Labor, Part 1
I woke up at 1:38 a.m. with a stomachache. I decided to get up and see if the stomachache seemed to come and go at a regular pace. I went into the guest room and got into my old day bed. I turned on the TV and all I could find was Fresh Prince reruns so that's what I watched for the next hour while I timed contractions coming and going every six minutes. Once I thought that this might really be it, I went and woke up James, who practically BOUNDED out of bed to start helping with timing. The contractions kept coming at 5-6 minutes apart but at first, it was hard to tell when one began and ended. IThe pain seemed stronger at some points but never went away completely.
I decided to get into the bathtub and that helped so much! It made the contractions a little less intense, though they still came at the regular intervals. Shortly after I took a shower, the contractions got more intense and we called the doctor. Dr. Cole (who was the doc on call at the time) called me back and said if my contractions were that regular, even if they weren't unbearable yet, I should go in and get checked out. So...we waited a little bit longer and then I felt a huge urgency and told James we NEEDED to go.
We spent 3-4 hours at the hospital but are back home now. My contractions got really strong for awhile and I was nauseous. After getting checked, the nurse said I was mostly effaced but only dilated to a ONE! I felt terrible! I said, "Am I just being a huge wuss? I suck at this!" The nurse said I was not being a wuss, that I was definitely having good, strong contractions at regular intervals, just that my cervix didn't know what to do quite yet. She suggested taking an hour long walk around the hospital to try and speed things up. We did just that.
I so badly wanted to see Dr. Webb! I knew she wouldn't really make an appearance unless things were really happening, but I really wanted to walk by her office and just poke my head in (her office is in a building attached to the hospital). We didn't do that, of course (how embarrassing) but as we were walking up the stairs in the main area of the hospital, guess who came walking down the stairs toward us in scrubs? DR. WEBB! I was so happy to see her -- I don't know why it made me feel better. She said, "What are you doing here? What, you think you're in labor?" She was on her way to visit a patient and then to surgery but it was so cool to see her. Made me feel better, somehow. I don't think she will be delivering Emma because she leaves for her trip to Acapulco this evening.
My mom and James and I walked the hospital for the hour they recommended. I had many contractions. I also had a Jolly Rancher lollipop (cherry) the whole time. My mom stopped at Fred Meyer prior to arriving at the hospital to pick up a few things for us that we needed (gum, mini DV tapes for the camcorder, fruit snacks) and I was thankful for that sucker because I felt totally dehydrated and my mouth was SO dry. It was weird walking through the halls in pajamas and slippers while everyone else was dressed for the day. But I didn't care. I walked slowly and paused every time I had a contraction. When we were close to the end of the hour, my contractions started to feel more intense and I started to panic a little bit. My dad arrived right before that so the four of us went back into the Birth Center where I had yet another contraction.
I had been feeling nauseous throughout the morning and didn't know if it was because of the pain or because of my blood sugar (hadn't had anything to eat all morning). After a couple more contractions...yep. I totally puked. Not even ashamed of it. I don't really even remember that other than that my mom and James went running for one of those nasty pink hospital tubs. After that, I was really emotional.
I'm at my parents' house, which is closer to the hospital than our home. I'm still contracting (in fact, here comes one right now) and still have to breathe and focus during them because they are definitely painful, but I'm relaxing a bit and I'm going to lay back and shut my eyes for awhile. This email is random and bouncing around a lot but I wanted to record this. I'm in pre-labor, essentially. My instructions are to go back to the hospital if my water breaks or when my contractions are 2-3 minutes apart for at least an hour. So....that's what we're doing right now.
Prayers are more than welcome. I am not sure how I will be able to handle this when it gets worse. I know God will be here for the whole experience. I'm excited but also totally okay if it's another day before we move into active labor. After all of this time wishing she'd get here, now I just want to postpone the pain a little bit longer. Our nurse is nice and said it could be 12-24 more hours of this or even less depending on how the medication affects my body. Could speed things up or slow them down. I'm more in favor of the slowing down, actually.
Gotta go rest now before things get crazier. Can barely keep my eyes open and we have a long adventure ahead of us. More soon!
I decided to get into the bathtub and that helped so much! It made the contractions a little less intense, though they still came at the regular intervals. Shortly after I took a shower, the contractions got more intense and we called the doctor. Dr. Cole (who was the doc on call at the time) called me back and said if my contractions were that regular, even if they weren't unbearable yet, I should go in and get checked out. So...we waited a little bit longer and then I felt a huge urgency and told James we NEEDED to go.
We spent 3-4 hours at the hospital but are back home now. My contractions got really strong for awhile and I was nauseous. After getting checked, the nurse said I was mostly effaced but only dilated to a ONE! I felt terrible! I said, "Am I just being a huge wuss? I suck at this!" The nurse said I was not being a wuss, that I was definitely having good, strong contractions at regular intervals, just that my cervix didn't know what to do quite yet. She suggested taking an hour long walk around the hospital to try and speed things up. We did just that.
I so badly wanted to see Dr. Webb! I knew she wouldn't really make an appearance unless things were really happening, but I really wanted to walk by her office and just poke my head in (her office is in a building attached to the hospital). We didn't do that, of course (how embarrassing) but as we were walking up the stairs in the main area of the hospital, guess who came walking down the stairs toward us in scrubs? DR. WEBB! I was so happy to see her -- I don't know why it made me feel better. She said, "What are you doing here? What, you think you're in labor?" She was on her way to visit a patient and then to surgery but it was so cool to see her. Made me feel better, somehow. I don't think she will be delivering Emma because she leaves for her trip to Acapulco this evening.
My mom and James and I walked the hospital for the hour they recommended. I had many contractions. I also had a Jolly Rancher lollipop (cherry) the whole time. My mom stopped at Fred Meyer prior to arriving at the hospital to pick up a few things for us that we needed (gum, mini DV tapes for the camcorder, fruit snacks) and I was thankful for that sucker because I felt totally dehydrated and my mouth was SO dry. It was weird walking through the halls in pajamas and slippers while everyone else was dressed for the day. But I didn't care. I walked slowly and paused every time I had a contraction. When we were close to the end of the hour, my contractions started to feel more intense and I started to panic a little bit. My dad arrived right before that so the four of us went back into the Birth Center where I had yet another contraction.
I had been feeling nauseous throughout the morning and didn't know if it was because of the pain or because of my blood sugar (hadn't had anything to eat all morning). After a couple more contractions...yep. I totally puked. Not even ashamed of it. I don't really even remember that other than that my mom and James went running for one of those nasty pink hospital tubs. After that, I was really emotional.
I'm at my parents' house, which is closer to the hospital than our home. I'm still contracting (in fact, here comes one right now) and still have to breathe and focus during them because they are definitely painful, but I'm relaxing a bit and I'm going to lay back and shut my eyes for awhile. This email is random and bouncing around a lot but I wanted to record this. I'm in pre-labor, essentially. My instructions are to go back to the hospital if my water breaks or when my contractions are 2-3 minutes apart for at least an hour. So....that's what we're doing right now.
Prayers are more than welcome. I am not sure how I will be able to handle this when it gets worse. I know God will be here for the whole experience. I'm excited but also totally okay if it's another day before we move into active labor. After all of this time wishing she'd get here, now I just want to postpone the pain a little bit longer. Our nurse is nice and said it could be 12-24 more hours of this or even less depending on how the medication affects my body. Could speed things up or slow them down. I'm more in favor of the slowing down, actually.
Gotta go rest now before things get crazier. Can barely keep my eyes open and we have a long adventure ahead of us. More soon!
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~Hallee