing, the epidural was affecting my ability to swallow. Then I realized that my arms were also kind of tingly and that the epidural was working a little higher than it should. Fortunately the nurse was there and she had me sit up a bit more and I began to function normally again, it was quite weird to have to really think in order to swallow. Shortly after getting the epidural Jeff curled up and went to sleep. I wanted to sleep and was kind of out of it because of the Benadryl to counteract the itchiness side effect of the epidural. The joke of the day, was "a drug to counter act the side effects of the drug," and we kept saying, oh you need this to counter act this and this, everything seemed to need something else to go with it. Despite being drugged up I couldn't fall completely asleep, thanks to the blood pressure cuff that went off every 15 minutes. I kept dosing off, but would jerk awake every time the cuff started checking my blood pressure or when Lily would move which would make the heart rate monitor stop beating or give feedback which was really annoying. I don't remember Lance being so active when I was in labor, or the last few weeks for that matter, but Lily was moving and grooving. I was extremely tired, but couldn't sleep, it was hard watching Jeff snooze away. At some point, I think around noon or 1 o'clock, the doctor came in to break my water and check for dilation. I was 5 cm, slow going, my expectations were out of whack, since I had been in "labor" for 12 hours or so and I was only 5 cm, what ever happened to 2nd babies arriving faster than first ones???? Well the doctor didn't need to break my water with that contraption they have (the knitting needle thing) because he was able to break the bulge that was there with his hand while checking my dilation. Once again, water breakage was nothing really, her head was so low that there isn't the gush that some people describe. I f watching Jeff sleep was hard, watching him eat was even harder. My mom stopped by and brought him food which he enjoyed while I watched on with my stomach grumbling, I had not eaten since 6:30 the night before and I was on 18 hours with no food and really wanted to eat. After lunch Jeff went back to sleep and I had the nurse sneak over and grab my camera for me so I could get the picture of him sleeping away with a big bag of snacks beside him.
Unfortunately, nursing wasn't easier and by the end of the day I was hurting and feeling quite down. Fortunately I had some really amazing nurses who were quite supportive and helpful.
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