I was awoken at 2:30 AM by some uncomfortable cramping and pressure in my lower abdomen and back. It felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, so I hauled myself out of bed (for the umpteenth time) and off I went. Nothing. When I wiped, I noticed that the discharge had turned orange, and I had a sneaking suspicion this was bloody show. Since sitting on the toilet wasn't very comfortable (foreshadowing!), I headed back to bed, but I couldn't sleep. Every time I would think I had gotten comfortable, the pressure and cramping would return. For a while, I thought it was just the the discomfort of being REALLY pregnant (although my husband always says you can't be really pregnant – you either are or you aren't). After 45 minutes or so, I finally realized that the cramps were continuously coming and going and decided to time them since I couldn't sleep anyway. They were 10-15 minutes apart and lasting 25-45 seconds – I was having contractions, time-able ones, on my own!!!! Since I never contracted on my own with Eli, I was pretty excited about this, and I was hopeful that things would continue. Around 4:30 AM I turned on my Hypnobabies tracks to help me relax, and I fell asleep. When I woke up around 7 AM they were gone.
At 10:30, we arrived at See Baby (the amazing office of our midwives' back-up physician – seriously, it's like a spa). I let the staff know that I also had an appointment for Monday morning, but that there was a very good chance I would be having my baby before then. They just smiled and nodded...I don't think they believed me at all!
We were called back and I laid on the table (which is more like a comfy lounge chair whose only resemblance to a doctor's table is the paper sheet on it), the monitor was placed, and I was given a button to push every time I felt Waffle move. Basically, the idea is to see how her heart rate reacts to movement. While I was laying there waiting for her to move (she was always more of a late night mover, so I wasn't worried), I had a contraction. I felt it AND saw it on the monitor at the same time. I watched her heart rate dip 20 beats at the beginning and then recover nicely as the contraction continued. Since the tech wasn't in the room with us when this happened, I explained what we were watching to Joel. I'm sure it didn't interest him one bit, but I was excited to see her react so well anyway (and to see myself have a contraction). We sat there, and sat there and she FINALLY decided to move – away from the monitors! She did not want anything to do with them, and she let us know. She did this several times. We would catch her heart beat, the strap would be readjusted, and then she would finally move, I would hit the button, and we would promptly lose her heartbeat. She also wanted to let me know she didn't like the pressure of the contraction monitor sitting on her hip (it was at the top of my uterus) and would push against it. This made me laugh. After about 20 or 30 minutes, the tech declared we were done (although I was pretty sure we had not passed because she didn't want to cooperate). As I suspected, she showed the strip to Dr. Bootstaylor (DocB) and he wanted us to do a BPP (biophysical profile) because he wasn't “reassured” by the NST strip.
The BPP went perfectly. They are scored out of 10, and Waffle got a perfect score! Her fluid level was measured at 18.45 which convinced DocB that my membranes were still intact. Even with those numbers, I still knew that I was right. There was a leak from SOMEWHERE. DocB was very nice when he tried to explain to me that it was likely that I had “just had a little bladder problem”, though.
When we got back to the car, I called Anjli. I was all set to give her the low-down on what had happened at See Baby, but apparently DocB has super fast texting skills and had already given her an update! That was VERY impressive. She said that she was at the hospital with another mom in labor, but would meet us at the office (which is closed on Fridays) at 1 PM to do a swab and see for certain whether or not my membranes had ruptured.
Since it was only 11:30, Joel and I took our time driving the 3 miles down the road to the midwives' office. We decided to get lunch at the food court at the hospital, which included a yummy cookies and cream milkshake from Chick-fil-a! I probably should have had that BEFORE the NST...oops!
We went up to the office and had to call Anjli to let us in since the door was locked. I thought it was SO nice of her to let us come to the office instead of having to go to the hospital, which is a much bigger ordeal. Plus, if I went to the hospital with ruptured membranes, they would have tried to keep me. She let us in and explained a lovely scenario of what we might do if my membranes hadn't ruptured. I wish I could remember the plan she had, but it was a good one! Everyone was SO convinced everything was intact – except me.
