1am?start feeling contractions. Definitely knew they were the REAL thing, although they were not devastatingly painful. Kept an eye on the time for each one?about 15 minutes apart.
2am?must have woken MH, who said at this time, contractions were 10 minutes apart. Squeezing his hand and focusing on breathing really helped contraction pain.
3am?started timing with a stopwatch. Contractions about 30 seconds, 5 minutes apart. Called doctor. Doctor said that since some contractions were mild, stay home. I was only about a fingertip dilated at last appointment (Monday), so I could come in and get checked but would be sent home if only a few cm.
Throughout the morning, contractions stayed about 5 minutes apart, but increased in their intensity. I slept in between ALL contractions, including when they got to be 3 minutes apart.
Called the hospital again around noon. Contractions were 5 minutes apart or less, 45 seconds a minute in duration and all were strong. Told to come to hospital.
Called both sets of parents on the way to the hospital.
1pm?arrived at hospital, just in time to miss downpour. The sky was GREEN! (I threw up on the way to the hospital--ahh memories of when we first started dating and I would get so loaded, MH would have to pull over for me to puke)
Checked?1-2 cm, 80% dilated. Baby?s head still high. I asked if we had to go home (given convo with first doctor) and was told I would be monitored and could stay.
3pm?still not checked again, but given an epidural. Had to try FOUR TIMES in total. They ended up going in sideways to get the thing in; I was told I might have more sensation on one side than the other; I didn?t notice a difference, though. At this point, the air conditioning had essentially stopped because the hospital was running on generator power (Remember, there was a big lightning storm going on outside). Not a great time to have one?s face in a pillow to have an epidural inserted!
FIL was there by this time.
I?m feeling some contractions, but it is a tightness rather than painful. They are getting strong and frequent on the monitor.
7pm?checked again. Progressing, but slowly. Pitocin given.
My parents arrived around this time.
9pm?checked again. Progressing but still slowly. I think this is when my water was broken?scary, but not painful.
Checked a lot over the course of the night. LOTS of progress with effacement, but very slow progress with dilation. Baby?s head didn?t descend at all.
Later?I begin to have a fever of 100.
9am?I finally see an ob I know from the OB group. He confirms the fear I expressed to MH--if there was no progress in the next hour, I would be having a C section. At this point, I was 8-9 cm, I believe.
10am?Dr comes back. I am now 7 cm? I?ve gone backwards and am having a c.
The c section?
I?ve been dozing off and on during the whole process, and during the C was no exception? I?d doze off if no one was talking to me. MHwas able to join me, although I thought we were told he could not be. I suppose the epi was starting to wear off, because during surgery I kept feeling discomfort. They kept asking me if I was in pain or if it was pressure, and I kept saying that I didn?t even know.
Ultimately, they had to put me out. MH said that because I was in the ?Christ?
position, I kept lifting my body up off the table, using my fingertips, every
time I felt pain, so they put me under not long after my son was delivered.
My son was born at 10:44 am! They took him over to the clean up area, and then he was whisked off to the NICU. He had a low white blood count and they were concerned about infection, due to my fever and infection from having my water broken so soon before delivery.
When MH went up to visit him, he told me that our son had the loudest lungs in the NICU, and that the nurses there didn?t know what to do with such a big baby!
He was 8lbs, 12 oz and 22 inches! That's right, 30 hours of labor, being induced, and I still had a C!