We arrived at Mercy (hospital) around 5 am and parked the car. I didn't feel the need to jump out in front of the hospital doors and the walk from the lot wasn't very far. I did have to stop a few times on the way up to Labor and Delivery to deal with my contractions. Once there, check in was quick as I had per-registered and we had been there 2 months earlier with preterm contractions. We were sent to the triage room (the same one we were in 2 months earlier) and I changed into a gown. We meet our nurse, Maureen, and she hooked me up to the monitor to check my contractions. I had to lay in bed for this and it was pretty uncomfortable. She told us Jen, our midwife, would be in around 7am and that I could wait for her to come to be checked for dilation, or that I could be checked now. I told her I would wait... I didn't want to be disappointed if there wasn't much progress and I felt like the longer I could go the better. I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable and needed to use the rest room. I was unhooked form the monitors and allowed to go the bathroom. This is when I noticed that I was bleeding a bit.... and that made me realize that this was really going to be happening today. I had told the nurse that my contractions felt much better when I was in the shower so she got me set up to use the shower off of the triage wing. I probably spent close to an hour in there with Tony sitting in a chair in the corner. It was right around 7 that I decided to go back to my triage room, as I knew Jen would be arriving soon.
Soon enough she showed up and it was time to check to see if there was any progress. She told me I was (only!) a one (Tony recalls it being 2 though) and confirmed I was in active labor. We would be staying! (Thank God because I had always heard stories about hospitals sending laboring mothers home if they weren't very dilated) They told us it would be a bit until there was a room available and suggested we walk around the halls for a while. After a couple quick phone calls to Tony's sister Denise and my mom, we did just that. I was in a hospital gown, so they gave me a robe. I slipped back into my flips flops and took off for the halls. I remember stopping in front of a big window and watching as the sun came up. Everything was so surreal. I took it in as much as I could. One lap around the halls and a stop in the bathroom and I had had enough. Not long after that it was time to move to our room. It was time for a shift change so we met our new nurse Ashley. We had briefly met her when we had our scare at 32 weeks. I remember thinking that she seemed young that time, but this time I felt more at ease. She mentioned remembering us from last time which also reassured me.
We got settled into our room. Ashley had me in the bed so she could put me on the monitor for a few minutes. Our plan all along was to birth as natural as possible. This meant minimal monitoring (as long as all was well and safe), no IVs and no meds. We talked about me having something to eat or drink. Ashley filled my giant hospital issued water jug with her "special elixir" She wouldn't reveal what was in it; but it tasted like a mix of fruit juices and seltzer water. Good stuff. I hadn't spent long in the bed when I was asking to use the shower again. I was in and out of the shower probably 2 mores times and had one more bathroom trip. I had packed some of my own clothes to labor in ( think it was a nursing top and a jersey style skirt) but my modesty went right out the window. After my showers I wrapped a towel around my waist and called it good (honestly I am not sure if I even did that). Ashley suggested I try laboring on my hands and knees for a while. She adjusted the bed (that thing had some crazy configurations) so that I could lean up against the top of it and covered my backside with a sheet. I was having some serious back pain during this phase. Tony and Ashley would rub my lower back for me and applied counter pressure during my contractions. I remembering feeling like my nurse was a godsend. She was so intuitive about what I needed and I felt such a strong feeling of ease with her around. One of the great parts about the hospital we were at is that your nurse is assigned solely to you; meaning Ashley was in the room with us practically the entire time I labored. While I wanted Tony in eye shot at all times, I really felt myself drawn to the women in the room (nurse Ashley and my midwife Jen).
Showing posts with label Eli's Birth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eli's Birth. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
The Birth Story..... a year later. Part 1
(A post I actually began writing a month after Elijah was born is finally making it's way out a year later. This will be split among several posts. )
It was a Thursday night. Tony was at work and I was home, busy crocheting... something I picked up in the last month of pregnancy to help pass the time. i had been having contractions but hadn't paid much attention to them as it was nothing new. I had been having contractions since I was around 20 weeks pregnant and these felt no different from those. It was around 8pm when I thought i would time them..mostly out of curiosity.... I really didn't think that it was the start of labor. I found some online contraction timer and timed them as I continued to crochet tony a hat. For nearly an hour I recorded the start and finish of each contraction. They were all about 4-5 minutes apart and just about a minute long. I decided that I would ignore them for a while and then re-time them in an hour. They weren't really uncomfortable at the time. It was around this time that Tony called to check in. I mentioned what was going on and he asked if he should come home. I said no, that I didn't think it was really anything. I timed them for a bit again around 10pm and they were still abut 4 minutes apart...still I dint think much of them. I figured they would go away when I went to bed. I went to bed around 11:30, tony got home from work and joined me in bed around 1am. It was a bit after 2am that I got up because the contractions were becoming really uncomfortable. I told Tony I was going to go stand in the shower for a bit. He followed me to the bathroom and began timing my contractions once again. I leaned against the shower wall, more and more uncomfortable and would say okay when the contractions started and stopped. This proved to be a confusing way to let tony know how to time them. After a handful of 2-3 minute apart contractions, I decided that we didn't need to time them anymore. It was time to call the midwife. Tony made the call to have her paged. About 10 minutes later the midwife Ellie called back. Tony explained what was going on and she asked to speak to me. I talked to her, while still in the shower. She said it sounded like early labor and that it was up to me whether or not I was ready to head into the hospital. We decided that since we live an hour away it was probably best to head in. I got out of the shower and tony and i dressed, grabbed some last minute items (cameras, snacks, laptop), feed the cats, took out the trash, and we were off.
