Hospital Arrival

We were let into the Labor & Delivery Department after signing so many forms my wife had to pause to await another contraction that were now happening every 3 to 4 minutes.

After being placed in the typically small early labor room, a nice young nurse came in and furiously began her work up of my wife. We tried to ask questions, but she seemed dismissive. I even continued to count the contraction intervals on my stopwatch. She didn’t bother to tell me that the monitor she had hooked up to my wife’s belly was not showing not only a graphical representation of the contraction intervals, but their intensity as well.

The nurse either wanted to know our status before spending any time talking to us, or believed that my wife wasn’t quite ready for the hospital and may need to be sent home to let the labor progress in a more comfortable environment. When asked, the nurse told us that she had already sent home a few expectant mothers on her shift today. Maybe she thought we would be yet another.

Nope! We were the real deal. My wife was 50% there, and 100% needing an epidural. I didn’t get to see much of the anesthesia procedure. The doctor needed as sterile an environment as the small room would provide. I had to stand in front of my wife while he worked on her back. I did get to see the length of the needle everyone talks about, but I don’t know how far in her back it had to travel. I imagine it wasn’t too far.

Not too much later, my wife was feeling good and my role as pain manager/breathing partner (which I had been poorly performing) was no longer necessary. We now only had to wait for one of the large Labor & Delivery rooms to open up.