Labor Days (Part 1/2)

The labor story is actually pretty long, well because the labor was pretty long. As I found out later, I was going through a prolonged labor that was a result of my small pelvic opening, which later resulted finally in a Caesarean.

On Sunday, Sept. 23, Day 1 of labor, I started contractions. They were coming at about 5 minutes apart, but only last 30 seconds, and they were not very painful. When the contractions started, we were really excited that today might be the day. By nighttime, the contractions were not increasing so we both went to sleep.

Monday, Day 2 of labor, the contractions continued. Alvin and I woke up and started taking walks. We walked about 2 hours on Day 2 to try to make labor go faster. The contractions were now 7 minutes apart, lasting for a minute, and continuing all day. Yet, by the recommendation of our doctor, we were not supposed to come in until the contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting for a minute, continuous for more than an hour.

Tuesday, Day 3, the contractions continued. On this day we walked for 3 hours, but there was not much of an increase.

Wednesday, Day 4, the contractions continued. We went to the hospital to do something, and so we ended up having them hook me up to a fetal monitor. According to the doctor, some of the contractions were very strong, and some of them were just ok. Disappointingly, we went home. That day, I tried not to think about the contractions. I almost felt like if I ignored them, they didn't hurt. All of this positive thinking changed that night. That night the contractions got really intense. Yet, I didn't believe that it was enough to get admitted in the hospital. I was still counting at about 7 minutes apart, but the pain was starting to get very intense. Before, when I would have contractions, a shower would help ease the pain. Soon a shower didn't help, and I also started noticing that I couldn't pee. I actually couldn't pee very well since Day 1 of labor, but by Day 4, nothing came out all day, and I had extreme back pain. It even hurt to sit. Yet, since the contractions were still far apart, we stayed home.

On Thursday, Day 5, the pain became intense. I could hardly walk. That night, even sitting on my bum hurt. So for four hours, I sat in "Child's pose" doing breathing exercises. I told myself not to move at all, because every time I moved, I would want to pee which I couldn't do because of the pain. The contractions were still about 7 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute and a half, and they were very intense. I wasn't sure we should go to the hospital, but when I went to the bathroom, I asked Alvin to come in too, and after he saw how much pain it was for me to try to pee, we decided to go to the hospital. There also was this weird phenomenon. My pregnant belly started looking like a huge kidney bean. Instead of one big belly, I had a bump on top, another bump on the bottom and a dip in between. We weren't sure what was happening, so we packed up and went to the hospital.

(story continues tomorrow)