Pre Game Warm-up

So Conner's due date was March 14. According to Anne, she had a talk with Conner and he had agreed to come on his due date. Of course in the back of our minds we were sure he would come early. Anne kept saying that Conner was such a good boy for listening to his mom...but then he came late!

At Anne's last Dr. visit she was discouraged to hear, "No change yet." For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, pick up a book on child birth. There's some stuff that has to happen before a baby can come out...

The nurse practitioner in charge of Anne's pregnancy set up an appointment for the following week to have her induced. We had hoped for a St. Patrick's Day baby but there were no rooms available on the 16 (you start the day before the delivery). On March 17, dressed in our best green, we showed up at the hospital for our 6pm appointment.

Anne, "I don't have any appointments available tomorrow because I'm havin' a baby, but maybe Friday."msw

We were a little concerned with the check-in process. The lady at the front desk seemed bothered by us. She told us to sit in the waiting room and she would call us when she was ready. Once she finally called us, her monotone questions and lack of eye contact was stifling our excitement. To make matters worse, when the nurses called us back to the delivery area, they realized that none of the rooms where clean. As we stood there the nurses all shrugged their shoulders and said, "I don't think there is a clean room....well 16 is partially clean..."

Partially clean! What! Is there some afterbirth on the sheets, maybe a placenta on the floor!How could they even consider putting us in a "partially clean" room. Luckily they didn't. Instead they asked us to return to the waiting room until there was a room available.

Strapped in and ready to go captain. msw

Once in the room, the story changes for the best. The nurses were so nice and helpful. The room was very comfortable. They got Anne settled in, called me into the room and began the process. Apparently the induction has two parts. The first night's IV would start the changes. The next day the second IV would start the contractions.

Penny, Gretchen, Anne and Conner.msw

I was able to stay the whole night and slept on a small pull out. Once settled in, our friends Penny and Gretchen came for a visit. It was all very calm and relaxed.

When the nurse attempted to put put Anne's IV in, she said she was having trouble. We assumed it was finding the vein, but she said she couldn't get the needle to pierce the skin. This started a whole rant about how Anne was secretly a super hero known as gator girl. She had the skin and special powers of a gator!

It all made sense. Like Bruce Wayne was afraid of bats and became Batman, Anne is terrified of alligators and crocodiles, so she assumed the identity of Gator Girl! Why else would she live in Kenya that is full of crocodiles then move to South GA that is full of alligators....because GA is her bat cave....Anne said I know way too much about comic book characters for my own good.

Mmmmm......Drugs.....msw

They had a number of IV bags hooked up. One was just to hydrate Anne. She wasn't to eat anything that night in preparation for the birth.

Drip.drip.drip...msw

She was hooked up to so many things. Between the IV drips and the fetal heart monitor, there were wires and tubes everywhere. It is amazing to think that women use to give birth in a field while working! Its even crazier to think how we (as Americans) forget that in many places in the world that still happens as a norm. Have we mechanized the whole birthing process? Has it become so unnatural that it couldn't be done without technology? In the state of GA it is illegal to have a home birth but legal for the hospital to charge you $30,000 for the medical care.

I think I am having a contraction! msw

If I understood right, the top line is Conner's heart beat and the number in the upper right corner is his heart rate. The bottom line measures Anne's contractions.

The economy is so baby even Conner is getting evicted from his apartment!

We had a pretty smooth night. All the nurses were great. Unfortunately in the morning when Nurse Talley came for the exam, "Still not much of a change."