When I went to my 38 week appointment, the doctor checked me and I was 2 cm. dilated, near completely effaced, and baby was at -1 station. I was measuring 42 weeks and possibly had low AF. The decision to induce labor was discussed and I decided that it was the best for both of us. The "birth date" was set for Wednesday July 1st, 3 days before my due date. I was hesitant to be induced again only because I had never really experienced any labor pains and/or didn't have a fun "water breaking in public" story to tell one day to my children who will more than likely not care anyway. I decided that waiting was silly and along the same lines of trying for a natural childbirth.
The morning of July 1st I woke up and got ready complete with make-up and freshly straightened hair. Finn was dropped off the night before to spend the night with Mimi and Papa Duck. I call the hospital an hour before (as instructed) and I am told that all the beds are full and maybe they would be calling me by early afternoon. What?!? The "waiting place" is the most horrible place to be when the thing you are 'waiting' for is a human life. There is pretty much nothing that can keep my mind off that and almost immediately I started feeling nauseous. Ahhh....but John knows me all too well and decided that we should spend the morning shopping. It actually turned out to be a lovely morning, just he and I together, which is so rare these days. Then the morning came and went and soon it was the afternoon and there was still no call from the hospital. My stomach ache returned and was followed by a mild headache.
My parents arrived from Chicago around 3PM. Then finally around 4 PM the hospital called and told us they were ready for us. Finally!!! Of course we were all packed and ready to go and rushed right over there. We were checked into our room at 5:15PM.
My final belly shot at 39 Weeks
The story becomes painfully boring at this point because I am checked again for dilatation and nothing has changed from my 38 week appointment and they start the Pitocin drip at 2mg. A half an hour later it is turned to 4mg. Then another half an hour the new 'feisty' nurse turns it to 6mg, all the while I am feeling nothing and just reading magazines. At this point the nurse disappears for over and hour and the next person to walk into my room is Dr. Meckler who explains that my nurse has been working on an admin issue involving me not having an HIV test on record. Oh, please. She clears the issue and sets the pit at 7mg. It is about 7:30 PM. The Pitocin keeps getting turned up like this and around 1:30 AM they page the on call doc in to break my water. I wonder to myself if I should ask for the epidural even though I am not in any real pain, just a bit uncomfortable. I decide to wait. John falls asleep. Nothing continues to happen.
Looking a little disheveled but still smiling...
I decided to get the epidural sometime around 3 AM, mainly because I was hoping it would help me relax and get some sleep. At this point the nurse decides my fluid levels are too low and pumps my uterus with water to give the baby more room to move. At 7 AM my doctor returns and I had just been checked by the nurse and was still only 3-4 cm dilated. You've got to be kidding me. My doctor heads into surgery and I continue to wait. At this point the Pitocin is up to about 18mg. I feel no pain, just tired and hungry.
Finally somewhere around 8AM I start to feel a whole lot of pressure and I tell John that I am positive I am close to 10 cm. I feel ready to push. My nurse comes in to check and sure enough I am ready!! But my doctor isn't so they turned the Pitocin off and turned the epidural up. Fantastic...more waiting. I stayed like this until almost 11 AM when my doctor showed up and they prepared the room. Five easy pushes and 15 minutes later Elliott was here but not before he made a grand entrance, just like his big bro. This boy had the cord wrapped around his neck and so when he came out he was grayish blue instead of the nice rosy pink color he should have been. The baby nurses immediately started massaging him and extracting fluids from his mouth. I, on the other hand, nearly bled to death on the bed while being injected with several doses of blood clotters and yet somehow I could not have been happier.
The bleeding eventually stopped and they brought Elliott to me all wrapped up and looking quite pink and healthy and hungry. He immediately latches on enjoys his first meal a la boob.
You know, all the waiting was a pain in the ass. It really was and seemed sooo many times that it could have been avoided but I tell you, I would have waited an eternity to enjoy those moments after birth when he was brought back to me to eat. It was one of the happiest I had ever been in my life. I felt cheated out of this part of the experience with Finn. He was taken from me and sent to Special Care for 72 long horrible hours. So after an entire day of waiting to check into the hospital, 18 hours of a long boring pit drip, 15 minutes of painless pushing, almost an hour after birth of near bleeding to death it was all so worth it to be able to hold my baby in my arms and nourish him for the first time outside my womb. He never left my arms after that and slept by my side on the bed all through the night. Another precious and gorgeous baby boy. My second little man. Elliott William.
How so VERY easy it is to open your heart and love someone else so much, so fast. Sooo EASY.
