So you may have guessed...
The wait is over! I went in to the hospital on November 22nd for a check-up, and less than 24 hours later I was holding our new son in my arms. At 11:30 a.m., when I was hooked up to the machine that monitors the baby's heartbeat and the mommy's contractions, the doctor said I was already in early labor. Of course, I didn't feel a thing--beyond excitement--at that point. But the doc said the contractions were so small and so far apart that he was going to send me home to wait it out. Before he did though, he thought I should have one more Ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels. When I looked at the screen, even I could tell that our son was reaaaally cramped in there. The fluid levels had dropped to about 2 centimeters (or about 3 below the level at which they tend to induce). The doctor took one look at the image and sent me straight to labor and delivery to be induced. Of course, I hadn't brought my hospital bag this time. I just had a purse, one well-read magazine and a still-warm currant scone I'd picked up en route. I'd barely bitten into it when the nurses took the scone away and informed me that my diet would now be limited to... ice chips.
*Advice to pregnant women: If you are going to be induced, make sure to eat a good meal before you get admitted because it may be the last one you have for awhile.
If there is a chance that you may need an emergency C-section, the doctors don't want you to have anything in your stomach that could be thrown up during surgery (and potentially choke you). I was eventually allowed to indulge in water and hard candy--and let me tell you, Jolly Ranchers never tasted so good! But I stopped thinking so much about my dietary needs within a few hours. At 5pm, I was given a hormone called Cervidil , which I was told would "ripen" my cervix. Still, the doctor on call warned me that our son probably wouldn't arrive for another 24 hours. But by midnight, I was well into labor. My contractions were coming fast and furious. I finally asked for pain medicine, which made me woozy and slurry-speeched but allowed me to get about 2 hours of sleep (filled with some really wacky dreams). When it wore off, the pain was so intense that my moaning woke my husband, who was stretched out on a Lazy-Boy chair beside my bed. Of course, I still thought that it would be hours before I hit the "transition" state that our childbirth instructor had warned us about. (Unfortunately, at this point, everything else she'd told us about breathing and relaxing techniques to use during labor became a complete blur to me. Focal point? Relaxing music? Candles? I could barely remember to breathe.) And I was wary about asking for more medicine or for an epidural if I was still hours from delivery. But when a nurse came in to check on me, I asked her about the contractions. She looked at the chart pouring out of the machine that monitored my contractions and her eyes grew wide. I was having them every 2 minutes and they were literally off the charts. I tried to remember what this meant. "Am I having the baby soon?" I asked. "Oh - I think so," she said and went to get the doctor. It was now about 4 a.m.
By 5 a.m., when the doctor on call arrived to remove the Cervidil and administer Pitocin (not so necessary at this point, I thought - but I was in no state to argue), the contractions were coming about every 60 seconds and I was begging for an epidural. Mercifully, the doctor said it was fine to order one for me. I was already 4 centimeters dilated. I got the epidural at about 6:30 a.m. and, thanks to an extra dose they pumped in right away, it kicked in pretty quickly. Then 20 minutes later, the machine started beeping, and after about a half-dozen attempts to straighten the tube that was pumping medicine into my back, the anesthesiologist conceded that there was a "kink" preventing the medicine from getting to me. She was about to reinsert the needle (ouch!) when she found and fixed the problem. Of course, by now, the pain was back. She said it would be another 15 minutes or so before it kicked in again. In that time, my OB's partner came in to check on me and informed me that I was now fully dilated, my water had broken (I hadn't even noticed the bedding was wet) and the top of my son's head was visible. Within minutes, he was in my arms. As if my eagerness to meet him wasn't enough incentive, my OB also noticed his heart rate was dropping and threatened an episiotomy if I didn't push him out quickly. I had him out in 4 contractions. Zachary was born at 8:31 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. Perfect timing.
And then.. wow. The image of him being held up, covered in slime, and screaming his head off (a nice preview of what we could expect in the days since), will stick with me forever. The rest is a bit of a blur. I know my husband cut the cord. I remember catching a glimpse of the placenta (yuck). And then my son was on my chest, still a little slimy but I didn't care (I wasn't so clean myself, at that point). Then he was cleaned up and warmed up and came back to me clean and asleep. And the hours that preceded his arrival were already fading.
More on the 2 weeks since soon... Zach is hungry.
*Advice to pregnant women: If you are going to be induced, make sure to eat a good meal before you get admitted because it may be the last one you have for awhile.
If there is a chance that you may need an emergency C-section, the doctors don't want you to have anything in your stomach that could be thrown up during surgery (and potentially choke you). I was eventually allowed to indulge in water and hard candy--and let me tell you, Jolly Ranchers never tasted so good! But I stopped thinking so much about my dietary needs within a few hours. At 5pm, I was given a hormone called Cervidil , which I was told would "ripen" my cervix. Still, the doctor on call warned me that our son probably wouldn't arrive for another 24 hours. But by midnight, I was well into labor. My contractions were coming fast and furious. I finally asked for pain medicine, which made me woozy and slurry-speeched but allowed me to get about 2 hours of sleep (filled with some really wacky dreams). When it wore off, the pain was so intense that my moaning woke my husband, who was stretched out on a Lazy-Boy chair beside my bed. Of course, I still thought that it would be hours before I hit the "transition" state that our childbirth instructor had warned us about. (Unfortunately, at this point, everything else she'd told us about breathing and relaxing techniques to use during labor became a complete blur to me. Focal point? Relaxing music? Candles? I could barely remember to breathe.) And I was wary about asking for more medicine or for an epidural if I was still hours from delivery. But when a nurse came in to check on me, I asked her about the contractions. She looked at the chart pouring out of the machine that monitored my contractions and her eyes grew wide. I was having them every 2 minutes and they were literally off the charts. I tried to remember what this meant. "Am I having the baby soon?" I asked. "Oh - I think so," she said and went to get the doctor. It was now about 4 a.m.
By 5 a.m., when the doctor on call arrived to remove the Cervidil and administer Pitocin (not so necessary at this point, I thought - but I was in no state to argue), the contractions were coming about every 60 seconds and I was begging for an epidural. Mercifully, the doctor said it was fine to order one for me. I was already 4 centimeters dilated. I got the epidural at about 6:30 a.m. and, thanks to an extra dose they pumped in right away, it kicked in pretty quickly. Then 20 minutes later, the machine started beeping, and after about a half-dozen attempts to straighten the tube that was pumping medicine into my back, the anesthesiologist conceded that there was a "kink" preventing the medicine from getting to me. She was about to reinsert the needle (ouch!) when she found and fixed the problem. Of course, by now, the pain was back. She said it would be another 15 minutes or so before it kicked in again. In that time, my OB's partner came in to check on me and informed me that I was now fully dilated, my water had broken (I hadn't even noticed the bedding was wet) and the top of my son's head was visible. Within minutes, he was in my arms. As if my eagerness to meet him wasn't enough incentive, my OB also noticed his heart rate was dropping and threatened an episiotomy if I didn't push him out quickly. I had him out in 4 contractions. Zachary was born at 8:31 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. Perfect timing.
And then.. wow. The image of him being held up, covered in slime, and screaming his head off (a nice preview of what we could expect in the days since), will stick with me forever. The rest is a bit of a blur. I know my husband cut the cord. I remember catching a glimpse of the placenta (yuck). And then my son was on my chest, still a little slimy but I didn't care (I wasn't so clean myself, at that point). Then he was cleaned up and warmed up and came back to me clean and asleep. And the hours that preceded his arrival were already fading.
More on the 2 weeks since soon... Zach is hungry.
posted by Jennifer @ 7:28 AM
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