labor

In the early morning hours of May 2^nd, I was awoken by L who said “I think my contractions have started.” Uh Oh…Not only were they earlier than the due date, but I could name a dozen things we had wanted to get done before labor kicked in. Nevertheless…Time to swing into action.

At the very early stage, the contractions were somewhat far apart. That gave me time to shoot an email to my boss, our doula, family members, and the blog :-). I then threw a few last minute items into my bag and was set to start actually attending to L. Got out the stopwatch and a notebook and went to work recording the length and duration of her contractions, all while trying to offer her some sort of solace, remind her of happy places, etc.

As the contractions increased their pace (now around 9 AM), I thought about going to the hospital. I called the Doula who was on her way over and told her what I was thinking. Her immediate response was, “Why? You can do everything at home that you can do there.” In hindsight that was some of the best advice we had. She talked to L on the phone and guided her breathing through some of the contractions by slowing her breath pace down.

Staying at home with ongoing contractions probably isn’t for everyone. But for someone trying to avoid pain medication and striving for a “natural” birth it made sense. The Doula helped a lot once she got to the house. Instead of me having to monitor L’s breathing, keep her calm, get her water/food, keep the music on, keep the contraction records, etc – the doula took over some of the responsibility.

And, even more importantly, she knew what to do about L’s lower back pain. Since the baby seemed to be in a transverse position, applying pressure to L’s hips reduced the pain during the contractions and invariably helped to ensure the baby got turned around the right way. Over time the Doula recommended L sit in the bathtub for a while to ease to contractions a bit as well. Around 2 PM, she felt that L had progressed enough that it was time to get to the hospital. Her guess was right since when we arrived at the hospital, L was dilated to 8 cm – significantly cutting down the time that she would have to endure “labor” at the hospital and move into “delivery.”

Things to remember before leaving for the hospital:

- DO Bring: A jacket. The temperature may be very different 12 hours from now – it could be cold out at midnight.

- DO Bring: Extra cash. Expenses add up at the hospital. I had $50 when we got there and still ran out due to eating at the hospital cafeteria and parking fees, especially a problem when some backward ass places still don’t take credit cards.

- DO Bring: Food for self. I made some sandwiches to take to the hospital the day of (between L’s contractions) but forgot them at home. By the end of the day, all I was able to eat was my cereal in the morning and a cliff bar around midnight.

- DO NOT Bring: The computer. For some dumb ass reason I thought I might be able to get connected and send some wonderful emails about everything. Not only was there no internet access, but there wasn’t even a phone line in the room to connect too. Not to mention the fact that the last thing on my mind was checking my email.

- DO NOT let the Valet parking take your entire key ring. Have the wherewithal to give them only the car key and not the key to the house. This became a small problem as my mom and mother-in-law were ready to head back to the house, but we had no keys

- Suggestion: Give a trusted friend a set of your house keys. I had left the rent check and a couple of videos sitting in the house when we had to take off. Though neither of the recipients cared about them being late, having someone over to the house before you get there ensures that its cleaned up and ready for baby.