Once we arrived and made it to the maternity floor, one of the nurses wanted to check to see if the fluid was actually my amniotic fluid. I was puzzled by this and told her that I had taken a shower before coming in, so there was nothing for her to see. She informed me that you aren’t supposed to shower after your water breaks. It’s another risk of infection. Oops, my bad. Nobody had told me that before. How was I supposed to know?
They admitted me, and we were taken to our room. It was the room that I would be in until I became a mommy. That was a heavy realization. The room was huge and had an amazing view. We were several stories up in a corner room. It faced north with a fantastic view of downtown. It was around 6:30 a.m., and the city was just waking up. For a lot of people it would be a nice, relaxing Sunday. For me…not so much. It was comforting to look out the window and see Fountain Place which is my favorite building in the Dallas skyline.
I had a pretty good idea of how I hoped to cope with the pain of labor. I had heard that walking was good to get labor going and that taking a shower could help with the pain. My room was equipped with a shower, so I felt that we were good to go. I was super excited that there was a rocking chair to sit in during contractions. The nurse came in to hook me up to the monitors and get me changed into a gown. I asked her about walking in the hallway when the contractions got going. She said that mothers aren’t supposed to walk the halls after their water breaks. Geez, what else is there that I can’t do after my water is broken? Apparently, the list kept growing. My next question was about showering during labor. Again, I was told no. I guess I should have figured that one out on my own since I had just been told that showering at home was a no-no. Okay, fine, I can live with all of that. Then, she said that I couldn’t use the toilet either. I’m sorry? I beg your pardon? Then how, pray tell, do I answer nature’s calls until the baby arrives? Enter my new best friend: the bed pan. Great, just great… I guess they’re worried about babies being born in the toilet or something. Alright, can I sit in the rocking chair…no…(sigh). She was killing me, just killing me. Apparently, they don’t want you to leave the bed after your water breaks. That’s what she said. I guess she felt bad that I was so disappointed because she spoke with the doctor. She came back and told me that I could sit in the rocking chair whenever I wanted. It was only two steps from the bed, but at least I could get up. I don’t want to make them sound too strict. They only had my best interest and the baby’s best interest at heart. I appreciated them for that, but I was very grateful that they could be a little flexible.
My friend, Jill, and her boyfriend, Greg, came to hang out with Wesley and I that morning. None of our family had arrived yet, and we had a good time with them. I was doing well and progressing each time the doctor came to check me. Around lunchtime I was starving. We took our labor and childbirth classes at Methodist’s sister hospital, Charlton, and the nurse there told us that we could have popsicles during labor. I was pretty pumped up about that. Who doesn’t like popsicles? I asked my nurse if I could have one because I knew that I wasn’t allowed to eat anything else. She said that it was their policy for laboring mothers to have nothing to eat but ice chips. I know that my face fell. I mean, come on! I’m extremely pregnant and haven’t eaten for hours. I was hungry! She smiled at my crestfallen expression and said it wouldn’t hurt to ask the doctor. She came back with a double cherry popsicle for me. Jackpot! Whoa, whoa, whoa there…If we aren’t allowed to eat anything, where did the popsicle come from? You know what? I could have cared less. Still, it’s an interesting question.
I was really happy about how I was dealing with the pain of contractions. They started out very mild and gradually got stronger as the hours passed. I had never been hurt or in a hospital before, so I had no idea how my pain tolerance would be. I wasn’t trying to be a stud or anything, but I wanted to hold out on pain meds as long as possible. I was trying to breathe through each contraction. Jill was there to try and distract me, and Wesley kept making me laugh to take my mind off of it. I spent most of that time in the rocking chair. That thing was awesome. Everybody started showing up- Mom, Preston, Darvey, Carol Ann, Dad, and Bev. My perception of time was a bit skewed, so I’m not sure who showed up when, but the room was pretty full. My room was at least twice as large as a regular hospital room. Maybe bigger than that, but even so there were a lot of us. My rock star of a nurse was great, though. Even though the hospital policy called for only two people to be in the room at a time, she said it was fine with her. She told them that as long as they didn’t get too loud or interfere with the nurses’ work that it was no problem. We aren’t a rowdy crowd, so everything was cool.
Reading at Barnes and Noble yesterday. Neither Wesley nor I found a book, but Mia ended up getting four books!
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