The Story of our Son

Three weeks ago today I awoke to a new world. I'd had irregular contractions all night long, but thankfully, had slept some.
Christie showed up at 8 to take me to my "surprise".
It was breakfast.
With all the pregnant sisters, and my dear, dear, dear, friend Katie, who was driving through town and wanted to surprise me. She so badly wanted to be able to be at the hospital when I delivered, but being almost 5 hours away and having two young children does not make it easy to jump in the car at the drop of a hat. And seeing as I was to be induced on Sunday night and she was going to be on vacation with her family, she wanted to see me (and all of us) one last time before babies came. It was also at breakfast that Katie made her final prediction on babies. She's been right on all 3 so far...so we'll see if she's right about Sara too.

So I went back home. Scott had taken the day off due to being up all night timing contractions. We proceeded to bask in the gloriousness of doing nothing all day. We watched all our recorded shows, I finished the book I've been reading, and I think I even let Scott watch sports. All along the contractions would come. Slowly, steadily, surely. Growing gradually closer and more intense. Every 20 minutes. Every 15 minutes. Every 10 minutes. EXCITEMENT PEOPLE! MAS EXCITEMENT!
Then around 2 in the afternoon things changed.
(FOR ANY GUYS READING THIS, SKIP TO THE NEXT LINE BREAK)
I lost my mucus plug, or what I like to call a long unending disgusting show of mucus and from there consistency really kicked in.

From that point on every 8 minutes.
Wow, this is it, we could be at the hospital a few hours!

By around 7 in the evening I was miserable. I couldn't quite figure out when the contractions would begin or end because I was having such bad back labor that the pain was just a steady stream of pain, only increasing slightly with the contractions. I ran myself a super hot bath thinking it would relax my back. No such luck. It just brought on contractions harder and stronger. Contractions started coming every 5 minutes, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.

I looked at Scott.
Call the hospital, I want to go now.

(This coming from the girl who had it in her head that she was going to try and be at home as long as possible. But at this point all I could focus on was getting to the hospital. Because the hospital had drugs. Yummy, yummy drugs.)

He called.
The nurse said with first time babies they want 3-5 minutes contractions for at least an hour before I come in.

AN HOUR!!! ARE YOU INSANE??!!!

I wanted to cry. Instead I drew myself another hot bath.
That did the trick. Within in minutes my contractions were every 2 minutes, every minute in a half, then every 2 minutes again. After a half hour of misery, pure misery I told Scott, call them back. I'm coming.

We got in the car. The pain gripped me so intensely I didn't want to breathe. I remember crying because I hurt so badly. Because the look on Scott's face was sheer panic. Like what do I do? How do I help? I remember apologizing to him, telling him I know it must be hard for him to see me like this, to feel helpless. He held my hand and told me it was okay, our baby was coming.

We had decided ahead of time not to call moms until we were at the hospital. We didn't wait. Scott called his. And between my shrieks and crying I called mine. Dad answered. I don't remembering saying hello, or goodbye, just "we're going to the hospital". Much more then that I couldn't say. Sounds dramatic I know, but that car ride seemed forever long. And then once we got to the hospital, another obstacle...wait, I'm supposed to walk down that LONG hallway? I'm supposed to coherently answer questions about allergies and my medical history? SERIOUSLY CAN'T YOU HAVE DRUGS WAITING FOR ME IN THE PARKING LOT????

And of course they can't give you anything until you're officially admitted,
(which seemed to take an eternity)
and you can't have an epidural until you are at least dilated to a good 3 to 4 cm.
They finally checked me, I was 1, almost 2. THAT'S IT???!!!!!

My parents showed up. At one point I wanted to kick out my dad because he wouldn't stop whispering. And he's a loud whisperer.

Then I threw up.

I remember holding Scott's entire arm, curling up on my side and just trying to breath.
The nurse came back and checked me again, I was 3-4 cm. Praise the Lord.

Then I threw up again.

Lovely.

While I waited for the fluid bag to empty so I could get an epidural, the nurse, Alissa, who quickly became my best friend, gave me a shot of a drug I can't spell into my IV. Bliss, pure bliss people. The pain didn't go away, but I was finally a little bit comfortable. And the back pain in between contractions went away enough that I could rest in between each contraction.

Not long after that Alissa came back in.

Lorie, we’re going to put you on some oxygen okay?

Sure.
(I was that happy after the IV drug)

Lorie, can you lay on your side for me?

Sure.

Okay, good.
The babies’ heart rate is doing some funny things, but everything is looking good now, but we’re going to keep the oxygen on just to keep on eye on things.

Sure.

Not long after that it was time for the epidural. I remember desperately wanting it, but fearing the needle, fearing the side effects, fearing the unknown. My parents left the room. Scott helped me sit up. He stood in front of me, supporting me, holding my hand. My champion. As soon as the epidural was done I was able to lie back down. I finally met the doctor who would be delivering me, Dr. Tsai. He was young, quiet, but calm and informative. He checked me. Explained that they still didn’t like what the baby’s heart rate was doing and that he was going to do an internal monitor on the baby’s head to get a better read of the heart rate. While “in” he was going to break my water. The baby’s heart rate, while not 100% perfect was stable.

This is where I get confused. He said I had no water. That they might even add fluid depending on how long I labor.

So wait…did I break my water on Sunday? And if so…um, today is FRIDAY.
And doctors want babies to be delivered within 24 hours of water breaking…But I had a regular check up on Wednesday…wouldn’t my doctor have noticed if my water was gone????

So Dr. Tsai left the room to go deliver two doors down. He said he’d be back to check on me when he was done. And then he was out the door.

And mere seconds later our lives began to change yet again.