Becoming a Mother - Day 1

Thursday, June 9th, 2016-

8am: Wake up. The nerves set in. "Prepare to be at the hospital at 4pm," the words echo in my ears from my last doctors appointment earlier that week. I began my day like any other day. I drive my husband to work so I can pick him up on our way to the hospital. To take my focus of the excitement that is to come, I head to my parents' house. 

Noon: I start to get hungry and my mother made the point to check if I needed to avoid eating since I was going in for an induction. I call the hospital and am told to leave a message for the charge nurse. 

What seems like an eternity later, I get a call back. I need to call back at 3:00 to see if they have a room available for me.  But I can eat. Not that I really want to. My mom picks up Taco Bell and says this might be the only thing I can eat for awhile once I go in to the hospital. I force myself to eat the tacos that throughout my pregnancy I craved. The nerves start kicking in even harder. I ask my sister to come snuggle with me while we watch Zootopia. I find a chance to get a little nap. 

3pm: I pick up my phone and dial the hospital again. Still no room. Another 3 hour wait and they want me to call back again. I go pick up my husband from work anyways and we head home to make sure our bags are packed and get the last minute chores completed. 

After the chores are completed, bags and car are packed, we find a chance to relax and watch Last Man Standing. Again, I find a chance to take a nap. We also take the final "baby bump" picture.

6pm: Once again, I call the hospital. Again, there is still not enough room. This time though, they tell me to just come in at 10pm.

My mom offers to make whatever dinner I want, I choose strawberry salad. I sit, anxiously waiting for 10pm to roll around.

9:30pm: Finally it becomes time to head to the hospital. I drive our car with my husband next to me, a bag for the two of us, a bag for our little guy, and a carseat in the back ready for our sweet baby to join us. We pull up into the parking lot of the hospital and its game time.

10pm: It kind of turned into a blur of needle pokes, IV inserts, nausea, pain, and exhaustion over the next few hours. 

*Note: I really wanted to paint my nails before I went into the hospital. My mom decided she would paint my nails in the hospital, but we forgot the nail polish. We send my dad to the store to find some. 

IVs ... stink! 100%. Especially when you have "crappy veins" as my nurse put it. Took her two failed attempts, one in my left wrist and again in my right, then she suggests having someone else try. (She had a streak of not poking people more than three times.) Another nurse walks in and they successfully administer an IV on the top of my right hand. 

A little later, my doctor walks in (in a Hawaiian shirt) to insert the prostaglandin to begin cervical ripening. He also decides to give the pelvic exam from hell (i.e. he strips my membranes). Immediately, I begin feeling what starts out as cramps similar to those on a menstrual cycle. Slowly, they escalate into cramps that make me throw up and make me unable to sleep. 

To ensure the gel remains on the cervix, you are told to lie flat on your back for an hour. That was a pretty long hour. 

Suggestions from my husband, mom, and nurse were taken into consideration. I walk the short distance from the labor & delivery unit to the unit desk and then half way down the postpartum hall. It didn't help. I felt worse. Almost to the point of sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway. With a hospital gown on, with no underwear. (And I am a person who wears flip flops into the shower at a hotel). 

We return to my room. I throw up again. I sit in the bed trying to find some relief from the nausea and discomfort. Nothing seems to help. My mom tries to distract me with my TV. Still not working. It continued through the night ...