I just have to write about my deliveries. I always think I'll remember all the details... and of course there are some that I never forget... but some that I do. I love looking back and reading about each baby's special day.
This particular story begins on Thursday, October 9th. At my doctor's appointment, my doctor said I was a "loose 3 cm dilated" and fully effaced. At 37 weeks, I was 1 1/2 cm and 60%. Then at 38, I was 3 cm and 70%. So there was clear progression every week. My doctor said she could strip my membranes if I wanted. I wanted. I mean, not that it is awesome to go through with a membrane stripping, but I was READY to meet this kiddo! Plus, JJ has an easier rotation (schedule wise) this month, so the sooner this baby came, the more Daddy help was available for longer! See, makes sense, right? My doctor said that it doesn't work every time, but IF it works, delivery usually occurs within 72 hours. I put my family on standby! JJ happened to leave his cellphone at home so I couldn't contact him to just casually tell him. (AJ, JJ's brother, DID give me the info on how to go about contacting JJ if I REALLY REALLY needed to!) I figured with my "luck", Thursday would be the day since I couldn't get ahold of JJ as easily. (When he got home for the day, he said I didn't have to reprimand him because he had heard about it ALL day from nurses and colleagues who couldn't believe he had forgotten his cell phone THAT day!)
Ok, so I started feeling quite crampy throughout the morning, which I read was a normal thing with getting membranes stripped (yes I read up on it afterwards...) :). Also, I should mention that JJ's parents were in town because his Dad had hip surgery Monday, October 6th. He was released from the hospital on Wednesday, but he encouraged him to stay a little while longer before getting on the road for home. Our house is one level, so his parents were staying at our house. JJ was at work. AJ was with his parents as my FIL CJ recovered. My SIL LJ had my son CJ [dang, all these initials are getting tricky!] while I had my doctor appointment and we met up at CJ's gymnastics. I continued to have more and more cramps and some contractions as well. My Mom said she had her bags packed. :)
Alright, so with all of the above going on, AJ and LJ brought up having JJ's parents stay at a hotel. The boys (AJ and JJ at this point) helped settle them in and we ended up getting pizza and the kiddos had an absolute blast swimming in the hotel pool. So now, AJ is staying at the hotel to help his parents if needed. LJ is home with her kiddos (and, thankfully, her Dad DJM came to town for Grandparents Day at our kiddos' school). JJ and I are hanging out that evening. I start having contractions. I had a hard time kind of figuring stuff out because while it was my 3rd pregnancy, it was my only "normal" going into labor situation. We had NO idea what was going on with MVJ. We induced with CEJ. I started timing and it seemed like there was about 2 minutes between contractions, but they weren't intense. So I was confused. There were SOME intense ones, but for the most part, I was still busy around the apartment making sure M was set for school the next day, throwing in a load of laundry, cleaning up from the swimming, etc. I ended up calling the Birth Center at about 9:45 pm. They suggested taking a bath, walking around, seeing if things slowed down or got more intense. They said to call back in about an hour, but assured me that I could come in whenever I felt like I needed to.
I called LJ at around 10 pm just because I wanted her to have a chance to prepare if she wanted to. She started prepping lunch for her kiddos and informing her Dad that he was going to get all 3 kids up and ready for school the next morning! :) I owe DJ big time! :) I called my parents and they thought initially that they would get up and come right away in the morning. Then they called later and said they were on their way! I gave them LJ's number and then LJ came over. We chatted for a while and she suggested timing the contractions again (by they way at this point, JJ was attempting to get some rest to prep for his day ahead!). The contractions were again about 2 minutes apart, but not very intense - or certainly not regular with intensity - some were more intense, but definitely not every one. She suggested we head in to the hospital.
We got JJ up and headed in. I walked in and I could tell the nurses were doubtful. They hooked me up in a "triage" room. They got baby on the heart monitor and the heartbeat was great. There were some contractions here and there, but again, they were not very "intense" on the monitor. The nurse checked me and I had NOT progressed from that morning. I was super bummed out. She said that happens with stripped membranes - the cramping feels like you are progressing, but you might not be. I seriously, seriously felt so let down. I felt guilty for calling my parents and LJ. I felt like I didn't even know my own body and didn't know anything about real labor. I thought JJ had a big "I told you so" coming (he was really very great about it though and assured me that no one was mad at or disappointed with me). They continued monitoring me and I believe in about 30-45 minutes checked me again. No progression so they sent us home. Oh, worst story ever, right? That's the one thing you don't want to happen -- going to the hospital and getting sent home. Yuck.
We ended up getting to our place the same time my parents did! We all walked into our apartment to a VERY surprised LJ. (I had texted her, but she was sound asleep - which I was very glad about.) She went home (so thankfully DJ wasn't completely on his own in the morning!) and we all headed to bed.
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