On May 23, my peri gave me an internal and told me I was 95% effaced and a fingertip dilated. She set my induction for Sunday, May 29, but she told me that she did not expect me to make it to that date and that I could go into labor at anytime. David and I were really excited, and I was hopeful that I would be able to avoid the induction interventions. I vowed to walk a lot, and we planned to have Indian on Friday night to try the spicy food trick. We attempted other "get labor started" tricks too.
However, the babies were having none of it. After keeping their mommy scared for so many weeks, the babies got lazy. We spent our last night at home watching The Parent Trap (LiLo version)--how prophetic that a movie about twins was on.
My instructions were to call the hospital at 5AM on Sunday to get a time to come in. We had been told that depending on other patients, it could be later that morning or even the afternoon. I was chomping at the bit, per usual, so I called at 4:50 in the hopes that if everyone was calling at 5 I could beat the rush. A very nice nurse who answered the phone told me we could come at 6 AM!
We finished packing--David says I was a bit manic as I tried to afix labels to the kitchen cabinets--and we headed out after a quick good-bye to Kathy. We arrived at the hospital at 6:25 AM. David was pleased that we could use street parking for Sunday and Memorial Day Monday. One drawback to urban areas is paying for parking in garages!
I checked in and was taken straight to a Labor & Delivery room; no triage for me this time. Our first two nurses, M and C, were really nice, young, and quite attractive; David was pleased, ha. They hooked me up for an IV (C couldn't get it; M got it on the first try). Dr. Z came by and checked me; he said I was only about 70% effaced and that my cervix was posterior and needed to be ripened with a Cervadil suppository. I felt like a piece of fruit and was pretty upset that I wasn't going to be going anywhere anytime fast.
The good thing was that I got to eat! Shift change--we now had Crazy K as my nurse (lots more on her later), and she brought in an egg and potato dish on trays for David and for me. I thought it was nice that she fed him too. After my breakfast, K said we could go for a walk on the rooftop garden off the maternity floor. It was a gorgeous day but a little cool, so she brought me a heated blanket. The garden had a view of the city and it was a clear morning. There were also lots of really nice flowers--the volunteers who tend the garden do a good job! We paced and paced and I tried to talk the babies into getting going, but they weren't listening. After about 20 minutes we went back inside and watched some TV.
Baby B kept slipping off his monitor and needing to be found again, but both babies' heartrates were looking "textbook." Lunch was some sort of chicken thing, and after lunch we did some more walking in the garden. I was getting frustrated by late afternoon that nothing was happening, and I felt ignored by all the doctors. In late afternoon there was another nurse shift change, and we now had J, who was our age and very businesslike. About five minutes after she came on shift, she and K came into the room together, J looking annoyed. K then confessed that I was not supposed to be getting out of bed except for the restroom, the babies had to be monitored continuously, and I should not have been allowed to go to the garden. She had completely ignored the Cervadil protocol!! Fortunately there were no problems, and frankly I'm glad I was able to move around and get some fresh air, but my goodness--what a mistake!
J also said that I was not getting any more food. I was really annoyed at this point--just as David announced he was going home to eat dinner and go for a quick run. As we weren't expecting anything to happen for 2 1/2 hours, it made sense although it made me feel a bit abandoned. Before he left, I had a bit of a temper tantrum about not being able to walk anymore, and J said I could go on a remote monitoring thing as long as I stayed hooked up. Dr. Z said it was okay too, so away we went, pacing the halls with me dragging a monitor on wheels along for the ride. I called Aunt E to give her an update, and that kept me entertained for the first 15 minutes of David's absence. By that point I was tired, so I went back to the room to sit down. It was about 7:30pm and I was expecting to sit there for an hour before anyone paid any more attention to me. I was feeling sorry for myself, lonely, and anxious about when the babies were going to be making an appearance. At this point, my contractions were infrequent bur regular-ish and not painful.
All that was about to change!
Suddenly, J came in with a female doctor, Dr. L, who introduced herself and was very friendly and said she and Dr. Y were going to be doing my delivery that night. She said she was going to remove the Cervadil and check my progress. That HURT. I didn't like seeing all the blood on her gloves when she took her hand away. She said I was at 2-3 cm and the next step would be breaking my water and putting an internal monitor on Baby A. That is a little probe-like thing that attaches to the baby's scalp. She reassured me that it was painless for the baby.
I quickly called David and told him to get back ASAP. He sounded kind of shell-shocked; I know I sounded mad. A few minutes later, Dr. L was back and I lay flat as she inserted the wand to break my water--gush! That didn't hurt. But a few seconds later--BAM, I felt my first real contraction. It hit me like a ton of bricks--much stronger and much more painful than anything I had been expecting or have ever felt. I called David again and ordered him to get back NOW; he reported that he was walking to the hospital entrance.
ooooooo. such a cliffhanger. i eagerly await part two!!!
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