I guess it all started on Sunday July 20th, we were scheduled for induction at 4pm. That morning Mr. G and I went to church, enjoyed a nice lunch and I took a long shower as I didn't know when I would be able to shower again.
Of course a couple of final pics of me pregnant and the two of us as a family of 2 were taken before going to the hospital.
Of course a couple of final pics of me pregnant and the two of us as a family of 2 were taken before going to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital just before 4pm and finished a little paperwork before being introduced to our nurse and taken to room 3640 where we would spend the next 30+ hours waiting for our little lady to arrive.
Our first nurse Aubrey took us to our room, I changed clothes and we started with getting all of my vitals and hooking me up to the fetal heartrate monitor to get a read on Baby G and to the contraction monitor as well.
We quickly found out that I was contracting on my own even though I didn't realize it. All settled in...
My doctor had ordered the ripening medication that is placed, via a tablet, every 4 hours. However, our nurse Aubrey thought that the 12 hour ripening medication was a better idea because if they needed to stop the meds all they would need to do would be take it out instead of giving me IV meds to stop the 4 hour medication. So we waited for the order to be changed, I had not made any additional progress so I was starting the labor process at barely a 1 and my cervix had not thinned much at all.
Once the medication had been placed I needed to be in bed for 2 hours and then only get up to use the restroom before returning to bed. The medication was placed at about 6pm. My family stopped to visit shortly after that while Mr. G got some dinner.
My lower back was hurting quite a bit, I figured it was just the uncomfortable bed...little did I know.
After my family left we attempted to get settled in for some sleep, we knew it would be difficult but also knew that it was necessary. I was in so much lower back pain all night, I could not get comfortable and felt like I wasn't able to move because of the monitors. I was required to be on the monitor because of the medication I was on.
On top of what turned out to be the beginning of back labor Olivia was moving so much inside that the monitor would lose her heartrate and our nurse (Suzanne-overnight nurse) would need to keep coming in to fix the monitor.
At around 3:30am, after Suzanne had fixed the heartrate monitor too many times to count, another nurse came in to help. She found the heartrate high on my belly which caused her to wonder if the baby had flipped and was at that time breach. I told her that the baby was head down but they wanted to do an ultrasound quickly to verify that. I think three nurses came bustling into the room and it seemed like they were all sure that the baby had flipped and was not head down, I insisted that I knew she was head down but they didn't listen. Of course I was right and they had just located a good heartrate at the top of my belly.
Mr. G and I got about 3 hours of sleep that first night, it was rough but we hoped that we would have a baby girl in our arms sometime Monday so we were excited. Again...little did we know.
At 6am Monday morning the medicine was taken out and I was checked, I had made very little progress in the 12 hours it had been in. My doctor had ordered pitocin so our nurse (Jenny - Monday day nurse) suggested I take a shower, order some breakfast and then we would start the pitocin. So I did all that and was feeling better. The pitocin was started around 8am and at 10am the doctor performing rounds for my clinic came in to break my water. Here is where we get to a little TMI ladies...if you want to skip this part that is fine.
Normally breaking a womans water isn't overly painful however because my cervix was basically closed the doctor had to insert two fingers and manually open my cervix in order to break my water. As if it wasn't bad enough, the first time her finger slipped so she had to do it again! I was screaming in pain, it was absolutely horrific.
After my water had broken the nurse began the pitocin, she told me that they would turn up the medicine periodically throughout the day based on my doctors orders. Jenny asked if I wanted to know when she was turning up the meds, I said no. I insisted on being able to get out of bed, I was so uncomforable with the back labor. Once the pitocin was up and running I became extremely uncomforable, I would move from standing over the bed to sitting on the exercise ball to sitting on the toilet....this rotation continued most of the day. Mr. G was incredible, he would talk to me when I wanted to be talked to, he put pressure on my back, he soothed me...overall he was the perfect labor coach.
