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Tuesday, November 19
At around 6am Wednesday, when I wondered whether to start timing the pain in my upper belly, the nature of the pain changed. It didn't come and go, it just stuck around. I still wondered/hoped that this might be labor, but as I felt worse and worse, I also started to worry about whether I'd be able to handle labor if I was already feeling so in pain and sick. I hopped in the bath at about 7, which was wonderful. I shaved my legs - just in case! - and washed my hair, because the prospect of standing in a shower just sounded like too much.
Out of the bath, though, I was still so very uncomfortable. And a little worried. About what, I didn't know. We had a regular 39 week OB appointment scheduled with Dr. Locke later that morning, so I just figured I'd hold on until then. If it was labor, he could help me figure it out. If it was something else, we'd take care of it. Just in case, I edited and repacked my hospital bags. If it was labor, then we wanted to have our stuff in the car when we left for the appointment. During packing, I had to run to the bathroom to throw up - ick - and I started (again) thinking that this might actually be early labor.
Still uncomfy, I headed to the couch, wrapped myself up in a blanket, turned on the TV, and napped until it was time for our appointment. Our little kitten, Hilde, curled up behind my legs to take care of me. It was a good nap, and when I woke up, I was feeling a little better.
We headed over to the clinic, hospital bags in tow. The nurse taking my vitals and getting my info commented that pain and nausea like mine could certainly be a sign of early labor, so I started getting excited again. Until she took my blood pressure. Which was high. Dr. Locke came and checked me out - baby's heartbeat was good, still head-down, not dropped. My legs and feet were still swollen but not remarkably worse than last week. He did an internal check, and we were about where we were the week before. about 1.5cm dilated, nothing special. The blood pressure and pain in my upper belly worried him enough to order labs and a non-stress test for me, though. Hopefully to rule out preeclampsia.
So off to OB we went. Hedgehog was moving and heartbeat was good. My blood pressure remained high, but I was about to get blood drawn, so of course it was.
We hung out after labs until Dr. Locke came in to share results. Baby looked great! Everything else? Not so much. Protein in my urine. Elevated liver enzymes (pain in my belly was related to that). Swelling, high blood pressure...all signs pointed to preeclampsia. My mom had it when she was pregnant with me, which is why I was born six weeks early. So I wasn't unfamiliar with it.
Dr. Locke said that the only way to cure it or keep it from getting worse was just to deliver the baby. And so all of the sudden, we were getting set for an induction...right away! No "go home for half an hour and get your act together" or anything. Simply a "move next door, put on a gown, and we'll start getting ready for showtime."
Since my body hadn't made any meaningful progress on its own at this point, he recommended that we try to get my cervix dilated at least to 4cm before starting the pitocin. This involved inserting a catheter into my cervix, blowing it up, and then letting my body react to it by dilating and softening the cervix. Apparently this works surprisingly well, and rather quickly.
So all of the sudden, when we moved over to the other room and got settled, a huge number of things happened at once. They put IV locks in both of my hands. The right hand was hooked up immediately to IV liquids (to head off dehydration) and magnesium sulfate (to prevent against seizures - a routine intervention for preeclampsia deliveries). I had a baby monitor and contraction monitor strapped to my belly, I had blood pressure cuff attached to one arm and a pulse-oxygen meter on one finger. The left hand was all set for when we would start the pitocin drip. They put the catheter in my cervix, and because of all of my other IVs, they also put in a regular catheter, because I wasn't going to get to leave the bed.
This was a huge bummer for me. I figured that I could deal with labor so long as I could move around. Walking, changing position, sitting in the tub - I was relying on all of those things to keep me in IV pain med territory, and not in epidural territory.
But here I was now, in bed, hooked up to all sorts of tubes, propped up with pillows on my left side to help with my blood pressure. I'll admit - the nest of pillows was actually really comfortable. It just sucked because I couldn't roll over on my own, so when my hips got tired, I needed a nurse and Matt to help shift pillows and hold tubes while I turned over.