I had been dreading what the car ride to the hospital would feel like for weeks...afraid that every bump would be excruciating and hating the idea of being constrained. In reality it wasn't so bad. It helped that it was 4 something in the morning, so traffic was at a minimum. The worst bumpy back road in our area had just been freshly paved, so it was no longer bumpy. It was still dark out, and I remember wishing tony would put on the high beams because I was afraid of deer or moose running out in front of us. unfortunately something did run out...a raccoon...and we couldn't stop in time. That part sucked...and I tried not to think much about it. The hour long ride consists off about 40 minutes of back roads followed by 20 minutes highway time. Reaching the highway was a relief and left me feeling a little better. i remember tony attempting to talk to me a few times, but don't think I ever really replied to him. when we reached Portland I made a quick call on my cell to let my mother know we were heading in. my family lives about 4 hours away, in Connecticut, but had been planning to make the drive up for the birth. As we got closer to the hospital I became more uncomfortable. we sat at a red light just a few blocks away from the hospital for what felt like forever. I finally told Tony to just go through it.
It was a Thursday night. Tony was at work and I was home, busy crocheting... something I picked up in the last month of pregnancy to help pass the time. i had been having contractions but hadn't paid much attention to them as it was nothing new. I had been having contractions since I was around 20 weeks pregnant and these felt no different from those. It was around 8pm when I thought i would time them..mostly out of curiosity.... I really didn't think that it was the start of labor. I found some online contraction timer and timed them as I continued to crochet tony a hat. For nearly an hour I recorded the start and finish of each contraction. They were all about 4-5 minutes apart and just about a minute long. I decided that I would ignore them for a while and then re-time them in an hour. They weren't really uncomfortable at the time. It was around this time that Tony called to check in. I mentioned what was going on and he asked if he should come home. I said no, that I didn't think it was really anything. I timed them for a bit again around 10pm and they were still abut 4 minutes apart...still I dint think much of them. I figured they would go away when I went to bed. I went to bed around 11:30, tony got home from work and joined me in bed around 1am. It was a bit after 2am that I got up because the contractions were becoming really uncomfortable. I told Tony I was going to go stand in the shower for a bit. He followed me to the bathroom and began timing my contractions once again. I leaned against the shower wall, more and more uncomfortable and would say okay when the contractions started and stopped. This proved to be a confusing way to let tony know how to time them. After a handful of 2-3 minute apart contractions, I decided that we didn't need to time them anymore. It was time to call the midwife. Tony made the call to have her paged. About 10 minutes later the midwife Ellie called back. Tony explained what was going on and she asked to speak to me. I talked to her, while still in the shower. She said it sounded like early labor and that it was up to me whether or not I was ready to head into the hospital. We decided that since we live an hour away it was probably best to head in. I got out of the shower and tony and i dressed, grabbed some last minute items (cameras, snacks, laptop), feed the cats, took out the trash, and we were off.
I had been dreading what the car ride to the hospital would feel like for weeks...afraid that every bump would be excruciating and hating the idea of being constrained. In reality it wasn't so bad. It helped that it was 4 something in the morning, so traffic was at a minimum. The worst bumpy back road in our area had just been freshly paved, so it was no longer bumpy. It was still dark out, and I remember wishing tony would put on the high beams because I was afraid of deer or moose running out in front of us. unfortunately something did run out...a raccoon...and we couldn't stop in time. That part sucked...and I tried not to think much about it. The hour long ride consists off about 40 minutes of back roads followed by 20 minutes highway time. Reaching the highway was a relief and left me feeling a little better. i remember tony attempting to talk to me a few times, but don't think I ever really replied to him. when we reached Portland I made a quick call on my cell to let my mother know we were heading in. my family lives about 4 hours away, in Connecticut, but had been planning to make the drive up for the birth. As we got closer to the hospital I became more uncomfortable. we sat at a red light just a few blocks away from the hospital for what felt like forever. I finally told Tony to just go through it.
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