The ride to the hospital took about 15 minutes. Every bump was torture! We arrived there and I waited for the next contraction to hit before leaving the vehicle and walking inside. Of course that was the contraction that spaced out to 7 minutes and I had just had one before pulling into the hospital parking lot-Jarrod hopped right out and grabbed the suitcase and stood waiting for the contraction to hit, and it took longer than he thought as he was waiting outside in the snow!
I am always impressed, because as we walk the halls of the hospital, one of the workers there notice me working through a contraction and offer a wheelchair. It doesn't matter what floor they work on, someone always offers!
We got up to maternity and we have to be buzzed in. I knew my midwife was waiting on the other side but I never know what to say when I press that buzzer. So I just said that I was Katelyn Persun and I was there to have a baby! We walked through the doors and my midwife's smiling face greeted me. It's always a comfort to have her around because she knows me and my preferences! After I got weighed, I worked through another contraction before heading to the room. My midwife commented that I made it look like it was nothing-just leaning into Jarrod and having him hold me up as I did a half squat and then eased right back up and continued walking. Her words there really helped as I was already feeling like I was losing control through the contractions. The back pain was still very bad and I was feeling exhausted already. I had already mentioned to Jarrod that I wasn't sure that I could do it this time without pain medication. I knew I didn't want an epidural but something to take the edge off the back labor I was experiencing.
After getting in the gown, they wanted me to sit in bed for a bit so they could get a strip on the baby's heartrate. My midwife came in shortly after to check me. It was about 7am when I was checked. She said I was 4cm, almost 5cm dilated and 90% effaced. Jarrod knew instantly I was discouraged. At this point with active labor with Liliana, she was born. And here I was with baby5 and was only 4cm and contractions were intense. My midwife left the room and I turned to Jarrod, fighting back tears.
"Only 4. I mean, if it was 7 I could just push through."
"You've got this babe. You're doing great."
"The back labor is horrible. It's flashbacks to Jadon's labor all over again. I don't think I can do this without pain medicine this time. I'm not strong enough. Contractions are one thing, back labor added on is another."
"Why don't we see what Bridget thinks when she comes in again. Do you want me to massage your back?"
No-any touch to my back made it feel worse. Okay. Had to focus again on just making it through the contractions. I was still just breathing through them but my control felt like it was slipping and I wanted to fight them as they came on.
Jarrod didn't know what to do at this point. I had doubted my ability to be able to work through contractions in other labors but I had never requested pain medicine before.
Megan arrived and jumped right in helping me work through contractions.
Bridget came back in to check on me. She was supposed to leave at 8am but was trying to see if someone else could help cover something for her so she could stay with me. I asked her about getting something for the pain. She watched me through another contraction that was coming on- more frequently now and said she'd check me again and see where I was at.
5cm. A solid 5cm now. I asked again about pain medicine and told her that the back labor was excruciating now. She looked at me for a moment and then suggested I get on the ball or in the tub with the jets for a bit to see if that would help ease the back pain. She told me that she would get me something if I really wanted it, but I had always told her that I wanted to do it with no pain medicine so she thought I should try the ball or tub before getting anything. So I did. I had them get the labor ball as that had helped when I was at home.
The back pain started to ease up a bit. I sat on the ball, Megan or Jarrod would support it with their feet from behind and each of them would take a hand. Megan would remind me to relax the muscles in my hand and not tense up and softly whisper encouragement to me and Jarrod would tell me I was doing well or just hold my hand. Contractions seemed to be coming every 3ish minutes now. More intensity to them and I was just.so.tired. I texted Liz and Abby at this point and told them I needed prayer. That I didn't feel like I could do it anymore and I was exhausted. They both wrote back encouraging messages. At this point I had been on the ball and would stand occasionally but mostly just sat on the ball and worked through the contractions. I started feeling more pressure and had a few pushing urges that I tried to hold off for. Jarrod watched me through a few more where I'd have a strong contraction, have the urge to push, then have a less strong contraction and have no urges, before he called the nurse back in to let her know........
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