Birth Story

[Originally posted on MSN Spaces April 27, 2006]

So...I know it's been awhile since I last blogged, but considering Mike's last entry before recently was in October I think my offense is forgivable! My last entry on pregnancy was exactly 2 days before my labor began.

Here's what happened (by the way this is going to be long, so skip this if you're not interested):

March 24, 2006

5 pm: I started having what I thought were early labor contractions, but since I was still unsure I called my mom and informed her of what "might" be happening. The contractions were 5 minutes apart when I was able to time them (I couldn't always distinguish when they started), they were low and crampy but I didn't have any back pain with them. My mom was ready to throw her bags in the car and drive up, but I was still unsure if "this was it". I told her I'd call her back at 8 pm and we'd see how things were progressing. I was hesitant to get excited in case nothing was happening.

7-8 pm: We ate dinner. I had spinach lasagna...you'll know why this is important later.

8 pm: My mom called me before I could call her. My contractions were still 5 minutes apart and feeling the same. I told her we'd sleep on it and see if things progressed by morning.

March 25, 2006

12 am: I finally fell asleep.
2 am: Mike finally went to bed. I got up feeling awful---stomach flu awful...I was still having contractions and I couldn't tell if that was why I felt sick or if I was just getting a bug. I thought I'd try and have some tea to soothe my stomach so I took my cup of tea and went into the living room with my labor ball (this is one of those big exercise balls that are popular now). I sat on the ball to try and pray a chaplet to pass time, but soon realized that the nausea was too overpowering...

3 am: I headed into the other room, began to feel like I was going to vomit, turned to go to the bathroom; and proceeded to lose my spinach lasagna dinner on the hallway carpet. I then decided I'd better wake Mike up. There was no way I could bend to the floor to clean it up, plus I thought he should know what was going on. By the way, if you ever doubt someone loves you...watch them clean your vomit off of the rug and you'll know just how much they love you. I already knew Mike loved me and seeing what he went through for me just increased my love for him and my understanding of what marriage is meant to be. I vomited a few more times, enough times to empty my body of any food I'd eaten in the last 24 hrs. Mike called the hospital, explained what was happening, and they said we should come on in. So we grabbed everything we thought we needed and headed for TMH Women's Pavilion.

3:30 am: They informed us that I was dilated 5 cm and was 80% effaced. I was having contractions, but they weren't excessively strong. The nurse asked why the contractions weren't bothering me, and I explained that the nausea and vomiting was MUCH worse. They called Dr. Thompson (This happened to be the one weekend my doctor...Dr. Oliver...was out of town), she wanted to keep me in the hospital to watch me for dehydration...also they say that vomiting can cause your labor to progress much faster (HA).
So we were headed to have a baby...lol...little did we know it would be a longer process than we thought.

Between 4 am and 7 am: I eventually stopped vomiting (luckily it was closer to 4 am). I also spent this time being monitored every hour (they monitor contractions/baby's heartbeat) and when I wasn't being monitored I was walking around the corridors to help my labor to progress.

More to come next blog...(baby duty prevents me from doing this all at once)

Easter Blessings,

Evie