Remembering the birth, Part II

Part II:

Recap: Bumpy Ambulance Ride

We got to Sanford in Sioux Falls about 12:00pm. The EMTs from RV brought me to the labor and delivery part of the hospital. I remember they wheeled me to a couple different places because they weren’t sure where to go. Finally a Sanford Nurse led us to our destination. I was in a check-in room of some sort for 10 minutes alone before Wes joined me. He had gone to the ER part of Sanford, and they didn’t have a Deanna Foreman admitted there. He was sure he had the right hospital. So they directed him to the labor and delivery part of the hospital.



When he joined me, I had been hooked up to another fetal monitoring device. Everything was looking OK for baby. Dr. Boyle came to see us. Since I was 35 weeks and the labor was progressing, he was OK with helping it along (breaking my water) instead of slowing it down. If I had been earlier than 35 weeks, he would want to slow it down.



About 2:00pm (?) I was admitted to a labor and delivery room/suite. The room was large compared to the rooms in Rock Valley and Especially the rooms in Sioux Center. This was good because later there were many staff present. It had a TV that you could pick calming music or watch a movie and a whirlpool tub. Each suite had its own nurse for the duration of the shift. The next shift change, a new designated nurse took over.



Our nurse told us, in the case of the first birth, it usually takes a while, so she wouldn’t see us deliver. Her shift change was at 10:00pm. …Little did she know… She had attached wireless discs on my stomach that could still communicate to the fetal monitoring device. This allowed me to get up and walk around without having to drag the machine behind me. There were a couple times it wasn’t picking up the baby’s heartbeat. They were discussing the possibility of doing a C section since there were a couple missed heartbeats. First they attached the monitoring device directly to baby’s head and another to my uterine wall (?) to measure contractions. The discs on the belly don’t always read the measurements the best and attaching directly inside is more accurate. After they did that, baby's heartbeat was measuring ok.



At 5:00pm they broke my water to help the labor along. I heard later that when that is done, the contractions are much more intense. I had told Wes before birth, that I didn’t want an epidural. I might want pain killers, but NO epidural. When the contractions intensified, I asked for pain killers. They made me feel dizzy and only somewhat lessened the pain for half an hour. So I asked for more.



At this time I decided the contractions were too bad, I wanted an epidural. The order went out. When you ask for one, it takes an hour to actually get it in the room ready to be administered. So an hour later, they came with it. Only, I suddenly had to push! The midwife said, “Looks like you’re going all natural!”