Birth Story Part 1

It was Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and I was heading to Sacramento for my last Non Stress Test appointment before our scheduled c-section (Sunday the 30th). I wanted to stop and get some lunch since I had only had a bowl of cereal a few hours before for breakfast but I wasn't sure I'd make it to my appointment on time. I figured I'd just grab a bagel sandwich afterwards on my drive home.

At 1:00 I met George and his mother in law at the appointment. I'm hooked up to monitors and the tests go well. They do notice I am having contractions and my blood pressure is a bit elevated. They page my OB and he tells them to send me to delivery so they can monitor me a little longer to keep and eye on my blood pressure. We settle into a triage room and start making a few phone calls to find out where Sanj is in case he has to drive to the hospital (it's about a 2 hour drive). I also call my family to let them know that I may be either late or not coming home tonight. The staff takes some blood and I pee in a cup so they can run a few tests . . . let the good times begin! Taking blood sucks for me because I have little veins- heck, I couldn't abuse IV drugs even if I wanted to! Peeing in a cup, now there's something I was born to do (great aim)- no problems there.

After an hour or so they decide my blood pressure is okay but they want to check my cervix for any progress since I'm having contractions every 2-3 minutes (75% of which I can't even feel). George and Logi leave the room and the nurse checks my cervix. I'm at 4 centimeters, which is another way of saying the girls birthday will be born in a few hours, not the 30th of November. I call my family to let them know I'll be home in a few days . . . George calls Sanj and Menaka (Sanj's cousin) to let them know they need to leave ASAP because we will be going in for a c-section in a few hours (2 other mom's scheduled before me). When you have a c-section they advise you not to eat or drink several hours before and luckily for me I hadn't eaten since eight o'clock that morning and I hadn't drank anything since noon. *Personal note* by this time I was indeed hungry and thirsty but knew it would be a few hours until I could eat or drink anything.

They check me into the hospital and begin preparations for the c-section. I get on my gown, they give me some medication to slow down the contractions, they start an IV in my hand and last but not least, shave my pubes. When the nurse was shaving me I had to giggle because instead of thinking about how painful the incision from the c-section would be I was complaining in my head, "Man, this is going to itch in a few days".




So now we just wait for Sanj to arrive.