Submitted by ChildFun Mama Karen
Monday, October 5th, 1998:
I had an appointment with Peg, my midwife, at 9:00 AM. She did a non-stress test and became a little concerned because the baby wasn’t reactive. She called the OB on call, Dr. Baez.
They decided to send me to the hospital for a bio-physical profile, and then to L & D for Cervidil, the prostaglandin cervix gel. They hoped the gel would work overnight to soften the cervix…the gel helps the Pitocin work better, I guess. The plan was to administer Pitocin the following morning. I paged Mark, my dh, at work and told him to pick up Matthew, ds, at nursery school, call Patty, friend who was going to watch our kids, and meet me at the hospital. (Of course, right after they decided all this, she started moving! Grrrr…)
When I got to the hospital, around 10:45 AM, I was informed there was “no room at the inn” in L & D! It was a full moon and EVERYONE seemed to be in labor! LOL!!! So I was put in a room in the Mother & Baby unit! I had the BPP done and the baby looked good. Plenty of amniotic fluid, and a big baby…estimated at 9 lbs. 7 oz. I was wheeled back to my room where dh was waiting for me. A while later, they brought in a “roommate”…a young woman whose water had broken but wasn’t in labor yet. They needed her labor room! She was pretty loud over there, watching “Ricki Lake” and soaps with what I guess was her sister and mother. Yuk! LOL!!!
They put in a Heplock and took blood from me…double yuk! That heplock thing was SO uncomfortable!!!
We ended up waiting until 6:30 PM for a LDR room!!! Almost 8 hours sitting around doing NOTHING!!! Boy, were we pissed! I was almost in tears…I was SO anxious about the induction and labor and the VBAC, then to wait ALL DAY…I was getting very upset. I was quite relieved when the nurse told me L & D was ready for us!
They hooked me up to a fetal monitor, took my vitals, etc… Then Dr. Baez came in to insert the Cervidil…OUCH!!! He had to put it BEHIND the cervix!!! That was a tad painful, to say the least! Well, I had already been having mild contractions (what I had THOUGHT were Braxton Hicks…NOT!!!) Seems I was ALREADY IN LABOR! So, what happened after the Cervidil was placed surprised everybody! The contractions came on fast and strong…one painful contraction on top of another…no break in between! I was in tears…this was the most painful labor I had ever had. The nurse, Dawn (great OB nurse!), called the doc and then took the Cervidil out (it’s like a suppository). It had only been in an hour! At this point, I was already about 6 cm dilated!
I told Dawn I needed an epidural…she called Dr. Baez who came in and agreed! Whew! These contractions were just unbearable! 🙁 My dh said he has never seen me in such pain. The anesthesiologist, Dr. Li (sp?), was one busy man! There were a lot of women in labor and he was hopping! I had to wait til he finished up another epidural before he got to me. Yikes!!! Finally, he arrived! I was SO happy to see him!!! He had some trouble placing the epidural…the spaces between my spine are really small, he said because I’m short. I had an epidural with my section and there was no problem…who knows? Anyway, after 4 very painful attempts, he finally got it in! In about 15-20 minutes, I was one happy camper! LOL!!! I could feel the contractions, but they did not hurt.
Around 10:30 PM, my water spontaneously broke! The contractions got stronger immediately afterward…and I kept having a cramp in my left side with each one! Ouch! The nurse had me roll onto my left side which relieved the cramping! I was now about 9 1/2 cm dilated! At 11:30, I was fully dilated and ready to push! (I never needed the Pitocin they had prepared!) I could feel the pushing and the burning as the baby’s head crowned. Ouch! The doc did an episiotomy, which I didn’t know about until later. He said he had to, or the baby would have “torn me up”. I pushed for about 20 minutes, 3 pushes to each contraction and delivered Kristin at 11:52 PM. She came out in a huge gush of liquid…she was still well-hydrated in there, I guess! She was immediately placed on my belly for a few minutes, then brought over to be weighed (9 lbs. even) and washed off. Took a long time to be sewn back up! Ouch! We were all left in the LDR room until about 3:30 AM when we were brought over to Mother & Baby….to my private room, one of the “perks” of being a hospital volunteer! 🙂 I stayed in the hospital for a day and a half…too short, if you ask me! But it was kinda nice to be home…I missed my kids!
At one point during labor, I was saying, “I should have just had the c-section!!!” This was a really intense labor and I think it will take awhile to “get over it”. I’ve given birth three times, and each time was difficult. But the result of all three deliveries was a beautiful, healthy baby! 🙂
Kristin seems to be a pretty quiet baby…just wish she would sleep more than an hour at a time at night!!! LOL!!! Can you say “sleep deprived”????
Well, that’s the whole story! I probably left something out, but I think it was long enough as it is! LOL!!!
Karen 🙂
Kristin Maria 10/5/98 (VBAC)
Matthew Ryan 4/19/94 (C-sec)
Stephanie Caitlin 11/25/90 (VB, PPH)
PS That was written less than 5 days after Kristin’s birth. She is now 6 months old and doing WONDERFULLY! She is a beautiful, happy, bright baby and we are really lucky to have her! (And she now sleeps between 10-12 hours a night….usually!)
