Well I just couldn't wait to get into that labor and delivery room until August...we had to take an unexpected visit early this morning. And holy, did it put everything into perspective and make everything suddenly become real.
It's been super hot here all week and I've been doing my best to stay hydrated but it's awfully hard, especially at work. This morning I woke up, went to the bathroom, and had some bleeding. It was about 7:30. Paul was sleeping so I frantically texted my friend Michelle to see if I should call the doctor and she told me I should. After contemplating this and making some noise in hopes that Paul would wake up, he finally did and I told him what happened. He told me to call too. I waited a little while before I called. Dr. Grecco called me right back and told me to come to the hospital since he was on call and it was a Sunday.
So down to Northern Westchester we went. We got admitted right away and went right up to the labor and delivery floor. I was pretty calm until we got to the nurses station and I saw what appeared to be a couple of nurses and my doctor dressed from head to toe in surgical scrubs going in and out of one of these labor/delivery rooms. We stood there for a couple of minutes before they told me which room I would be in. Any one that knows me knows how nosey and inquisitive I am about things (especially things I've never done before). So as the nurse escorted us to our room, I peeked inside the room where all the activity was happening and nearly hit the floor. THAT WOMAN IN THERE IS HAVING A FREAKIN' BABY!
That's what made it so real. Seeing this woman propped up on the bed, just like you see on tv with all these people around her, all the people going in and out totally freaked me out. My nurse escorted us to our room at the end of the hall where I proceeded to look at everything, ask a trillion questions, and play with all the gadgets. Thank God the nurse was patient because I was like a little kid. She strapped 2 monitors on my belly once I got settled in. 1 monitor picked up the heartbeat and the other was for contractions (to see if I was having any). The nurse went out and got me two big jugs of fluid-one filled with crangrape juice (yum) and the other with ice water. I was very happy with my choices of beverage, i just took turns slurping them down. His heartbeat was so loud-it was amazing to hear. That is until he decided that he was going to do all sorts of Cirque du Soleil acrobatics in my uterus and kick the monitor off. He had never been so active. It was really cool to feel, there are really no words that can describe what that feels like. Once I got used to my surroundings and we were settled in, Paul and I turned the tv on (I was more concerned with what the monitors were showing though). It was so quiet on the floor, we actually heard a baby crying not too far away. It took a few minutes for me to realize that the baby crying was the freakin' woman next door! She must have had the baby. Again, this was all really happening...holy crap.
After being monitored for almost 2 hours, Dr. Grecco came in and did an exam. It was very quick but I was so distracted by the way the room was actually like a transformer. The bed turned into this multi-level table that I could be examined on, these huge lights came out of the ceiling...it was truly unbelievable. In the end, I was fine, there was nothing wrong with my cervix or the baby. The bleeding could have just been from being slightly dehydrated, among other things and I need to relax and rest (yeah, relax-June is NOT the month that would afford me any kind of relaxation). So that was it. I am very glad I got a sneak preview of the L & D floor because I am such an information person and need to know everything before it actually happens. I'm chalking this up to a good learning experience.
