Part 1 Part 2
BAM! Pain. I was awakened at 2:30 AM on March 10, 2006. Forget all those little tummy tighteners that I thought were contractions. This was for real. It made Judah suddenly kick, so perhaps it made him wake up, too. I woke Matt up to let him know, and he says he was instantly scrambling mentally to figure out what to do. I went and woke Autumn up so she could help Matt and I time the contractions and move through them. She encouraged me to eat something since hospitals don't always allow that freedom during labor. I tried to eat a bowl of strawberry mini-wheats, but the contractions were so painful and came often enough that I couldn't really finish the bowl. It took me quite a while (like, months) to eat that cereal again without thinking of labor. :-P
By about 4:30 AM, it was definitely time to get to the hospital. The roads were so dark and calm that early in the morning. Just 10 minutes to the hospital -- but oh my heavens. The LONGEST car ride of my life. Getting out of the car and into a wheel chair was a very surreal experience. I remember it, but as a spectator of the memory rather than as myself (if that makes sense). I remember trying to answer questions and signing paperwork at some desk and then being wheeled with the paperwork up to L&D...where they had more questions for me. UGH! A nurse was trying to explain to me that I needed to undress and put the gown on as well as pee in a cup. She then sent me into a closet of a bathroom. Now tell me. How on EARTH was I supposed to put that gown on and pee in a cup when my contractions hurt so bad I had to brace myself against the walls (which were close enough to each other for my elbows to span across). I remember having to stop a lot in that too-small-for-a-nine-month-belly bathroom to try and breath, brace myself, and stop the shaking from pain. I do not recall how I completed the tasks (I may not have peed in the cup -- I think the nurse let me give up on that) or how I got back to the bed...God's strength, I guess!
She checked me, and I was at 3 cm. By this time, I had become aware that with each contraction, I felt a bit of fluid rush out. That's about the same time she told me that my water must have broken sometime before that based upon what she felt. I still sometimes stew a little over how the patient was right in that instance. My water had indeed broken sometime Wednesday morning. I don't care what that little purple paper did or didn't prove. I had a broken water for 2 days before going into labor!
They took me to my labor room. Gosh, was I in pain. It's a known fact. Labor hurts. You will find no pictures of me in labor. And I have no idea when Autumn, my mom, and Nonie arrived. All my pregnancy, I dreamed of having a labor in which I had a bright room, people to talk to, soft music playing, walking around, trying different positions for relief. It was going to be hard, but it was going to be wonderful! I could not have been more wrong. I did not want any lights. No talking. No music. Leave me alone. I don't want Matt's hand to hold. I want Autumn's. I can't be in any other position but this, and don't even think about me getting out of this bed. Not because I didn't want to do any of those. I COULDN'T. I wondered if I was a wimp who couldn't get through labor like millions of other women who have done it. Either I was a wimp, I had severely underestimated labor pains, or this was harder than a normal labor.
My contractions were not set in a very good pattern, and since I was scheduled to be induced the next day anyway, my doctor went ahead and put me on pitocin to move things along. That was about noon. I had no idea how much worse the pain would get...
Next up... Part 4: Pain can come and go...and come back...
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