Our fridge was bare on Tuesday night, so for dinner I decided to eat cereal, scrambled eggs and milk (sorta wish I wold have done something more hearty considering I didn't eat another meal until Thursday morning at 2 am!!) By 9 or 10 Tuesday night, the contractions were getting closer together so I texted my best friend and chiropractor doctor, Kristin, and we decided to meet up at her office to have her adjust me just in case. I wanted to be SURE my hips and back were in the perfect placement to push a baby out :) Jon and Robin came over to sit here while Parker was in bed and we headed off to K's office. Well - if you read my posts below (that I had every intention of keeping updated throughout the day - FAIL) you know that my contractions were only a few minutes apart by 1 am so we called Doc T and I was shocked that HE actually answered the phone! After getting over the initial shock that my actual doctor was answering the phone at 1:00 in the morning, he said to come on in and get checked out in triage at Emory Midtown Hospital. SO - off we go!
We had already packed our bags the night before when I started having contractions so we were basically ready - just had to grab a few last minute things. We woke Parker up and loaded up in the truck. On our way to Whitney's house (where Parker and our dog, Jack were going), the fog was really heavy. I was moaning and groaning through contractions in the truck when Parker just decided he would be a chatter box. And thank goodness he did because I think the funny things he said were the only thing getting me through the pain at the time. He kept asking about the fog and what it was and Chris told him it was like a cloud from the sky was really low on the ground. Parker was quiet for a minute and he finally asked, "Daddy??? Why is that cloud down on the ground? Is it lost?" This pretty much made Chris and I lose it and we are still joking about "lost clouds" today. ANYWAY - We dropped Parker and Jack off at Whit's house and I had steady contractions all the way to the hospital. I stopped timing them - but I knew they were getting closer together.
We got there and immediately regretted not doing a hospital tour because we had no idea where to go. I was afraid of Chris just dropping me off at the front because let's just say that Emory Midtown hospital is smack in the middle of downtown Atlanta and it is NOT the safest place to be hanging out at 3:00 in the morning. We decided to park in the garage - I knew I could just stop and lean on Chris during contractions on the walk into the hospital. After asking the police man at the front of the hospital where we were supposed to go, we figured out where maternity triage was and headed that way. But first I had to take advantage of taking a few pictures in between contractions. As soon as we walked into the hospital, I was excited to see CHRISTMAS decorations out! I took a few pictures of me in front of one of the Christmas trees and sent them to Kristin (my fellow Christmas fanatic).
Funny story - I didn't find this out until a few weeks after Caroline came, but I guess Tyler asked Kristin in the middle of the night Tuesday night if he had heard from me and she mentioned that she got a text from me around 3 am with a picture of my Christmas tree at my house! She told Tyler that she guessed that since I had been having contractions, I figured I should go ahead and decorate my house for Christmas before going to the hospital! HA HA HA! Tyler shook his head and just said, "Oh no - she's going to be SO tired while in labor!" Well, it's a good thing that Tyler's MOM from Peachtree City reads my blog because she asked Kristin and Tyler later that next morning about me and said she had seen that I was on the way to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning. Kristin THEN took a closer look at the picture of the Christmas tree I sent her and she quickly realized that the ugly carpet and tacky wall painting was definitely not in my house and that I must have taken it at the hospital!
The picture I texted Kristin at 3 am when we were checking in.
Because friends can send friends texts of Christmas trees at 3 am.
This was me right as we were walking into the hospital! My last "belly shot"!
We get checked into triage and the nurse wanted to check to see if my water had broken first before checking to see if I was dilated (Doc T's special orders is that you don't check for dilation if the water is already broken.) So she does a few tests and decides that my water, in fact, had broken. I knew I had been leaking "stuff" all day - but it was never a big gush or steady flow that I had expected. So, after talking to Doc T, she does decide to check me just to see how progressed I am - so that Doc T would know how quickly he would need to head up to the hospital. Turns out I was only 3 cm (1/2 a cm progress from Monday) but my cervix was thinning (can't remember how much now) but it was all good news. We got checked into our room and I got the news that because they had determined that because my water had broken, I wasn't going to be granted permission to walk the hospital halls like I had planned. They were afraid that the umbilical cord could fall out or something. They also wanted me hooked up to the monitors as much as possible since I was a VBAC patient - they like to keep an eye on things as much as possible. I was allowed to walk around the delivery room as much as I wanted.
This was the first picture I took in the delivery room... waiting for Doc T to come in!
Doctor Tate came in around 8:30 that morning on his way into the office and he is totally cool and collected just as I had expected. He answers his phone and talks to his wife about whether or not he fed the dogs that morning then talks to us for a few minutes about my progress. He decides to check me and I was 5 cm!!!! HOORAY! I was half way there! I was thinking this baby was going to be OUT in a matter of hours! THEN - he breaks the news that he was sure that my water had, in fact, NOT broken. He was sure it was still in tact. So - in the awesome, Tate way, he says he wants to allow my water to break naturally throughout the day. He still wanted me to stay hooked up to the monitors because I was a VBAC patient so that the nurses could keep a close eye on the baby and me as well. He told me to get the birthing ball from a nurse and work on it for awhile. He mentioned to give him a call at the office if/when I was ready for something to help with the pain. I still felt OK at this point and sort of wanted to keep going natural for a little longer if possible. He left and we got the birthing ball and I sat on it and bounced, rolled and tried to start getting the baby to move on down. (Baby at this point was still very high). Lying down on the hospital bed was basically the most painful position possible so I stayed up in the rocking chair and the birthing ball the rest of the day.
Here is what my hospital room looked like! Little did I know I'd be in here for about 20 hours!
Here were the views from our room...
This was down towards Tech's campus...
This was my "information board". They asked what my goals were and the only thing I could think of was that I wanted to push this baby out of my vagina and I did NOT want any surgery! They then reminded me that I also should probably have a goal of "healthy mom and baby" - oh yeah - that too!
Oh - I almost forgot to mention my visitors! One of my best friends, Jessica, works at Emory so she was able to stop by before work to visit for a bit which ended up being a GREAT distraction.
My mom also showed up around 10 that morning thinking it would only be a few hours til baby! Parker was at Whit's house and we truly thought baby was coming sooner than later so we decided to leave him up there and let mom stay at the hospital with me and Chris.
I was EXCITED and on a NATURAL HIGH for most of the early morning.... until..... (Part 2 coming tomorrow!)
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