(no subject)
I went to the ER this morning. My back pain eclipsed to such a point where I hadn't slept in almost 48 hours. And while I realize that this might be a preview of things to come once Sephie is out of my womb and into the world, being that sleep deprived can't be beneficial for her where she's at now. I'm five days away from my due date, and felt so tired I couldn't even pour of a bowl of cereal. My biggest concern, however, was that I would somehow trigger labor, and wouldn't be able to deliver without interventions due to my exhaustion level.
So, around 3:30, I changed into some clothes and drove to the hospital. I thought about waking B up, but at the same time, he actually went to bed early last night and seemed exhausted. And I knew that the pain, as bad as it was, wasn't labor, so what would he have done except hold my hand while I tried to grit my teeth through the worst of the pain waves? I also wondered whether or not to leave him my cellphone so I could call him, in the event something was up, but decided against it because I don't have anyone's numbers memorized and couldn't foresee needing to get in touch with him.
Let's just say I was wrong on nearly every front.
First, while I was right and the back pain isn't labor, I am having contractions. At Sutter, they hooked me up to this machine that proved that, even though I wasn't feeling them, my body is definitely experiencing them. But I'm only 50 percent effaced and just two centimeters dilated, so actual labor is a while off.
I was afraid, once they told me I was having contractions, that I wouldn't be allowed to leave. Sutter is the back-up hospital to the Birth Center, but despite the pain I was in, I wasn't ready to abandon plans for a natural birth. Fortunately, I had a pretty compassionate attending physician in the ER. I gave her a copy of my birth plan, which she immediately read over and told me she wanted to respect my wishes. She stated that after reading my birth plan and seeing how committed I was to taking things as naturally as possible, she understood better just what level of pain I had to be in to be asking for medication to get through it in the first place, so they needed to figure out what they could give me that would neither delay nor advance my labor so that I could still have the birth experience that I wanted.
In the end, they gave me a low-dose of Norco, and told me I wouldn't be allowed to drive. After a complicated game of telephone, I eventually got in touch with Em, who got in touch with Marji, who came and picked me up. I've been sleeping off-and-on ever since, and although I'd calculate my total sleep at somewhere around 14 hours since they dosed me with Norco this morning, I'm still pretty exhausted.
As far as they can tell, the cause of the back pain is Sephie's placement. They think she's head down, face up, and the back pressure is coming from her trying to turn over. I told them I was hoping it was a UTI or kidney infection, because then a dose of antibiotics could clear it up in no time. After all, there's no guarantee she will flip over in time, and since my GSB test came back negative, I'm not afraid of having her birthed face up. Of course, they told me all this after they gave me the dose of Norco, which may have had something to do with my general feeling of relaxation on the subject. Marji asked me if I was sure I still wanted to go through with a natural birth, and I told her the only reason I agreed to treat the back pain was so that I could have a natural birth. Because I'm not in active labor, the use of Norco now poses no real threat to preventing delivery from happening on my terms. And besides, there's a substantial difference between not wanting to feel back pain and wanting to be in touch with my body as it brings my daughter into the world.
So, Marji brought me back to the house. I think we'll probably just go ahead and stay here until after Sephie is born. Dad flies in the day after tomorrow and the plan had been for all of us to stay here anyway. I hadn't finished packing us up and I probably won't allow myself to do much driving in the next few days because my stomach touches the steering wheel. This isn't because I'm hugely pregnant, either--I'm just so short that the only way to reach the pedals is to be less than four inches from the steering wheel.
So, around 3:30, I changed into some clothes and drove to the hospital. I thought about waking B up, but at the same time, he actually went to bed early last night and seemed exhausted. And I knew that the pain, as bad as it was, wasn't labor, so what would he have done except hold my hand while I tried to grit my teeth through the worst of the pain waves? I also wondered whether or not to leave him my cellphone so I could call him, in the event something was up, but decided against it because I don't have anyone's numbers memorized and couldn't foresee needing to get in touch with him.
Let's just say I was wrong on nearly every front.
First, while I was right and the back pain isn't labor, I am having contractions. At Sutter, they hooked me up to this machine that proved that, even though I wasn't feeling them, my body is definitely experiencing them. But I'm only 50 percent effaced and just two centimeters dilated, so actual labor is a while off.
I was afraid, once they told me I was having contractions, that I wouldn't be allowed to leave. Sutter is the back-up hospital to the Birth Center, but despite the pain I was in, I wasn't ready to abandon plans for a natural birth. Fortunately, I had a pretty compassionate attending physician in the ER. I gave her a copy of my birth plan, which she immediately read over and told me she wanted to respect my wishes. She stated that after reading my birth plan and seeing how committed I was to taking things as naturally as possible, she understood better just what level of pain I had to be in to be asking for medication to get through it in the first place, so they needed to figure out what they could give me that would neither delay nor advance my labor so that I could still have the birth experience that I wanted.
In the end, they gave me a low-dose of Norco, and told me I wouldn't be allowed to drive. After a complicated game of telephone, I eventually got in touch with Em, who got in touch with Marji, who came and picked me up. I've been sleeping off-and-on ever since, and although I'd calculate my total sleep at somewhere around 14 hours since they dosed me with Norco this morning, I'm still pretty exhausted.
As far as they can tell, the cause of the back pain is Sephie's placement. They think she's head down, face up, and the back pressure is coming from her trying to turn over. I told them I was hoping it was a UTI or kidney infection, because then a dose of antibiotics could clear it up in no time. After all, there's no guarantee she will flip over in time, and since my GSB test came back negative, I'm not afraid of having her birthed face up. Of course, they told me all this after they gave me the dose of Norco, which may have had something to do with my general feeling of relaxation on the subject. Marji asked me if I was sure I still wanted to go through with a natural birth, and I told her the only reason I agreed to treat the back pain was so that I could have a natural birth. Because I'm not in active labor, the use of Norco now poses no real threat to preventing delivery from happening on my terms. And besides, there's a substantial difference between not wanting to feel back pain and wanting to be in touch with my body as it brings my daughter into the world.
So, Marji brought me back to the house. I think we'll probably just go ahead and stay here until after Sephie is born. Dad flies in the day after tomorrow and the plan had been for all of us to stay here anyway. I hadn't finished packing us up and I probably won't allow myself to do much driving in the next few days because my stomach touches the steering wheel. This isn't because I'm hugely pregnant, either--I'm just so short that the only way to reach the pedals is to be less than four inches from the steering wheel.