Birth Story Part I: Admission

Due the demands of my sweet but frequently difficult daughter, I may have to take the telling of her birth story in relatively brief spurts- so here we go. 

[Recap:  When I left off back on August 20, you may recall, we had just been sent home from the hospital for the third time, having been told there was no room at the inn- no beds available at either hospital so that I could be induced that night. I did end up phoning the ward to check if that was still the case at 8.30 pm, and the situation was the same- we were told to come back in the morning.]

Monday night: I am already tired from repeated trips across town to the hospital, from the anticipation of being overdue, from the long weeks of insomnia, and now- (same as the past two nights), from contractions that start up at bedtime, wake me up every hour or so with pain strong enough to rouse me out of sleep.  I get up each time and wander downstairs thinking this is surely it. I get out my watch and time the pain for awhile- every twenty minutes, every fifteen- and then it peters out until I fall asleep on the sofa. I wake up, breathless with discomfort an hour or two later and we do the whole thing again. Until it's time to make the fourth trip up to the hospital at 8am. 

In short, by this point I have not really slept for about three days.  This will become important- nay, crucial- later.

Upon arrival at the hospital, we sit in the dreadful waiting room for another hour before finally being ushered upstairs to the labour ward. The accompanying nurse has the air of a friendly bouncer letting us in the velvet ropes- we tell her of our saga and how we really, really don't want to have to go home again. She smiles and says, "Nah, once you're in, you should be in."  And so we're in. We go up in the lift and are buzzed through into the ward.

In, that is, to yet another waiting room, although this one with two rather uncomfy sofas and a bouncy gym ball for me to sit on.  We are told the shift change is taking place and someone will be with us shortly. E immediately falls asleep on the couch, while I restlessly bounce up & down, up & down.

Midwife One, hereinafter referred to as "One" makes an appearance sometime later.  She is friendly, chatty and smiling, which lifts our spirits a little. We are told that a room will be open soon, that someone is about to be discharged and it will be a short wait. Meanwhile, she hooks me up to the fetal monitor to have a peep at how Botany is faring. I sit on the gym ball during all this. Beep beep beep bounce bounce bounce. We do this for about an hour- Botany falls asleep and we have to wait for her to wake up and spike the graph a little before we can stop the monitor. Beep, beep, beep. E. snores.

One comes back and apologises for the long wait. It is now about 11am, and we are nearly ready to go in. They are cleaning the floors and changing the sheets. One checks my blood pressure and my temperature.  We chat about the reading material I have brought- the last instalment of the tale of a certain boy wizard, which I have been saving for this occasion.  She urges me not to sneak a look at the ending.  Hah.  Too late.  Hasn't there been enough suspense for one week?

Finally, she nips out and back in to tell us we can go to our room. It's a large, bright space (albeit with the shades pulled down) with a huge bathroom, two uncomfy chairs and another bouncy gym ball. Oh, and a bed.  I lie down, the steady trickle of amniotic fluid unabated. 

The plan is that they will insert a gel near my cervix and wait six hours to see if this brings on labour. They may then try a second round of gel if this does not work. I ask about the risk of infection and assured it will be OK. It's either this or straight to the drip, so on balance I am all for it. 

About noon, One goes away to get the doctor in order to perform the gel insertion, which is simple and painless (although, as always, an odd sensation having someone's fingers rammed up around the back of your cervix.)   It takes awhile for the doctor to show up, so we finally get things going about 1pm. I lie for half an hour. There is a flood of amniotic fluid. I get cleaned up, and then am told to get up and go walk around for awhile. We go out, negotiating the labryinth of the hospital maze to the courtyard outside so I can phone my mother with an update. 

I report back within an hour so that One can cheerfully strap me to the monitor again. We're going to do this a lot over the next six hours. Beep beep beep. I have to try to sit in a certain position so as not to dislodge the monitor or knock it on to my own heartbeat.  I watch the graph slowly spiralling out of the machine. At least I can sit on the bouncy ball and read my book while all this takes place. And I like One a lot- she is the right mix of attentiveness and good humour, keeping things optimistic without being cloying.

I am offered lunch (a large, slightly stale cheese baguette) and place my order for dinner as well. E. wanders off to find a cup of tea and a newspaper.  When he comes back, we talk about the plan of having my mother come up to the hospital later on to give him a break. I phone her back to tell her which bus to take.

And meanwhile, still no contractions. 

Around four o'clock, I fall asleep on the bed for an hour and a half. This will be the last time I will sleep for over twenty four hours.

About five thirty, dinner is served- omelette and greasy limp fries, yum yum.  I guzzle it down much to E.'s amusement. It is disgusting, but I suspect I am going to want all the nourishment I can get. It will be the last time I eat for the next twenty eight hours.

The six hours are up.  No contractions.   

Comments

[Veronica]

Oh no! What a mammoth effort you have put in already and she is nowhere near being out. I am feeling for you.

Over here (AUS) they induce after 24hrs of the water breaking and no labour. We are lucky in my state that we are small enough that there is always another hospital close(ish) that we can be transferred to in case of no beds.

(((hugs))) I will be waiting for part 2.

[Robyn]

What a marathon effort just to get admitted. And don't you just love hospital food? It's where failed airline chefs end up, I think.
Can't wait to get the action part!

[Boulder]

Even knowing the "ending," I am dying to hear the rest of the saga!

24 hours + without sleep & 28 hours + without food? That is too close to torture for anyone's good.

Keep the pieces coming! (And how is the lovely Botany?)

[Bittermama]

Oh wow! You certainly had a rough start to things and it sounds like it hasn't gotten much better since... but it will, it will.

I just can't get over how differently things would have been done in the states. Not necessarily better at all (you probably would have ended up with a c-section days earlier here since they wouldn't have let you go past a day or two after your waters broke). But food after you've been admitted? Unheard of at my hospital. When my labor was augmented with pitocin the first time around, my OB told me to go down to the hospital cafeteria and eat a meal first before being admitted because he knew they wouldn't let me have food again until after the baby was born.

[daysgoby]

Same here. (Atlantic Canada.) You would have had lovely red jello or the ubiquitous ice chip.

And wow, what a loooong time to have not so much action.

[Sarah]

Even though I know the end result, I want more! thanks for getting it going.
Sarah

[Jo]

Written like a true thriller! Can't wait for the next installment.

[Toni]

I feel like I'm trying to turn the page to figure out what happens next...and the page is missing. WRITE MORE....

[Beth]

Can't wait for the next installment! (An, am hoping that her crying is less these days).

[julie B]

oooooh - this is enthralling! especially to a c section mama - I missed all the drama [and the horrors by the sound of it]. Good to hear that hospital food worldwide is hideous. Do they do courses in how to cook the most inappropriate, constipation inducing, vitamin-free hospital food?

[Sam]

Oh my Gawd. I'm so happy to know that this story (in reality) is already over because I'd just about go crazy at this point. Um..crazier I suppose would be more correct.

[Tonya]

Very glad you're getting a chance to tell your birth story. I'm eager for more!

[Lut C.]

Excuse my self-centeredness, but when I read stories like this, I'm almost relieved to be facing a planned c-section.

It sounds like a true ordeal, and this is only part 1?!