War Stories, Part III
As promised, here is the third installment in the saga of Rachel's childbearing.
(I will try to keep it G-rated, my apologies to my male readers)
So...travelling back in time to October 13th and my last OB visit with the good Dr. Voss. I'm sure I blogged about the fact that I was un-dilating. I had gone from 1 cm to fingertip to closed. I was sure that Will was going to be my "intervention" birth, that I would end up having to be induced.
I still haven't learned that when I am "sure" of something, the exact opposite usually happens...
I woke at 4:00 a.m. on October 14th with a slightly painful contraction. Not take-your-breath-away painful, but definitely much more noticeable than all of the Braxton Hicks contractions I had been having. The day passed as normal. We got Josiah off to school, Hans off to work and Annika and I settled in for another day. Throughout the day, I had sporadic contractions. Once or twice, it seemed like they were starting to be regular, and then the next one wouldn't come when it was meant to and they'd taper off.
I spent the day doing what I normally do: household chores and being mommy. Picked up Josiah from school, made a stop at the library to get new books, came home and eventually got started on supper. Around 5:30, I started having more timeable contractions, but they were still at least 15 minutes apart and not overly painful. Hans was supposed to go to order his new car after supper, but I asked him to stay home, just in case. After he and the kids had supper, we decided that at the least, I should probably run up to the hospital to be monitored and checked, just in case.
We dropped the kids at our neighbors, grabbed all the bags and headed out. I'll tell you, I still didn't think that I was in active labor. I thought that I'd get to the hospital, spend thirty minutes on the monitor and be sent home. But better safe than sorry, we reasoned.
We hit a little bit of traffic, so it took awhile to get over to the hospital, but by the time we got there, the contractions were getting closer together. We went up to Labor & Delivery and they showed us to a room and hooked me up to the monitor...about five minutes later I had a noticeably more painful contraction, so I had Hans call the midwife back in to check me. Just in case...and sure enough, I was 6 cm dilated.
We weren't going home without a baby!
Thankfully, Hans had filled out the paperwork for the epidural right away, so they came in, drew some blood and started an IV line. While I waited for the anesthesiologist, my wonderful midwife, Julia, gave me some great painkillers to take the edge off. Contractions were about five minutes apart and still very manageable with a focal point and some breathing, but the painkillers made me very calm and almost drowsy in between, which was nice. I was afraid that the Germans would be reluctant to issue drugs, but Julia kept offering me different meds. And lo, they were wonderful. I had my drug-free birth...I didn't care to repeat it!
And then the clouds parted, the golden rays shone down and the angels sang: the anesthesiologist arrived. This was probably the most painful aspect of the evening. When I had my epidural with Josiah, I was in such an incredible amount of pain (probably due to being scared out of my mind at having my first!) that having the epidural was pretty much unnoticeable. With Will, I was managing fine and feeling good between contractions, so getting the epidural turned out to be more uncomfortable than anything else. I had trouble being absolutely still...between contractions and the reaction of my leg and hip twitching while he was settling the catheter.
But once it took hold, I didn't feel a thing. Not a thing...no contractions, no pressure, nothing. It was bliss. Julia stayed with us now and awhile later she declared it time to start pushing. The doctor came in, but it was still very lowkey--no gowning up, no bright lights, no tray of shiny instruments, just the four of us in the room. I pushed for a little while on my back, but they were a bit worried about Will's decelerating heartbeat and had me get up in a squat (I know, sorry) with one arm around the doctor's neck and the other around Hans'. The doctor helped by pushing down from the outside and three or four contractions later, there was Will!
Afterward, it was so peaceful and nice. Julia and the doctor checked Will over a little, wrapped him up and handed him off to Hans and me and then they left us alone for over an hour. The entire stay at the hospital was like this...very little intervention. The doctors and nurses checked in once or twice a day and then left us alone. They weren't constantly coming to get Will and take him off for blood tests or this, that and the other thing. They weren't constantly coming in to poke and prod me. It was nice. Julia told me that some German women spend up to a week in the hospital and others choose to go home after only six hours!
So. Thus ends the trilogy of Rachel's War Stories...Will's birth was truly perfect in my eyes. None of those situations that so worried me during pregnancy came to fruition. We were able to leave the kids with our neighbor, make it to the hospital and have the epidural and a peaceful, pleasant birth.
