The Story of Benjamin - part two

We made our way to Fairview Ridges Hospital, and before long, I was in the labor & delivery room. I met my first shift nurse, Connie, and she got me hooked up to the monitors. Then she took my blood pressure... and it was quite high. She had me lay on my left side, and when she took it again, it was a little better, but still high. Up until this point of the pregnancy, I had never had problems with my blood pressure. So I didn't know exactly what to think about it. When the nurse was out of the room, and I felt another contraction starting, I decided I would be more comfortable sitting up. She came back and explained that I MUST stay on my left side. She dimmed the lights, and before long, started an IV of fluids and a small amount of pitocin. They broke my water, and discovered that there was meconium staining, so that would be something that they would need to watch. (Non medical speak: he pooed in the pool) At that point, I was dilated between 3 and 4 centimeters.

Laboring on my side was miserable. There was nothing that I could do with my body to work through the pain, other than to breathe. So I did my best to work with it mentally as much as I could, and it was so wonderful to have Minda and Raina there, rubbing my back, and constantly encouraging me.

I hadn't wanted to stay in bed, so I hadn't wanted an IV, and I hadn't wanted an epidural for that reason, plus I was concerned that I'd have a reaction to the medication. But I talked to the anesthesiologist, and since things were not going the way I had hoped, I decided I wanted an epidural. Whew! Loved that. I was still stuck on my side, but at least I didn't feel the pain of the contractions. They checked me again sometime around this point, and I was 6 centimeters.

Minda & I hadn't watched Dancing with the Stars from the night before, and Raina had never seen DWTS, so we watched it online on Minda's laptop, while we waited for things to get going. Any time now...

To be continued...