Thursday night I started having contractions they started at 11 min apart and before bed moved to 6 min apart. Adam came in from Huizhou just in case this was it. I had contractions for most of the night but really they made me feel like I had the flu and totally knocked me out. I woke up and the contractions continued all day. They were about 5.5 min apart and lasted about 55 seconds for about 4 hours. The hospital wants you to wait until they are 5 min apart and last for a whole min so we decided to wait it out. Friday we intended to enjoy our last day as a twosome but it turned into trying to take as many naps as possible (me) and making charts and graphs to keep track of contractions (Adam). At 7:30 my contractions completely stopped.
We were due to be admitted into the hospital at 10 pm Friday night to get things going. When we got to the hospital they hooked the baby up to a heart monitor to record movements, heart beat and contractions. After being hooked up for an hour they saw that Zachary’s heartbeat was a little fast to begin induction (not bad but not ideal), so they delayed treatment for another 2 hours to see if the heartbeat would slow down (the midwife was sure that it was high because I hadn’t settled down yet). Sure enough his heartbeat slowed and they gave me a drug that would help thin out my cervix. The midwife told me I would feel some cramping and she unhooked the monitor and told me to sleep. It didn’t take long for the medicine to kick in and man, were those “cramps” bad! I didn’t get any sleep because of the cramping. I was worried that if the cramps were this bad would I be able to handle childbirth! In the morning Dr. Doo came in and saw that the drugs were working but we had a long way to go. I was relieved when the doctor said that the cramping was actually contractions and he was surprised I hadn’t opted for the epidural yet. Adam and I were given breakfast and we watched TV as my contractions got worse and worse. I got the epidural at 10:00 am at the point where all I wanted to do was drop to the floor every time they came.
The epidural was WONDERFUL!!!! Espically since I ended up having to wait out the contractions for a while since there happened to be a major baby boom in the hospital that day and women in actual labor trumped a woman who was waiting for someone to put her into labor. At around 2:00 the doctor came in and broke my water. The intention was wait a few hours to see if I would go into labor myself, however there was a large amount of blood in the amniotic fluid so he needed me to start on Oxytosin right away and if the baby didn’t come soon I would need a c-section. This was the first time this week that I was worried that something could be wrong. Up until this point as long as the heartbeat was good and the baby was moving Dr. Doo was satisfied. This was the first time during the whole pregnancy that he reacted in a way that made me nervous. I had prepared myself for a c-section but only if the induction took too long not because there may be another problem. Thankfully the drug kicked my body into gear and I started feeling some major pain that even the epidural didn’t fix. I didn’t want to seem like a sissy so I waited it out for about an hour. Once the “pressure” got really bad I mentioned midwife and she quickly got me to start pushing. Adam and Angie (the midwife) got me to push until I was ready for the doctor to come in, and at 4:17 the baby was born and on my chest…it was surreal! They let me hold him for a very short time before taking him to suction his mouth and wrap him in a towel.
It turns out that my placenta was a bit small and had begun to rot, so we are very glad we induced. Poor guy wasn’t able to get all the nutrients he needed.
Adam went with Zachary and Angie to get weighed and measured. Our son was a trooper, Adam said that the baby in front of him cried the whole time and Zachary only cried when he was being dried off after his bath. Our tough guy didn’t even cry with the shots he needed! Meanwhile I was in the recovery room wondering what just happened; it was a total out of body experience. I recall a nurse coming in and asking me questions but other than that I was totally out of it until my husband brought me my baby boy.
No comments:
Post a Comment