And we got Will.
(I will try to keep it G-rated, my apologies to my male readers)
So...travelling back in time to October 13th and my last OB visit with the good Dr. Voss. I'm sure I blogged about the fact that I was un-dilating. I had gone from 1 cm to fingertip to closed. I was sure that Will was going to be my "intervention" birth, that I would end up having to be induced.
I still haven't learned that when I am "sure" of something, the exact opposite usually happens...
I woke at 4:00 a.m. on October 14th with a slightly painful contraction. Not take-your-breath-away painful, but definitely much more noticeable than all of the Braxton Hicks contractions I had been having. The day passed as normal. We got Josiah off to school, Hans off to work and Annika and I settled in for another day. Throughout the day, I had sporadic contractions. Once or twice, it seemed like they were starting to be regular, and then the next one wouldn't come when it was meant to and they'd taper off.
I spent the day doing what I normally do: household chores and being mommy. Picked up Josiah from school, made a stop at the library to get new books, came home and eventually got started on supper. Around 5:30, I started having more timeable contractions, but they were still at least 15 minutes apart and not overly painful. Hans was supposed to go to order his new car after supper, but I asked him to stay home, just in case. After he and the kids had supper, we decided that at the least, I should probably run up to the hospital to be monitored and checked, just in case.
We dropped the kids at our neighbors, grabbed all the bags and headed out. I'll tell you, I still didn't think that I was in active labor. I thought that I'd get to the hospital, spend thirty minutes on the monitor and be sent home. But better safe than sorry, we reasoned.
We hit a little bit of traffic, so it took awhile to get over to the hospital, but by the time we got there, the contractions were getting closer together. We went up to Labor & Delivery and they showed us to a room and hooked me up to the monitor...about five minutes later I had a noticeably more painful contraction, so I had Hans call the midwife back in to check me. Just in case...and sure enough, I was 6 cm dilated.
We weren't going home without a baby!
Thankfully, Hans had filled out the paperwork for the epidural right away, so they came in, drew some blood and started an IV line. While I waited for the anesthesiologist, my wonderful midwife, Julia, gave me some great painkillers to take the edge off. Contractions were about five minutes apart and still very manageable with a focal point and some breathing, but the painkillers made me very calm and almost drowsy in between, which was nice. I was afraid that the Germans would be reluctant to issue drugs, but Julia kept offering me different meds. And lo, they were wonderful. I had my drug-free birth...I didn't care to repeat it!
And then the clouds parted, the golden rays shone down and the angels sang: the anesthesiologist arrived. This was probably the most painful aspect of the evening. When I had my epidural with Josiah, I was in such an incredible amount of pain (probably due to being scared out of my mind at having my first!) that having the epidural was pretty much unnoticeable. With Will, I was managing fine and feeling good between contractions, so getting the epidural turned out to be more uncomfortable than anything else. I had trouble being absolutely still...between contractions and the reaction of my leg and hip twitching while he was settling the catheter.
But once it took hold, I didn't feel a thing. Not a thing...no contractions, no pressure, nothing. It was bliss. Julia stayed with us now and awhile later she declared it time to start pushing. The doctor came in, but it was still very lowkey--no gowning up, no bright lights, no tray of shiny instruments, just the four of us in the room. I pushed for a little while on my back, but they were a bit worried about Will's decelerating heartbeat and had me get up in a squat (I know, sorry) with one arm around the doctor's neck and the other around Hans'. The doctor helped by pushing down from the outside and three or four contractions later, there was Will!
Afterward, it was so peaceful and nice. Julia and the doctor checked Will over a little, wrapped him up and handed him off to Hans and me and then they left us alone for over an hour. The entire stay at the hospital was like this...very little intervention. The doctors and nurses checked in once or twice a day and then left us alone. They weren't constantly coming to get Will and take him off for blood tests or this, that and the other thing. They weren't constantly coming in to poke and prod me. It was nice. Julia told me that some German women spend up to a week in the hospital and others choose to go home after only six hours!
So. Thus ends the trilogy of Rachel's War Stories...Will's birth was truly perfect in my eyes. None of those situations that so worried me during pregnancy came to fruition. We were able to leave the kids with our neighbor, make it to the hospital and have the epidural and a peaceful, pleasant birth.
And we got Will.
