I don’t look awful, considering I’m in the hospital with contractions….
So I SWORE that with THIS baby, I wouldn’t go to the hospital until I was sure (with every other pregnancy, I’ve spent time in L&D in pre-term labor). But it was not to be. The pain in my abdomen and lower back (and hips) has gotten so bad, that I wanted to be checked out. Plus, Baby Boy had a HUGE decrease in movement in the last 24-36 hours.
Otto and I took GO to school, then headed out to the hospital. I hated him having to take the day off of work, but I have been in so much pain, but that trying to drive myself wasn’t smart. We stopped at QT on the way so he could grab something to drink and a muffin (and I got a bag of pretzels – but only was able to eat about 1/3), and arrived at the hospital at about 10:45 am.
The check-in process was wonderful, great front desk staff and because I am per-registered, I was in a triage room within 10 minutes of walking in the door to the L&D/Maternity floor. (That includes the second area where Otto had to get his check-in badge.)
Basic procedure when we got to the room, I even joked with the nurse that I could hook up the monitors myself, if she was busy (blue is baby, pink is mummy – grey to grey/white to white!). The most reassuring part, of course, was quickly hearing baby’s heartbeat at a good rate. It was also validating to see the contractions on the monitor.
The nursing staff was AMAZING. Simply amazing.
The resident? I could have done without. I seriously think that if I have to have a resident (or any student) touch me, I should be able to EVALUATE them. I’m sure she’s a nice person in real life, but it was blatantly obvious that the “textbook” is still the only standard in her medical knowledge. And *I* am not a textbook anything.
She monitors me, does a check (which I will not go into the awful details of – suffice to say I’m still at about 1cm), and then does an ultrasound on baby. Baby boy was WONDERFUL – again, knowing he is okay helped immensely. He is head down and was practice breathing the entire time. Great movement of his little legs and arms. I feel blessed that Otto and I were able to have that reassuring experience.
Then she informs me that she has “told” the doctor on call to call the OB/GYN I’ve been seeing and discuss WHY I was being allowed to attempt a VBAC. Because, I should know “we don’t let women like you VBAC”. UM – WHAT???
I hadn’t even SEEN the doctor yet! You’ve already said that I’M NOT IN LABOR! (Which, by the way, is a phrase I hate. I am having hard contractions, and am in a huge amount of pain and am dilating SOMEWHAT – so don’t tell me I’m just fine, thank you very much.)
Basically, she (the resident) leaves me off the monitor, offers me a drug I’m allergic to (thank goodness I know the ingredients of the drug she mentioned) and says she is going to talk to the doctor, and disappears.
An hour passes.
Within that time, the sweet nurse comes in and brings me the giant mug of water to drink, but nothing else to say. Otto and I prepare to head home (it’s 2:30 pm at this point), frustrated, because I’m still in a huge amount of pain, when all of the sudden the doctor shows up. She is concerned about the pain (thank you, finally) and wants me to get an iv of fluids and try morphine. The hope is I’ll sleep and when I wake up – I’ll be “ahead” of the pain, and it will be easier to manage it from there.
I also had to endure about 10 minutes of the Resident and Doctor trying to explain why I can’t have a VBAC. Luckily, between Otto and I (and the fact I’m not crazy, but realistic), we managed to have a civil conversation with the two “experts” on how we understood the risks, and would be trying “thankyouverymuch”.
Sweet Nurse reappears and reattaches the monitors, inserts the IV, then gives me the morphine (slowly, because I can’t recall having morphine before). It makes me uncomfortable, but not in an allergic sense (however, in the future, I don’t think the benefits are worth the way it made me feel). She also lets us know that I’ve been admitted for a minimum of 23 hours and she is trying to get us moved to an L&D room ASAP (triage rooms, while having all the same equipment, have AWFUL beds – it’s the only difference that I can tell!).
Sooooo – Otto proceeds to make phone calls to figure out plans for all the Caterpillars tonight and goes to get our bag out of the car. I’m, by this point, STARVING – but am not allowed to eat (which we can’t understand). If I’m not in “labor” then why am I being starved? (The nurse doesn’t know either, and is trying to get the “do not feed” order taken off my chart.)
I do rest a little, can’t really sleep, but don’t feel “awake” either. The morphine is making me uncomfortable, and the contractions (while spacing out) are become harder and lasting longer.
Otto and I maintain this state of flux for almost 4 hours. The nurse checks on us twice, still saying the chart says I’m not allowed to eat, but bringing me water. She’s still trying to get us a room with a better (ie: more comfortable) bed.
Suddenly (and really, it was pretty sudden) – Resident reappears with Doctor. “They” (the resident) is going to check me again, but then I can go home! WHAT THE HELL? Oh, wait, she’s offering me the drug I’m allergic to, AGAIN, to help with pain…
According to the Doctor (who I actually sort of liked, and am pretty sure she was covering for said “Resident”), while I WAS admitted, the nurse should have KNOWN what they meant was they just wanted to observe me for a while. Then they left and made the nurse come in an APOLOGIZE!
Otto and I cut her off and explained we appreciated how wonderful she was and didn’t hold her responsible at all. I was LIVID. I’m not stupid. I am pretty darn sure that the Resident (or Doctor) just didn’t communicate AT ALL with the nurse. I also have ZERO respect for passing blame off to a nurse, when it’s pretty obvious that it was YOUR responsibility as the Doctor (or Resident) to communicate with both the patient and the nurse.
Bottom line is that I was discharged with absolutely no addressing of the pain or the contractions. They offered me a stronger sleeping pill (we took the prescription, but didn’t have it filled). In fact, the discharge paperwork had a list of “things to come back in for”. I pointed out that I was being SENT HOME with 5 of the things on the list wrong (and none of them addressed). Poor nurse just kind of shrugged her shoulders.
We eventually left (takes a while to “get out” of a hospital) and found something to eat on the way home. The Caterpillars stayed where they were overnight (it was easier for everyone, due to the time and the fact that the idea was for me to SLEEP). I only threw up half my dinner – and am pretty sure that the reaction to morphine wasn’t great. Again, not allergic, just not something that had enough pros to outweigh the cons.
Frustrating day, mostly with the medical staff, and I’m now at home trying to rest. Hard to type (in general) with the IV bruise, but it’s a little easier on the computer than texting (my wrist doesn’t bend as much on the computer). I’m hoping to sleep a little more, before the Caterpillars come home after GO’s naptime Friday.
Prayers are appreciated. Especially since I’m back to not being able to keep much food down AND contractions that make me want an epidural…
~Mummy Butterfly )i(
The C4 Tree 