Since we had already pre-registered with the hospital ahead of time there wasn’t much to do or fill out to be admitted. I provided my insurance card and we were walked to our room. The nurse gave me my gown and inserted my IV around 6:30 pm. She told me if I wasn’t good with seeing blood that I should look away, so that’s what I did. When she was finished (or so I thought), I looked over at my left arm and it looked like a bloody crime scene! Apparently she found a good vein! I’ve had an IV before and NEVER have I seen that much blood. It was all over the place and on my arm. I asked her to help me wipe it away so I could stop looking at it. Yikes. Shortly thereafter they had a shift change and a new nurse came in for the night. Her name was Janna.
At some point a man came in to take my blood, and that was done in my right arm. My blood pressure was taken (I don’t recall what it was but it was good/normal). The nurse hooked me up to the contraction and baby heart rate monitors and we discussed my birth plan and what was to come. The original plan was to have a drug called Cervidil inserted to soften my cervix. My Dr. actually planned on giving my Cytotec but after doing some research on the two, my preference was Cervidil because it could easily be removed if my body didn’t respond well to it (if there were complications). Cytotec is a dissolving pill that we would not be able to remove if needed. The nurse called my Dr. for orders and he said while he’d prefer I use Cytotec, given my history and circumstance he was fine with me using Cervidil instead. I discussed it with my nurse and it seemed the concern was that the Cervidil might not work as well as Cytotec. It was hard to decide what to do because I didn’t want to end up in a situation where the drug didn’t work and they’d send me home because they didn’t want to “wear out” my uterus. (This was a possibility with either of these drugs) My nurse agreed with my take on the situation and ultimately we went with the Cervidil.
My nurse checked me first at approx. 7:30 pm to see if I was dilated at all. I was only 1 cm, 30% effaced, -2 station. (Translation: baby was way up high, cervix not ready and hardly dilated at all!) When she checked me I thought she was reaching up to my throat it hurt so bad! When my Dr. checked me the week before it wasn’t painful at all and this was horrible.
When the Cervidil was ordered & received she came back in our room and inserted it at approx. 9:00 pm. It’s on a little mesh piece of fabric with a string attached (for removal). In order for the drug to work its magic, they have to place it right on the cervix. When she placed that thing in me I thought I was going to die it hurt so much. As a normal reaction my body tried scooting away from her. My face was red and I was nearly in tears...actually, I think I did have some tears. I could not believe how bad it hurt. She said that she essentially had to reach in and pull my cervix forward. Yowzers. It felt like that- maybe worse! She assured me that when it came time to remove it there wouldn’t be any pain. Whew. I’m not sure what time it was when all that was complete. I’d guess it was around 9:15 pm. I was allowed to have a snack since I didn’t have my epidural yet so the nurse brought me Oreos & milk.
My mom had come up to visit shortly and wish us luck. She brought a bouquet of flowers (gerber daisies) for me and a bouquet of candy bars for Tim. We chatted for a little while then she left. The nurse suggested we try to get some sleep for the following day so I’d have energy for labor. So we turned off the lights, Tim made his “bed” from the fold-out couch, and I sat half-way up in my terribly uncomfortable labor & delivery bed. My belly stuck out so far that it was the only way I could sleep the last month or so. It was hard to turn on my side because of all the monitors & cords hooked to me. I was offered Ambien to sleep but declined. I didn’t want to be drowsy when it came time to push. I wanted to be alert and aware of everything that would take place. As a result, I didn’t sleep much at all but I didn’t care.
As Tim fell in and out of sleep, I sat there, listening to and watching baby’s heart rate and my contractions. I had been having braxton hicks contractions throughout most of the third trimester and the nurse said because there wasn’t much fat between baby & the monitor on my belly that the contractions looked a lot stronger on the monitor than they would be on someone a bit heavier. I know I wasn’t in any pain; just discomfort that I’d been feeling for a month or so.
Baby was very active the entire time. She would move away from the monitor and the alarm would sound (which didn’t help my anxiety). Those darn elastic belts that hold the monitors in place don’t work so great on me. The way my belly stuck out, if I moved just a little bit they would slide up or down and sound off the alarm. I started just adjusting it myself so I could move but it made for a long night.
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| From Our Rainbow |
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