Well, this sure was an interesting birth. Quite different than the first one, let me tell you.
On Monday, Oct 6, I had a Dr’s appointment. She checked me, and I was only 1 cm dilated, but she “stretched” me to 2 cm. She did mention that I may experience some spotting & cramping later on because of this. Monday night, I did indeed feel pain during my contractions (I’d been having painless Braxton-Hicks for weeks already), so I thought it was nothing major. They were sporadic, and usually hurt less if I shifted my seating position.
Tuesday morning, Oct 7, I awoke quite early in pain. Must’ve been around 5:30 am or so. I was awake before Jonathon’s alarm went off. These cramps were hurting & coming regularly. But again, I was sorta in denial. I made myself a cup of tea (yummy!) and chilled on the computer for a bit. I was also praying like mad because I had a hair appointment that day. And well, you don’t really mess with a black woman and her hair appointments–even for labour! Finally, the pain stopped after 8 am, and I was able to catch a nice nap. All throughout the day, however, I did have contractions, sporadically, but nothing to really catch my attention. Tuesday night, I again had some painful contractions, but didn’t think much of it either.
Yeah, I think my forehead must say “denial” on it.
Early Wednesday morning, Oct 8 (due date), I awoke in pain again. It was about 3:30 am, and the pain was the same as Tuesday’s. Except that this time, they weren’t going away. And I actually decided to look at a clock and time them. They were coming regularly, about every 5-6 mins or so. They didn’t last too long, but they hurt like crazy!!! I was still somewhat in denial, until about 5 am. I realized that this pains weren’t looking like stopping at all. So, I started to toss the final items in my hospital bag and wake up the Hunny. They were getting closer together, but not lasting for too long. In the car, they were coming probably every 2-3 minutes.
We arrived at the hospital about 7 am. I went up to triage to finish some basic registration items and sign some forms. I get into a bed, and hang out for a little bit. Of course my Dr was just coming off her 24 hrs on call, so she wasn’t going to be there for this birth. I was also change of shift time by now (7:30 am) so the nurse going home didn’t want to bother checking me (only because her measurements may vary with another nurses’ check).
I really didn’t want to take morphine again, it made me horrendously loopy last time. They can’t do epidurals in triage, you have to be in an actual labour room first. When I was finally checked, around 8 am or so, the nurse announced the magic number as “six”. Umm, what??? I was completely stunned. She ran to find me a bed. Praise God–I got the last private room available. I was checked again, 7 cm. This was not going well at all. Of course, as soon as I got to my room, I was begging for the anesthetist. I was told he was on the ward, and I was #2 in line. They gave me nitrous oxide gas in the mean time. It didn’t help, really, only made me loopy. I was checked again–8 cm. This was not good at all. I was progressing too quickly for the epidural. Those were not words I wanted to hear. I was in so much pain and so uncomfortable. I was totally ready to just beat someone down by this point. The only reason why they claim there’d be no time for the epidural is that it wouldn’t have time to take effect properly. By this point, however, I really couldn’t care. I just wanted any drug that would help me. They teased me with the offering of Fentanyl. But really, don’t bother talking to me about this things unless they’re actually in your pocket, ready to inject into my system. Checked again, 9 cm. Another few contractions, I was at 10 cm.
Do you have any idea how not impressed I was??!! While I didn’t make any detailed birth plan, I did have one teeny, tiny necessity–the epidural. By this time, I had no choice but to start pushing if I wanted to get this baby out. I did truly consider just not doing anything until I got some kind of painkiller.
Well, I pushed a little bit, and Jhyelle came out. When her head was out, the Dr and nurses kept asking if I wanted to feel her head for encouragement. No thanks! Not that I didn’t want to touch her head. It was more of a cleanliness factor for me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get near a sink to wash my hands in the next few minutes, so I really didn’t want to touch more than I needed too. Besides, I wasn’t discouraged. Ticked off for being in pain, but I didn’t need any extra inspiration to give birth. This baby was massive, by the way. I heard my mom say it was a girl, and I was relieved. Everyone around me was counting on a boy, so HA HA!!
I also tore this time too. Another disadvantage of no epiduaral is that you feel every needle prick as the Dr is trying to freeze the area to stitch you up. Thankfully, I didn’t not feel the sewing procedure.
In the meantime, Jhyelle was having her own drama. That story belongs in another post.
