The last couple of days have been crazy and kind of a blur. On Sunday afternoon after church we were heading to grab something quick to eat and take it to the park to hang out with family. Just before we left the church I called my friend to see if she had gone into labour yet. I didn't get an answer so we just assumed that she might be at the hospital already (her due date was 2 days prior) and since we were going to the hospital later that afternoon anyways (to visit B's Grandma) we would stop in on the third floor and see if my friend had been admitted. We got in the car and started to head towards KFC something we both haven't had in years. Well on our way I get a phone call. It's my friend and she is in labour. She asks me if we would be able to give her a ride to the hospital because her husband doesn't have a licence. Of course we said yes so we called our family to tell them that we weren't going to come, turns out they had changed their minds on the park too since it was starting to cloud over and get cold.
We get to my friends house and I run in to grab her. I ask her if her husband is coming along. She says no cause he's sick. I asked her if she had anyone coming to be with her at the hospital she says no. I can't believe she was planning on doing this alone so I told her that I was coming with her. B's an amazing support person and I was so dumb-founded on what to do (I've only ever been on the other side of labour). Because Kiwi needed to eat B took her up to the maternity floor. They went into the assessment room and she was hooked up to monitors. I met up with them once Kiwi was done eating. We waited there for a couple of hours and they told us that she could go home and labour there because it would be more comfortable. So we took her home and I told her that she could call me at any time to drive her back.
7pm I get a phone call. She can't take it drug free any more and she needs to get in. I had pumped one feedings worth for Kiwi so B could feed him so I was able to leave him at home. I went and got her and took her in. I tell you being there just 6 weeks ago brought on the water works and so many emotions. Note to all of you ever going to have a baby, your coach probably shouldn't be someone who just had a baby - their hormones are still all over the place and may just start crying for no reason. I much rather be on the labour side than the support person, but that's just me. I wanted to take the pain for her. They came in and checked her and said that she hadn't progressed since the last time she had been in so she could go home again. She refused because she didn't want to keep her husband up with her cries. So she was admitted. We moved into labour room 4. I helped her get 'comfortable' (as comfortable as you can get in labour. ) She had a hot shower to help progress things along. When she came out of the shower I told her to use the excercise ball to sit on and rock back and forth. This is where she was when I left at midnight. (I had to get home before Kiwi woke up for his next feeding). When I got home it was after midnight and Kiwi decided to wake up every 20mins to either eat or just for a snuggle.
6am I headed back to the hospital (stopping at my dad's place first to feed his cat and water the plants). When I got there(back to the hospital) I waked in and asked her how she was doing, she said wonderful, she had an epidural. Drugs are your friend!! Like B says, would you get a root canal without freezing? She was able to get some rest. She told me that at 1am her water had broke and that's when the contractions got even more intense. Her doctor had come in at 9 to check her. She was still only at a 4 so her doctor ordered some drug to help intensify her contractions and them to be more effective. This was because she had coupling contractions, meaning one would start and before it would finish another one would start but not be as strong so this just made for one stupid long contraction that wasn't very effective. Because she was going to get some rest I went up to the 4th floor of the hospital to visit with B's Grandma.
When I came back down all things had gone crazy again. Her epidural had worn off and the drug that intensifies the contractions was in full force. I jumped into coach mode real fast and helped her with her breathing, giving her water between each contraction, putting a cold cloth on her forehead and changing it to a colder cloth between every second contraction, holding her hand and cheering her on. (All tips I had gotten from B!) Her nurse was amazing! I really liked her. She had also stepped in as a coach especially when I would have to stop to nurse Kiwi. Oh yeah, did I leave that part out. When I had gone back in the morning I had Kiwi with me because B had to work. I put on my moby wrap and strapped him in nice and close to my chest where he slept most of the day except when he woke up to eat. I used the moby wrap because than it freed up both my hands and I was a more affective coach. The special doctor (because I don't know how to spell) that deals with the epidural came by and gave her another drug that would help bring back relief for my friend. It took 20 mins to kick in - I'm sure that felt like years for my friend. Once it kicked in she could still feel pressure in her pelvis but the pain of the contractions was gone. (I never got to experience this pleasure state because I was already passed the pushing stage in my labour before I received my epidural). She was able to rest between each contraction but still needed to breath through the actual contractions.
At 12:15 she had the feeling of needing to push so they called the doctor. 20 minutes later her doctor arrived and it was push time. She pushed for just over an hour. At one point I told her that she was so close to the finish line and the doctor said, It's not a race, and I told her, it's a slow motion race, at that the doctor laughed. At one point the resident said he forgot that there was even a baby in the room already because Kiwi was so quiet. He literally slept the entire time, so snuggled in to my chest. I totally recommend the moby wrap! At 1:55pm her daughter was born. It was maybe 10 minutes after she was born that Kiwi started to fuss so I took him out to the waiting area. Perfect timing -after he was settled I came back to the room to hang out for a little bit and then I had to head home because I needed to get ready for the baby shower the church was holding for me that evening. I got home and I fed Kiwi and rocked him, grabbed a 10 minute nap since I was running on a 2 hour sleep and then quickly got ready and headed to the church. It was a crazy 2 days for sure! Needless to say today I'm wrecked and it was another action packed day. OY! But that can be for another blog post. Lots of blog material that's for sure. So come back for updates cause there should be a few in the next couple of days while things are fresh in my mind.
I'm still shocked that she was thinking of doing that journey alone. I get that there are doctors and nurses there but it's nice to have someone you know, care and trust for to be there for you. I don't know, it's crazy! So I didn't know that that's what my weekend was going to look like, let alone that I would be coaching someone through labour (especially with a baby strapped to my chest) 6 weeks after going through it myself.
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