Ok... I want to update my blog and what better way than to fill in those gaps of the last month?
First, in the event that this ends up being posted AFTER Nov. 14, the day I'm writing this, it is probably due to:
a) I fell asleep mid writing of this post- I'm soooo tired. Everyday. Apparently, the draining of my energy during my pregnancy with Hunter was just a heads up of how life is going to continue for a while. *sigh* That boy is a very calm baby, but HUNGRY... and not as good of a sleeper as his sisters were. You can't win 'em all, right?
b) I can't remember what I wanted to write or want to polish it up during a more coherent moment (ha ha ha... like I even HAVE those anymore...)
or
c) I lose my focus before I finish... which would be a combination of a and b :-)
So (deep breath), where was I?
On Sunday (Oct. 16), my silly contractions started to show some signs of regularity. But I decided that I was not going to get all ready to call it "true labor" since I had been sent home after having even painful contractions.
(If you want to hear about my opinion of military hospitals, that's a whole other day. I'll save you the earful and just say, sometimes, you get what you pay for. So any of you fans of Obamacare out there... yeah... I have the "free" healthcare and having paid for my previous two babies (with sufficient health care coverage, granted), this was my least favorite experience... but I digress.)
So by Tuesday, I was pretty miserable. My contractions were becoming not only more regular but closer together. I did everything they tell you: Change positions, rest, walk around, shower... and all the while, regular contractions. So that means I better haul it to the hospital then, right? Well, we did. Dropped off the kids (yet again) with my VTers and were sure that we were finally going to stay, but we forgot that their equipment for picking up contractions SUCKS and since I hadn't progressed since my last appt., they didn't believe me when I said I was in labor. (Just picture a really grumpy Paula at this point...okay, a crying Paula. Because that's what I did.) (Note from Ed: She was in labor. My telling Paula that she was being given a poor excuse to cover for their "no admittance if you are less than 4 centimeters dilated" policy only made her more avid in her refusal to go back there EVER again. Even after I called and spoke to a triage nurse who agreed with me...) I went home and went to sleep...since the "false labor" had kept me up all night. Then as Ed was getting ready to go to work that afternoon, one of my sweet VTers brought Carissa home, took one look at me and packed me and the girls back into her van and took us back to her house so I wouldn't have to watch the girls alone while Ed was at work.
Then Wednesday, I had my scheduled OB appt. and explained how I was feeling and she could just see my frustration, so she decided to check my fluids once more and concluded I should be induced due to low fluids... I think she was making a mercy move here and that I didn't
really need to be induced, but was I going to say anything?? Heck no! That was the 19th, at 9 a.m. and I thought, "I could totally have this kid by the end of the day so he won't have to share a birthday with Mom... no problem :-)" I checked in to Labor and Delivery and Ed took the girls back over to my other VTer's house and we were finally on our way.
Everything else was pretty routine after that:
Doing a VBAC? yup
Epidural? yup
Laying in a position that caused me to throw up stomach acid, with the occasional blood, throughout the course of my labor? yup
Feeling contractions before the pitocin was administered and confusing everyone that was prepping for my induction? yup
Having most of my contractions not show up on the monitors? yup
Due to the heartburn I was dealing with the whole time, I didn't really get much rest. I watched several movies, half conscious because I couldn't sleep. Surprisingly, all they had to give me was Zantac that went into my IV, which didn't work. At all. Maybe I built up an immunity to it having used it for the past 2 months straight :-) They did give me this horrid concoction AFTER Hunter was born that not only didn't help, but actually made me throw up even more than my labor did.
As a result, I was awake as we watched the midnight hour approach and came to realize that he would be sharing a birthday after all. Then I dozed some, and decided after waking up at 3 a.m. and not seeing anyone come check on me for over 30 minutes, that I should tell someone I needed to push... because I did need to. Ed called the nurse, they got everything all ready and then 3 pushes or whatever... 10 minutes later, he was born. And it was weird that something as big as he was, came out so easily. For me. I know much bigger babies are born everyday, but if you had seen me {which if you don't live here, you didn't since I don't post preggie pics... I don't like them of myself. I just look fat. Don't believe me? Tell that to the many people at church who didn't even know I was pregnant...yeah.... kinda depressing there :-( } you would have been just as surprised.
After that, just the same ol', same ol'. But they taught me what horrible hospital food was... I think I was spoiled at the other hospitals I've been to. My recovery was a bit harder this time, and I don't really know why. But I'm surviving. I look forward to getting some sleep some day soon... but now I need to attend to my crying baby since it's night time and he doesn't get that that is when you sleep, versus the day where he can sleep through anything! :-)
