It’s easy to find good parking at a hospital at 1:50 a.m. We walked in through the emergency room -- the only entrance open at night -- and made our way down deserted hallways to the labor and delivery area.
We checked in at the nurses’ station (”So, you’re the ones who called!”) and within a few minutes we were settling into Labor And Delivery Room 3. Kristi changed into a hospital gown and the nurse placed two monitors on her -- one to measure the baby’s heart rate and the other to measure Kristi’s contractions.
It was comforting to hear baby’s heartbeats. Kristi was monitored for about one hour and she was having about four contractions/hour. At 3:02 a.m. Kristi was dilated 1.5 cm. We knew the doctor would want her to deliver within 24 hours because her water broke. We also knew that probably wouldn’t happen at the rate of her present contractions.
So, at about 5:30 a.m., an IV was started and Kristi was given Pitocin.
It was not an easy transition to labor. Kristi’s contractions started coming more frequently and with more intensity. I could tell it was painful for her.
At 10:45 a.m. Krisit had an epidural. She was now more comfortable, but was also confined to bed.
Then, it got troublesome. When Kristi was on her back or on her right side, the baby’s heart rate would noticeably decelerate. As a result, Kristi had to remain on her left side for the duration of her labor. This was really painful toward the end of her labor as the epidural wasn’t working on the right side.
