Guest post from The Mister

Hi. The Mister here, writing from Room 10 of the labor & delivery ward, where R and I have been camped out for the past 42 hours. The plan, as readers would have noted from recent posts, was to be admitted to L&D at midnight on Friday, do some drugs, bounce on a birthing ball for a while, and deliver our baby girl before the close of the year.

Quick! Easy! Fun! Didn't happen. Upon admittance, we did an ultrasound and learned that the baby had once again gotten herself wedged in transverse position, with her head somewhere around R's lower right ribs and her hands and feet pointing toward Virginia. That scotched the idea of starting the induction immediately, and re-introduced the idea of doing an external version to flip baby vertex -- but we'd have to wait for that until 6am since R had downed a cup of rocky road earlier in the night, and versions must be versioned on an empty stomach.

So there we were -- and still are. Short story, in list form:

• Version: Went great. Was weird -- like watching a chef knead dough, but the dough was my wife. Baby got flipped, and R was wrapped in a Velcro girdle to keep her in place. (Which, to jump ahead a bit, she still is. Yay!)
• Pitocin drip: We went from 0 to 60, producing a regular pattern of contractions that lasted for hours and hours, but . . .
• A cervical exam: Showed that R's cervix was not dilated or effaced anywhere near enough for anything to progress in any kind of halfway natural way. So we turned the . . .
• Pitocin off: Which made the contractions stop immediately. Soon after, we tried . . .
• Misoprostol: Which produced some stunning contractions, putting R into a serious tizzy -- but did nothing to thin out the cervix as it was supposed to. So we decided to try . . .
• A Foley bulb: Which was easy enough to get in, but VERY, VERY PAINFUL thereafter. Cue the puking and shaking.

At some point, we called in our wonder doula for support, then at some point later, I fell asleep. At some other point right around there, R and doula went for a walk in the hallways. Then there was some lunch, then we watched "Portlandia" for a while, then we sat around wondering what to do, then the Foley bulb fell out, which means dilation must be 3cm-ish.

So now we're back to the Pitocin, which was just plugged back into the IV port moments ago. R is now perched on her bed, downing a cheese quesadilla, a small salad, a little plastic container of chocolate pudding, and a tiny can of tomato juice. Weird combination, about which she says, "Yeah. It's got protein . . . I figured the salad was good for me . . . I'm actually not too sure about the tomato juice anymore . . . and I'm having a contraction."

OK, little girl. Stay head down. Look for the exit sign. Not trying to rush you, but, y'know, soonish would be nice.

Oh, PS from R: "The pudding's for later."

Comments

[Artemis]

Thank you so much for the update.
I've only been refreshing this page only about once a minute lol.
Every good thought to you both. Well, to all three of you.
I also had a baby girl who flipped around a lot towards the end of the pregnancy, so I know what it's like.

[Rachel]

I love this post. Wishing you all the very best in the upcoming hours. Way to get head down but still thwart your parents on the tax break little girl. I know you've got to do a lot to keep up with Squeaker's sleepless first year, but you're definitely off to a good start.

[Suzy]

Many people celebrate New Year's Eve by puking. Not usually in the L and D ward, but there you go. Thanks for the update, I've looked at this page roughly 30 times since the last one. Hang in there, Velcro Mom. If you are accepting phone calls, let us know. Sister really wanted to avoid a New Year's Eve birthday.

[Aegina]

Thanks! Yes, I keep checking, too. Good luck and good wishes and happy new year and new baby!

[Jill]

Well that is certainly an up and down kind of experience. Hopefully things keep progressing and you have your baby girl soonest.

[Queenie]

Wow. Talk about twists and turns! Sending good wishes your way.

[Tamara]

42 hours?! Isn't that some kind of record?! Keep the updates coming. You'll be happy to look back on this. :-)

[Almamay]

Thank you for the update. Reading in Lanzarote Spain excited for your family x x Your Twin x

[fiddle1]

refreshing, refreshing, refreshing! Why would we expect anything different than a roller coaster labor when the last few weeks have been just that??!!! Can't wait for more news. I was away from the internet since Thursday, and I certainly didn't expect to see this when I logged on!! Hope everything is going well.

[Almamay]

Checking in and sending love

[Suzy]

Tell us more when you can...Jacob sends love and mashed bananas.