At about midnight, I was awakened by a marked increase in contractions. They started coming quite fast, but weren't regular in their intensity. I woke Art up and we asked the nurse to call Joy and Robin back to the hospital. When they returned, Joy checked my cervix. I was close to 4 cm, but by then, the contractions had ceased and from the monitor, she could tell that although they were coming close together, they were not regular enough in strength to produce results. Great, I thought. All pain, and no gain. At that point, I heard a newborn baby cry outside my room and I blurted out, "I want to meet my baby!" Robin noticed this was a change from my previous, "Oh, he or she can stay in there for awhile." Joy recommended that we try "leaking" the bag of waters and see what happens. It was less radical than trying pitocin and since the baby's head was at zero station, all the water wouldn't come out. Art and I talked it over and we agreed to try it. At 2:00 am, Joy leaked the amniotic sac.
I don't consider myself a "pain wimp," but all hell broke loose. The contractions came on very hard and fast, and the pain was excruciating. Instead of the clamping down type contractions I experienced with the prostaglandin gel, these were like a terrible radiating pain in the lower back. Relaxing through them didn't seem to help at all, so I started moaning. Vocalizing did help a little, but shortly after that, I was shaking and vomiting. I remember telling Robin that it was was too early for transition, but that's what it felt like. Joy started an IV so I wouldn't dehydrate. I remember thinking, "I can't do this." After about two hours of moaning and wondering who attached a jack hammer to my spine, Robin suggested I to get into the shower. I was in such agony, I thought it might help. Me and my IV stayed in the shower for about 2 hours. Joy came right in there with me, with her Dop-Tone so she could monitor the baby's heart rate. I sat on a chair in the shower, rocked from side to side, and kept on moaning. I also debated banging my head against the shower wall, but that required too much effort. When I came out of the shower, Joy checked me again, and I was too blurry with pain to even register what she said. Robin asked me if I wanted to know how far dilated I was, and I said, no. I was too afraid to hear bad news.. It was about 5:00 am, and I was at the end of my rope. I demanded an epidural, pain medication, any drugs they would give me. I didn't know that I was already near 9 cm, so medication was out of the question. Joy injected some saline into my IV in hopes that this "placebo" would calm me down. Believe it or not, it did.
Although I didn't know it at the time, the baby was in a posterior position, hence the intense back labor. Much to my bad luck, I remained stuck at 9 cm for hours, while Robin and Joy tried to get the baby to turn. I swayed back and forth, turned from one side to the other on the bed. All while just about praying for my own death, the pain was so bad. I vaguely remember the room getting light as the sun came up. Robin held my hand, and Art sat on my other side. Robin moaned right along with me to help me keep from shrieking at the peak of the contraction. At about 9:00 am, I suddenly thrashed around on the bed at the peak of a contraction. Robin asked me if I felt pressure on my bottom. I don't remember what my response was—perhaps I grunted or something. She sent Art out of the room to get Joy. Joy quickly checked my cervix (these exams got easier the further I dilated, it seemed) and announced that I was at 10 cm and it was time to push. Great. What the heck do I do now, I thought?
