Triage Trip #4

(Warning: May contain TMI.  Read with caution)

Two of my friends took me to an Indian restaurant called Taj last night.  I had never had Indian food before.  I was super intimidated by the menu and wasn't sure if I wanted to eat anything.  Thankfully, they decided that we should order a couple of dishes and split them.  It actually wasn't bad and I liked what we got.  It's definitely not something that I would choose to go and eat, but if I had to, at least I know I could eat it.  I love spicy, but it was a almost too spicy to enjoy.  The point was to put me in labor.  As of my last doctor's appointment on Wednesday, my cervix was like butter and I was 3cm dilated.  VERY exciting!  During dinner, one of my friends, who used to be an OB/GYN nurse and is a certified NFP instructor, told me that my cervix was perfect for castor oil.  I never did castor oil with my other kids.  It just sounded like something not fun to do.  And I've heard mostly bad things about it, so I decided to pass.  But after talking to the girls, and knowing that I was progressing, I decided to try it. (Obviously didn't think this through after having Indian food...lol)

On the way home I picked up some castor oil, oj, and some toilet paper (we just happened to be out...oh the irony).  I got home by 8:30pm and immediately made myself a cocktail.  I drank it quickly, but it didn't taste bad.  It was oily, but it kind of tasted like a melted Lip Smacker.  I sat down to watch Grey's Anatomy and type a few emails.  About halfway through Grey's, I felt a good contraction, the kind that feel like a menstrual cramp.  About 15 minutes later, I felt another one.  I got excited...finally some real contractions.  These continued on through Private Practice.  A friend of mine had come over to watch the shows with me and when she left, I went upstairs to go to bed.  By this point, my contractions were pretty intense, more so than before, so I was definitely thinking that this might be the night.  I quickly called my MIL to tell her to keep her phone on just in case.  Kris was in the shower, so I crawled in bed, turned out the light and tried to go to sleep.  But the contractions were too painful to sleep.  So I turned the light on and told Kris about them.  We tried to time them, but it felt like one long contraction with no relief in between.  They got really intense, really fast so Kris decided to start packing.  It was a little after midnight at this point and I decided to go ahead and call my MIL, that way she could have time to get to the house in case we needed to leave quickly.  Kris googled "timing contractions" and we tried again to time them, but I couldn't tell when one began and ended.  My stomach was sooo tight and the pain lingered even between each one.  Kris continued to pack while I tried breathing through the contractions.  When my MIL arrived, Kris went downstairs to let her in and clean out the car.  He needed to take the car seats out for my parents in case "this was it."  I kept having to pee, so I stopped packing to take care of business when the castor oil kicked in.  Remember my comment about not thinking things through...castor oil and Indian food = bad idea.  Thankfully though, that was the only time I had to go.  I guess you could say it did it's job well.  Anyway...afterward, the contractions subsided for 5 or 10 minutes.  During that time I thought, "crap! (no pun intended) all of that was just the castor oil."  I was exhausted because I haven't slept well the past few days so since Kris was still downstairs, I decided to try and rest.  The contractions started to be more consistent and more intense.  I could feel myself tensing up more and not breathing through the pain.  About that time, Kris came back upstairs.  I told him about the change and he started timing them.  They were almost exactly 3 minutes apart.  "I think it's time to call and go in," I said.  So Kris called the on-call doctor...my doctor...and she said to come in.  We finished loading up and headed to the hospital.

We arrived at about 2:15am.  I had to stop 3 or 4 times on the way in because the contractions were so intense and painful that I couldn't walk.  Although I was in pain, I was soo excited.  I was finally, actually going to have this baby.  Even while we were checking in, I had to stop answering the nurses questions to breathe.  Woo hoo!  I'm in labor...I'm having a baby.  They hooked me up to the machines and my contractions were consistent with our at home timing.  Then the nurse checked my cervix and to my dismay, I was still 3cm.  She monitored me for 10 minutes and then decided that I should walk for an hour to see if it helped me progress.  I was in a lot of pain, so walking around did not sound appealing at all, but I definitely wanted to help move things along so I agreed.  FYI - There is nothing more boring than walking back and forth across the same short hallway for an entire hour.  It was awful.  I would have 3-5 contractions per lap and would have to just stop and hold on to Kris or the wall to breath through them.  I was miserable.  I kept saying to Kris, "I can't believe they would do this to someone in this much pain.  I would rather be induced than have to go into labor like this.  It's awful!"

Our nurse was with another patient so after MORE than an hour, another nurse took us to the triage and checked me.  This was the same nurse we had seen on the last visit that couldn't find my cervix, even though the doctors and the nurse we'd had the rest of the night had no trouble.  After DIGGING around, she said, "you are still only 3.  I'm gonna have to call the doctor and see what she wants to do."  AT this point I was mad.  Are you kidding me?!!  I'm ready for an epidural...just put me in a room, give me some drugs, and my cervix will open right up and I'll poop this kid out.  I was devastated when she returned to tell me that I could either walk for TWO more hours or take some Ambien and go home to rest.  It was after 4:30am in the morning.  I was exhausted.  There was no way I could walk for 2 more hours.  And it was Thursday night...I couldn't take an Ambien.  How would I take care of the kids?  Kris at this point had decided that he would be staying home and suggested I rest.  I agreed reluctantly.  I felt like we were walking the "walk of shame" as we left the hospital.  I could not believe what was happening.  What a bunch of suck!

I was completely out of it in no time.  I don't remember the ride home or anything...just waking up some time around lunch.  The really disappointing thing is that today I have had maybe 5 contractions...seriously 5!!!  How aggravating is that?!  Even though I was drugged, completely exhausted, and out of it, we went to the mall and I walked for almost 2 hours.  I was on my feet almost the entire time from 4 - 9:45pm and almost no contractions.  And now it's ridiculously late at night and I can't sleep because I have restless legs, which I googled tonight, and ironically is caused by lack of sleep.  Anywho...that's my story.  I guess this baby is NEVER going to come out.