Happy Birth Day! Part 1

On Friday, April 13, 2012; I went to work as usual. I was at work training a new girl to take my place in the Urology clinic. The afternoon had be pretty busy, but really slowed down in the afternoon, so I took the new girl -- Megan -- down to the copy room to show her how to make copies of the charge sheets used in the clinic.

I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions off and on during the day, but I barely even noticed them. Anyways, as Megan and I were finishing up with the copies and about to head back to the clinic, I noticed a sudden release of fluid. It wasn't very much, but all the same it started my heart started racing. Did my water just break? Maybe it was the baby kicking my bladder and I just didn't notice, but I didn't think so. I just didn't know what to do. I called Robby and asked what he thought I should do and I called my Mom and asked her what amniotic fluid looked like. After talking with both of them, I decided to just call my OB ask her. She said to come in to Labor and Delivery (since the OB clinic was already closed) and they could do a simple test to see if my water had broken or not. This was at about 3:30 in the afternoon.

I called Robby again and told him that I was going to go in and get checked and asked him to meet me in front of Labor and Delivery with our hospital bags -- just in case. I told the nurses at Urology that I thought my water may have broken and the my OB wanted me to come in to get checked. They were so excited for me, but I was terrified. What if this was it and I was about to have a baby? What if it wasn't my water breaking and I was freaking out for nothing? I was sweating and my heart was racing. Those minutes waiting for Robby to meet me at Labor and Delivery were some of the longest minutes of my life.

When Robby finally got there, we talked with a labor nurse and she had me change into a gown, took my vitals, and finally tested to see if my membranes had ruptured. And low and behold; I had indeed been leaking amniotic fluid. The nurse explained to me that since my membranes had ruptured, it complicated things a little bit. Once your water breaks, the baby has to be born within 24 hours (one way or another) or else there was serious risk of infection for both of us. So, we were admitted to the hospital, I told mine and Robby's family and my work supervisor that it was baby time, and I prepared myself to have a baby.

Since I wasn't having any contractions yet, the first order of business was to walk the halls of Labor and Delivery and see if we could get some good contractions going to get my cervix dilated (I was only at a 2) so Robby and I started walking. I did get some good strong contractions going, but after 2 hours of that, they checked me again and I was still at a 2. (It was about 6 pm by now) Dang it!

So the OB decided to start me on Pitocin to get the contractions going more. In order to start me on Pitocin, they had to insert an IV. And if you know me, you know that I HATE HATE HATE needles! The first nurse tried twice to get the IV in. No go. She brought in another nurse to try, but to no avail. (I have the tiniest veins and they roll). Finally they brought in the charge nurse and after two more tries (total of 5 attempts), she finally got my IV in. Hate hate hate. Double hate. Loathe entirely!

With the pit line in, the contractions came on insanely strong. I would focus on breathing or trying to distract myself, Robby would rub my back or legs or whatever else ached. After hours of this, they checked my cervix again, and had only dilated to a 3 and was still 50% effaced. Not good. My doctor thought that maybe my system was too flooded with the Pitocin so it was responding the way it should. So they disconnected the pit line and let me walk some more. They talked about something else they thought they could try to get my cervix to dilate more, but my OB thought it might overstimulate my uterus and create more problems than it would solve, so after some time they hooked the pit line up again and decided to really push the Pitocin.

It gets a little hazy right here, but I remember lots of pain. But however much pain I was at right then was nothing in comparison to what was about to come.