We ran by home to get the video camera and arrived at the hospital around 3:00pm. For three hours, I just stuck in the hospital, having the same Braxton Hicks contractions that I'd had for the previous three weeks. By the way, I was still at three centimeters which I had also been for at least two weeks. I was in a postpartum room because all the birthing rooms were occupied, and they figured it would be quite awhile before I needed one. Other than the inconvenience of the IV and monitor, I was totally comfortable (well, as comfortable as any women can be in the ninth month of pregnancy). I was reading a book. Besides my husband Kenny, my mom and my brother were there. The nurse hung a bag of Pitocin on my IV. They were just waiting for my doctor to give the signal to start it. My dad got to the hospital a little while before my doctor. It was my mom's birthday (now it's also Faithlan's), and he had intended to take everyone to Red Lobster. He was starving and somewhat aggravated that I ruined his dinner plans, I think.
The doctor arrived around 6:00pm. I was still at 3 centimeters. She broke whatever was left of my water which fortunately was most of it. She told us that they had just finished with one of the birthing rooms and were cleaning it. She said they would move me as soon as possible and start the Pitocin then. She told me I could have some light food since it would be several hours before anything major happened. I never did get the food. Then she went home to eat supper or something.
My parents decided to go on to Red Lobster since they were sure they had plenty of time. Josh stayed to keep Kenny company, and Bekah, my sister, arrived a few minutes later. Almost immediately after the doctor left the room, the contractions became unbearbly painful. I had no clue they could be that bad. I thought they would just be slightly worse than the Braxton Hicks. The strange thing is that they registered lower on the monitor than the Braxton Hicks had been, so Kenny thought I was crazy. I didn't want to be a wuss, so I didn't call a nurse or anything. I really wanted some pain medicine(I had originally hoped to have a natural birth), but I thought they would think I was a big baby because I couldn't take the first sign of pain. Besides, I figured it was still just some kind of false labor because they hadn't started the Pitocin or anything to make it real. I coped as best as I could for almost an hour and a half. They took their sweet time cleaning that birthing room.
Finally, I didn't think I could stand it any longer, so I called my nurse and told her I had to use the bathroom (I didn't really have to go; I just wanted her to see how much pain I was in and hopefully offer me some drugs;so much for my drug-free birth plan). When she came to my room, I told her the contractions hurt really bad. She decided to check me (at that point, I thought If she says three centimeters again, I'm going to start bawling). She was shocked because I was already at seven centimeters. I asked, "Can I get some kind of drugs then?!" She told me I probably didn't need any medication if I had made it that far without any. She decided they needed to move me to the birthing room as soon as possible, so I had to get in the wheel chair in the middle of a contraction. When I got to that room, I told them I wanted an epideral, but they talked me into taking Stadol instead. This was a horrible mistake. The nurse said it would make me slightly light headed. She waited until after it was in the IV to tell me this. While she still had the needle in my IV, I tried to lift my head but couldn't. The flowers on the wallpaper were spinning all over the room, and I almost fell asleep between each contraction. I kept telling the nurses I wanted an epideral, but my speech was slurred. The Stadol definitely made me feel worse than the pain. I felt so out of control. While all this was going on, my husband's college basketball coach showed up to beg him to play in the game against Miami Hamilton the next evening. I was so drugged I didn't even care.
Probably no more than twenty minutes had passed between the time I was in the other room and the time they finally decided to check me again. By this time I was dilated to 9 . The nurse said she had called my doctor, who was at home eating frozen waffles (I don't know if she was joking about that or not). Neither of the nurses thought my doctor would make it for the birth, but she arrived just as they were discussing it. Eventually my mom came back, but my dad had just dropped her off at the door and headed home because he thought he had time to get a few hours of sleep before the delivery. I told the nurses I needed to push so they checked again but said the upper lip of the cervix was still left. I still kept begging for an epideral. They told me there was no way an anesthesiologist could get there in time. I don't think I really would have taken it anyway, but it sure made me mad that the nurse told me no. I told the nurses it was pushing on its own. They said that was fine, but I shouldn't help. Finally, my doctor said I could push, and I told her I didn't know how.
I started pushing, but at first I still felt like I would fall asleep between each contraction. That must have been the Stadol. The heartrate of the baby went way down to 65. Everybody started going crazy. My doctor decided to suction. The bad nurse kicked my mom out because she thought they might need respiratory care. Then the good nurse let my mom back in. They gave me oxygen, and the heartrate went back up. I think I was just holding my breath during the contractions. My doctor kept assuring me that everything was okay, and I believed her. It was fine, but she probably would have told me that anyway. I pushed and pushed, but the baby was hung up on something. She finally got the suction in place, but the baby was still stuck for awhile. They finally saw the head. My doctor realized the cord was around the neck and shoulders. That's what was causing the baby to be stuck. She reached in and pulled the cord out, clamped, and cut it. Then she told me it had to come out on the next push, so I pushed really hard. The head came out. She had to help the shoulders out. And there was Faithlan at 9:15pm, barely three hours after the first hard contractions. No one ever told me the pushing would be that strenuous. On TV, people only have to push about twice. That's what I expected. It's probably better that I didn't know any better.
The apgars were 8's and 9's. Everyone seemed surprised about that because of all the suctioning. They cleaned her a little and laid her by me. Then Kenny had her most of the time until they were finished with me. Finally, I was able to hold Faithlan again and nurse her. She was with us for about an hour after that. Then they took her to be weighed and measured and bathed, but they brought her right back because all the isoletes were full. She weighed 8 pounds and 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. We were able to keep her another hour or so. Eventually they took her again. I made Kenny follow them and keep an eye on her. I took a shower and moved to my room. I was shivering so badly and I was all alone because my mom, Bekah, and Josh had left not long after the first time they took her to be weighed.
It wasn't long before they brought her back to me. I fed her again. She went to sleep. Kenny went home because they thought they would put another person in my room, otherwise, he could have slept in the other bed. I don't think I slept at all that night.
Faithlan's birth was a hospital birth because I was naive and didn't realize I had other options. I didn't find this hospital birth to be a miserable experience or anything. It was the most exciting and wonderful event of my life, but I think there are aspects that could have been better. In the future, I will know to avoid the Stadol. I also wish I could have nursed her even sooner after the birth. I couldn't sleep in the hospital, so by the time I got home, I was exhausted. For these and many other reasons, I am considering a midwife-assisted home birth the next time I have a baby. However, this type of birth is illegal in the state of Indiana which presents some obvious challenges. I'm sure I'll think of something!
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