2cm? Really? REALLY?!
Contractions got under 5 minutes apart for an hour so we went to triage about 6:30 this morning. After all those hours of tolerating the pain, I had only gained a centimeter. Are you kidding me? I need to get to 10 before I can even think about pushing this bowling ball out! How can I only be at 2? Well, I am. The contractions are doing something though – I’m at 90% effaced and the baby’s head is at -1 (GOOGLE IT OPIEZ).
The doctor had me walk around the maternity floor for two hours to try to get things moving. It didn’t help. There was no change. I was just more tired than I already was from waking up at 3am and not being able to sleep. They gave me the option to stay and get an epidural and wait it out but seemed to think I’d be better off at home. They prescribed Tylenol and a heating pad for the pain.
The contractions are tolerable when they’re only in my stomach but the majority are also in my lower back and I do not tolerate lower back pain well. If you’ve ever seen me with a lower back injury, this is no surprise. So it’s looking like an epidural for me, especially if I’m not going in until tomorrow morning. That’ll be over 36 hours of consistent, painful contractions and that’s before the fun starts.
I’m going back to bed. With the Tylenol and heating pad, I’m actually able to sleep for about an hour at a time and this will be my last chance to get some rest for months. We could still wind up back at triage tonight but only if my water breaks – it’s the only sign of labor left. More likely, we’ll go tomorrow and my doctor will induce me.