Saya is now one month old! In honor of this milestone, I thought I'd post an "uncensored" story of the labor.
It all started on Wednesday, July 23rd. I know that I will probably go into labor soon, so I call my mom to ask her exactly how she had felt when she was in labor. True to form, my mom's memory of the events are hazy and all she tells me was that "it felt like bad period cramps." I start getting worried that I won't even know if I
am in labor.
That night, I make Kris go to Safeway and buy all the things I need for the labor, and we go to bed around midnight. I start to feel kind of crampy. Every ten minutes or so, I have a contraction with some mild "period cramp" type pain. But it isn't bad. For the next couple of hours, I keep wondering "Is this labor?" I doze off and on until around 3:30 a.m. but by then, the cramping is annoying enough (and just painful enough) to keep me awake.
From 3:30 - 5 a.m., I feel intense contractions lasting 10-15 seconds, about 8-10 minutes apart. They become so painful that I do not know what to do. In our living room, I try squatting on the floor to relieve the pain. The only thing that seems to help is when I get on all fours on the couch, pound my feet as hard as I can, and wiggle my butt in the air (so sexy). I try my Lamaze breathing exercises and realize in about 0.00002 seconds that they are useless.
I decide to Google "signs of labor." I read that when many women go into labor, their intestines revolt and clean themselves out before the birth process. Sure enough, at around 5 a.m., I run to the bathroom for a long, intimate session with the Porcelain God. I am in there for about 45 minutes and feel some intense pain. I start to think that maybe I am ACTUALLY in labor, but am also thinking that maybe I'm a wuss and just uber-sensitive to pain. The mucous plug and bag of waters are still intact and I'm hoping these are not simple Braxton-Hicks contractions.
At 7 a.m. I am in a ton of pain and contractions are between 4-5 minutes apart, lasting 10-20 seconds. My OB told me to go to the hospital when the contractions are three minutes apart for at least an hour, lasting for a minute each, so I think I still have a lot of suffering ahead of me.
I run into the bedroom between contractions and wake up Kris. He offers to stay home from work. Stupidly, I tell him "No, go to work! If thing get worse, I'll call you." Five minutes later, I tell him "Call the doctor immediately! Stay home from work!"
Kris calls our doctor's office and asks them to page the OBGYN on call. We wait...and wait. Half an hour later, we call again and ask them to page the doctor. Then we wait some more. After 45 minutes elapse, we call the hospital. The hospital tells us to come to Labor and Delivery! Kris quickly packs up the car and we drive to Stanford Hospital. On the way there, the doctor on call FINALLY calls us back and says "Oh, you should go to Labor and Delivery." Gee, thanks.
Kris drops me off at the front of the hospital and I walk to the hospital checkin. I ask the attendant where the Labor & Delivery unit is. The attendant looks at me skeptically and asks "Are you even IN labor?" I have no idea why this is such a shock to him, as I am ONLY NINE MONTHS PREGNANT.
At L&D, I go through the laborious checkin process while standing up. The staff there are so used to women in labor that the fact that I am in extreme pain does not faze them at all. While I attempt to remain calm through contractions, they ask me to sign papers, fill out forms, etc. I am finally admitted to an evaluation room, where Kris joins me.
My usual OB is out of town. Luckily, the OB who takes her place (and who gave me a checkup two days earlier) is a seasoned old guy who's delivered 6,000 babies. He comes in the room and finds that I am now dilated 2 cm. I am happy (because I wasn't dilated at all two days before) but also frustrated. All that pain for only 2 cm?!
The doctor tells me I am in labor but I have awhile to go. He suggests I either go home or walk around the hospital for awhile. This sounds like the worst thing EVER to me. Then he turns to me and asks "You DO want a natural birth, right?" I respond "NOOOOO!" Then he says the magic words, "Oh! Well, in that case, let's admit you. Let's see about having your baby today."
The emotional impact of that statement sends me into instant tears. I can't believe it's finally happening, and that I will meet my baby today!
Then, more magic. The nurse asks if I would like an epidural. For some reason I am under the impression that epidurals are not administered until 4-5 cm dilation. I ask her whether I have to wait. She says, "No! Epidurals are for pain! If you are in pain, we will get one for you!"
Within the hour, I am checked into a clean and spacious delivery room, strapped to a fetal heart and contraction monitor, and have an IV in place.
Next up: The delivery room and birth!
