On Saturday, the 16th, I was in real early labor. Which was OK. The contractions hurt a little and they were getting more intense. By 5 am on Sunday, the 17th, I was in a lot of pain and the contractions were short (15-20 seconds) but coming every 3 or 4 minutes. Pete called the hospital and they said to come on in, worse case scenario...they'd give me some pain meds and a cervix check up. So we went in about 8 am and they checked me out and I only had progressed to a 1. So, I wasn't happy, but could see what they were saying about my contractions not being that intense and not consistently timed. They gave me some much appreciated percocet and we went home. The medicine was strong enough to help me sleep for a few hours (which was good because I hadn't slept at all the nite before) and then, the pain kicked in. I'd say this was about 2 pm on Sunday, still the 17th, and I started having the worst pain I have ever experienced. It continued to get worse and worse and the times were close, but it wasn't in the realm of what they told us to come back, so we just kept waiting. I took baths and walked around and just tried to endure most of the day. By 10 pm I was in such pain that I couldn't think straight and I just couldn't take it any longer. I felt like a huge wimp and a failure, because I knew we still weren't at a place where they would admit me, but I couldn't just keep going on this way. So even if they just gave me morphine so I could sleep for a few hours, I was willing. We drove up there and I explained everything, and I could tell they thought it was too soon to be there, but oh well. They examined me, and I was only at a 1.5 and I just fell part. I started to cry, if this was, as the nurse said, "...still early labor" I had no idea how anyone ever had a baby, how the human race had ever propogated, how dogs, horses, pigs, sheeps, any mamals ever had kids if this is what it was like. I had asked Pete if he would wreck on his way to the hospital because then they'd admit me and save the baby right from the getgo, no matter what because of distress. I told the nurse this when she mentioned sending me home. It wasn't calculated, it just came out. I was so overwhelmed by the pain and that it hadn't progressed me anywhere and that they were going to send me home!! Raarr! Well, in somewhere between me crying, cringing in pain, and saying I want to wreck the car, they decided to keep me for some observation. So they got me some morphine and monitored me for 3 hours. By the end of that time, it was obvious to all the nurses (because doctors weren't on duty this late in the night) that my contractions in severity, length, and time apart were not matching up with my cervix and that my body was in hard labor and actually trying to force this baby out, but my cervix was not participating... It was at this point that one of my nurses was a genius and could just tell something wasn't right and began to ask questions. And the 10 million dollar question, Have you every had surgery or a LEEP procedure on your cervix? Ding, ding, ding! I had a LEEP when I was like 22! She was surprised that my doctor had let me down not noting this to the hospital and not taking steps earlier. So she called the doctor on duty and insisted that I be admitted. Since the on call doctor didn't know anything but what the nurse said, and since she was annoyed at my doctor, she must have conveyed that and that sending me home would be cruel. That made me feel better, that I was under going hours of hard labor that other people don't and that I wasn't just the hugest wimp ever!! That was pretty rugged. So they got me admitted to the hospital and rushed to get me my epidural. That was a huge relief! It was relaxing just to know that I would be at the hospital and that they could/would drug me up whenever they felt it was needed.
Then, they continued to monitor me and at 2 pm, they realized that it just wasn't working because after hours of an epidural, being on pitocin, and being checked regularly for cervical change, and having regular strong and consisten contractions, I was only at a 4.5. So, I had to have another monitor inserted (my vagina was begining to look like some Borg assimilatee) to monitor the exact strengths of my contratctions just to make sure we had all the data before making the next decision. The nurse warned me that we were looking seriously at a C-section. They did the monitoring and then my doctor came in to suggest a C-section, ASAP. So we prepped me and in we went.