The birth story, part 1

Friday afternoon, October 30th, I was starting to feel like my fate was sealed: an induction by way of AROM on Sunday at 12:00pm was the only way this baby of mine was going to make an appearance. I was okay with it, though, and felt a certain peace that the delivery would be a successful VBAC anyway.

That evening I started having much more noticeable contractions, but I didn't think a whole lot of it-- I'd been contracting for weeks and weeks, after all-- but Daniel seemed impressed by the fact that he could tell when I was having one because the expression on my face changed slightly. The contractions continued throughout the night, and I would wake during them and doze in-between. By morning I still wasn't convinced I was getting out of the induction, but I was very optimistic that when I was admitted the following day, I'd find that I had progressed from the 2-3cm dilated and 50% effaced that I'd been Thursday morning at the doctor's office. I also felt fairly certain that the contractions had moved the baby from a slightly posterior position to an anterior position, and that was encouraging.

All day Saturday, I had sporadic contractions that usually stopped me in my tracks, but they never developed into a regular pattern. I'd have 2 in 5 minutes, but then I wouldn't have another for 30 minutes. I didn't feel anxious or concerned about the lack of progression, though. I just felt better and better about the next day's induction as my body was showing signs of being ready for labor.

I passed a lot of show throughout the day, but it was Saturday evening after Daniel had taken the kids up to the Hallelujah Party at the church that I started bleeding bright red blood. It wasn't a lot, but I figured I should call the nurses at L&D just to make sure I was okay until the next day's admission. They told me to come in for a non-stress test because the blood after a previous section could mean uterine bleeding, and there was also the possibility that the placenta was tearing slightly. I was also told to pack my bags because the charge nurse was doubtful that I'd be sent home.

She was right.

Daniel and I passed the older kids off to my family for care. We went ahead and threw our own things in a bag (no, I still hadn't packed for myself, but I was packed for the baby this time around!), but the whole way to the hospital I rehearsed what I would say to convince them to let me return home to my own bed that night.

They hooked me up to the monitor and the baby looked good-- and, like I'd hoped, they found the heartbeat on my left side instead of on the right. I was still having contractions (now consistently 8-10 minutes apart). My doctor happened to be there, having just delivered another baby, and he came in to check me. I was a "good" 3cm dilated and the baby was at 0 station and-- most significant to him-- I was 100% effaced. He was pretty convinced that we'd have a baby before morning; between that and the bleeding, he felt strongly that we ought to stay overnight and be monitored.

I'm not sure why we agreed. I had no thought that labor was underway and kind of rolled my eyes at my doctor's insistence that the 5th time around, things could go really fast from where we were. Obviously he didn't know me and hadn't paid attention to my 51-hour marathon labor history.

I was set up in a room and, after a brief fuss about having to wear a hospital gown (I didn't want to put one on already while the nurse told me I had to since I'd be delivering in the OR) and was given an IV because the doctor had (rightly) guessed that I probably hadn't been doing a whole lot of eating and drinking throughout the day (I'd felt "off" between the contractions and lack of sleep the night before, and consequently hadn't been following my normal intake routines). The IV would be removed after pumping me a bit, though, because I only agreed to a heplock during labor.

About an hour or so later (now 9:30pm, I'm guessing), the doctor checked me again. The nurse was encouraging him to go home, but he was certain delivery was near, so I think he decided to see how fast things were moving. There was no progression, which didn't surprise me one bit. I told him he should get a good night's sleep, but he still didn't want to leave.

Sometime between 10:30pm and midnight, the contractions really started to pattern nicely and all of a sudden, they really hurt. Daniel said it was like a switch turned on. The nurse went and got the doctor. I was 5cm and baby was +1 station.

And just as I was starting to wonder if this was actually labor after all, I was told we'd be heading up to the OR.

Daniel and I just kind of looked at each other. We both knew how long my previous labors took. Neither of us really wanted to go up already, but everything was happening much faster than we were prepared for-- we hadn't even considered that I was in labor until a few minutes earlier! Not to mention, I was less and less able to make decisions because I was more and more focused on the contractions that were coming faster and faster.

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To be continued...