Going under the assumption that my water was, in fact, broken, Anjli had brought out a sterile tray with a sterile speculum. Her plan was to look and see if she could see any fluid leaking, and then swab to test for sure. She had to do this whole procedure without gel (not the most comfortable experience) because it could alter what she was looking at. She told me she didn't see anything leaking, but as soon as she placed the swab it instantly revealed what I already knew – my water had broken (about 39 hours ago, at this point). I think her reaction was something along the lines of, “Oh, yep! That changes our plans.” Because the risk of infection is increased every time something is introduced into the vagina after the sac has ruptured, Anjli didn't want to actually check my status, but she did a guess (based on what she saw when she was looking for the fluid) and told me I looked “about 1 cm”. That is NOT the greatest news to hear when you know that your baby needs to come out soon. I allowed myself to be disappointed for all of 30 seconds.
One of the things I love most about Anjli is that she always treated us like we were all members of the same team, which essentially, we are. I think, in all practices, the goal is a good outcome for mom and baby, but, for Anjli, how we got to that goal mattered as much to her as it did to us. And to me, it mattered a lot. A whole lot.
Unfortunately, we were nearing the end of her (and DocB's) 48 hour window of waiting for labor to start on its own so we needed to discuss our plan of action. Anjli asked me how I felt about pitocin. I told her that pain-wise it didn't bother me as I had been induced with it during Eli's labor and handled it fine. As far as the increased risk of rupture with me being a VBAC, it was a risk I would prefer to take before walking into an OR for repeat surgery. Hands down. We (all three of us) decided that I would go back to the acupuncturist for another treatment, and then we would walk or do some additional acupressure at home before meeting at the hospital around 9 PM for induction. She told us to call her when we were on our way in so that she could let the nurses know.
After we left the office, we headed over to the acupuncturist for my second treatment. As we were sitting in the parking lot waiting for 2 PM to roll around, I somehow managed to accidentally call (and hang up on) Christine (our other doula) at least 2 or 3 times. We finally got to talk and went over what Joel and I had discussed with Anjli. Christine suggested doing the acupuncture and then going home and taking a nap before dinner, since going to the hospital and laboring were going to happen through the night. This sounded like a good plan to me, although I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing what was coming. We also discussed possible methods of induction so that I could think about what I wanted before having to decide. I was pleased to have found out that pitocin was not off the table for me, as we had previously thought, and we also knew that since I wasn't very dilated (per the visual exam) a foley bulb was still a possibility. I knew that I wanted to start with the least risky interventions, so if my dilation was the same when we got to the hospital, I decided I would ask for the foley (even though I was told it was one of the more painful interventions).
The second acupuncture treatment went really well. As soon as the needles were in, Waffle started moving all over the place and the cramping started back up. It got more regular and a little more intense as the treatment progressed. The difference, this time, is that after the treatment, the cramping didn't stop! I told Joel that I had a little discomfort, but I didn't tell him that anything was happening because I was afraid saying something would make everything stop.
Round #2 of acupuncture
When we got home, we laid down for a nap. I turned on my Hypnobabies tracks, once again, and they worked like a charm and I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was excited to notice that the cramping was still coming every so often (maybe every 15 minutes)! We got up and went to dinner with my parents and Eli. I asked to go to Sweet Tomatoes because I knew I could get some soup and other nourishing foods for (what I thought would be) the long labor ahead of us. Because of the crampiness, I didn't have much appetite, but I managed to eat some chicken soup and a few other things. My toddler EASILY ate enough to make up for me not eating! After dinner, we headed home to finish packing the car and put Eli to bed for the last time as an only child.
Around 8:15 PM we left for the hospital. It was a quick drive, with very little traffic. I felt bittersweet about the whole thing. I really like that going to the hospital was such a non-event for both of my births (it is especially nice to do paperwork without the distraction of labor), but at the same time, I was hoping that THIS time I would get to be one of those women who would dramatically stop every five feet and lean on my husband or doula or the wall in the throws of a contraction. I wanted so badly to be in labor on my own (I sort of was, but it was very early, piddly labor). Oh well, maybe next time!
As we headed down the interstate and turned onto the street in front of the hospital, I put my headphones in my ears and turned on my Hypnobabies tracks. We had had a very difficult time putting the tracks onto my mp3 player, so finding the track I wanted was a bit of a challenge. At first, I thought Easy 1st Stage never even made it onto the device (and was about to lose it over this minor issue), but just as we made that turn I found the track! I felt a huge sense of relief as I turned it on and allowed myself to relax and just go with the process.
I had called Anjli when we were on our way, but had to leave a message because she didn't answer. I figured she was with the mom that was laboring earlier in the day, and she would probably call us back. We arrived at the hospital at about 8:45 and went up to Labor & Delivery. We checked in at the desk and told the nurse that our midwife had sent us to be induced. I really enjoyed the look on her face when I told her my water had been broken since Wednesday night! They apparently did not know I was coming (because Anjli was busy with the other mom) so they put us in triage until they talked to her.
