O-kay. So my plan for the hospital did not work out as planned. Once admitted I was started on an antibiotic for the strep B as well as the general i.v. stuff. All those videos in birthing class telling you to shower or bathe at the hospital and all the walking around? Right. I was strapped to my bed as soon as we arrived and every time I tried to get up for more than a minute I had a nurse in there telling me that my monitors weren't picking up and to get back in bed. Argh. We were told that they wanted 2 rounds of antibiotics in before any steps were taken to further labor along. Because, really, I wasn't exactly laboring all that much. Stupid plan.
The night was pretty much more of the same. Pitocin was started around 2 in the morning, followed by them breaking my water around 4 in the morning. And, oh yes, Josh was asleep during both of those things. Asleep on the chair next to my bed. Around 6 or 7, my mom showed up and since nothing was really happening at that time, I encouraged Josh to go home and take a shower and get something to eat so that he would be ready for all of the excitement ahead. Before you go judging that thought, please know that I was only 3 cm and could still sleep through the contractions. And did I mention that we weren't planning on staying at the hospital? Josh had on non-matching pajama like clothing if I remember correctly. The trip home was worth it.
Shortly after he left, things definitely got a little more exciting. I pretty much started throwing up about every 5 minutes. I really just assumed that this was a normal part of labor and no biggie. However, please refer to part 3 of this story to remember the control issue that had started with pregnancy. Add to that the contractions that were happening every 2-3 minutes. Yes, my friends, it was not a pretty picture. One that I am actually thankful that my husband did not have to witness. After this went on for about an hour and half a nurse happened to walk in during the middle of it. She was great. She wanted to know why we hadn't called for some anti-nausea meds and I told her that I thought labor was supposed to be rough and that this was just part of it. Apparently, while in a hospital, labor doesn't have to be that bad. She came back seconds later with Reglan (sp.) and within a few minutes it all stopped.
Around 9 the doctor was in to check me and I literally almost crawled up the bed because it hurt so bad. He then went out into the hallway with the nurse. When they came back in, the nurse informed me that he wanted them to start my epidural. I was pretty surprised. I was still handling the pain fine and while I figured that I would get one at some point, I knew it was pretty early in the process to start it already. I was only 4 cm at that time. Charleigh was apparently wedged in and stuck so tightly that he could not get the internal monitors on her and it was becoming difficult to track her. Josh returned around this time and did get to enjoy the process that was the epidural. I was nervous because I had heard so many stories about women where it didn't take or only half their body was numb and everything else. Mine rocked. Totally rocked. About 15 minutes after it was in, it was like pure bliss. I felt fine and relaxed. Dr. L came back in and placed the internal monitors, but it was clearly a difficult task. He then pulled the nurse and my mom out into the hallway. I later found out that at this point he informed them that he was almost certain our day would end with a c-section delivery. But no told me this until after she was born. He kind of figured that even at full dilation she was wedged too much to come out on her own.
After this I remember feeling like we all just hung out until about 3 that afternoon. I had quite a few visitors during that time including my aunt and cousin. She had brought my newly married cousin down and was hoping to show her how hard labor was. I and my epidural were not exactly a good teaching case. She should have been there earlier. Anyway. So around 3, the nurse and the doctor were back in there giving us the plan. Charleigh was doing well, but I was making no progress. My contractions were coming one on top of the other and were practically off the chart in strength and I was still only 4 cm. Not to mention that Charleigh wasn't moving anywhere. He told us that he could leave me laboring until closer to the 24 hour mark, but that he didn't believe I was ever going to dilate and he didn't see any reason to leave me laying in bed laboring for no reason.
So, the decision was made, c-section here we come.................
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