He's Coming! ..April Fools..

Rewind to Jackson's due date..

I started having contractions while Michael was gone to the grocery store around 5pm. He came home and I kept telling him that these felt different and they were stronger than normal. We started timing them and then went on a walk. They stayed at about the same intensity but they were getting closer. We decided that we should probably have my mom come and get Will just in case this was the real thing. I called the doc and he said that once they got to about 5 min apart to come on to the hospital. Well, I laid down and they got to 5 minutes.. we got in the car and headed on to Rex Hospital which is about 45 minutes from our house. I grabbed a cereal bar on the way out of the house, which I should have stopped and got real food if I had known what was ahead. On the way, they were coming faster and were happening every 3.5-4 minutes. Michael called his parents and told them we were on our way, and they headed towards Raleigh. It felt like this was it!!

We got into triage and they hooked me up to the machines, took my vitals, asked a ton of questions, and then examined me. By this time it was about 9:30pm. I was still only 1cm dialated and about 50% effaced.. and, the nurse told me my contractions were not regular anymore and they were about 7 minutes apart. My pain wasn't too bad, so she mentioned that I might get sent home.. I was not expecting to hear that. I guess with Will it was very cut and dry -- my water broke, I was having a baby, end of story. I didn't really "labor" with Will and count contractions, etc. I got to the hospital with wet pants and was still not very dialated, so they gave me Pit and I trudged through a few rough contractions and then got an epidural.. It was almost like this was my first pregnancy all over again. I figured that since I was 40 weeks, they'd see I was having contractions, and maybe start Pit if needed. Apparently that is not how they roll.. immediate disappointment spread over Michael and I when we realized that this may NOT really be it.

The doc said to have us walk around the hospital for an hour to see if anything progresses - if things did progress, then I could stay. If not, then I was going home. So we walked. And walked. And walked. We felt like NASCAR drivers because we just made a big loop and kept going left. After an hour of walking, my contractions had definitely picked up and were happening to my best guess of about 3 minutes apart. They weren't stopping me in my tracks, so I knew I still had a ways to go with labor. At 11pm, they hooked me back up to the machines to see how my contractions were doing and then she examined me again. I had dialated to 2.5-3cm and was now 70% effaced. Since, I had progress, the doc said to have me rest or walk and then hook me back up in an hour. So, I rested from 11:30-12, and by this time, Michael's parents were in the waiting room so he went to talk to them and get something to eat. At midnight, we started our walking again until 12:30. We estimated that we had walked almost a 5k around the hospital wing. I was tired, hungry, and having stronger contractions. So, at 12:30, they hooked me up and monitored my contractions. I was suppose to get checked again at 1:30, but instead of walking, I just rested.

Here is where the best part of the night happened: while in triage, there were 2 other ladies brought in. One had apparently gone to the ER complaining of shortness of breath, and since they couldn't figure out what was wrong, they sent her to the birth center since she was pregnant. She thought the baby had kicked and bruised her rib, so she was in a lot of pain. I kid you not, this actually came out of her mouth.. "Is there any way her foot could still be stuck up there?"... the baby is in your UTERUS. It is not like it is floating around in your body playing with your organs.. WOOWWW... I looked at Michael and we just held our giggles..

THEN, enter lady on welfare, medicaid, and food stamps (I overhead her background info).. She was at a 10 or so on the pain scale and was FREAKING out. She was saying every 4 letter word under the sun and praying to Jesus to get her through this and she was swearing to never have anymore kids.. I felt really bad for her, but she did get put into a room, and I would assume that she had her baby that night.. I was no where close to that pain.

ANYWAY, back to me. At 1:30, I got hooked back up and got examined. No progress. Doc said we could stay the night to be observed, and we could walk or just rest. At this point, I was exhausted. I was fine with going home. I wanted to eat and sleep, and had pretty much given up that I was having a baby that night. We got into a room and they hooked me up to an IV to give fluids and in case things picked up, I'd be good to go. I finally got to sleep around 2:30, but kept waking up every 30 minutes to 1 hour because I would roll and move the monitor and they couldn't hear the baby.. so the poor nurse had to come in and fix it. At 6am, I was done. I rang the little bell, said I needed to pee, and that we could walk.. She came in and examined me, and I was the same as I was earlier.. and my contractions had spread out to 10 minutes apart. This made me think that I had been dehydrated which is why my contractions started in the first place.. and since I could sleep through most of them, they weren't strong enough to be in active labor. So, we got discharged. And I got McDonalds. Yum.

What we learned? It is not necessarily the TIME that matters.. your contractions need to be UBER painful.. like can't walk, can't talk, just breathing.. and if that is the case, AND they are close together, then go to the hospital. I know that might seem silly, but if you tell me "come when they are 5 min apart," then I listen. It was a little discouraging and tiring, but we really didn't know any better. I feel like Jackson said, "GOTCHA! April Fools!" :)

Now it is a few days later and all has been quiet on the western front.. I have an appt on Thursday, so we'll see what's up then if nothing happens beforehand.. *sigh*