Giving Birth, Chapter 3

Another hour.  I was at a 5 1/2. 

Really?  A 5 1/2?  Everything was still in question, so we decided to press the issue.  With morphine.  The idea was that if it wasn't real labor, the morphine would stop the contractions and I could go home.  If, however, it was real labor, I would just get some pain relief for a few hours.  While I wasn't in a lot of pain, I was okay with the idea of having some pain relief in case it hit.

Have I ever mentioned that I like morphine?  I've had it a few other times in my life, and the stuff is great.  I got sleepy, and a little silly, and I just didn't care how I may have sounded when I said things.  I started talking about China, I believe.  I remember telling the nurse that I wasn't as loopy as I sounded when I said something she was pulling out smelled like China.  Looking back, I was pretty loopy.  While it doesn't make a great part of the story, this was probably my favorite part of the whole experience.  Ah, morphine.  :)

An hour later, I was at a 6.  After another hour, I was at 6 1/2.  I slept through most of it.  It was great.  Poor hubby alternated between sleeping in the chair at the side of my bed, holding my hand, and curled up in the most uncomfortable couch he's been in since Schprid was born. 

After a couple more hours, I was somewhere between a 6 1/2 and a 7.  The drugs started to wear off.  I wistfully watched them go and wondered what was going to happen in my life.  I still wasn't really convinced that it was time for me to have a baby.  The whole thing just didn't seem real.

At around 3 in the morning, a nurse came in and told me that the contractions had stalled.  Apparently my body has no idea how to do the labor thing.  She also told me that they couldn't send me home at a 7, so they were trying to contact my doctor.