Now that Delilah is almost 1 month old (I cant believe it), I am getting my first chance to sit down and blog about her birth. I'm extremely sleep deprived, so please excuse me if I ramble.
Our sweet baby girl sure took her sweet time coming into the world. She also had a lot of fun playing tricks on me. I spent the last 10 days of my pregnancy in what my Dr's called phase 1 of labor. I would go in for my regular appointment and they would tell me that I was having real contractions that were consistent and they would be surprised if I didn't go into full labor that night. 10 days later and another visit to the office still no change. My Dr finally returned from what I assume was an amazing tropical vacation, and he scheduled me for an induction. Being induced was not what I had hoped for, but at that point, it had to be done.
On January 4th, Patrick's birthday, we went into the hospital for the induction. At 8pm on that Wednesday night the induction began. We walked into the hospital, well I waddled, and we went to the front desk and told them who we were. I had my pillows in hand along with my water, and Pat had my suitcase. The sweet security guard said "this must not be your first" I smiled and told him it was, and he said he was shocked by my calmness. Calmness... a major part of my plan. I really wanted to enjoy our birth experience. As we waited in the lobby for the women who escorted us to the maternity ward to come get us, we were showered with smiles and kind words of good luck and congratulations by complete strangers who I'm sure were not there for good reasons. I loved all of the smiles and kind words, and I was so happy to help put a smile on these hospital visitors faces.
Our maternity ward escort was not so nice. She thought I was ridiculous to bring my own pillows to the hospital. She called me an armature. The birthing bed was the most uncomfortable "bed" I have ever been in, and I spent 5 days in it. I would not have survived without my body and memory foam pillow. Lucky for her we didn't cross paths again.
We were brought to our room #232 and I was told to put on my gown and then hit the call button for the nurse. This was all getting started very quickly, and without any visit or word from my Dr or any Dr for that matter. This is when I learned that the nurses basically run the show here. The first of what would be at least 20 nurses that we had over our 5 days in the hospital came in to get me prepped for the induction. Next up.. a women with paper work for me to sign... Followed by a women to take my blood... Followed by a blood taking specialist to find my veins to get my IV started... Followed by a nurse to set up my IV drip and pitocin bag and baby heart rate monitor. Throughout the night, someone was in our room at least every 15 minuets either adjusting the heart rate monitor, repositioning me, changing my IV bag or turning up and then back down my pitocin drip. It was a very long night, sleep was impossible, and my nerves were starting to kick in. I would have a nurse who was either super fantastic, or one who was horrific and I wanted to kick out of my room. From 8pm Wednesday night to 6am Thursday morning, my body was still not progressing. I was still stuck at 1cm, and the baby's heart rate was dropping.
To be continued...
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