The Wait

We arrived at St. Joseph’s around 12:30 am on Friday, May 28th.  Here we are in admitting.  Reminiscent of Noelle’s birth we are both in our work clothes.  Dave because he was at work and me because I was too huge to fit into anything else! 

One of the first things I want to express is that I was not worried at all about having the baby at 35 weeks and 4 days.  Noelle was born at 36 weeks and her birth went well and she was healthy and beautiful.  Dave, on the other hand, was very worried.

So, when the on call doctor told me that I was too early and that they were going to try and stop my labor I was disappointed.  We were told the plan was to hydrate me, watch the baby, and hopefully send me home.  When we got to the hospital my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart but I was only dilated to 1 cm and the baby’s head was still floating. 

Hydration did not stop the contractions so the next step was to give me a shot to stop them.  It worked for about an hour and then they came back.  The on call doctor still said he didn’t feel comfortable doing the c-section with me being early so he would call my doctor at 7:00 am to discuss what to do.  It was about 4:00 am and we all decided to try and get some sleep.

It was at that point that I think we must have been so quiet that everyone forgot we were there.  Neither of my monitors were picking up very well, the alarms kept ringing and ringing but no one came to check on me or fix them.  I just kept adjusting them myself trying to get a good tracing.  Being a nurse I didn’t want to be an “annoying patient” on my call light all night long.

At the 7:00 am shift change our new nurse was someone that Dave and I both knew because she used to work at County.  It seemed that she did not remember us though.  When I asked if they had contacted my doctor she laughed and said that he was not on call that no one was going to call him.  She treated us like we were totally stupid!  I was so frustrated!  This is what we were waiting all night for!  At this point I had already been there in labor for 7 hours and they had no plan for me!

Finally, the day shift doctor came in and said that seeing as how my contractions would not stop they had no choice but to do the c-section.  They had one previously scheduled for 8:00 and I would be after that.  Then they shut the door and didn’t come back for hours!

When our poor representation of a nurse finally came back she said they had several emergency c-sections that were more important than I and that I was being pushed back.  So, I continued to labor with no end in sight.  They continued to give me approximate times and then those times would come and go without anyone coming to tell us what was happening.  We were all losing our patience and I was STARVING!  I was so hungry and I knew that I have a habit of throwing up for at least 12 hours after the baby is born so I begged for some ice chips or a popsicle while I waited and waited but they said no.

Finally at 3:00 pm, 14 1/2 hours after I arrived at the hospital they wheeled me to the OR.