Part 1: Induction

I didn't share the name of the Tic for privacy's sake, so neither will I share the name of the absolute best nurse I had during my stay. I give her the title of "best" as one of three contenders mainly because she hugged me when she met Seth...and she intentionally came to meet him on a night when she wasn't even my assigned nurse. Jim says, "let's call her Candy," so for the sake of anonymity, Candy she'll be.

Once the decision was made to induce, there was nothing left for me to do but wait. Wait, and start to hyperventilate, as I became more terrified by the minute of the moment Candy would come in to start my IV. I swear, I am terrified by this more than anything.

I knew my IV had to go in before 7:30, but there was no way that I was prepared to get it without Jim there to hold my hand. He had some final errands to run before coming up to the hospital, so we were cutting it close, but there were things that had to be done before Seth showed up. I can only imagine what was going through Jim's mind all Thursday afternoon and early evening, knowing that it was going to be his last night before fatherhood.

After Jim got to the room, I allowed him to finish his dinner, and then we called for Candy to start the IV. Thank God for her wonderful technique and personality. She kept me as calm as humanly possible (for me, at least, given my predisposition in this particular situation), and she got the IV placed on the first try! (Granted, she got blood everywhere, but she warned me ahead of time that she tended to make messes, so that really wasn't a big deal...not to mention I had already declared her fit for sainthood for not killing me in the IV process.)

The midwife came in right at 7:30 to insert my Cervidil. It definitely was not the most pleasant experience; I swear, she placed that thing up around my lungs! (At least it felt like that's how far she shoved it in!) She was very positive as she placed the insert, and commented on Seth's position and the "state of my uterus." Also, Candy had done a very good job explaining the side effects, risks, and common occurrences with a Cervidil induction, so I wasn't too surprised when I started to feel just plain yucky.

Once the Cervidil is placed, an expectant mom is kept on a permanent fetal monitor -- one for the baby's heart rate and one for the mom's contractions. Candy explained that there might be points in the night when , if the nurses station saw that the baby had "fallen off the monitor," she and another nurse would have to run in and wake me, telling me to move immediately in order to reposition the baby. She said this was very common, and usually just meant the baby had moved and we needed to reposition the monitor. She explained that she wasn't telling me this to freak me out, but rather, because there is no time to explain the situation to a panicking mom in the middle of the night.

I can't even tell you how many time Candy had to wake me Thursday night/Friday morning. 10? 12? Enough that when I got up at 5:30 Friday morning, I didn't feel at all rested, and I was dreading the hours to come. I knew Seth waited on the other end of the day, but as exhausted as I was at this point, I didn't feel confident in my ability to labor and deliver him by 6 pm (the deadline Dr. Gibbs had given).

Little did we know all that had occurred in the wee hours of the morning, and how it would dictate the events of the day.

To Be Continued.... Part II: The Labor Suite... coming soon (I hope)