The Labor Story - Part I of ??

On June 8th I went to the OB/GYN for my 38 week appointment (although I was two days shy of 38 weeks). I was slightly nervous because my BP had been sporadically rather high, but it hadn't been too bad the last time so I wasn't feeling too bad. I went to an OB where there were numerous doctors and you didn't always get the one you wanted but that day I had made the appointment with Dr. M. who we LOVED. Dr. M was the one who guided us through our miscarriage, and then when we got pregnant again he guided us through my subchorionic hemorrhage and broke the news to us last year that I had to stay in bed and couldn't go to Canada. He was utterly kind and wonderful and a TERRIFIC doctor.

I had my ultrasound and blood draw and urine analysis and internal exam and then Dr. M. asked us to meet him in his office (which is what he does and was not ominous). We sat down and the doctor said 'what are you doing later tonight?' We knew what this mean - induction. I was not dilated at all and the baby had not dropped but he was an estimated 5 pounds 9 ounces and my blood pressure was sky high (I can't remember anymore how high...but scary). The doctor asked us a few questions and we asked a few back and I was scheduled to be induced at midnight that night. Dr. M. called to schedule the induction while we sat there and he used a lot of abbreviations that I didn't know but checked on the minute we got home. I was SGpositive (Strep G positive - not a big deal for mama, lots of people are Strep G positive, but a big deal for baby, I would need to be put on antibiotics to make sure that I didn't pass the virus on to Cooper), had PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension), and Cooper was SGA (small for gestational age).

We walked out of that office in a daze. We couldn't quite wrap our minds around what was going on. As we walked to the car we each pulled out our cell phones and called our respective jobs and mothers. Then I determined that since we were not going to have alone time for quite a while I wanted to go to Olive Garden for lunch. We did and I had apricot chicken and angel hair pasta with Alfredo sauce and it was very good!

After we got home I did some frantic hospital bag packing, arranged to take the dogs to a boarding kennel, tidied the house, made phone calls and then took a nap. While I did that Paul The Procrastinator went to the fire station and got help installing the car seat correctly. Fortunately I had preregistered for the hospital already so that was done. After all of that was said and done we took some pictures of my pregnant belly and then at around 10:30 we headed for the hospital.

I will spare you the pics in a sports bra so you do not have to see the approximately 40 stretch marks across my belly. Thanks Coopie!

We got the the hospital at around 11:30 and were told that we could wait in the 'family room'. We didn't expect the wait to be long but it was INTERMINABLE and we didn't get called in until after 1:30 am as I recall. In the meantime we had to listen to other people's obnoxious family members and, the television was set to FOX STINKIN' NEWS which caused me to become apoplectic with rage about every 15 minutes or so and start storming around the room leaving what was probably a palpable trail of ANNOYANCE in my wake. No one should have to sit in a room at 1 in the morning waiting to have a child and be stuck listening to Bill O'Reilly. Lord help me.

Eventually I was called in but Paul was told he had to wait. We thought that was odd but it turned out that they needed to ask me all sorts of questions like 'are you afraid to spend time alone with your husband' and 'are you afraid to go home after this with your husband'. I indicated that I was not and then had to answer about another hundred questions, give blood and pee, get into my gown, get a blood pressure cuff attached to my arm, an IV into the other arm and get the monitors attached to my belly. Finally another nurse came into our (very nice) room and announced that Paul was going to come in whether we were ready or not because he was about to knock down the door. I was really touched by that and Paul was in near panic mode when he finally got to come in because nobody had explained to him why he was not allowed in for the beginning. But, now we were settled in, had met our nurses and were ready to go.

Wow, that's unattractive. Toward the middle of my pregnancy the hormones kicked in and gave me GORGEOUS, smooth, perfect skin for a few months. Then in the last month or two new hormones kicked in that made my rosacea F-L-A-R-E like you would not believe. Oh, wait, you would, you can see it right there! And it is still just as bad now that the baby is 5+ months old! Whee!