My Hero
I took Amy to the hospital last night at 1:30. This was three days after we had a false alarm and went into the hospital on Friday night and ended up being very disappointed that little Tommy didn't come out. So, Amy was determined to wait as long as possible before going in this time. She started having contractions at around 2:00 in the afternoon and they were consistently coming at four minute intervals by 9:15 in the evening. At 10:30 the contractions were still going strong, and getting stronger, but Amy still wanted to wait, so I I took a nap.
At 1:15, Amy woke me up and said that we should go because the contractions were getting very painful and still coming at 4 minute intervals. She was visibly distressed when having the contractions, and I thought, "well, this baby's coming soon." We packed everything up in the car and drove off to Baylor. Checked in to labor and delivery at about 1:45. They hooked up the fetal monitor and the contraction monitor and said that they were going to monitor her for about an hour and then come check whether her cervix had changed any.
Amy insisted that I lay down in the pull out chair. I did...for about 10 minutes. Then I had to get up because Amy was in such obvious pain that I couldn't leave her across the room by herself. After an hour the nurse came in and checked Amy, and...still a three. She also made a comment about how the contractions were "spacing out" some. Strange thing to say since (1) she hadn't been in the room and (2) in my limited experience of watching childbirth even I know that the external contraction monitor is an unreliable piece of crap that is usually misses more contractions than it records. How does this delivery nurse not know this too?
Then she brings in the resident for a second opinion. "Dr. Shin" is a Chinese woman with a horrible bedside manner. She checks Amy and immediately talks about sending her home. No build up, so easing into it. She just says, "Do you want me to give you some pain medication to use when you get home?" Then, she asks when Amy's next OB appointment is, and, when Amy tell her that it's next Monday, she says "when you go to that appointment you will be 40 weeks and you can talk to your doctor about being induced." Wow! What kind of person suggests to a very pregnant woman who is in labor that she will be pregnant for at least another week? Apparently, that's what you say if you are a clueless Chinese resident at Baylor.
Impressively, Amy somehow managed to avoid punching "Dr. Shin" in the face, although she was obviously very upset. And, at 3:30, we packed up and went home. Amy is know saying that she's either going to have the baby at home or at least wait until he is peeking out and looking at her before we go to the hospital. Whatever she wants to do is fine with me. I'm very proud of her for going through all of this.
At 1:15, Amy woke me up and said that we should go because the contractions were getting very painful and still coming at 4 minute intervals. She was visibly distressed when having the contractions, and I thought, "well, this baby's coming soon." We packed everything up in the car and drove off to Baylor. Checked in to labor and delivery at about 1:45. They hooked up the fetal monitor and the contraction monitor and said that they were going to monitor her for about an hour and then come check whether her cervix had changed any.
Amy insisted that I lay down in the pull out chair. I did...for about 10 minutes. Then I had to get up because Amy was in such obvious pain that I couldn't leave her across the room by herself. After an hour the nurse came in and checked Amy, and...still a three. She also made a comment about how the contractions were "spacing out" some. Strange thing to say since (1) she hadn't been in the room and (2) in my limited experience of watching childbirth even I know that the external contraction monitor is an unreliable piece of crap that is usually misses more contractions than it records. How does this delivery nurse not know this too?
Then she brings in the resident for a second opinion. "Dr. Shin" is a Chinese woman with a horrible bedside manner. She checks Amy and immediately talks about sending her home. No build up, so easing into it. She just says, "Do you want me to give you some pain medication to use when you get home?" Then, she asks when Amy's next OB appointment is, and, when Amy tell her that it's next Monday, she says "when you go to that appointment you will be 40 weeks and you can talk to your doctor about being induced." Wow! What kind of person suggests to a very pregnant woman who is in labor that she will be pregnant for at least another week? Apparently, that's what you say if you are a clueless Chinese resident at Baylor.
Impressively, Amy somehow managed to avoid punching "Dr. Shin" in the face, although she was obviously very upset. And, at 3:30, we packed up and went home. Amy is know saying that she's either going to have the baby at home or at least wait until he is peeking out and looking at her before we go to the hospital. Whatever she wants to do is fine with me. I'm very proud of her for going through all of this.