Soaring Arrows: Karis's Birth Story Part 2: At the Hospital

So we make it to the hospital around 8:30 or so and get checked in and taken up to labor and delivery. In case you didn't know, at labor and delivery there is a triage unit for them to send moms too that believe they are in labor. I get hooked up to the monitors all while sneezing and sniffling still. I am still having contractions every 2-4 minutes and feel them a lot in my back. They send in a nurse to check me who goes EXTREMELY fast and it really really hurts (come to find out it was her first day lol). I am still about the same as I was the last time I went to the doctor which isn't super encouraging but it isn't discouraging either because I know these contractions feel a lot different than what I had been feeling up to that point.

We end up staying there a couple of hours with consistent contractions. The on call doctor comes in to see me and tells me I'm at a 3, but I will need to get to a 4 to be admitted/ before they will call my real doctor. I didn't think they would let me walk around being only 36 weeks and 2 days, but surprisingly they did! They offered pain meds, but I wouldn't be able to walk so I declined them and Mark and I started walking the halls. I would stop for really painful contractions and hold on to him then start walking again, I did NOT want to go back home and Mark definitely didn't. It was here we found out it was the first day for nurse who came to check me originally because as we were walking by the nurses station we heard her saying "I lost this patient on the monitor, she's not showing up, I can't find this patient anywhere on the monitor!" to which the other nurses said "because she's RIGHT there!" as we were walking by the desk. We laughed and they told us it was her first day so go easy.

Eventually I got tired of being out in the hall because the way it was set up you circled in front of the waiting room or you just turned around every time you got to either end. If I am in labor, I don't want anyone seeing me that way besides Mark, because I don't want to have to pretend like I am not hurting or uncomfortable when I really am, it just takes more energy than it is worth. By that time they let us have a room, and it was HUGE so we went in there and I continued to walk back and forth for a while. They come back in to check me around lunch and I am at a 4! Woohoo! Admittance and baby day! We text everyone that today is baby day and get settled in to get an epidural and labor the easy way. However about 45 mins later our nurse comes back and you can tell she does not want to tell us the news. They finally called Dr. Newlin and he told them that a lot of these preterm labor contractions can be caused by dehydration so he told them to give me fluids via IV and if I didn't change to a 5 then we had to go home! So around 1:15 they hook me back up to all the monitors and then stick me 4 times trying to find a vein for the IV.

They finally get one and begin pushing fluids. I get up and keep walking around the delivery room trying to will myself to dilate more. At one point people in my family try to take Mark out of the room to let him eat something while someone else comes in there with me. I yell out the door that I don't care if he eats in front of me, he isn't leaving and they can come back once I have an epidural. I felt bad about being so rude later on. Eventually they come back in and offer the shot of demeral and phenegrin for pain relief they had offered earlier that morning. The catch is I won't be allowed to be up and walking because it makes you whoozy and loopy. Finally after coaxing from the nurse and mark I consented. I didn't want it to slow anything down or cause me to have to go home, but eventually comfort won out and I let them. When she gave me the shot she said "ok stick AND now a burn." She hadn't told me it was going to burn as the medicine went in. I ended up yelling and sobbing which made Mark come over and hold my hand. Through sobs I say to him "I. . . feel. . . like. . . Owen!!!" which made him laugh super hard as he explained to the nurse that his poor pitiful wife meant she felt like her dramatic 4 year old.

The meds caused me to fall into a weird sleep where I dreamed really weird things that I can't remember now. I would go in and out of sleeping for a couple of hours. Finally they come back in and check me and I am STILL at a 4. I cried super hard because I knew he was going to send me home and I had had people waiting in the waiting room all day and I was just going to look super stupid. I also was still contracting regularly and my back was super tired and tight and everything. Basically I was miserable... Doctor said at 4:30 that I had until 5 to get to a 5 or I was going home. I could tell this was making Mark anxious and kinda frustrated because he desperately didn't want to go home with a crazy half laboring wife. So we text everyone and they all pray. The sweet nurse (Sarah was her name I believe) comes back in to check me and I just know she is going to say there has been no change. Surprisingly she says I am somewhere between a 4.5 and a 5. I'm definitely further along than I was previously, but not quite at the place he wanted me to be. She calls Dr. Newlin to see what he would say. It was then I started seeing Mark get his "fighting pants" on gearing up for possibly needing to make a case to keep us there.

