Part 2: Labor, aptly named

So we got into a real room and Tina became a real patient. We also got a shift-change and got a new nurse named Cindy. Still skinny and blonde, but there the similarity ended. Vagueness and confusion became openness, clarity and explanation. The sun rose and birds started singing. Well, not really, but it seemed like it. (Cindy was the first of the many really really great nurses. All of them except the first one were just outstanding...OK, all of them being outstanding is technically an oxymoron. Whatever.)

So by now labor is hard and painful. The delivery room had a better bed than the check room, plus room for a few people to sit comfortably. That helped us, but didn't do much for Tina. There was still much discussion of the baby's heartbeat, and now Cindy actually told us what we should be seeing: periods of changes in the heartbeat. That is, a flat and steady heartbeat was bad; it should go up and down with changes in activity levels, contractions, etc. Not that we can do anything about it, but it's nice to know what to look for. Cindy also had Tina move from her back to her sides to see if that helped and it did. Ah...professional help.

Tina was starting to call for the epidural but she wasn't dilated very much. The doctor came in and ruptured the bag of waters at about 10:30PM (I think) to help the contractions have their dilating effect. Meconium (basically, Elizabeth's first poop) was in the waters...not a huge problem, but she'd have to have her mouth suctioned when she was born to be sure she didn't breathe in her own poop. Mmmmm.

The water-breaking helped and Tina dilated to 3 cm by about 1 AM, but the pain was getting unbearable. Through it all she was tough and kept breathing really well. She did get tired of my telling her to breathe, but she did it anyway. Cindy told her to keep control of herself and that would help -- she was fighting the pain and that was fighting the dilation. From then on, Tina either collapsed from exhaustion or became a stone wall of spartan stolidity. She didn't say anything or give any indication of pain. Just lots of breathing.

Mercifully, the doc thought 3 cm was fine for the epidural, so we were ushered out and the anesthesiologist came in.