All Systems a Go on this Juicy Adventure

(karen) Good morning! We've had quite an exciting time since yesterday. Monday was my first day of maternity leave and I spent the time being productive: taking Molly to the vet, taking Child/Infant CPR courses online, buying ingredients for lasagna to stick in the freezer. I was feeling just a touch "funny" and wondered if something might happen soon, but as the day went on everything seemed normal again. I had my non-stress test at 2:30 and Steve came with me for the enthralling 30 minute monitoring session. One monitor tracked fetal heart rate and the other monitored my contractions to see how she responded to the squeezing (she didn't even notice). The doc complained that she was sleeping so I started poking and prodding Baby Ferg a bit, and then the mongoose came to life! There were nice healthy heart rates all over the monitor and everyone was pleased. At the end of the appt I asked about getting my membranes swept as a more natural way to help things along, rather than perhaps waiting for a full-on induction at the end of the week. I'd heard it was a painful procedure but I barely noticed it and it was over in about 6 seconds. With that we were wished luck and sent on our way back home.

I decided I wanted to take advantage of some free movie tickets we've been hanging on to so I told Steve I was taking him to see Toy Story 3 that night. We got our movie candy and head to the theater in the car that doesn't have the car seat or hospital bags, because we were in a fate-tempting mood and this seemed the most appropriate irresponsible short-term decision. During the movie I was squeezing Steve's should every time I felt a minor contraction, and he told me they were consistently about 8 min apart. I wasn't too worried because I've been having these Braxton Hicks for weeks now. I thought if anything we were practicing how to do the timing for when the real ones come. I gave a little throat clearing cough and instantly I felt a gush of warm fluid. I stared at Steve for a couple of seconds before announcing in a theater whisper , "My water just broke!" The docs say this only happens about 10% of the time so I guess I'm one of the dramatic few that likes to make a scene. It was a loooong walk back to the car, pants stuffed with paper towels but still actively leaking in view of the couples and families we passed on the way to the parking lot.

We called the doc in the car and were asked to gather our things and come into the hospital when we were ready. Since it was nearly 10:00 pm we had to use the Emergency Entrance and let me tell you people, I left a dripping trail the whole way. In the movies the lead lady gets a gush and says "Oh, my water broke!" then cut to screaming contractions and then cuddling an 8-month old covered in goo. My experience has been more like an unstoppable gush of amniotic fluid. Followed 10 min later by another unstoppable gush (thanks goodness Steve put two towels and a trash bag in the front seat). Just when you think you can't possibly have any more fluid, gush again and make an absolute mess of your hospital bed. Then for good measure leak a little more every time you have a contraction. (Sorry, TMI?) The benefit of this experience is I got to skip the whole triage step and go straight into the labor/delivery room. I guess they figured I wasn't faking it.

I wasn't really feeling painful contractions up to the point so they encouraged me to get some sleep overnight. I got an IV access placed in my wrist and was given a couple of sleeping pills t0 help mask the back labor I'd begun to feel. I was nervous about taking the pills but they worked beautifully and I slept soundly from 2:00-6:30am. It's about 9:00 now and I've been on a pitocin drip to help speed things along. The contractions are certainly more painful but so far manageable. I'm up to about 4 cm dilated and 80-90% effaced. Sorry about the long post, but writing it has been a welcome distraction from these labor pains. We'll update again soon when we have more news.

Ugh, they just uped my pitocin another couple of clicks. Again. This aught to be fun.