If you at reading this, I guess I decided to make this post. I wanted to at least write it down to share with Elliot someday. Some of it is fairly personal, but some of it is quite amusing. So without further ado (ok, one more… ado) here is our birth story.
I was huge, as 10 month pregnant women tend to be. I did indeed feel like a beached whale. Rolling over in bed took a very concentrated effort. I had to pee every couple of hours. I finally started refusing to do procedures at work just because I couldn’t stand the extra weight of the lead. I was ready to deliver. Elliot seemed ready to be out too. I remember him frequently stretching out into my right ribs.
As I have said before, I was 39 weeks when we moved. Elliot gave me an episode of false labor hilariously on April Fool’s Day. I went in for my doctor’s appointment the next day and found out I was 2 cm. I asked them at what point was enough enough, i.e. when could we start considering induction. My doctor said that my cervix was favorable at this point for an induction and with our due date 5 days away (April 6th) if I wanted to go ahead and schedule an induction I could. I said I would have to think about it and talk with Logan, so she scheduled me for follow-up next week with a growth ultrasound. I called Logan and asked him when he wanted to have a baby. He said he would have to think as well.
The last picture of me before going into labor.
The next day I had more of what turned out to be false labor. I could feel a periodic tightening in my abdomen although it did not hurt every time. My contraction timer app said that I had met the requisite 5-1-1 contractions (i.e. contractions occurring every five minutes lasting one minute in duration and happening for 1 hour). I was starting to get pretty nervous so I decided to go up to the 3rd floor to L&D triage. Turns out, I was still 2 cm and the sensations I was feeling were “uterine irritability”. I did have 2 actual contractions while I was there, but they were about 20 minutes apart. I drove home, crying to my mother that they had turned me away and nothing could possibly be worth all of this. Mom assured me that my efforts would be worth it. I called the doctor’s office the next day and scheduled my induction for Easter Sunday (the 8th).
Easter basket Logan made for Elliot!
I awoke at 4AM on Saturday with hip pain and the need to urinate, which was typical. Then I awoke again at 5, 5:30, 6:30, and by 7 I figured out that I was finally having my painful contractions! I was so excited! I told Logan, started my contraction timer, and went downstairs to make pancakes (had to get my last few cravings in!) I remember accidentally setting off the smoke detector by pouring water on the hot skillet. I looked up at the alarm and shouted, “It’s steam!” but eventually hauled my pregnant self up on a chair to cancel the alarm.
The day was actually perfect for early labor. Logan and I did not have any plans so we spent the day going for walks, watching videos on the new projection screen (Friday the 13th, South Park, American Dad), and going on car rides. Things were progressing but slowly so I took a bath after lunch to relax. Unfortunately, my contraction rate decreased at this point.
Tom came over later that afternoon to wash his car and ended up staying to keep us company. I finally decided to call my parents around 6PM to put them on notice. They came up at that point and got a hotel room.
Logan and I went for a walk at dusk but did not make it any farther than the end of our driveway. Some of our new neighbors were out and wanted to get to know us. I wanted to meet them as well, even though it was not exactly the best time. Logan did most of the talking while I occasionally pulled out my iPod to push the button on my contraction timer. I hope I did it discretely enough so as not to appear rude.
We went back inside eventually and watched more Netflix. At about 10PM I had a contraction that just wouldn’t stop, although Logan kept telling me that it had only been a minute or so on the timer. Once it finished, I discovered that I had had a 4 minute long contraction. I was at about 7-1-1 at that point but I decided to call the phone nurse. Maybe my long contraction was enough to finally get me in the hospital. The nurse on the line asked me crazy stuff like “Can you see the baby’s head?” and then told me that I was still not ready to come to the hospital and that I actually needed to be at 5-1-2! 2 hours! God, I was never going to go to the hospital!
I hung up angrily and told my husband and brother the news. We then started flipping channels and The Matrix: Revolutions was on. We decided instead to put in our copy of the first Matrix, since it is the one worth watching. Logan fell asleep at that point and Tom and the movie provided distraction while I continued contracting.
After midnight when the movie ended, I was finally at 5-1-2. I called the phone nurse. She asked if I could hold and I said “Yes, if it is short.” Then she immediately asked if I was in labor. I said that I was and we went through the same insane list of questions. She then told me that I could come to the hospital and that the nurse I had spoken to earlier sends her congratulations. I thought that was nice.
I went downstairs and started coffee and then went back upstairs to wake Logan. “Wake up. I need you to drive me to the hospital. I made coffee.” I figure it didn’t get any more convenient than that.
We got on the road and officially put our families on notice. I stopped timing my contraction but continued to watch the clock as we traveled for fear that they would slow and I would get turned away again. We got to the parking garage and walked across the hospital to L&D triage, pausing frequently for contractions. We could have parked closer, but I wanted to walk and try to keep the contractions rolling.
To be continued in “The Caesarean Saga, part 2: The Section”…
Leave a Reply