Having already gotten most of my paperwork completed previously, I just had to sign a few forms in the registration office upon arrival before the registrar lady walked me (just me- Jason and Jen had to wait 5-10 minutes before they could follow me back to my triage room) to the labor & delivery front desk. As most of you know, I can cry at the drop of a hat. Sad movies, Olympics commercials (I swear they put the most inspiring music in those things just to get me!), you name it... it'll bring tears to my eyes. Jason and I have had a running joke for years that I cry because I'm "bloated" and it's my body's way of getting rid of excess water. :) I knew I was bound to have some tears on our delivery day, but I wasn't expecting them to start on the short walk to the front desk! I didn't actually cry then, but I definitely had to steel myself a little- no time to cry at that point as we had stuff to accomplish.
They took me to a private triage room and I met my nurse, Angelique. We had been hoping that Jason's longtime friend, Susan, would be our nurse that day, but she was already assigned to another patient. Any disappointment I felt at that moment was quickly gone once Angelique started doing her thing. She immediately put me at ease and was so calm and friendly. Since I'm a nurse myself, I'm probably a little more inclined than the average bear to be judgmental of my nurses (it's hard to turn off your "I know how certain things should be done" mentality at times!). And yet I feel that at times since I know how tough it can be sometimes to be a nurse, I might be more inclined to cut my nurses some slack. I was so grateful that I didn't have to do either- judge or excuse- with my delivery day nurse. She was obviously skilled and knowledgeable about what she was doing and what needed to happen- thank God.
She quickly got me on the monitors to start checking on how the munchkins were doing in my belly. I made her laugh when I brought out my own blood pressure cuff from earlier in the week, and she probably thought I was a little mental when I pulled out a typed list of my current medications with the times listed of when I last took them (let's just say that might have been a little bit of overkill on my part).
Another nurse came in and started an IV on me, and I was pleased that she got it started on the first try. I'm not exactly an "easy stick" as my veins love to hide under a nice layer of insulation (e.g. fat). I feel badly at work sometimes because I'm totally fine letting nursing students practice starting IVs on me, but my veins aren't easy to get (student nurses gotta learn on someone, and I'd much rather it be on me with my high pain threshold and not necessarily on my patients who are probably already dealing with enough pain and drama).
Jason and Jen eventually got to come join me in the room, which was good for my peace of mind. I really didn't want to be separated from Jason that day. What can I say- he can keep me calm better than anything or anyone else in this world. The three of us proceeded to fill out some general information forms, which I feel very badly about now. We may not have taken them as seriously as we should have, but they definitely helped us keep the mood light. For example, we chose to answer the question about "what information do you need to help reduce your anxiety today?" with "help us figure out how to pay for three college educations". I'm sure whoever read those forms got a good laugh at our expense.
When I reflect back on that morning and those hours leading up to the delivery, I remember feeling very excited, positive, and laughing a lot. Jason seemed a little "different", but he quickly admitted that he just wanted to be doing something to help me but there wasn't much that needed to be done at that time. Jason's a "doing" kind of person- not a "let's just sit and wait" type of person. And since there wasn't much to do except follow directions (and there weren't many of those for him until delivery time), my sweet pumpkin was probably having a harder time than I was. He was nervous for me, nervous for our babies, and there was very little that he could do to make things easier on me at that point. But I have a little secret for you- had it not been for his presence and his smile that day, I would have lost it. I would have been a hot mess of tears, fears, and anxiety. So even though it may have appeared that he wasn't "doing" much for me, he did more for me that morning than he'll ever know...
Two of my other dear friends, Pat and Janelle, got to come into the triage room with us. Technically I think I was only supposed to have one or two people in there with me, but I guess they give you a little extra leeway when you have already have three people in your belly. :) More laughing and joking, more smiles as we waited patiently (and somewhat impatiently too!) for our turn to go to the operating room. Seriously- when I try to remember what exactly we all talked about that morning, all I can remember is that I laughed and smiled a lot. My life was about to get oh so much more complicated and delicate and crazy... and all I could do was be happy. I guess when your heart is full, there's no room to do anything but be happy.
Finally Jen, Jason, and I got dressed to go into the operating room. The two of them got some awesome disposable scrubs to wear, and I got to don the dreaded hospital gown. Because I have a firm policy against patients showing their "business" to people except for when it's medically necessary, I threw another gown over my shoulders as a makeshift cape. My belly was so ginormous that I could barely get the first gown tied.
The anesthesia resident came in and introduced herself and asked a bunch of questions. She seemed very nice and obviously knew her stuff, but unfortunately she did the only thing that day that I could find any sort of fault with. She went to give me some antinausea medication (I wasn't nauseous- they just do it as a precaution) through my IV, but she didn't clean the IV connection first. Stop right there!! I politely- at least everyone told me I was polite enough- asked her to clean the IV connection first. She obliged, of course, and I felt kind of bad for calling her on it because it seems like such a minor thing, but I didn't feel like increasing my risk for infection at that point. In hindsight, the poor thing had a roomful of witnesses and I'm sure she had a bajillion other things on her mind- like how to keep me alive in the OR- and almost made a teensy mistake that I'm sure a bajillion of nurses have made before. After that, however, she was totally on her game (more on that later).
Soon enough, we were being told the operating room was ready for us and Jason and I stepped into the hallway to take our last walk together as a "without child" couple...
Two of my other dear friends, Pat and Janelle, got to come into the triage room with us. Technically I think I was only supposed to have one or two people in there with me, but I guess they give you a little extra leeway when you have already have three people in your belly. :) More laughing and joking, more smiles as we waited patiently (and somewhat impatiently too!) for our turn to go to the operating room. Seriously- when I try to remember what exactly we all talked about that morning, all I can remember is that I laughed and smiled a lot. My life was about to get oh so much more complicated and delicate and crazy... and all I could do was be happy. I guess when your heart is full, there's no room to do anything but be happy.
Finally Jen, Jason, and I got dressed to go into the operating room. The two of them got some awesome disposable scrubs to wear, and I got to don the dreaded hospital gown. Because I have a firm policy against patients showing their "business" to people except for when it's medically necessary, I threw another gown over my shoulders as a makeshift cape. My belly was so ginormous that I could barely get the first gown tied.
The anesthesia resident came in and introduced herself and asked a bunch of questions. She seemed very nice and obviously knew her stuff, but unfortunately she did the only thing that day that I could find any sort of fault with. She went to give me some antinausea medication (I wasn't nauseous- they just do it as a precaution) through my IV, but she didn't clean the IV connection first. Stop right there!! I politely- at least everyone told me I was polite enough- asked her to clean the IV connection first. She obliged, of course, and I felt kind of bad for calling her on it because it seems like such a minor thing, but I didn't feel like increasing my risk for infection at that point. In hindsight, the poor thing had a roomful of witnesses and I'm sure she had a bajillion other things on her mind- like how to keep me alive in the OR- and almost made a teensy mistake that I'm sure a bajillion of nurses have made before. After that, however, she was totally on her game (more on that later).
Soon enough, we were being told the operating room was ready for us and Jason and I stepped into the hallway to take our last walk together as a "without child" couple...
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