Birth Story, Part One

I thought that with Jack's first birthday coming up, it would be a good time to write up his birth story. It is strange to think back to that day almost a year ago, and I want to get the story on paper before I start forgetting the little details. So here's the first part of the story:

Since Monday was supposed to be the big “induction day,” I had to check into the hospital the night before. I had to be at the hospital by 8 pm on Sunday night to check in. On our way to the hospital, Terry and I stopped at Wegman’s to pick up sandwiches for dinner. After parking in the garage, Terry carried my two bags of what I would later discover was mostly useless stuff (the make up I brought? Never touched. The clothes that I brought? Never worn. The magazines and books I brought? Sat unread at the bottom of the bag. If I had only known, I would have left all that stuff at home and saved Terry the effort).

After almost getting lost on the way to the check-in desk, Terry and I were able to check-in and were led to our “birthing room.” While I changed into the requisite hospital gown, Terry started to unpack. He set up my ipod on the table nearby and put my pillows from home on the bed. Soon, our night nurse came in and introduced herself as Katrina. She was really young, having just graduated from JMU in May 2006, but was incredibly nice. I couldn’t believe that someone so young was so mature, but she made me feel comfortable. Her perkiness was infectious. She helped to set me up on the heart rate monitor and the contraction monitor and let us get settled into our room.

One of my biggest fears, almost as much as the actual delivery, was getting an IV. I had heard horror stories about nurses missing the vein and having to repeatedly try to get the needle in. And these aren’t just your normal needles, these are super wide pieces of steel. But Katrina took her time evaluating my veins, trying to decide if it would be better to use my left or right arm, and was able to set up my IV on the first try with very little pain. Whew, one painful experience down, only a zillion more painful encounters to go…

Over the course of the next couple hours, Terry and I tried to watch some television in between visits from various medical professionals. One woman examined me and inserted the Cervadil. Apparently this medication is supposed to ripen the cervix to prepare it for birth. I’m not sure if this is the case or not, but I do know that this hurt hurt hurt. I’m almost certain that it was the exam and not the medication that led to my water breaking a few hours later. At this point, I was only about a half centimeter dilated.

Around midnight, Katrina came in and gave me a couple sleeping pills to help me sleep. Terry and I turned off the lights and we both did our best to try to sleep. At one point, I rolled over (well, attempted to roll, because between my gianormous belly and all of the wires I was hooked up to, it was nearly impossible to move) and felt a gush of wetness, which I knew was my water breaking. It was three am. The next time Katrina came in to check on me, she discovered that my water had broke and called in the on-call doctor, Dr. Barry. He said that I could get my epidural if I wanted to and suggested that it was better to get it early. I said sign me up!

Around 4:30 am, the anesthesiologist came in to set up my epidural. Since I have a huge fear of needles, I decided that it was best not to look at what was about to be stuck in me. I just closed my eyes and waited for it to be over with. To my surprise, it didn’t hurt at all. The anesthesiologist was a nice man with a daughter that was getting ready to head off to UVA for her first year at college. We spent a while discussing UVA and JMU and I almost forgot for a second that I was in labor.