I am so thankful that we packed the car that day, because after my doctor appointment we were sent straight to the hospital. My blood pressure was still high and after more tests and another ultrasound, they decided it was time to get her out. I expected them to say this, and at the same time i did not expect them to say this. Ahhh! The reality hit. Like a brick load to the face. I don't think it helped my blood pressure issue at that moment. Without blinking I stepped into the waiting room where Richard was sitting and said, "It's time. We are doing this now. Now."
At my last 2 false alarms the nurses told me to eat before I come because I might not get to eat again. With my slight affinity to food, the idea of not eating for an extended periods of time was daunting. So as UN-hungry as I was, I told Richard to go to the Chickfila across the street. We went through the drive thru and I got a milkshake. We called our parents to let them know the adventure was beginning. Then I made Richard pull into the parking lot at Chickfila because the idea of REALLY going to the hospital and REALLY having this baby was overwhelming me.
"Do we HAVE to? Let's just wait," I was stalling. My mind was racing and did my best to drink the milkshake down before Richard finally MADE me go to the hospital.
Check in was a cinch. We were pros by now. I was semi-thankful for the false alarm visits because I wasn't nervous or shaky as I filled out the forms again. This time, they sent us to a real room, not triage, so no sharing with other nervous pregnant ladies. We began settling in and a nurse came in to get our initial information. Then some mechanism with the bed broke, so we had to change rooms. In the new room I was given a menu to choose dinner. Dinner?! hooray. My milkshake didn't have to last me 48 hours!
They gave me some medicine to begin the induction process and an Ambien so I could sleep through the night. The Ambien was great! However I was slightly nervous that it would work too well and I might wet the bed. Pregnant ladies gotta pee all the time, and I was no exception! (Oops! was that too personal? Bad news...it gets worse.) "No worries," the nurse assured me, "it doesn't work that well."
The next morning I ate breakfast (I know! 2 meals! I couldn't believe it) and then I was sent to the Labor and Delivery room. In a few hours I would be holding a baby. A real baby! Nothing was more nerve wracking then that. And therefore nothing else mattered.
Lots of people try to tell you things about the experience of labor. Lots of people! So the things we get nervous about being really painful or hard or going really wrong end up being no big deal. Like the first time you rode a roller coaster, you were petrified as you stood in line. Then you did it and it was exciting and super fun. Well I won't say that whole experience is "super fun" but I will say that you can relax. Everybody has a different experience and worrying about any of the delivery is frivolous. Plus taking the baby home is WAY more intense than actually HAVING the baby.
to be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment