girlfiend

Since this is a long one and I may never get around to finishing it, I’ll post in parts.

Tired, cranky and 3 days overdue, I decided that Tuesday would be a good day to take my cats to the vet for shots. My vet, a walk-in clinic, is located on the border of North Philly so I figured where else, but in a crowded ghetto waiting room, responisible for the transportation of 35 pounds of cats, would I go into labor. Two hours and $98 dollars later I shlepped the cats home.

Later in the afternoon I went for lunch with two friends. Half a reuben and a cup of sweet potato and corn chowder and I still hadn’t gone into labor.

When Boyfiend got home from work we decided to go to the Flower Show. Rather than drive and deal with parking, we took Septa, figuring that perhaps the bumpy bus ride would shake the baby loose. The flower show was lovely. We walked around admiring the exhibits and took a few pictures. Then we went to the Down Home Diner for dinner, where we were treated by a friend. I had the fried chicken and mac and cheese. Boyfiend had the turkey dinner. I added some tabasco in the hopes that spicy food would bring on labor. It didn’t. We took the bus home and went to bed.

Around 11.45 I got up to pee. An hour later I had to pee again. At 1.45 I woke up to pee yet again, only this time I felt somewhat constipated. At 2 a.m, then again at 2. 20 I went to the bathroom still feeling like I had constipation and gas pains. I did not poop. But I did pee twice more. I went back to bed feeling gassy and gross, and curled up on my knees, with my belly on a pillow I went back to sleep until 4.45. When I got up Boyfiend said, “you’re getting up again?” So I put on my sweatshirt and went to the bathroom again. This time I was able to poop, but still I felt gassy and constipated. I regretted eating the fried chicken. I went back to the bedroom but another gas pain came on so I went back out to the parlor. When the pain passed I checked my email. Another pain came on so I tried to go to the bathroom again.

At this point it occurred to me that I might actually be in labor. But the pains felt nothing like the contractions I’d had on Sunday. I was supposed to feel a tightening, and this just felt like the fried chicken had made me incredibly gassy. I alternated between pacing and doubling over in pain for the next hour until Boyfiend got up. I told him I was in pain and he asked if I was in labor. I told him no and he got into the shower. The pains got increasingly worse, causing me to cry out in pain. I was scheduled to see my doctor at 9, so I figured if it was labor I could wait a few hours. I didn’t want to be an alarmist and I certainly didn’t want to be sent home from labor and delivery if it was just gas.

It occurred to me as I kneeled, bent over the arm of the sofa that if the gas was this bad now, I may not be able to drive myself to the doctor. I thought about asking Boyfiend to take the morning off to drive me to the appointment and back home. Then I decided I was being an alarmist and didn’t. When he got out of the shower he seemed really concerned about the amount of pain I was in. I believe I was sobbing. He asked if he should take off. I told him yes. At 7.30, gasping in pain I called the doctor’s office and asked for a call back. When my doctor called back a few minutes later I told her I was having really bad gas pains. She told me to time them and call back in 20 minutes.

I was in too much pain to time anything. Boyfiend ran around frantically packing a hospital bag and writing down the times that I cried out in pain or cursed. He called the office back and told the answering service that my gas pains were 4 to 5 minutes apart. They told him to bring me straight to labor and delivery.

After a trafficky miserable ride to the hospital I was admitted. I undressed and they attached a contraction monitor, a fetal heartbeat monitor and a blood pressure monitor. I filled out paperwork and they told me my contractions were 2 to 3 minutes apart and I was definitely in labor. My doctor who met me in the hallway came in to check my cervix. I was 3 centimeters dilated. The nurse told Boyfiend that it would be a good time to get the bags out of the car as I wasn’t going home.

Part II is here

Part III is here