Our triage nurse was very nice. She came in and had me change my clothes and get settled on the bed. She offered me a hospital gown, but told me she didn't really care if I wore it or not. Since I had been planning to wear a tank top and the birthing skirt I made, it was nice to know that I wasn't going to have to start my experience with an argument of any kind. The nurse hooked me up to the monitor and seemed intrigued by my skirt, but appreciated the way I had made it user-friendly for the staff. After I was all wired up, she asked me some questions and someone from lab came to take my blood. The nurse said she wasn't going to check me since my water had broken and we knew Anjli would be there soon.
My "hard-on-the-eyes, but incredibly comfortable" birthing skirt!
Trying to be a good patient. I was either texting my doulas or posting on ICAN on my phone...
The whole time I was sitting in triage I continued to feel crampy, and laying in bed was really not very comfortable. Every time I tried to adjust myself Waffle would come off the monitor, but I didn't care since that whole thing was for the staff and did absolutely nothing to enhance my experience. Around 9:15 PM Anjli came to see us. She apologized for us having to be in triage when we should have been directly admitted (didn't bother us – we're very easy-going). She noticed me holding my beads and asked me if they were from a Blessingway. She told me she had thrown several for some of her friends, and thought they were great. I was excited to show her the beads and tell her a little bit about some of them. After this, she got ready to check me and see where we were starting from. It was really comical to watch Joel be her “assistant” and help open packages of lube. It was a big production. The final result of her exam? 3-4 cm/80%/ about 0 station. (Which I promptly posted to ICAN and texted to my doulas.) Anjli was please with this, and I was both pleased and nervous. We were both happy that I had obviously made some good progress on my own in the last 8 hours, but I was nervous because when I went into my induction for my first birth I had been 3 cm/80%/-1. After a minute or so I got over my fear of this experience being like my first. I reminded myself, in the words of Kerry (the voice/founder of Hypnobabies), “This birth and this baby are unique unto itself.” I knew that this time things would be different. They had already been so very different. At one point, earlier that day, I turned to Joel and reminded him that when we were in this situation last time, our child had already been born because they didn't believe in my body.
The entire experience, even though it wasn't nearly over yet, had just solidified to me how wrong my first birth experience had been. It wasn't just handled poorly, it was handled WRONG. My body had not been ready, my baby wasn't ready, it just hadn't been the right time.
We continued to sit in triage (watching Liar, Liar) on TV as we waited for a room to become available. At 11 PM I finally got annoyed and sent Joel to the nurses' station to find out how long it was going to be. I don't usually like to be the annoying patient, but I was here to work, and the longer I sat around with nothing happening, the more tired I was going to get. That just wasn't going to work for me. Ten minutes later, my triage nurse came back in, unplugged my cords, and escorted us to LDR 8 – with a GORGEOUS view of the downtown Atlanta skyline.
When my triage nurse had left us, she told me to just plug myself into the monitor whenever I was settled. I took this as an invitation to take a break from monitoring (which doesn't bother me so much as the thought of being physically attached to a box). I took a bathroom break and then we started decorating our room. I had borrowed Christmas lights from a friend so that we could keep the overhead lighting low and still have a nice glow in the room – we plugged those in and laid them along the window sill. Next, we unrolled the “Happy Birthday” sign I had made online – we ended up hanging it on the bathroom door. I set a big bag of candy next to the fetal monitor with my birth plan and baby care plan. (It was for the staff – although my team ended up eating some of it because the nurse just left it there after I suggested she take it to the nurses' station. She kept saying she would wait until later...she thought I would be laboring for a long time!) Once everything was in place, the room felt much more like a party was going to happen and much less like a boring hospital room, and that is EXACTLY what I wanted.
Joel stringing the lights. I kept the room dark, and they gave a nice glow.
I finally plugged myself back in, and my new nurse came in and started getting everything set up to start. I had to get another 20 minute monitoring strip to make sure Waffle was doing fine before they started the pitocin. The nurse had me lay in bed, and I had to stay still so she could get what she wanted. I obliged a little bit, but only because I was busy calling Nichole and trying to decide if I wanted my doulas to come. Christine had told me earlier that she thought this would not be long and drawn out (or something like that), so I finally decided to have them come (and I'm SO glad I did). My back and hips were already getting uncomfortable, and I knew that adding the pitocin would just intensify the feeling.
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