There's something coming…
Posted on November 8th, 2006 by Ben
Laura started having contractions again last night, though still a pretty good 6-9 minutes apart, sometimes as much as 13 minutes. They were a little intense, but not so bad that she couldn’t stand them, and not as painful as the ones she was having when we came in last Saturday. Still, we went to bed excited, telling ourselves that this was the real deal, and that this kid was finally going to come.We went to bed around 11:00 pm, and by this time the contractions were starting to hurt more, but still not close enough together. It was a rather sleepless night for both of us. Usually I sleep like a rock, but tonight I just couldn’t do it. I woke up at 3 o’clock, after having dreams so active that I almost felt like I wasn’t getting any rest at all — I’m sure you know the type. Laura was awake, too, and her contractions were a lot more painful, but only coming once every 8-10 minutes. For almost an hour I fitfully tried to sleep, but since it wasn’t working Laura and I started talking.
We told each other that this was really it, that the baby was really going to come this time, and generally kept each other excited. Around 4, she told me that I should try to sleep again, and I grudgingly agreed. I dozed until around 4:20, when Laura got back from the bathroom for about the 4th time in an hour, then talked a bit more, then finally fell asleep again.
Shortly after 5:00 I woke again. Laura hadn’t been able to fall back asleep since 3, and the contractions were coming much more regularly and much more intense. When we were in the hospital on Saturday, they told us to come back when the contractions were closer together (they were 2-4 minutes apart then) and/or they were so painful that Laura couldn’t really talk or walk during them. These seemed to fit the bill.
Every time she contracted, she gritted her teeth and squeezed my hand hard. The contractions were averaging about 4-5 minutes apart, with some as close as 2 minutes and some as far as 6. We hung around in bed until about 5:25, when Laura said that it was time to go; the contractions may not be quite as consistently close as they were on Saturday, but she was in a LOT of pain. So we got dressed, threw the rest of the items into our hospital bag that were out (shampoo and the like), and got in the car.
Laura’s mom wanted a call when we went the hospital, whatever time it was, so Laura called her on the way. We got to the hospital around 5:40, were in a birthing room at 6, and the nurse came to check Laura’s dilation. When we saw the doctor on Monday, she was dilated to 2cm, and this morning was dilated to a 4. She hadn’t really contracted between the appointment on Monday and when she started contracting last night, so all the change was since then. We had been telling each other as we came in that she would be dilated to a 3 so the hospital wouldn’t send her home, but apparently guessed short of the mark.
The doctor was called, and (of course) told them to keep Laura here, and also to start her epidural — Laura decided long ago that she’d rather have an epidural than endure all the pain, and she is glad she did. They hooked her up to the IV and waited for the anesthesiologist arrive and do the epidural; they almost gave her some pain medication in the IV — anything but morphine, since morphine stopped her contractions on Saturday — but the anesthesiologist arrived before that was absolutely necessary.
Her epidural was put in, and she only hurt through about 15 more minutes of contractions. At 7, she was dilated to 5cm. It’s now 7:15, and she is almost completely out of pain. Thank heaven for the epidural! She is shaking like crazy (which supposedly is normal), has some pain in her bum (which also is supposedly normal), and we are both excited to meet our new baby and finally find out what the gender is!
The nurse just left and said if she has the baby by lunch time they’ll go ahead and feed her. Here’s hoping!
