I had my 38 weeks OB appointment on Tuesday November 23rd. We had conferences that week at school Tues and Wed. 4-7pm and would then have Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. When I got back to see Dr. Scott, he checked me and I was dilated 2cm and 70Z% effaced. He told me he would be on call the following Tuesday the 30th and would love to have a baby on that day. I was more than thrilled that he had offered to induce me a week early! So I of course said yes and we made an appointment for a check up on Monday with the intent of inducing me the next day. Grinning ear to ear, I left the office and headed back to school to get some final things prepared since I now only had 2 more days left of work.
I called Robert and told him the news. He was surprised. I called my mom, no answer and then my dad (who was on the road, driving truck) whom I did get to talk to. He was very excited also. First thing when I got back to school,I told my principal and secretary and we talked and laughed and got really, really excited! I didn't have conferences of my own becausec I hold my own IEP meetings throughout the year with parents. So during this time while the regular ed. teachers are conferencing, I still have to be there to put in the time. Just wanted to clarify why I had all this time to leave for an appt. and chat with some coworkers.
Okay so back in my classroom, I was almost frantic to get things done. I had been working really hard on getting things around for my sub and for the most part things were ready as far as academics go. I had some other housekeeping type of things to get straightened out and to leave directions for.
I sat down at my reading table and suddenly felt a braxton hicks contraction coming on, but this time it was campy, like when I was on my period. I thought "this must be what it feels like to have real contractions!" (I was induced with Madelyn) Of course I felt a real contraction before but not coming on slowly and naturally. Pitocin brings them on FAST and STRONG. I got pretty excited and checked the time so I could keep track of when the next one would come. I was told they should be coming 5 minutes apart for an hour and then to come to the hospital.
I finished things up at work and by 7:15 I headed home.
I got into bed at 11 and fell asleep quickly.
1:00 am I am awoken by a very painful contraction. Holy cow that hurt. I woke Robert to tell him I just had a contraction and that it was a "real one too!" haha
1o minutes later another one. This continued for 2 hours while I laid in my bed trying to breathe through those contractions. I still kept thinking this wasn't going to be the real deal. That they would spread back out, I'd be bummed, go back to sleep, and go to work tired the next day. After 2 hours I decided to move out into the living room as to not keep Robert awake. He is a grouch when he doesn't get enough sleep. I moved out to the couch and turned on some TV Land to watch an episode of Home Improvement and then Family Matters. All the while, still having contractions every 10 minutes on the dot. After 2 hours in the living room they spread out to about 20 minutes for a couple of them so I decided to go back to bed and hopefully I could sleep it off and get a couple hours of sleep. Yeah right, you can't "sleep off" labor contractions. HAHA
I fell asleep for maybe 15 minutes and they were back, 10 minutes apart. At 530 I got on the phone and started trying to find a sub. 3rd try I was able to get one that I know real well. yay! I told her I don't know if it's the real thing or not but there is no way I will be working with contractions like this.
Robert left for work just like any other day. He thought I was exaggerating with my contractions. I told him I needed Madelyn to go to daycare because I couldn't take care of her like this. Of course he didn't believe me (nice huh?) so I said forget it, I'll call aunt Terri and ask her to take Madelyn to daycare. To his credit, i think he had some sort of a meeting that morning and didn't have time to take Madelyn. I don't remember, but oh well. Aunt Terri lives around the corner on Wolf Lake so she came over around 8 and got Madelyn to Penny's house.
ALL DAY LONG I labored at home with contractions 10 minutes apart. I think around 2ish they spread out again to 20 minutes or so. Still so painful when they came though. Shortly after that, they were back close together and I was down on all fours trying to breathe through them. I started writing down the times because I was having a hard time remembering each time a new one would come. I called Robert crying, and he said he would leave work and come home. This was about 330ish. They started getting closer and once they were 7 minutes apart I called him again and said "I think this is it, you better get Madelyn and get home NOW"
**1/2/11- WOW it's been an entire year since I worked on this post and I see that I never completed it. yikes! I will attempt to do so now...
Soooo...after that call to Robert, the contractions continued and were strong. I called Aunt Terri to come over and stay with Madelyn when they got home. She quickly came over and Robert and Maddy got home. Then, they slowed down and it had been several minutes (maybe 10 or so?) and I wasn't having the contractions. ugggh. I was so worried that it was false labor and I'd feel silly being sent back home. As I was sitting on the bar stool contemplating what the heck was going on, I suddenly had another and it was the worst yet. It was showtime, we were on our way to the hospital. All the way there, contractions were coming 3-4 minutes apart. It was awful pain and Robert was trying to get there as fast as he could. We pulled in, not knowing where to go, parking garage? drop off? what the heck? we hadn't gotten this far in finding out from Dr. Scott what we were to do. Luckily, at my last appt. I did ask what floor L&D was on. I hadn't known before since Madelyn was born in Charlotte. We opted for the parking garage, which I see now was silly. haha but did a couple of other silly things too...we went into registration, thinking that since I hadn't registered, I needed to do that first. They lady in there chuckled as she politely told me to go straight up to L & D since I was in labor. I didn't want a wheelchair but since every few minutes, I had to stop hold Robert and breathe (and cry) through a contraction, it was best.
We got up to the 4th floor (I think it's the 4th?) and they took me into the triage room or whatever they call it. She was getting my information and I had another contraction. Except this time, it wasn't very strong and it didn't take much to get through it. I commented on how "that wasn't so bad". The nurse turned to me and said "So they've been stronger than that? Because that wasn't very strong". (or something hinting to me that it wasn't a very strong contraction) I began doubting myself again and thinking we were surely going to be sent home after she checks me. She came over to check me and her words were "Honey, you're about a 6-7 and you're definitely in active labor". Phew! I was so relieved. Onto my next thought...I better not miss my opportunity for that epidural!!! Robert got up out of the wheelchair he was doing wheelies and spinning around in. He told me he was totally thought we'd be going back home. HA! I told him I was in pain and it had to be the real deal...Men! He'd think he was dying if he felt the pain of a contraction! haha
So anyway, they wheeled my bed to the delivery room where I preceded to beg for the anesthesiologist to get up here now! They kept telling me they had paged him but that they couldn't do anything until they got a whole bag of water in me through the IV. UGGH this took forever!!! Robert was getting nervous about me missing the epidural also. After much begging and pleading for that doctor to arrive, he finally did. My contractions were horrible, horrible, horrible! I was crying and yelling that I couldn't do this, there was no way! He laid me on my right side and prepped the area for the needle. He put it in and once he did that I remember crying and saying "it's not working, I still feel everything!" He responded with something about having to do 3 doses and give it some time to kick in? Then my next remark was "Oh no!!! now I have to poop!!" (hahah) The doctor looks at me and says "No honey, you're about to have a baby!" I couldn't turn over to my back because the contractions were so painful. I told the nurses they had to roll me because I couldn't physically do it and they did. I pushed just short of 10 minutes and out came my beautiful baby girl, Alyssa Michele! She was perfect and healthy:)
Let me just remind you that the epidural never kicked in since they never fully gave it to me and I felt everything. I never thought in a million years that I would be able to bare the pain of natural childbirth, but I did! It was amazing. If I ever do it again, I will still be asking for that epidural though. Women who don't are nuts!
Alyssa Michele Wheeler
November 24, 2010
7:36pm
7 lbs. 7 oz.
20.5 inches
No comments:
Post a Comment