Beth is in Labor!!

Finally! The time has come! Beth is finally in the hospital, all hooked up to monitors & Abby is going to come soon!
As I am typing-the nurse is checking her.

So, I am going to try and start her story on my blog because I can't get into her blog. Her husband changed her password and such. Thank God for husbands "helping" out. Just a rub, Brandon.

This birth story started weeks ago.

Beth made a trip to Dr. Johnson when she was 38 weeks pregnant. At that appointment, he did enough in the exam that she started having contractions when she was eating lunch at Nellies. She got really excited that labor was definitely coming. The contractions she was experiencing were very different than the BH she had been having. So, she stopped eating as a precaution and started walking to hopefully intensify the contractions. She walked and walked.
It was a Friday, so, she wanted to talk to the doctor before he left for the weekend because she thought the baby was coming soon. When she called the docs office, they told her to go to the hospital and he would meet her there. She was surprised, yet excited about the answer she got. When she got to the hospital, they monitored her, found her to be 2.5 cm, but not in active labor. They sent her home telling her she was in prelabor. She had to promise to send Will somewhere so she could get some rest. Apparently she now needed to eat and sleep. Everyone was ready for her to go into labor within the next 24 hours.

Fast forward a week. No baby. And, in fact, Hurricane Ike looked like he was heading our way. So, everyone evacuated. Beth had told Dr. Johnson in her first prenatal appt. with him that she had her first baby during the Rita evacuation. At that point, the doctor laughed and told her she could evacuate to his ranch with him should that happen again. So, looking at having to evacuate, she called the office to ask the doctor what he wanted to do, knowing he wasn't serious about the ranch comment he made. This was Wednesday & many people were doubters that the hurricane was actually coming our way. The doctor's office was no exception. She was told she could come pick up her records if she wanted to the next day. Beth wanted to avoid traffic, so, she hit the road that night, and did not get her records.

Now everyone in the family and all of her friends are prepared to meet baby Abby in Fredricksburg, just like we met Will in Fredricksburg. We know the routine afterall. Beth was 6 days away from her due date. Everyone got as comfortable in their "homes" for the time it would take for Ike to pass. Everyone had everyone's phone number & we all had our plan on how we would get to Fredricksburg.

Hurricane Ike passed. The news was showing all the devastation from Galveston. We also all knew we didn't have power at our homes. So, we were waiting in pur evacuation "homes" until baby Abby or electrical power to return to our real homes to make our next move. Much to Beth's chagrin, the power came on first. Renee and I got power. So, Beth and Brandon had a decisions to make. It was her due date. Should they risk the drive home? So, they went to the Fredricksburg hospital to meet with a doctor. The doctor advised that she probably could make it home, so, they headed home...on her due date..a 5 hour drive...at night...to a hurricane ravaged area.

Once Beth got home, she started to re-formulate her birth plan, but it proved to be difficult. St. Johns hospital was closed. Dr. Johnson's office was closed. When she called the other hospital, she got told she could come in when she went into labor. She started looking for prenatal care 2 days post due date. She went to the hospital to inquire & found out Dr. Johnson was seeing patients between 11 and 12. SO, Beth went in to be seen. Dr. Johnson only made it to 11:20 before getting kicked out of his office by the fire marshall because the building was closed & possibly not safe. Apparently the doctor's staff was getting yelled at, with pointed finger, "don't ya'll know you aren't supposed to be seeing patients. You're not supposed to be here. You need to leave. You need to get out or you're going to get fined." Apparently there was a miscommunication between people in Nassau Bay because Dr. Johnson was told he could see patients that day. Beth did find out that she didn't need to be induced (although, again, not the answer she was looking for). She was told she wasn't doing anything down there during the exam.

So, Beth went on doing more of what she was doing. She was going to people's houses. She came to our house, went to Margaret and Dennis' house, and spent most of her time at her Mom's house. Brandon had time to clean up the yard, Beth did laundry, and I helped finished some of the inside stuff up. She went home to sleep during the nights.

Beth has spent many moments in complete frustration with days passing without labor coming. Last night she did a bible study that went over joy, peace and patience. She gave it up to God & let her heart feel that she couldn't bring labor on herself & that it was God's plan and she would wake up in the morning and choose to be at peace and not give into depression. Not too many hours later, her water broke. God is always at work in our lives.

When Beth's water broke, she nudged Brandon and told him her water broke. He said, "huh?" and went back to sleep. Beth got showered up. Brandon woke again and asked if she was okay & Beth restated that her water broke and she needed to go to the hospital. He then got going mentally a little, "what do I do? ?"

At 12+am, Beth drove to the hospital. She and Brandon were spending the night in their house, without power and phone. So, Brandon stayed home with Will & Beth was going to drive to the hospital. Afterall, her water had broken, but, she was not having contractions.

As things go during post-hurricanes, Beth could not get out of her neighborhood easily. Beth lives in Nassau Bay & the same cops that keep people for looting their homes & keep doctors out of their office were trying to not let her drive to the hospital. The cops are at the neighborhood enforcing curfew, so, she had to stop. The male cop told her he was very uncomfortable letting her drive, so, he wanted to call her an ambulance. She declined because she wasn't having contractions. But, the cop still wouldn't let her by, so, she went home to get Brandon to take her. At this point Brandon gets verbally angry with the cops and instructs Beth on what to say and do & he was not going to let some cop tell them how to do things. So, Beth takes off on her own again & decides to just drive by the cop this time and wave. It worked and she made it to the hospital.

So here we are. The timeline begins.


Okay-7:55am, she is 3 cm.

7:30ish am- I first arrive. Beth has epidural already & has been given pitocin to get the contractions going
7:57 am-first (and only) episode of nausea.
8:40 am- just talking with the nurse. Her youngest girl to deliver: 11. Her oldest lad to deliver: 51.
9:08 am- just chatting...Renee, Beth and I. Talking about being the mother of a girl vs boy. Trying to call Grandma and Aunt Stef

Next posts take the story over....