Well prior to leaving the house, I got a call from the hospital that there were no beds available in labor and delivery but to still come in and they would put me in a bed in triage. We get there, get all checked in and they said the Dr. wanted me to do a NST and another ultrasound to check another biophysical profile... FOR REAL! This is why we opted to do an early induction to avoid all the testing. NST came back non-reactive (normal) and the biophysical profile came back 10/10. So baby was doing just fine. The nurse then proceeds to tell us, "Ok the Dr. wants you to go get some breakfast and call back around 11. She is in doing surgeries and since everything came back fine she feels comfortable with letting you go" Oh my gosh, Jeff was FURIOUS. She was the one that scheduled this induction and now they are sending us away. At first we were told they had no beds available, then they said the Dr. was busy with surgery. I knew better because I work at the hospital and it really was a staffing issue. Not enough flipping nurses.
Well we headed home. IT SUCKED, being home with no baby! So 11 came, I called the charge nurse and they STILL weren't ready for me. She took my number and said she would call me. So now I have to wait for who knows how long. Jeff took a nap on the couch and I tried to relax in bed and finally fell asleep but only for an hour or so. I waited as long as I could and I finally called them back to see the status of things. It was 2:30 and I got the same old "still not ready but I will call as soon as we have a bed" She proceeded to tell me they had 4 walk-ins and the Dr had multiple surgeries. I tried to be understanding because you can't control walk-ins or unplanned surgeries but you can control a scheduled induction. I just hate that I got all mentally prepared and now I'm on hold. So we decided to have lunch and right in the middle of preparing it I get the phone call to check in at 4 (it was 3:30 now) So we hurried and ate and back to the hospital we went... and this time for sure we weren't coming back home without a baby ;)
We get all set up in the room (5:00 pm) and from there the ball started rolling. The Dr. asked if I wanted an epidural and I said yes so she paged the anesthesiologist. I was excited because it was Dr. Stream, the only anesthesiologist I know in the hospital and he has only been in Alaska for 6 months. He came from U of U and gave a presentation at our last staff meeting just a week prior. I was so impressed with him, his respect for nurses and his knowledge and love for his he shared. So when I saw him walk in the room I felt so comfortable (and again I was glad he came from Utah) He started the epidural (6:10 pm) and I immediately screamed and swore up a storm. I felt the most immense pain shoot down my right side to my hip. Jeff was squeezing my hands and I was trying my hardest not to move and screw up the placement. The Dr. stopped immediately, asked what happened, where does it hurt, what does it feel like... I couldn't even explain the pain. He withdrew the catheter and said he wanted to try a little lower. He didn't know what happened and neither did I but it wasn't enjoyable. So he numbed another area and placed the catheter without a problem at all. Just as he was finishing a midwife walked in to check on me since the Dr was in surgery. She introduced herself and then said "Well you don't look like your in labor, why are you getting an epidural. You do know that your just increasing your chance for a c-section and other complications." WHAT THE HECK, the poor anesthesiologist had just finished the epidural and here we all were shocked and didn't know what to say. I just looked at Jeff and was at a lose for words. The nurse then piped up, "The Dr. said she is very favorable since she was a 4 on admit she offered the epidural." Well the midwife immediately stepped back and just had no idea I was already in labor. She thought I was at a zero and was just wanting an epidural. Ha Ha. Apparently I mask being in labor well. So all was well. She then asked if I felt comfortable with her delivering for me and I just said I didn't really care. She asked if I had had any complication during pregnancy and I told her placenta previa and she said, "Oh I'll just let the Dr. do your delivery."
So I get back into bed and all tucked in. At this point I was naturally contracting every 2 min so they held off on starting the pitocin. The Dr came and broke my water at 7:15 pm and checked me. I was still a 4 and station of -2. So I still had a ways to go. By 9:30 pm I hadn't progressed so they started the pitocin slowly at 1 ml/hr. The nurse told me to rest and she would recheck me in 2 hrs. I tried to sleep but started breaking out in hives and itching everywhere. The nurse thought it was from the pitocin (although she'd never heard of it) but I told her I'm sensitive to narcotics and I knew it was the epidural. Unfortunately at this point I hadn't had to push the PCA and all I was receiving was the basal rate. I could feel the contractions ever so often (more like cramps really) and kept checking the monitor. They really weren't very strong but I tried not to get discouraged. At midnight I was hit with 4 very strong contractions. Jeff was sleeping and I didn't want to wake him up... so I just breathed through them and clung to the bed rails. They only lasted a few seconds but they sure were painful (can't imagine what they felt like without an epidural) Jeff ended up waking up and all I wanted was a popsicle. So he went to go ask the nurse for one. She came back and said she was going to place the internal monitors to see how strong the contractions really were, and she said she would check me as well. So its' 12:30 am and she says "Your complete" Jeff said what does that mean and she said "Your going to have this baby. Now just start pushing when you feel a contraction and I'll call the Dr." Holy cow, I went from a 4 just 3 hrs prior to now I can start pushing. The nurse comes back at 12:50 am with the Dr (who was on her way to a c-section) but said "OK lets hurry and deliver this baby" The midwife also came in to assist, which in the end I was soooo glad she was there. She helped me with some breathing techniques and was the biggest cheer leader EVER. I pushed through 5 contractions, laughing and talking in between each one. The Dr. then said she is coming out on the next one, do you want to pull her out. I said yes and sure enough on my next contraction I reached down, felt her head and as I pushed I grabbed her arms and pulled her up on top of me. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever. I pushed a total of 15 min. Harper Lynne Harris was born at 1:04 am on January 6, 2012. I just kept laughing and said, "Did I really just push out a baby, that was the easiest thing ever." I truly loved it and was in heaven. It was so relaxing and chill and really, our Midwife was hilarious. It was so hard not to laugh in between contractions. I honestly can't wait to have another baby.
Bless Jeff's heart, he ran all over our labor room taking as many pics as he could. It was hard not having family in the room to capture this moment but Jeff did a fantastic job and the midwife even offered to take some pics (although none of her pics she took can be posted anywhere... lets just say she didn't care to crop anything out... ha ha)
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