20 Months... and waiting.

Naomi's 20th month, so far, has been spent in anticipation of the arrival of her little sister, which has been nothing less than an emotional roller coaster. I'll keep updating the status of this situation so keep checking back, but in the meantime here is where we are at, and some photos of Naomi to keep you entertained for the time being. We'll make a brand new post when the little one arrives, which Naomi keeps saying will be "baby sister soon!"

As a forward...
For those who have not been induced, I can tell you that this is a completely different experience than letting labor happen spontaneously. With Naomi, I started labor, my water broke within 30 minutes, and we were on our way to the hospital. 20 hours later we had a baby in our arms. It went smoothly, we enjoyed the experience, and I actually looked forward to the next time we could bring a baby into the world.

With Knock-Knock, since we have been dealing with the umbilical cord issue for more than 2 months now which has included 2x Non-Stress Test (NST) per week and 1x Ultrasound per week, we have been scheduled for a "medically necessary" induction at the beginning of our 39th week. This way we know she is mature enough to be delivered safely, yet we cut her risk level of dependency on her cord.

Getting to induction, at least in our experience, takes a lot of mental preparation. First you have to come to terms with starting a process that your body or the baby may not actually be ready for yet. It's unnatural and weird. Then you have to get over the fear of the drugs you know they are going to give you to start the process. We've all heard the horror stories and negative outcomes. Then you have to just plain get ready to have this baby in your arms and you try to go through the motions in your brain, rehearsing what has to be done first, what you need to remember from last time, etc. This is mentally exhausting stuff, especially for a planner like me. I'm admittedly not so good at just going with the flow when so much has been planned out for me.

Bottom line, just putting everything in the back of your head and letting labor happen when it is going to happen is SO much easier. Yet, the doctor insists that we need to deliver the baby, so you trust that and agree, go through all these mental hurdles, and expect the call to report the hospital.

Thursday, 09/9/10
This is the day we have been scheduled for induction. This day came and went. We called in at 8am as instructed, were told we were most likely going to be called to come in by noon. I waited until 4pm to call again, which is when I was informed that we would not be admitted on this day. They were just too busy.

Also, the doctor called me and insisted on scheduling another NST for the next day. I asked if it was necessary if I was going to be induced the next day. She said, "Well, it's not guaranteed you will get in tomorrow either, then if you don't get in this weekend, that means we don't see you until at least Monday..."

WAIT, WHAT? We were disappointed and upset, mainly for two reasons: 1. I had to go through this prep all over again the next day, or maybe even MULTIPLE days in a row, and 2. Jim had just burned a valuable vacation day waiting for nothing.

Really? Could they really delay a "medically necessary" induction for MULTIPLE days?? No way...

I made the NST appointment, albeit begrudgingly, for 2:30pm the next day and decided to keep some faith that the doctor had a plan to get me in by at least then.

Friday, 09/10/10
We wait all day, in vain, for a call in to the birth center. We went to our NST where the doctor had us sign our induction informed consent, just to get the paperwork ready. By the time we left the office at 4:15pm, there was still no room at the birth center for us. We went to a movie (Induction Inception, which was very good) to kill some time, hoping that we would get a call sometime in the evening before heading back down to Tacoma. No luck.

Before making the drive south, I called the charge nurse to see if there was any chance for a call. She said that I was first on the list and she was hoping she could get us in by 11pm. Either way, she would call us and let us know.

So we went home in time to spend some time with Naomi before bed and waiting for a call - WHICH CAME at about 10pm! We were told to get ready and be at the hospital at 11:30pm!

So we did. at 10:30pm, knowing that I-5 Northbound was closed part of the way and we'd have to take a back road, we took off. We made it to the end of the block when the phone rang...

"Don't hate me," she says. "We just had 3 women in spontaneous active labor walk in so we don't have a bed for you anymore."

