After saying goodbye to Tia and Julie and kids, then dropping Mirah off at the Lunds, we were off to the hospital to so a non stress test and check out my blood pressure.
They got me all connected to the monitors.
They got me all connected to the monitors.
The good news. Baby looked just fine. Lots of movement and amniotic fluid.
The bad news?
My blood pressure was out of control high.
We sat for 30 minutes, trying to relax and thing happy thought.
In the end, the neonatalogist came in, took one look at me and sent me up to labor and delivery.
She looked at my blood pressure, then came in to see if I was swollen…which I super was.
We slowly went up to the 5th floor.
Here I am, checking in.
We checked in around 10:30 am. I hadn’t had breakfast, and I was going to go home and take a shower when we were done. No such luck, I wouldn’t get a shower until Sunday around noon. But I am getting ahead of myself.
They checked us in, and around 1:30 they gave me a vaginal suppository called cytec, or something, that was supposed to soften my cervics, and help get my labor going. Once it was clear that things were going to take a while, they let me order some food. Karl went out to get us some snacks.
He picked this soda with out knowing.
My dinner. Mirah ate me soup.
Settling in. This was probably around 4. I wasn’t dialating.
My feet were swelling, and I felt like my toes might pop off.
It was about then they finally gave me my antibiotics. For group B strep.
Karl went and got Mirah from the Lunds house, after going home and taking a shower. Lucky dog.
We had dinner together, the he dropped her off at the Whitmores for what would end up being two nights. When he came back, nothing seemed to be happening. She I started to watch some Netfilx.
Greey haired, tired of being in bed, and just miserable…my blood pressure started to climb.
They decided that my risk for preeclampsia was becoming too great and started me on Magnesium.
This made everything worse. I started to get a head ache, and everything was just a little fuzzy.
Dr. Dabbling came in around 8 PM and they started me on petocin. At 11 PM, I was at a 3, so they broke my water to try and get things started. Or to get them going.
Around 4 AM. My head was killing me. They kept giving me a narcotic that would help me with my head ache for a little while, but would send me on a dizzy weird trip. My contractions were coming more regularly and I was feeling nauseated.
I asked for the epidural.
Doctor Lind was the anesthesiologist, and both Dr. Dabling and our Nurse Lindsey said he was the best. He was all business. When they made me curl into a ball things get really bad for me. I started vomiting. They the drugs started. They the shakes began. I couldn’t stop shaking. They think it was because my blood pressure dropped so rapidly.
Lindsey brought us the Peanut birthing ball.
She wrapped it in a hospital gown.
As I lay there shaking, vomiting, and feeling terrible, I just was sad. This was the opposite of the natural simple birth experience I had hoped for.
I had a catheter, I had been in bed for almost 24 hours. and I was going to be there until the baby was born.
It was at this point the baby’s heart rate started some little dips, so they put me on oxygen.
My face says it all here. GET ME OUT OF HERE.
I sat and stared at the ceiling.
This was my view for 30 hours. Anyone else see giant robot eyes?
After about 6 hours on the epidural, I realized that it was only really working on half of my body.
So the Doc came in and fixed it.
Around 1:30, the Doc on call, Dr. Fenton I believe, came in to chat. My waters had been broken now for 14 hours. I was dialated to a 4+ and had not progressed in 8 hours.
It was looking like I probably wouln’t progress any more.
He told us we had 3 options.
1. C-section.
2. Wait some more, but it seems unlikely that we would see anymore progress.
3. Turn off the pitocin, and see if getting back on it does anything.
We asked if we could talk about it and let them know. He agreed and left the room. This was devastating news. To me this just confirmed my belief in interventions leading to more interventions. Why had I gotten an epidural so soon? Why hadn’t we done more to try and more labor along?
We talked about it. We wanted to try and wait some more. We told the doctor. He said he would give us an hour, and we would see. He left the room, Karl gave me a blessing. And I prayed to Father in Heaven, that he would help me know what to do. That he would help us safely bring this baby to the world with out a c-section.
My view out the window at this time.
Karl jumped on his phone and started looking up articles on how to help stalled labor. I realized, from the pains in my abdomen, that my epidural was only working on half of my body again. My left leg was just pins and needles numb, my right leg was DEAD to the world. The left side of my body was feeling EVERY contraction, and this was a tender mercy of the Lord.
Between the tips from the internet (ie: nipple stimulation, changing position, laying on your left side, rocking during contractions) when the nurse came in and checked me 45 minutes later, she was happy to tell us we were at a 5!! Dr. Dabling gave us the green light to keep trying. So we did, and in the next 20 minutes we went from a 5 to a 7. The 15 minutes we were at an 8. By 3:10, I was fully dilated and 100% effaced. I had to lay with my legs crossed, fighting the urge to push, for 15 minutes while they called Dr. Dabling to get there quick!