The story of Gabby (part III)

I was over due with Gabby and Kate had the stomach flu. As much as I was ready to have the baby, I was petrified I would go into labor and be all alone at the hospital. There was no way I was just handing my sick gal over to someone with a “Good luck!”

Thankfully God postponed my labor. I had my nonstress test on Tuesday and scheduled an induction for Thursday morning. I had been having contractions throughout the test, but nothing of any import. I called my mom, so she was going to fly out to keep Kate.

That afternoon though I started vomiting and have consistent contractions—three minutes apart. They weren’t very strong though. I called my midwife and she told me to go to the hospital in case this was it. I called to have my mom reschedule her flight, have one of Justin’s colleagues come and get Kate, and Justin came to take me to the hospital. So much for the schedule! After sitting in rush hour traffic for an hour we were glad I wasn’t in active labor. We checked in and I was hooked up. The contractions had intensified and my nausea was still present.

After several hours, the painful contractions were still there, but I was being released, without a baby. It’s hard to leave the hospital, overdue without a baby--walking past the empty bassinet. It turned out I caught Kate’s bug and had become dehydrated.

Justin’s colleague brought Kate home and I crawled into bed. My mom arrived and I just lay awake until the contracts stopped at about three in the morning.

Finally Thursday arrived. We walked into the hospital loaded down with a pillow and bags for our three day stay. I was settled into my room and after over an hour and three nurses, including the supervisor my IV lock was in—after all that we didn’t even use the crazy thing. After two doses of Cytotech and eight hours I had only made two centimeters progress (for a total of four). I was disappointed and torn—I was afraid I would get stuck on Petocin again. The nurse and midwife told me that breaking my water at this point would speed things up, so with some trepidation we did. I immediately felt a difference in the contractions. I was allowed out of bed for the first time (the Cytotech protocol required constant monitoring). I told Justin that the labor was worse than it had been with the Petocin—he thought I was crazy. When the nurse came back to check me, I had gained FOUR more centimeters!

They grabbed the delivery cart and the baby nurse ran in. My midwife was delivering in the room next door. The baby nurse got a call on her cell and as she walked out she said they were really busy and that she might get to catch a baby. Lindsey made it in just in time. She told me to push before she was gowned and the nurses were still trying to tie it on when she caught Gabby and we finally found out we had a baby girl. It was really only an hour and a half of real labor after nearly four days with my last delivery.