Soren's Story (Part 2)

During my entire pregnancy, the only action I felt was Soren rolling around in my uterus giving my the occasion jab. No contractions. No Braxton-Hicks. I just got big! Because everything was so calm, my doctor thought it would be a good idea to try couple of things to stimulate some activity, but nothing. On January 9, 2009 (4 days after my due date) I had a non-stress test done. Everything looked good, but no action. On January 13, 2009, another non-stress test was done and still no action. I pleaded with my doctor to just let me go a little longer to see if we could get anything going on our own. She gave me until Friday, January 16, 2009, but also sent me home with induction order and appointment in Labor and Delivery. This was very disheartening. I had heard a million stories about how difficult induced labor could be and I wanted so badly to have everything happen on its own. The next few days came and went and nothing so we prepared ourselves for our early morning appointment at the hospital for an induction.

On morning of January 16, 2009 we were both pretty calm. We got ready and I ate a huge breakfast because I knew they wouldn't let me eat anything after I got there. We bundled up and put our bags in the car. It was absolutely freezing that morning with record setting tempertures. I remember sitting in the car paying attention to every detail of the ride. Thinking of how the next time we traveled these roads we would have a baby. I remember looking at my ever so big belly. I remember looking at my husband with such joy. I remember the twists in the road, the stop lights, getting off the exit to the hospital, pulling up the valet, getting on the elevator, and standing at the Labor and Delivery window. I couldn't believe we were at this point. This was actually us.

Once we got check-in, we were escorted to our room and asked to change into the ever so becoming hospital gown - this was weird for me, I don't know why, it just was. We got all settled in. I called my Mom to let her know we were there and she told me ask for a topical drug to numb my IV spot because she knows how much I detest needles, especially IV needles - this was the best idea ever!! Zane and I chilled for few hours, watched a movie, listened to music, and I ate at least 5 popsicles just because I was allowed. A few hours is all it took. Before long the contractions started and after each one I would ask Zane with my eyes closed, "is it over yet, is it over?". I closed my eyes a lot during my labor, I guess it was my way of dealing with the pain. A few hours later I tried moving around and going to the bathroom to shake things up a bit. Well, it definitely shook things up a bit, but mostly in the way of all the popsicles I ate. Yuck. The next several hours were full of contractions, but I refused medication until I got to 7 cm and then I just couldn't not take it any more. I got some Nuban in my IV, but that didn't work much and then I settled on an epidural.Yes, I originally feared the needle in my back, but at this point, I did NOT care. The most uncomfortable part was sitting absolutely still while they inserted the needle into my back during a contraction, but it worked - praise the Lord. After the epidural, they told us to rest for a while. We did until the epidural started to wear off on one side and it had to be partially redone.

I was checked by the nurse again (seemed like the 80 millionth time) and was told that I was at 10 cm, but I didn't feel the urge to push. She let us rest a little while longer and then came back to check me. Bad news - I went back down to 9 cm - is this possible? A few comments were made that there might not be anything else that can be done, but I insisted on trying a few more things to get me to move back up to 10cm - I did not want a c-section! We tried and tried and tried, but nothing worked. We were told around 7:00 am-ish (on January 17, 2010) that we were going to have to have a c-section. I cried. I wasn't prepared for this, this wasn't the plan! Before I knew it Zane was changing into his "surgery" clothes and we all (all, being 4-5 other labor and delivery professionals) were hanging out in my room waiting for my doctor to arrive.