At about 1pm my sisters came to sit with me so Mr. G could go get some lunch and take a break, my older sister does not have children and really wanted to experience the labor process with me. Well, she got her chance! I was in an extreme amount of pain while they were sitting with me, they helped keep me calm and put pressure on my back as well as helping me move from each position. We now laugh about it but everytime I would move more fluid would gush out of me...and each time my sisters would help clean me up with the help of our amazing nurse Jenny. Unfortunately the hospital sent Jenny home due to overstaffing and we got a new nurse and for the life of me I cannot remember her name so I will call her Mary. Mary was my nurse from about 3pm-7pm which were times when I was in the most pain.
At around 3pm my contractions were occuring one right after another, I was not getting a break at all and could not catch my breath. I was beginning to lose the concentration I had maintained all day, I started to hyperventilate and just sort of lost it. My younger sister looked at me and sternly said, "You do not need to be a hero, take the drugs to help you". I had always said I planned to get an epidural but I wanted to get to a 4-5 prior to asking for them, because of the pitocin that was just not an option. When Mr. G came back from lunch he immediately asked my sisters to leave (he could see how much pain I was in) and got right down in my face and asked me what I needed. I looked him straight in the eyes and said, "GIVE ME THE GOOD STUFF"! That's all it took and the epidural was ordered.
Part 2 will pick up at the epidural....hope to post it tomorrow.
With love,
Mrs.G
Mr. G and I got about 3 hours of sleep that first night, it was rough but we hoped that we would have a baby girl in our arms sometime Monday so we were excited. Again...little did we know.
At 6am Monday morning the medicine was taken out and I was checked, I had made very little progress in the 12 hours it had been in. My doctor had ordered pitocin so our nurse (Jenny - Monday day nurse) suggested I take a shower, order some breakfast and then we would start the pitocin. So I did all that and was feeling better. The pitocin was started around 8am and at 10am the doctor performing rounds for my clinic came in to break my water. Here is where we get to a little TMI ladies...if you want to skip this part that is fine.
Normally breaking a womans water isn't overly painful however because my cervix was basically closed the doctor had to insert two fingers and manually open my cervix in order to break my water. As if it wasn't bad enough, the first time her finger slipped so she had to do it again! I was screaming in pain, it was absolutely horrific.
After my water had broken the nurse began the pitocin, she told me that they would turn up the medicine periodically throughout the day based on my doctors orders. Jenny asked if I wanted to know when she was turning up the meds, I said no. I insisted on being able to get out of bed, I was so uncomforable with the back labor. Once the pitocin was up and running I became extremely uncomforable, I would move from standing over the bed to sitting on the exercise ball to sitting on the toilet....this rotation continued most of the day. Mr. G was incredible, he would talk to me when I wanted to be talked to, he put pressure on my back, he soothed me...overall he was the perfect labor coach.
At about 1pm my sisters came to sit with me so Mr. G could go get some lunch and take a break, my older sister does not have children and really wanted to experience the labor process with me. Well, she got her chance! I was in an extreme amount of pain while they were sitting with me, they helped keep me calm and put pressure on my back as well as helping me move from each position. We now laugh about it but everytime I would move more fluid would gush out of me...and each time my sisters would help clean me up with the help of our amazing nurse Jenny. Unfortunately the hospital sent Jenny home due to overstaffing and we got a new nurse and for the life of me I cannot remember her name so I will call her Mary. Mary was my nurse from about 3pm-7pm which were times when I was in the most pain.
At around 3pm my contractions were occuring one right after another, I was not getting a break at all and could not catch my breath. I was beginning to lose the concentration I had maintained all day, I started to hyperventilate and just sort of lost it. My younger sister looked at me and sternly said, "You do not need to be a hero, take the drugs to help you". I had always said I planned to get an epidural but I wanted to get to a 4-5 prior to asking for them, because of the pitocin that was just not an option. When Mr. G came back from lunch he immediately asked my sisters to leave (he could see how much pain I was in) and got right down in my face and asked me what I needed. I looked him straight in the eyes and said, "GIVE ME THE GOOD STUFF"! That's all it took and the epidural was ordered.
Part 2 will pick up at the epidural....hope to post it tomorrow.