Dr. Newlin comes in we are prepared to hear we would have to go home. Surprisingly he starts by saying, "Well we have 3 options. 1) I could send you home but I really think you may be back up here either late tonight or tomorrow morning. 2) Let you leave and go eat something and come back in a couple of hours. If you weren't such a bad IV stick that is the one that I would say do just so you can eat. 3) We keep you hear, give you the epidural, break your water and get this show on the road. The risk was that being 36 weeks Karis may need to go to the NICU." Mark said he was nervous that if we left and went home, we would just be back a few hours later, but possibly not in enough time to get an IV, fluids and an epidural. Dr Newlin's reply to that was "I'm more afraid you just wouldn't make it back at all." So that one was taken off the table. I didn't want to have to get stuck again with an IV and go back through the entire registration process AGAIN so going to eat and come back didn't sound appealing either. We were convinced I was in labor so we made the decision to go ahead and allow them to admit me, get an epidural and break my water. Hallelujah, after 8 hours we were finally going to be able to stay and Mark didn't have to use his fighting pants lol.

They give me an epidural which really doesn't mix well with the demeral from earlier. It made me feel super strange. I couldn't concentrate, couldn't look people in the eye, send a text, write a post about having her that day, anything. I kept saying over and over to Mark "I don't like this, I feel bad, this is awful, I hate this" for apparently a few hours. It was during this time there was a shift change for the nurses and to my surprise I get the mom of another kid from Reid's class as my nurse! I was so glad to know her! She comes in during one of my "I hate this" episodes and says "You're just feeling a little drunk, most people like this feeling" to which I say "Is this what drunk is? If so, WHY do people do it?!" Mark tells her "yeah, she doesn't like not being in control."

Finally at 7:30 they break my water! Finally we can start actually having something happen. This epidural was ok. It worked for the most part, I could move my left leg, though it felt tingly, but my right one was completely dead, I couldn't move it if I tried. Mom and abby came back and talked to me for a little bit during this time too, but I am still having trouble making eye contact and sense! I go in and out of sleep for a bit too. They come back and check me again around 8:30 and I am at an 8. The contractions are still consistent but not as strong as they were before the epidural so they decide to give me pitocin to speed things along. Another couple of hours pass and all the sudden I begin feeling pain in my left hip (the leg that never fully went dead). I remember Mark saying "Can you feel that?" and me not even having time to answer before the doctor is back in there to check me. They lift the sheet back to see what I have progressed to and say "Woah, that baby is right there, let's get ready to push!" This was super exciting news that we were grateful to hear!

They begin breaking down the bed, I tell Mark to text mom, and everything begins happening all at once. By now I can feel some pressure from contractions so I know when I am supposed to push which is something I was nervous I wouldn't be able to feel and then would end up pushing for forever. THAT was not going to be the case however because she was visible from the first push. They had me do a small push and then I pushed with the next contraction and she was out! It was literally like 2 minutes, maybe, the fastest time we have ever had a baby! I just remember the room being so quiet too. She was breathing but honestly didn't cry hardly at all which made me nervous that she was going to have to go to the NICU. I kept asking over and over again if she was ok while everyone took turns reassuring me she was. It was just the best feeling to have her in my arms after such a LONG day and too know our family was finally all here and healthy. I fed her and she started of eating like a champ and hasn't stopped since. Mark and I have said over and over that she is such a boob baby, she loves to eat and is comforted when nursing!

They finally got me all stitched up and cleaned up and Mark went down to the waiting room with Mom to reveal her middle name. No one had asked what it was until I was about 32 weeks and by then I had decided I wanted it to be a surprise. I asked my amazingly talented sister-in-law to make a sign for this moment (and to hang on the hospital door) so she knew the name but no one else did. Mark took the sign down and flipped it around to reveal her full name Karis Ivey Clifton. Ivey is my mother's maiden name so we decided to honor that and my grandparents with her. It is a sweet and meaningful middle name and I am grateful we were able to pull off the surprise. After what was probably the longest day for people everyone was able to come back and see her at 11:30pm. They were all troopers I tell ya! And in true "Jones" after baby style, I got to eat left over pizza king from everyone's supper (this has happened with all the kiddos except Reid because he was born at 5:30 in the morning lol. I did eat pizza king later that day though). Everyone just loved on her, and then left to go get some sleep. Mark and I had to wait for my epidural to wear off before I could get moved to another room, which we finally did around 2AM. That was a little rough, especially with people coming in at all hours of the night but we made it.