Part 2 of a 4 part series. See part 1.
On the way to the hospital, my husband commented that he didn't think this was really it. I wasn't curled up in a ball crying or cursing him out. Nothing like what he had seen on TV or heard about from his friends. It couldn't be the real deal. I wanted to choke him, but he was right.
As soon as we got to the hospital, the contractions stopped.
My blood pressure, however, was another story. It started climbing and continued to climb throughout the morning. Since women with diabetes are more likely to develop pre-eclampsia, the doctor ordered a 24-hour urine collection to check for protein. That meant spending the night in the hospital for observation.
Due to my high blood pressure, I was put on bed rest and not allowed to get out of bed without a nurse. Then, every time I sat up, the baby's heart rate would drop, so I wasn't allowed to sit up either.
I also wasn't allowed to monitor my own blood sugar or take insulin myself. And the OB wrote orders for me to be on an ADA diet plan. Needless to say, I was not happy about this, but I'll save that for another post.
Before the 24-hour urine collection was done, another OB from my group practice started his rounds and decided to consult with an expert about my dangerously rising blood pressure. The best course of action, she said, was to get the baby out today.
Even though I was neither dilated nor effaced, the OB decided inducing was the best route. At about 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon they placed a ripening agent on my cervix and at 3 a.m. Saturday morning, they inserted the Foley catheter and started three IVs-glucose water, pitocin and magnesium sulfate. (Fortunately, my blood sugar stayed on the low side and I was spared the insulin drip. I actually didn't need any insulin throughout the entire labor.)
When the nurse explained what the different pouches were for and what they did, I could see the trouble ahead. Magnesium sulfate relaxes the smooth muscle tissue and prevents seizures, a possible complication of the high blood pressure. Pitocin stimulates the uterine muscle to contract. One drug stimulates, the other relaxes. Sure sounded counterproductive to me.
Another major hitch, due to the magnesium sulfate, I was not allowed out of bed at all. What's more, my blood pressure was still a mess, so I couldn't sit up either. So much for letting gravity do its job. And you could forget about everything we had learned in Lamaze class. At this point, I was just glad I hadn't bothered learning the Bradley method.
Next: Exactly What I Didn't Want
