Dose of Reality

We went to the hospital Friday night, mainly because Pat said that maybe we should go and get checked out. So we did.

This was our dry run. We had our bags packed, pillows, car seat, food. So we get to the triage at about 10:30pm. It was really quiet. So quiet that no one on duty was there.

Tresa got up on the bed and was hooked up to the monitor. Two leads were hooked up. One to monitor the contractions and the other to monitor the baby's heartrate. Then within 10 minutes two other women came in. Both in 'active labour', one was dialated 3cm and really beginning to feel the pain. They gave her the option that if they were to break her water it would speed up delivery. They estimated 1cm / hour. So 7 hours of the pain she was feeling right now, and probably worse. Then the other lady was breathing REALLY hard. She was ready to go! It was like she had run a marathon in record time.

Tresa wasn't feeling what these ladies were feeling and it made her nervous and hoped that we were going to get sent home. In the end we were told that everything was A-ok and that we would have to wait until the real labour started. This is when the contractions are so bad that she can't speak, and it's tough to breath. I think I've had something like that when I used to be really REALLY lactose intolerant and I ate some ice cream and my bowels were out of control, and I'd be praying to God for relief. I think that's close?

We were told that we really didn't need to bring a lot to the delivery room. So we repacked our bags better, separated stuff that we really needed for delivery and stuff for post delivery.

We went home, and I slept better that night knowing that we weren't there yet and I can relax a bit.