This is when I completely lost it and railed into this nurse. What, afterall, was the point of scheduling this supposedly "medically necessary" induction if they are not actually going to do it? And what if something did happen to this child during this days-long wait? Whose shoulders would that be on? And why is it that this hospital has this completely wishy-washy policy when every other person I have talked to who has been induced at any other hospital was given an actual scheduled appointment that was actually honored? And did they have any idea what this does to an already emotionally and hormonally charged 9 month pregnant woman? And did they have any respect at all for the rest of the family who is also on this roller coaster and changing their lives to take care of your other children? And what about my husband who has now killed TWO vacation days for no reason when they could  have been spent helping me with a newborn in the house?

The answer to all this: "I can't stitch up someone else's cervix to push you into labor." I thought this was the most callous answer I have ever heard, asked her what would have happened if I had gotten there 10 minutes BEFORE these other women (they would not have denied any of us care), and I told her that I would be in touch with the department head as soon as possible to file a complaint and hung up.

Then had a good cry and went to bed.

Saturday, 09/11/10
I called at 7:30 this morning to see what my chances of getting in today were. I spoke to both the new charge nurse and my doctor. I was told that they would get me in ASAP, of course and if I didn't hear from them by 11:30am to call again to check in. So here we are, waiting. Again. On day 3 of my "medically necessary" induction.

(Update!)
The 11:30 call yielded no reassurance of space for us, but the nurse said maybe we'd get a call around 3:00pm.

It came at 1:30pm that they were ready for us and we jumped in the car to go, where I promptly shut my phone off. No way was I going to answer if they were to call again on our way up! We were going to the hospital and STAYING there!

We were shown to our room, unpacked our stuff, got changed and met our nurse. We're here and they can't kick us out now!

The first hurdle is placing the IV. Two nurses (including one who, upon entrance, promised not to keep "porking" me... another hysterical story for another day), an IV Tech and FOUR sticks later, we finally were set. I finally got my first dose of cytotec at 5:00pm. Please, let's get this show on the road.

Sunday, 09/12/10
The clock has just clicked past 12:00am. I am contracting, but too often (about every minute or two) to get the 2nd dose of cytotec. But the drug has not done enough to soften my cervix and dilate me. And I've been told the doc on call won't really assess me until early morning, or unless these contractions get painful (which they are obviously not since I am writing this). SO, what to do? Walk around, then try to get some sleep.

(Update! And the rest of the story...)
The morning came and the doc came in to check me. Still 1.5cm at 6am. And still too many contractions. Not good. The on-call doc started to talk to me about a crazy balloon thing-a-majig the they would probably need to insert to help dilate me manually. HELL NO. What were our other options? We discussed giving me a flush of fluid to see if we could space out my contractions enough to do another round of cytotec. This may take longer, but it is less invasive. As far as I was concerned this was the way to go.

SO, we started the fluids and that ran for about an hour. By the time we were done with this, my OB was back on call - yeah! And when she checked me I was already at 3cm! No more cytotec, no balloons, I was progressing on my own! So we start running the pitocin.

By 1pm we were at about 4.5cm but still not in active labor. To move things along she broke my water, warned me that labor would get more intense and painful, and ordered me my epidural (I'm not an all-natural type of girl... Judge if you wish, but I don't like pain).

She was right. By the time the epidural arrived 20 minutes later, I was ready for it. I should say, though, that the epi was A LOT lighter than the one I got with Naomi, which pretty much knocked my lower half out of use for a full 24 hours. This time around I could still feel everything (and all the accompanying pressure - moms, you know what I mean), it just took the edge off the pain. It was pretty much smooth sailing from this point on, though. By 6:00 we were pushing.

At 6:57pm our girl, all 9lbs 1oz (WOWZER!) and 20 inches of her, was born. Alana Stowe Roberts came into the world to the tune of Ta p'tite flamme by Amélie-les-crayons.

Welcome, cheeky monkey. We love you so very, very much.

Another post dedicated to Alana will be posted soon...