So I've added a new identity to myself, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. (It helps that the chickie slept last night. Katie was born October 26 at 3:25 pm. I figured I should record my recollections now before they get foggier. I started having back pain on Saturday. Around 8pm, I started to suspect it was contractions. Bobby looked up back labor and got both of us all freaked out about it. I ended up sleeping on the couch. Around 10 am Sunday I started timing the pain cycles and called the on-call doc about noon after taking a shower. I described what was going on and he told me that it could be nothing, but since I obviously felt it necessary to contact the emergency call center to get in touch with him, I should come in and get checked out.
Bobby grabbed my backpack and sped me to the hospital. (He said it was the only time he had a real reason to give the cop for speeding. I told him not to get pulled over in the first place.) The nurse was skeptical about my being in labor, but hooked me up to the monitors. An hour later, the doctor told her to get me settled in to stay, because my contractions were too close together to send me home, even if I wasn't really dilated. We called my mom to let her know I was in labor and settled in to wait. I tried to read, but it was kind of hard in 3 minute intervals. Bobby watched the monitors, fascinated by the peaks of my contractions. My mom arrived and made sympathetic faces and turned on the tv. Hours passed. I regretted my decision not to eat lunch. Mom sent Bobby home to sleep. I wiggled around trying to get comfortable. I gave my cervix stern talkings to about its lack of dilation. Around midnight, I stood to go to the bathroom and discovered blood and other liquids dribbling down my legs. I put a towel on the floor to stand on and rang the nurse's desk. They checked me out and told me I hadn't dilated more, but if my water broke, progress was made. I went to the bathroom and got back in bed.
Then came a blurry couple hours in which the pain was worse and I was tired and frustrated. Finally, a nurse gave me good news: I was dilated to a 2 and could have my epidural. Did I want the epidural now, or did I want to wait? Now, now, now! hah. The anesthesiologist came and made many pains in my back, but when I asked when it would start working, the nurse said, "I'd guess it already is, since you've had 6 contractions without noticing them." Oh. Hmm. Good stuff, this spinal block thing. I finally got some real sleep, but woke up again eventually. At this point everything really is blurry. I know Bobby came back, I know I dilated to a 5 before starting on pitocin when my doctor came in. I know the nurses checked on me and changed my fluids and took my blood pressure. I know I asked over and over again for them to check me again. But the timeline of all that, even the order in which it occured, is beyond me.
With the help of pitocin, I dilated to a 7 before I stopped progressing. I know I went 3 hours without changes because the doctor said so when she suggested a c-section at 1 pm if I hadn't changed by 2. By that point I was exhausted and watched the clock avidly for 2 pm to arrive. (The epidural didn't block everything; I felt lots and lots of pressure that wasn't exactly pain, but still very uncomfortable and made me want to push during the contractions.) I hadn't changed at all by 2 and I agreed quickly to the c-section, so I was prepped for surgery. They gave me morphine through the epidural and I went all cold (starting at my shoulder, strangely enough) and then numb. I could still move my bits, but I lost all sensation. I was stripped and strapped to a table, and though it occurred to me to feel shy about this, it was very distant. They painted me with iodine and (Bobby says) put saranwrap over my belly. They cut me open, and I kept waiting to feel something, but mostly I just felt them moving around.
And now Katie is awake and yelling, so I'll finish up later, I suppose.
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