At the hospital

Got to the hospital a little late last night... Our appointment was at 5PM, but with traffic, we made it here at 5:20PM. Not long after we were checked in and in the room in a gown ;)

Jen got the first IV of her life and was given a quick liter of "fluids" since the baby was all over the place heart rate wise (stayin' up above 170 most of the time). That settled things out. They started her on a second bag, and Dr. Wagner arrived. A normal (what's "normal" for this stuff? ;) ) checkup ensued reporting 1cm and 30% effacement. GEEZ! We're moving backwards ;) Stupid subjective measurements...

Anyway -- the doc put the cervidil in while she was in there and fun times ensued. Vicki headed home to freshen up and get us some food. At about 9:30, we feasted on Arby's ;)

A crampy, sleepless night later, and I helped Jen with a shower and snagged one for myself. At about 7:30AM, we started pitocin and had another exam. We were at 2cm and about 60% (I think... it coulda been 70%, but I'm horrible at remembering).

Crying ensued... Not from the slow progress, but from the pain ;)

At around 9:45, the anesthesiologist was in the unit, and we convinced Jen to go for the epidural ;) Turned out, it was the doctor that taught our pain management class.... I tried to joke with him about not getting a "wet tap", but... I dunno.... There's something about a lack of sense of humor from that guy.... Oh well -- more for the nurses and Dr. Wagner ;)

He did it pretty quick, and at 10:15 Waggie broke Jen's water. There was some meconium color to the water they said, so the nurse said it was a good thing Jen got the epidural. Something about as the baby comes out, prior to the rest of the body coming out, the doctor will suction out the nose and mouth real good. That added time may not be all that fun for someone that's not on the good stuff ;)

Jen said after the epi, the contractions are back to more like what they've been like at home -- just pressure down low. They started to get a little worse, and I realized that they never have her "the button". We called the nurse in and got that situation rectified right quick ;) I've hit the button a few times for her "'cause I love her" ;)

Now for the good news... While Jen was getting her water broke, the doctor did another exam. SEVEN CENTIMETERS!

She said "7, 90, minus 1". What's a "minus 1"? We had to get a lesson in the "station" of the kid with regards to the pelvis to understand what it meant. Apparently that means the little dude's not quite to the pelvis yet. One he reaches the pelvis (the "arch"), that's "zero". You can see head at "plus three" and he's out at "four".

So, anyway -- the tear-bringing pain from those couple hours was apparently worth it. Well, not "worth" it, but no wasted ;)

So -- I'm off to hit the button some more 'till we get to "plus four" ;)