Labor and Delivery
The night before labor started. Thanks Jackie for telling me do this.
I should have known by the fact Tori was moving like a nut the night before...It all started around 9am the morning I was due. I woke up and felt that my mucus plug was coming undone (eww..TMI) and I felt some menstraul cramping. I figured it was no big deal...but I was excited about the mucus plug going. That usually goes up to two weeks to hours before labor. I figured with my luck, I would be in Monday to be induced (haha, I was wrong). I told my brother my plug had pop and that i wasn't going to tell my mom cause I didnt' want to bother her at work. Apparently, Alex yapped to mom and she called with "YOU DIDN'T WANT TO BOTHER ME AT WORK?!!!". She saw the mucus plug going as a big deal cause hers popped when she was in labor with Alex. She urged me to call the doctor at that second and CALL HER BACK.
I called the doctor's office and talked to a nurse. Apparently it was a mucus plug day at the office. She said it was no big deal and wasn't concerned about my cramping...figured they were just Braxton Hicks (boy was she wrong). So i went about my day. I was watching Judge Alex around 2-3pm...and at 2:54 pm (to be exact), it happened. You know people say you know a contraction when you feel one...well I knew it. I jumped from the couch and thought I was going to hit the roof. At the same time, whatever was left of my mucus plug came out. I ran to the bathroom (oddly enough my cat followed me and stood by the bathroom for a very long time with me...as if waiting) and confirmed that the plug was out. Also I could swear fluid started flowing (my water). Suddenly, another one, not five minutes later. Scared, I called Kevin and said "I know you have a show tonight, but even if I don't go tonight, i wasn't you home...I'm having contractions and I want you home." Kevin quickly packed up and was on his way home. By the time he got home, I was timing my contractions at five minutes apart for one hour. Kevin's comment when he got home that day "Who have thought...your daughter would be on time..." haha...jib jab referring to me being 40 minutes late to our wedding...he's still not over it...
I called my mom again to tell her this information and she was like CALL THE DOCTOR. I wasn't sure if I was timing them right, so Kevin and I timed them again for another hour. Average this time was 4-5 minutes. We called the doctor...we paged the doctor...we called the doctor...Little did we know the doctor had been delivering babies since noon that day and was in the middle of delivering one that second (we found this out later...oh and that nurse had to be eating her words that day). So because I was in so much pain at this point, we showered up, grabbed our bags and were out the door. Although in my mind I thought Kevin would be making labor calls, I ended up making phone calls to certain people letting them know I was in labor (in between contractions).
We got to the hospital around 6pm. I measured at 2cm when I arrived at the birthing center and 2cm when they timed my contractions at 3 minutes apart. However, the nurses were not sure if I "was a keeper". They had me get up and walk around. Mind you, I had a fetal monitor cable and a contraction monitor cable attached to me...so they put those around my neck so I could walk around (nearly choked myself a few times). Kevin and I managed to do one lap around the birthing center during this hour...which lasted like 5 minutes. Otherwise, I had to blow an hour in our birthing center with contractions that were becoming pretty hard. Kevin was trying his best to be consoling. We tried the holding each other, rubbing my back, ect. However, I mostly just pushed Kevin away when he tried to comfort me (sorry Honey!) because the pain was making me delirious. During this time, I got my bloody show. Finally, at the end of the hour, I can't remember why they decided to keep me but the nurses did (I think I was 4-5 cm or the pain I was in was enough to convince them to keep me), the nurses talked about giving me pain medication via IV (woohoo!). So one nurse had me get back into the bed and tried to get the IV into me. Mind you she TRIED...poor girl. I apparently have the same small vein issue as Alex. She missed my vein and hit my bone twice on each hand. Wasn't helping that at each contraction we had to stop and I thrashed about...but still. She called in another nurse to try to poke me like a pin cushion. This nurse came in and had difficulty with my hands and decided my forearm was best. They begged me to sit still, which I tried, but to back up...Kevin held me down. The IV successfully went into my forearm...the pain medication was dispensed and my eyes promptly rolled into the back of my head--thus freaking Kevin out. I started my best impression of the turtle from Finding Nemo "Duuuuude." After that my mind became very hazy (I don't handle pain medication well...but oh I love it baby). After this time passed...I can't recall where two hours went, but they soured by. Nurses came and put more bands on my arm. They formally checked me in...came in to check my vitals. I in the mean time babbled incoherently and even talked about throwing a party. Kevin was like "What the hell are you talking about?" And I reminded him about my dad turning 50...yeah I'm in deep labor and I want to throw my dad a party...dude I was high...
By around 9pm, my doctor showed up to break my water. I remember seeing her kind face and thinking "oooh it's Dr. Carisio, yeah." She explained softly to me that they were going to break my water. I kindly allowed her access. (Pride was totally thrown out the window at this point. I also just took to leaving the covers off my bed...really what was the point...the nurses tried to keep me modest and cover me up, but I kept knocking the covers off). So...ok...water breaking...Dr. Carisio broke my water to which I said "I'm peeing." (which I knew I wasn't, but it was my sad attempt to be funny). Kevin commented on how much fluid was coming out of me. Then the nurses noticed myconium. They didn't seemed too alarmed...however, they did see the need to give Tori an in utero bath. Basically this is supposed to clean out the myconium and reduce the risk of her swallowing it (ewww, more TMI).
By 10pm, I was being prepped for the epidural. I hadn't eaten since 12pm, so there wasn't much in me and I was so out of it, they weren't going to try to make me go. Dr. Carisio had them put a foot stool by my bed (my feet don't touch the floor...haha) and I sat up, propped up my feet and she put in the epidural in my back. So by this time, I have an IV in my forearm, a fetal heart monitor on my belly, a contraction monitor on my belly, a in utero wash in my woo-woo, a catheter in my urinary tract, and now an epidural in my back...pin cushion much?? However, by this point, I was feeling absolutely NO PAIN. I could care less if a mack truck hit me, so as long as it didn't hurt the baby...