Key take-aways:
- Alice is now in active labor
- Her contractions are regular and the discomfort is higher but “still manageable”
- Dr. Michael Q. England’s non-medically binding forecast is still predicting a later morning delivery [7 am - 11 am PDT].
Alice and I tried to pass the time with one of the
pre-loaded movies on the hospital network. She chose Finding Nemo because that forgetful Ellen Degeneres fish gets her
every time. When the time got to me I promptly fell asleep soon after we
started it. This may prove to be an all-too-honest metaphor for what lies in
the weeks ahead. I told her that I wasn’t going to fall asleep if she wasn’t
going to and then I promptly broke that promise while she was left behind to do
all of the effort on her own. As I woke up periodically and half-heartedly offered to help it was obvious to me that even though the movie was paused at an early
scene that Alice found NEMO alright – if N.E.M.O. stands for what feels like a
Never Ending Maternal Ordeal.
 |
| Finding N.E.M.O.? Found it. |
I woke up at 4:15 to learn that the doctors were about to
hasten the process along with a little poke to break her water (link). Since that time
her contraction intensity has increased and she is now considered to be in
active labor. She was at 5 cm dilation before this and they expect it to increase 1 cm per hour until
she reaches that magic number of 10 – maybe 10.5 cm considering that my head is
big for my body and that may carry over to our daughter (link).
Here we go!
- Phase 1: Check in & set up – DONE
- Phase 2a: Drug #1 Misoprostol - DONE
- Phase 2b: NEW - A Foley Balloon is inserted to hasten dilation – CANCELLED
- Phase 3: Drug #2 Pitocin – SKIPPED
- Phase 4a: Early Labor – Continued from midnight – 4 am PDT - DONE
- Phase 4b: Active Labor – Started ~4:30 am PDT
- Phase 5: Delivery - Projected for later this morning
- Phase 6: Back slaps, cheers & bewilderment