Also, because of the magnesium, I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. ANYTHING. Not even ice chips. That made me cranky. But again, no other option.
Getting all of this set up took about an hour. I remember feeling just generally sad and scared. I didn't know what to expect, but I did know that I trusted my doctor, and I wanted to be safe and healthy, and I wanted my baby healthy. So no matter how much I hated what was going on, I knew there was no other option. And I was happy that everything was still a go for a regular delivery.
Once things quieted down, I started feeling more relaxed. I read some magazines, listened to some music, and before I knew it, my parents and sister showed up (they hopped in the car the second I called them to tell them that I was being induced).
I don't think they stayed too long, but I really don't remember. Magnesium sulfate, they warned me, makes you really groggy. And so while I remember feeling alert and conversational while people were around, I do not, AT ALL, remember those conversations.
I had called into the church office when the induction started, too, to share the news and to have them call Owen, the retired pastor in the congregation who was serving as my back-up that week (because my sr. pastor was out of town). He came over for a quick visit and to pray for me and the baby. It was lovely. Jenine, another friend on staff also came by to say hello and pray with us.
The afternoon and evening are a total blur to me. I know that we never turned on the TV. I know that the nurses dimmed the lights in the room pretty immediately once we got settled (about 2pm). I know that I was feeling small contractions, and feeling gleeful about them - I kept having Matt check the monitor to confirm the contractions, and it almost turned into a game.
At some point - maybe around 8pm? - Dr. Locke came and checked me and was surprised/frustrated that I hadn't made it to 4cm yet. Usually the catheter trick works faster than that. But no worries. Originally the hope was that they'd give me the pitocin and a sleeping pill for overnight. Instead, they just gave me the sleeping pill and we all hoped that I'd make progress overnight.
It was a weird night. Despite the pill, I'd wake up every hour when they came to check vitals, and every couple hours, I'd have them help me roll over to get comfortable. All noticeable contractions had stopped. Matt was trying his best to sleep in the recliner chair across the room. My blood pressure kept going up, so they started giving me additional blood pressure medication, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't.
Tuesday, November 19
At around 6am Wednesday, when I wondered whether to start timing the pain in my upper belly, the nature of the pain changed. It didn't come and go, it just stuck around. I still wondered/hoped that this might be labor, but as I felt worse and worse, I also started to worry about whether I'd be able to handle labor if I was already feeling so in pain and sick. I hopped in the bath at about 7, which was wonderful. I shaved my legs - just in case! - and washed my hair, because the prospect of standing in a shower just sounded like too much.
Out of the bath, though, I was still so very uncomfortable. And a little worried. About what, I didn't know. We had a regular 39 week OB appointment scheduled with Dr. Locke later that morning, so I just figured I'd hold on until then. If it was labor, he could help me figure it out. If it was something else, we'd take care of it. Just in case, I edited and repacked my hospital bags. If it was labor, then we wanted to have our stuff in the car when we left for the appointment. During packing, I had to run to the bathroom to throw up - ick - and I started (again) thinking that this might actually be early labor.
Still uncomfy, I headed to the couch, wrapped myself up in a blanket, turned on the TV, and napped until it was time for our appointment. Our little kitten, Hilde, curled up behind my legs to take care of me. It was a good nap, and when I woke up, I was feeling a little better.
We headed over to the clinic, hospital bags in tow. The nurse taking my vitals and getting my info commented that pain and nausea like mine could certainly be a sign of early labor, so I started getting excited again. Until she took my blood pressure. Which was high. Dr. Locke came and checked me out - baby's heartbeat was good, still head-down, not dropped. My legs and feet were still swollen but not remarkably worse than last week. He did an internal check, and we were about where we were the week before. about 1.5cm dilated, nothing special. The blood pressure and pain in my upper belly worried him enough to order labs and a non-stress test for me, though. Hopefully to rule out preeclampsia.
So off to OB we went. Hedgehog was moving and heartbeat was good. My blood pressure remained high, but I was about to get blood drawn, so of course it was.
