Beatrix's Birth Story part 2.

Once in the beautiful suite Stacy gets me all settled and starts an IV on me, which proved to a little difficult despite my juicy veins. She was kind enough to want to start one in a place that wouldn't irritate me, but it was in a spot (just below my wrist) where the veins move easily. After it was started the doctor came back and we had a discussion on how to start my induction. Basically there were 2 options a chemical route or a manual route. The chemical option was a drug who's name I can't remember, it's similar to cervadil. The manual route is a Foley catheter induction where they put a catheter past my cervix into my uterus and inflate it, then tape it to my leg with some tension to pull it out, thereby dilating my cervix. If you know me well I am sure that you've guessed I chose the non chemical route.
The catheter was placed and it was relatively painless and the tension was applied. At this time I felt some period like cramping that started to become regular, which were my first contractions. They weren't painful and I could talk through them, but it was exciting to actually feel something starting. I asked how long it would take for it to pass through my cervix and I was warned that it can take up to 4 hours, then I would be 4 centimeters. At this point it's about 8pm.
I settle in with my midwife and we chat and Adam goes out to get something to eat since I was famished. Then around 8:20 I tell my midwife that I feel a lot of movement. She suggests that I should get up and go pee and see that does anything. So I make my way to the bathroom doing a very pronounced waddle and when in there I go to sit on the toilet and I hear a 'plop' and the catheter fell out. I yelled for my midwife who comes to the bathroom and she tells me to leave it where it is and that someone else should clean it up. I feel a little uncomfortable leaving it there 'cause it's a little bloody, my midwife tells me that there will be a lot more. I think I blanch a little.
After I get all settled back in my bed I called the nurse and she comes and we have to decide if I want to start pitocin now or wait to see if my body will continue to contract on it's own. I decide to wait, hoping that the quick exit of the catheter is a good sign and that my body will take over. Plus I still haven't eaten and they won't let me eat once the pitocin starts. Shortly after the nurse leaves Adam comes back with food and a bag all packed with what we would need at the hospital. (we didn't have one packed) Around 10pm my contractions haven't started on their own and with the doctor's help we decide that it's time to start pitocin. I was given the option for a half dose and almost agreed to it, but then decided on the whole dose, reasoning that if I'm going to do the druggy way, might as well do it up right. So now I get hooked up to an IV pole and my birth officially becomes more managed then I'd wanted.
It takes a couple hours for the contractions to start. I finally start having some around midnight, but they are totally manageable and no one really notices that I am having any. My midwife decides to go home since she figures it will be a while until I need labour support. Adam and I both settle in as well for a nap, since we're in for a long night. About a half hour later another doctor comes in and chides us for taking a nap, suggesting that we should be out walking around trying to get things going. Then she realizes that there isn't a 20 minute strip of the monitoring for the baby. We'd been having a hard time keeping track of her, the Doppler would fade in and out. So they find the baby and I am told to not move a muscle for 20 minutes. Which I agree too, and we plan with the doctor that when it's done we'll start walking laps around the ward. However after 20 minutes the nurse comes back and shows us on the strip how the baby's heart is decelerating and they won't take me off of the monitoring so I can't walk around. Instead I am tethered to my bed and the chair next to it. I am officially less than amused.
I try again to take a nap, but the bed is exceedingly uncomfortable and my contractions are picking up. They aren't painful yet, but it makes sleeping hard. Around 2ish my contractions start to get painful enough that I need to not talk while I am having one. My nurse, Michelle, asks if we have a doula lined up and suggests that we should call her soon. We decide to wait a little longer since I know that she has 3 small children and I don't want to wake them up. We did call her earlier in the night to let her know what's going on though and she's awaiting a call. Michelle suggests that I sit in the rocking chair and rock through the contractions, I try this and it's amazing how well it works. About an hour later though I need my doula and Adam gives her a call. At this time a doctor comes and checks my dilation and I am still only 4.5 centimeters.
When my doula arrives I can still talk and joke and have a grand ol' time in between contractions, but it's not much later than I need to really relax in between them and enter "labour land". I'm impressed with myself that I am able to fully relax between my contractions because I had trouble learning to relax in preparation for labour. I remember feeling guilty for not being able to carry on a conversation any more at this time, although I was aware of what was going on around me and what everyone was saying. Soon though I started to block it all out and started vocalizing though my contractions. I was a little shocked myself when I started with the "awwwhhhh awwwhhhhs", I always thought I would be a quiet labourer. Hmm not so much we shall say.
I continued to labour away for a couple more hours, eventually moving to a stand and leaning on my fit ball which was on the bed. When I'd have a contraction Adam, who was standing behind me would squeeze my hips which helped a lot with the pain, although no matter how many times I would tell him "harder" it was never hard enough to make it all go away. Around now the attending OB came in to check my cervix and he found it to be at 4.5 centimeters. I was devastated because the pain was so much more intense, the contractions were a lot closer together and yet I was still the same. They baby had moved down a little though, which was good news. After the doctor left I remember thinking that I had just let a male doctor examine me and that I didn't like him at all. I thought he was really rough and unkind. However he would be my doctor for the rest of my labour.
In between the next couple of contractions I brushed my teeth and drank some water and had a minor meltdown because another doctor came in and wanted to put internal monitors to watch the baby and my contractions. Adam and my doula thought I was freaking out because I didn't want the monitors, (which I didn't but I wasn't so aware of what was going on now) but I was having a meltdown because I wanted everyone to stop talking, I couldn't focus while there was so much talking. I didn't mind Adam and the doula talking, but various nurses and doctors kept coming in and were so loud and it really disrupted my focus, which I needed all of now since my contractions were double peaking.
Soon the boy doctor came back in to place the internal monitors and break my water. He also wanted to do a procedure where he would put sterile water back in my uterus to cushion the baby and make the contractions less evil for both of us. However while he was doing this the internal monitor which was watching my contractions was pulled out, then when he was putting it back in the one in the baby's head was pulled out. (yes 2 screws went into my baby's head, I was not at all happy about that, and even today at 16 days old you can see the marks they left) So he replaced the one in her head and he started putting water in my uterus. Unfortunately for me I was not allowed to stand or move for the contractions, I was left laying on my side during the most intense ones to date. All I could do was hold the bed rails and rock myself while screaming my head off, despite my doula trying to help me find my centre. In between the contractions all I could do was beg Adam to make it all stop and make the pain end. I didn't want to say epidural, but I needed something. The doctor heard me begging and said I couldn't have anything. I thought he was the meanest person in the world. Later I found out it was because they were watching the baby and on the verge of declaring that I needed a c-section. Eventually the doctor had the pitocin turned off and my contractions spaced out and lightened up, which was pure heaven. Adam tells me that they were only a minute apart, but to me it was more like 15 minutes of pure heaven. I later explained to my brother that the breaks I was getting must have been better than any drug on earth. I felt so good and so relaxed and at peace, until the next contraction. But I was able to handle these ones now and I got through them. However the baby's heart beat kept decelerating. At one point Adam says that it reached 50, and I guess that is when the doctor told me that I needed the c-section and that without it the baby wouldn't make it through a delivery. He kept trying to talk to me while I was having contractions and Adam and my doula eventually made him stop. Between the contractions I signed waivers and had everything explained to me. Adam was sent to change into paper clothes and I sat and wept, totally upset about needing a c-section, and completely freaked out that my baby was in that much distress.