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Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Bored no more
Now that we're settling into our routines, time to reminisce about the experience... Zach was born 10 days late. I wasn't uncomfortable and he wasn't stressed so we opted not to induce right away. Two weeks is the cut off. Thursday, one week after my due date, I got my first "stress test" to make sure the little guy was okay - check fluid levels and stuff (what am I, a car??) I was already having five minute contractions. Who knew? One cm dilated however was not considered much progress... Saturday things picked up and I could lightly feel the contractions. I snuck in a big nap and when I woke up I walked around the house to spur the contractions on. This light laboring went on all night. Jason went to bed and I woke him up about 5am. We got ready and I called the hospital. Seems I wasn't in enough pain yet. I needed contractions 3min apart, not 5, and my pain needed to hurt so bad I couldn't talk or walk. Hmmm... Okay. Jumped in the shower to ease off the pain that was kicking in. Two hours later I was meeting all pain qualifications (oh baby) so we took off for the longest car ride of my life (and Jason's). By the time we arrived, I was sobbing, shaking and damn tired from being up all night. They put me in the triage room where I was forced to sit upright. Pain, pain, pain. After a half hour of who-knows-what, my dilation was still only 1 cm. I have never been so disappointed in my life. Now I was really sobbing because their policy is you must be 3 cm to be admitted. I was never going to make it! The battleaxe midwife proceeded to check my fluid levels with an ultrasound and stopped looking half way through the exam, logged it as not having enough fluid, and I was thus admitted. For someone unsympathetic to my situation, she sure did me a favor. I walked to my labor room because walking was better than SITTING in a wheelchair, and I could stop along the halls to work through the contractions. Drugs. I wanted drugs. My plan was to hold off and "see what I was capable of". Well, I was done and I wanted drugs. They did not come fast enough. After taking my vitals, they had me go in the shower. This helped me relax and stop sobbing. An hour later they fetched me, but the idea of getting out was enough to stress me out the contractions got out of control. By now it was about 8 or 9am - I forget. Mom and Dad showed up. Jason's mom showed up at some point as well, but I don't remember when. Okay. Drugs. I got an IV, and a second drip for drugs. With the first poke the nurse said "oops, your vein exploded". That's going to leave a mark (yup). Needle in the side of the wrist it is. And the drugs worked fast - in seconds and I was, ahhhh, not in pain. My eyelids had weights on them. Someone was talking. Could I focus? Nope. Time for night night and a lovely three hour nap. I vaguely remember the anesthesiologist coming discussing my epidural. Then the drugs wore off and the contraction pain woke me up. Damn. Here comes the epidural, finally. This is a 10 minute process and you have to sit up and be extremely still, contraction or not. I was proud of my feats of strength. Once the epidural was in, we were in business and I proceeded to get many cords and cables plugged into me: IV, pitocin to get me to dilate, epidural, baby heart monitor (external), contraction monitor (external), blood pressure cuff, catheter. And I couldn't lay down anymore or the numbness would creep up my chest and make it hard to breath. Hours later, his heart rate was dipping lower than comfortable for the doctors so they took me off the pitocin and stuck an oxygen mask on my face. And they put me up and on my side because the baby liked that better. Hours later, after being flipped like a pancake several times and trying to nap, I wasn't dilating anymore. They changed the external contraction monitor to an internal monitor (don't ask) to measure the size of the contractions, not just the frequency, and they turned the pitocin back on. Hours later, I was miraculously 8-9 cm dilated. Time to get the show on the road. The doctor said we would try a vaginal delivery, but if the baby got too stressed, we'd go emergency cesarean. Meanwhile, she recommended forceps or the vacuum to help him out. We went with her recommendation of the vacuum. Ok, here we go. I was fortunate to have many sporting experiences to draw from. When the coach says last lap/sprint/bulldog drill, you stupidly believe him and run your little butt off, only to find out you have to do it again; you'd be amazed how many laps you can actually run when someone makes you do it. Push, push, push. 15 minutes later, Zachary was born. They laid him on my chest and I was amazed at how warm he was, and how big - geez - no wonder that was hard. Then he was whisked over to the scale for his appgar test by the pediatric doctor. Didn't score high enough: too pale, not crying much, too sleepy, so away he went to the nursery for a couple hours. Meanwhile they sewed me up. I had an episiotomy, which I won't go into detail about except to say it is not a convenient place to have pain, swelling and stitches... Jason actually watched the whole thing. Didn't get woozy - I was proud. Apparently the vacuum wasn't helpful, except that Zach seemed to like it. When she affixed it to his head, his heart rate would go up... Go figure. Hours later, in the recovery room, I finally got my baby. We were both tired and it showed. Jason was also tired poor thing - both he and my parents stayed up with me the entire time, sneaking in naps when they could. We spent the next 2 days in the hospital. He didn't have eating figured out right away so we stayed an extra day to make sure he was okay. At the end of it all, the doctors were very happy with his recovery and his head was looking good considering its trauma. He had an enormous bruise where the vacuum was and a serious cone head. He did NOT like his head touched; must have had a headache poor thing. And Tuesday we went home! Now that it's 2 weeks later I ask myself if it was worth it. The 30 hour labor. The pregnancy. The sleepless nights. The life change. Having this baby with Jason was the best thing I ever did. I would do it again in a heart beat.
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