I was rereading G’s birth story, and laughed that I said the labor went too fast. I guess I had it coming then. Third babies have a reputation for being tricky. First babies take a while, second babies are quick, and third babies do what they want. They’ve got extra room and can flip all over, and apparently are in no rush to be born. This one wasn’t, anyway. Just absolutely did not want to be born. Usually leading up to your due date there will be some sign that labor is approaching, but not with this one. Usually at some point during labor the nurses will let you know that the baby isn’t happy and we either need to move positions or work towards a quicker delivery. Not this one - every time they checked her she was perfectly happy.
So a combination of things lead to us being put on the induction schedule. It could happen as early as Friday, but I was also warned it might go a few days into the next week. So after not hearing anything Friday, I decided to make plans for the weekend. I figured either it would be enough to keep me distracted, or the universe would decide to interrupt my plans at the worst possible moment. I was half right anyway - I managed to get through our Saturday plans and even get some strawberry shortcake, but I never made it to those Sunday plans. Instead I was called into the hospital at 3pm on Saturday.
The kids woke up from their nap, and we loaded them in the car to drop me off at the hospital. Last time around E was so young that he didn’t get upset when I left or realize how long I was gone for. But this time both kids were old enough to know what was happening. We’d talked a lot about how I’d be in the hospital for a few days, and then I’d come home again, but they still weren’t really happy with it. A global pandemic also has ruined a lot of things, including letting siblings visit the hospital. So instead they got the promise of a donut after dropping me off, which helped a bit.
Another pandemic consequence, everyone admitted to Labor & Delivery gets their very own Covid test! Not the nice ones that you get in the drive through of the CVS where you swab your own nose. This is the one you’ve read about in the news - the one that tickles your brain. It felt like when you forcibly get saltwater up your nose in the ocean. It burns badly. Of course when you’re about to have a baby, you soon realize it’s not the worst pain you’ll feel that day.
The evening went pretty slowly. I got the first dose of medicine, ordered dinner, and asked for some heartburn medication. My contractions were apparently coming every 2 minutes, but similarly to G’s birth, I couldn’t feel them. It’s probably the same reason why I don’t feel BH contractions either. Either way, the combination of excitement over a baby coming soon (in my mind labor was going to take the same length of time as G’s, so I’d have a baby by morning!) and frequent interruptions by the nurse wasn’t letting me get much rest.
Every time I’d move around or shift positions, my monitors would lose their positioning. A nurse would come in, try to fix them, and 20 minutes later we’d be back in the same position. Eventually a new nurse came in and decided to hook me up with this wireless bluetooth monitor. It made me look like part robot, but it was a pretty cool device. It allowed me to walk around and even shower!
