Bowman West

How can you not resent her after all that??


That was Andy's big question a few weeks after I delivered Sarah Jane. He said he never wanted to see me in that much pain ever again. I'd have to agree.


So, last time we left off I had arrived at the hospital. Because it was the middle of the night we had to enter through the ER and they made me sit in a wheelchair to be taken up to labor & delivery. I could have gotten there much faster on my own and I wouldn't have had to wait for Andy when he stopped to talk to a doctor friend. In his defense, he was excited and wanted to spread the news. Can't really blame him.

When we got to L&D we had to wait for about 10 minutes for them to clean a triage room since they were really busy that night. During that time I stood at the admission counter trying not to look like I was in pain while various OB interns and residents gave Andy a hard time and tried to guess if I was actually going to deliver this time. I assured them that my water had broken and it was definitely go-time.

When I first got to triage a doctor who looked twelve came to verify that my water had indeed broken by looking at the fluid on a slide. She said that she didn't see amniotic cells but other signs made it seem that my water had broken. YOU THINK?? Let me tell you something little twelve-year-old...I'm laying here on these blue pads in a puddle of liquid and I didn't wet myself. Where else do you think this stuff came from?! She also used .5 seconds from her busy night to check me and conclude that I was at 5 cm. I don't have an MD but I can guarantee that I was without a doubt way past 5 cm. After she left Andy told me that she was an intern and I sternly reminded him that no one below a 3rd year resident should come near me. It's possible that the strong contractions were making me feel grumpy and a little entitled.

Ok, so I reached the point that I couldn't sit or lie down anymore when the nurse asked me if I was getting ready for my epidural. Heck yes!! She assured me that anaesthesia was on the way to talk about my options. No problem. It'd been almost four hours since I took that heparin shot so I should be good-to-go. My OB told me that anything shorter than four hours and an epidural would be too dangerous. I was feeling pretty lucky that I'd just barely make the cut. They had my delivery room ready and off we went to cheers from the crowd as we walked past the nurses' station. I kind of felt like I was walking the red carpet except that I was wearing a hospital gown and may have flashed the entire group. Oh well.

By the time I got settled in to my room my contractions were pretty furious. I was standing by my bed trying to be brave when the anaesthesia resident came in to talk about the epidural.

Resident: Hi, I'm Dr. Whoever. How are you?

Me: How the he** do you think I am? [Just kidding. I was just thinking that.] I'm ok.

Resident: So is this your first?

Me: No. Second.

Resident: Oh, great! A boy or girl?

Me: Girl.

Andy (already getting frustrated with this guy): So...she took her last heparin shot at 11:00. That's four hours ago so the risk of bleeding should be minimal, right?

Resident: Well, I just talked it over with my attending and that would be true if she were on 5,000 units but her dose is 7,500 units.

Andy: So what does that mean?

Resident: Unfortunately it means that we just can't place an epidural sooner than 8 hours from the last injection. So if you're still in labor at 7 am I can come back by and discuss it then. [It was 3 am and I was at 8 cm and speeding towards delivery.] If we do it now we could paralyze her and I don't think we want to risk that. [YOU THINK??!! Good observation.]

Me [trying to hold back tears]: So what are my other options for pain control?

Resident: Well, there are a few IV meds but we can only give those up until it's actually time to deliver because they can cause respiratory distress in you and/or the baby. Then there's Lamaze. You know, picture a flower or something.


It was then that I thought Andy might actually punch this guy. I'm proud of him for resisting.


(...to be continued...it's midnight and I'm tired. Sorry!)

Sarah Jane @ 2 months

Now who could ever resent something this awesome? :)