Labor - Take 2, Part 1

We're home from the hospital now... we got home yesterday. Here's part 1 of how our second child came into the world... Part 2 will come whenever I get it written.


So really this story begins before I actually went into labor... We went to the OB when I was 35.5 weeks pregnant and he said I was well effaced but not at all dilated. However he was surprised that I was not at all dilated as baby's head was so low in my pelvis. (That explained the cramps I was feeling!) I'd also had some contractions that were 7-10 minutes apart the Saturday before so we asked about that. I was simply told to take it as easy as I could with a toddler. So we left and I was feeling okay that things were going to be pretty normal, even if I had a bout with false labor once or twice (after all I'd had false labor with my first son, so why not this one as well!?) 

Taken the day before we went to the hospital - the first time.

That Sunday I woke up having contractions every 10 minutes apart by 2:30 they started to get closer together and so we decided to head into the hospital... earlier than we would have if I'd been full term. We dropped my son off at my parent's house on the way there. We got to the hospital and when the nurse checked, I was about 1 cm dilated. Not too much - I am starting to get a feeling my body really doesn't like dilating... after all I'd been having contractions for 8 hours by this point... which with a first labor isn't too long but second labors on average are 8 hours long! I didn't think I'd be that short but was hoping for something a lot less than 39 hours this time! 

Since I wasn't very far along the doctor decided to stop labor (after all I was only 36 weeks and 1 day!) They gave me a little yellow pill that slowed the contractions down and then they CAME BACK with a vengeance! Actually those contractions were the most regular I've ever had contractions... I honestly felt like that pill was suppose to jump start them, not stop them. 

However, they decided to try something a little stronger - they gave me a shot. OUCH - did that medicine burn as it went into my arm! Then it caused my heart to race, me to feel exhausted and shaky. Basically I felt miserable... However the contractions did subside (mostly) and about 6 hours after leaving home we were leaving the hospital. We ended up staying with my parents that night (they lived 10 minutes from said hospital, not 45 - and we were both exhausted!)

Pretty much every day after that I had contractions, and pretty much every day they got to be 10 minutes apart for part of the day. A handful of times they started to get closer together, but then they died back down. It was pretty nerve wracking to have contractions every day! I honestly was concerned that each day would see us going to the hospital in labor - again. I really wanted to make it to at least 37 weeks before we went back in. There was no way I wanted to have that shot given to me again...

Thursday came and I decided to get into the OB (since this was the week of the 4th of July, our OB was only in Thursday and Friday. We had planned not to go in that week, but changed our minds...) So in the early afternoon we went to see the OB. Apparently the contractions weren't actually doing anything... I was not any more dilated than I had been on Sunday! At this point my hope was to make it past 37 weeks. I started hoping for 38 weeks (but can honestly say that I was hoping not to go too much past 38 weeks as well...)

Taken just before we went to the hospital - the second time!

Sunday rolled around again (and I was at 37 weeks) and after church I started having contractions more regularly again. They actually became 3-4 minutes apart for an hour and we decided to go to the hospital. I'd told myself I'd wait until they got more painful, but chickened out when they were that close (and occasionally being closer than 3 minutes apart)! However, once we got to the hospital, same old story - I was no more dilated than I had been a week before! So we headed back home.

At my OB appointment that week (Wednesday) I was able to ask about how the hospital handles births (ie. I was only offered ice chips and the nurse told me that I wasn't allowed ANYTHING else - not even hard candy...) I decided I like my OB as he told me that when they brought me a glass of ice chips, that he wouldn't mind if my husband walked to the sink and filled it with water... and that if my labor was a longer one that he'd sneak in crackers if I felt my blood sugar getting a little low. I found it really interesting that the doctor would have to sneak in anything... but apparently some of the hospital staff is a little old fashioned. (Of course it is a rural hospital and all that stuff... and it is partly the anesthesiologists that are uncooperative. But really it mostly punishes those with long labors... if you have your baby within an hour or two of getting to the hospital it's not as much of an issue. However, if you're in the hospital for 20 hours by the time you give birth - you'd be dehydrated! Not to mention starving.) He also mentioned that when I went into labor I'd probably be able to tell since the contractions would feel different.

Well that Saturday (July 14) I had different contractions. They got to be more painful and intense (as well as the pain was more in the top of the uterus and my back hurt a lot!) We went to the hospital late that night (no 38 week picture though.) I was also feeling nauseous... The contractions up to the point we'd arrived at the hospital had barely effaced me any more so I wasn't super happy about that! However, they monitored me for a while and at one point my husband told the nurse I was nauseous so she brought me in an anti-nausea pill (actually 4 because she didn't have the 1 dose pill.) Not 2 minutes later those pills and everything else came back up... A while later I got hooked up to an IV to give me the anti-nausea medication. Soon after that my husband started upchucking and we decided that we'd both caught the stomach bug our son had dealt with a few days before. However due to the IV medication (which didn't entirely help me not lose stomach contents a few times that night...) and fluids that came with it, I think I had an easier recovery than my husband. We spent the whole night at the hospital and my contractions managed to stop all by themselves somewhere around 5 or 6 (at which time I had actually dilated to 2 cm.) Let's just say that having a crazy annoying stomach flu and contractions isn't any fun! We left at 9 am after getting a few hours of sleep. I was the one who ended up driving as my husband was in no condition to do so... Luckily my mom kept our son for the whole day and we were able to go home and sleep a lot. By that evening we mostly just had the flu-achy feelings. We were also glad we didn't have a baby at this point as it would have been a bit miserable to be dealing with the flu and a newborn!

I had also made it to 38 weeks, which was nice since after our adventure at 36 weeks, we had only hoped to make it to 37... Then 38 weeks turned to 39 and I was wondering if this child was EVER going to make his entrance into the world!