I started having contractions at about 4:00 in the morning on Thursday, September 23. I was able to go back to sleep, and woke up again at 8:00. The contractions weren’t severe, but they were very regular, coming every 10 minutes, lasting about a minute. That lasted until about 10:00, and then they started coming closer together, at about 7 minutes, lasting a minute or so. I ate breakfast and called my mom. She told me I should probably go in because her labor with me lasted only 3 hours, and her contractions were never really close together. All of a sudden I had one contraction only 4 minutes after the last one, and then two more after that that were 3 minutes apart. Loren and I decided to head out. I called the doctor’s office on the way, and they said to go ahead to L&D. I don’t know how far apart the contractions were by that time, but they had slowed down again. I went and got checked in at about noon, and then the nurse in L&D hooked me up to the monitor.
I am convinced that my contractions stalled because while I was hooked up, I had to stay in bed and couldn’t move around. After about an hour, I finally got the nurse to let me off the monitor, which I probably didn’t even need to be on for an hour at the time. I was only 3cm dilated at the time. My contractions weren’t coming hardly at all, even after I did a lot of walking. Just when they started kicking back in, the nurse would want to monitor me. They offered to send me home or be induced, but since the baby was already 5 days late, I wanted to be able to go home with a baby. Finally, after trying walking (with interruptions from the monitor) to move contractions along, I decided to be induced. They started the pitocin at about 8:00pm. By that time, I was already getting a little tired, plus the bed was NOT comfortable. That was the most annoying factor for me. I had to be continuously monitored after they started the pitocin, so I never got to enjoy the huge tub they have. I got nauseous at about 11:30, so the nurse gave me Phenergrine (I think). Then I asked for something to help me sleep because I was so tired. They gave me a couple Ambien, and I don’t really remember much after that. I don’t know what made me delirious, but apparently I started saying really weird stuff. I don’t remember quoting percentages, telling Loren that he needed to be fixed, or babbling mumbo-jumbo, but apparently I was. I guess at about 2:00am I was begging for pain relief, and they gave me Stadol. I finally slept, although I remember asking the nurses questions from time to time. I had no idea what time it was, but I felt my water break (my friend told me later that the doctor had broken it), and then that I needed to push. I pushed for half an hour, and at 7:31am on Friday, September 24, 2004, our little guy was born. I only needed one stitch, and had a little bit of a surface burn. His apgars were 8 and 9 because of color but he did very well. He latched on to nurse almost as soon as it was offered.
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Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy,
I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the
wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life
anyone ever gets to assist God in a miracle.
-Erma Bombeck