The week before I gave birth, I had been experiencing some kind of "event" every day, whether it be Braxton-Hicks contractions, cramps, or a backache. This was very frustrating. I had also tried every "natural" way of inducing labor, with the notable exception of castor oil.
Monday, August 27
That morning, I had a doctor's appointment. He didn't do a cervical exam, but he verified that the baby was head down and assured me that if she hadn't arrived by next Wednesday, we would "do something." I left with an appointment for September 5. I was not happy. As I left the office, I told one of the nurses that I REALLY didn't want to see her next week. That evening, I spent an hour or so with my PPR Chair, making the final arrangements of my maternity leave. As I left her house, her husband (who is my Church Council chair) commented on the full moon that was in plain view (folklore has it that a woman who is near her due date at a full moon will go into labor. Apparently there's some truth to that, because L&D units tend to be busiest around the full moon). I smiled gamely at him and said something to the tune of, "let's hope!" That was around 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday, August 28
Susanna must have taken that as her cue to arrive, because I woke up at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning with contractions. At first, I figured they were just more Braxton-Hicks, and I went to sleep. Around 5:15 a.m., I felt the first slightly painful contraction. I sat up in bed, and that's when James woke up. We stayed in bed for another hour and a half or so, while I experienced mild to moderately painful contractions. They were about 15 minutes apart.
Around 7:00 a.m., we decided to get up and get dressed, because we either needed to go to work (and for James, that involves a 90-minute drive) or begin timing the contractions and making final preparations for baby. I did everything I knew to make Braxton-Hicks contractions go away; showering, drinking tons of water, and lying on my side.
At about 8:00 a.m., the contractions began coming 10-12 minutes apart. They still weren't very painful, but I had the feeling that this was IT. So, James called his department chair and made arrangements for someone else to teach his classes for that day, and maybe the rest of the week. I called our dog-sitter to put her on alert and sent a few e-mails (still more maternity leave stuff).
By 10:00 a.m., I was experiencing contractions 7-10 minutes apart, with some coming as quickly as 5 minutes apart. I still wasn't in a huge amount of pain, but we figured we needed to head in the direction of the hospital "just in case." So we headed towards the hospital, via a few detours:
- Church, so I could put a "maternity leave" message on the machine, pick up my focal point (a ceramic cross), and get a copy of the new church directory.
- The bank, so James could get some cash out for food while we were in the hospital
- Chick-Fil-A, because I figured I should have lunch before arriving (they only allow ice chips once you're admitted)
By the time we finished our lunch around 12:00 p.m., my contractions had eased up somewhat. I was majorly disappointed, to say the least. I was afraid that this was simply a case of false labor. So, I told James to drive to the mall, in the hopes that walking would speed things up. We walked around the mall for an hour or so, with no major changes. I told him to head home. He had a class to teach at 5:15, and I figured that if nothing had happened by 3 p.m., I'd send him down to Durham. We hadn't even been home for half an hour when the contractions started to intensify and become more frequent...they were about 10 minutes apart and lasting 60-90 seconds. And they hurt more than before. By 2:00 p.m., I suggested that we head over to the hospital. I knew it was still early, but I wanted to see if I had progressed any (in terms of dilation/effacement). I was also afraid that I'd send James down to Durham only to make him rush back.
We arrived at Labor & Delivery at 2:50 p.m. They checked me into a room and did a cervical exam. To my great disappointment, I was 2 cm dilated and 90% effaced. When they had examined me on the 16th (during False Alarm #2), I had been 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. However, they told me they'd observe me for a few hours and see how things progressed.
James and I hung out in the room. I made a few calls, we walked the halls a few times, we even tried to watch a DVD before we realized that there was no DVD-viewing software on our laptop. At one point (around 5:15 p.m.), the nurse came in, looked at the contraction log, and said that I was definitely in "early labor." She offered to order me a meal tray, since they don't restrict food intake until you're admitted (I was still technically an outpatient). I jumped at the thought of food, and James headed down to the cafeteria for his dinner.
The shift change occurs at 7:00 p.m., so sometime between then and 8:00 p.m. my new nurse came in, introduced herself, and took a glance at my contraction log. She then uttered words that nearly put me in tears: "I don't know...these don't look very intense. We'll have Dr. Gray look at you."
Her Highness has woken up and is demanding food. To be continued...
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