We hung out after labs until Dr. Locke came in to share results. Baby looked great! Everything else? Not so much. Protein in my urine. Elevated liver enzymes (pain in my belly was related to that). Swelling, high blood pressure...all signs pointed to preeclampsia. My mom had it when she was pregnant with me, which is why I was born six weeks early. So I wasn't unfamiliar with it.
Dr. Locke said that the only way to cure it or keep it from getting worse was just to deliver the baby. And so all of the sudden, we were getting set for an induction...right away! No "go home for half an hour and get your act together" or anything. Simply a "move next door, put on a gown, and we'll start getting ready for showtime."
Since my body hadn't made any meaningful progress on its own at this point, he recommended that we try to get my cervix dilated at least to 4cm before starting the pitocin. This involved inserting a catheter into my cervix, blowing it up, and then letting my body react to it by dilating and softening the cervix. Apparently this works surprisingly well, and rather quickly.
So all of the sudden, when we moved over to the other room and got settled, a huge number of things happened at once. They put IV locks in both of my hands. The right hand was hooked up immediately to IV liquids (to head off dehydration) and magnesium sulfate (to prevent against seizures - a routine intervention for preeclampsia deliveries). I had a baby monitor and contraction monitor strapped to my belly, I had blood pressure cuff attached to one arm and a pulse-oxygen meter on one finger. The left hand was all set for when we would start the pitocin drip. They put the catheter in my cervix, and because of all of my other IVs, they also put in a regular catheter, because I wasn't going to get to leave the bed.
This was a huge bummer for me. I figured that I could deal with labor so long as I could move around. Walking, changing position, sitting in the tub - I was relying on all of those things to keep me in IV pain med territory, and not in epidural territory.
But here I was now, in bed, hooked up to all sorts of tubes, propped up with pillows on my left side to help with my blood pressure. I'll admit - the nest of pillows was actually really comfortable. It just sucked because I couldn't roll over on my own, so when my hips got tired, I needed a nurse and Matt to help shift pillows and hold tubes while I turned over.
Also, because of the magnesium, I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. ANYTHING. Not even ice chips. That made me cranky. But again, no other option.
Getting all of this set up took about an hour. I remember feeling just generally sad and scared. I didn't know what to expect, but I did know that I trusted my doctor, and I wanted to be safe and healthy, and I wanted my baby healthy. So no matter how much I hated what was going on, I knew there was no other option. And I was happy that everything was still a go for a regular delivery.
Once things quieted down, I started feeling more relaxed. I read some magazines, listened to some music, and before I knew it, my parents and sister showed up (they hopped in the car the second I called them to tell them that I was being induced).
I don't think they stayed too long, but I really don't remember. Magnesium sulfate, they warned me, makes you really groggy. And so while I remember feeling alert and conversational while people were around, I do not, AT ALL, remember those conversations.
I had called into the church office when the induction started, too, to share the news and to have them call Owen, the retired pastor in the congregation who was serving as my back-up that week (because my sr. pastor was out of town). He came over for a quick visit and to pray for me and the baby. It was lovely. Jenine, another friend on staff also came by to say hello and pray with us.
The afternoon and evening are a total blur to me. I know that we never turned on the TV. I know that the nurses dimmed the lights in the room pretty immediately once we got settled (about 2pm). I know that I was feeling small contractions, and feeling gleeful about them - I kept having Matt check the monitor to confirm the contractions, and it almost turned into a game.
At some point - maybe around 8pm? - Dr. Locke came and checked me and was surprised/frustrated that I hadn't made it to 4cm yet. Usually the catheter trick works faster than that. But no worries. Originally the hope was that they'd give me the pitocin and a sleeping pill for overnight. Instead, they just gave me the sleeping pill and we all hoped that I'd make progress overnight.
It was a weird night. Despite the pill, I'd wake up every hour when they came to check vitals, and every couple hours, I'd have them help me roll over to get comfortable. All noticeable contractions had stopped. Matt was trying his best to sleep in the recliner chair across the room. My blood pressure kept going up, so they started giving me additional blood pressure medication, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't.
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