Seth's Birth - Part 3

As they were getting ready to start my IV Eric asked if they could set up a saline lock and the nurse said absolutely. But she said I was pretty dehydrated so she wanted to get some fluids in me first and then if we wanted they could take me off. I totally didn't care and ultimately stayed hooked up for the duration. My nurse tried and failed to get a line in on my right hand and called someone else in who successfully placed the IV on my left wrist. Events after that are a little fuzzy. The nurse read through our birth plan and said it was pretty reasonable. The only thing was that because of the meconium she said they weren't going to be able to put baby on my chest/belly right away because standard procedure was to get him some extra suctioning. Natalie showed up around 8:30pm or so. I ate some broth because I was starving. I took a few more miserable trips to the bathroom, during which I could not be quiet during contractions. Although I had read and heard that moaning and groaning actually helps ease pain and I found that it really was kind of effective.



I think around 10pm or so the nurse checked me (and I had to give Natalie the boot) for the first time since my water broke and I was 5.5cm. I was so disappointed but the nurse said that was actually great progress. Huh?? I really started to have my doubts then. I was so tired already - not only was the whole process physically hard work but I was also really sleepy having only slept a couple of hours the night before. And again, the pain. Oh THE PAIN! Taking one contraction at a time is an excellent strategy but I had really counted on having breaks in between. Eric did an awesome job of reminding me each time to just get through this one. I'm sure around that time I started looking at him like a scared animal after each one was over. I know at least once I said "I can't do this." And he said "yes you can, you're fine now right?" and I was like "not really." There was also a long frustrating period of time where the contraction monitor was not doing its job so I never knew how close I was to getting through each one. The nurse finally did actually switch it out but I think that was way later. I did manage to suffer through a few contractions in various positions intended to turn the baby. I was on my hands and knees for awhile. Standing up leaning over the bed felt okay sometimes, especially if I shifted my weight back and forth from my right to left hip. Side lying was HORRIBLE. I'm not sure why... you would think that would be the easiest position to really relax in, but for the most part I was really only able to when I was sitting up.

Ok crying baby. Of course, he sleeps all day and now when it's bedtime he freaks out :) More later...