At Triage in the Birthing Center

As I was leaving the doctors’ office to head towards the hospital, I called J, my mom and sisters to give them an update of the situation. I began each phone call with, “Don’t panic but…” It didn’t work. My mom called my dad and basically informed him that I was about to give birth and J was terrified of the thought of what was to come.

I picked up J before heading towards the hospital, because we had been carpooling for several weeks due to my exhaustion, and going directly to the hospital would leave him stranded at work.

When we got to Triage, my blood was taken and I was placed on the monitors. They monitored each baby’s heartbeat and my contractions (which, at the time, I did not realize I was having). Everything seemed fine, if not a little boring for both me and J, just sitting there, listening to the girls’ heartbeats. After about a half an hour on the monitor, I began to feel really uncomfortable cramps in my uterus. But, since I had no idea what a contraction actually felt like, I just assumed it was partly just the pregnancy and the uncomfortable way that I was laying, strapped to the machines.

After over an hour of monitoring, the nurse came in and looked at the results. She informed us that the babies looked wonderful, and asked me if I had felt any contractions. I told her that I just felt really crampy, and the cramps felt like menstrual cramps. She then told us that I was contracting every two minutes and she had to get a doctor in to see me. When she left, the knowledge that I was in labor finally sank in. I was in labor!!! I was so upset, I immediately thought, the girls aren’t ready! If they survive, they will be in the hospital for weeks, and may suffer long-term repercussions of an early birth at 30 weeks! J tried to calm me down but I know that he was terrified as well. But all we could do was wait for the doctor.

Soon, the doctor came in to see me. She was a resident and looked no more than 23 years old. She reviewed the results of the monitoring, felt my abdomen and checked my cervix. I was still dilated to 1 cm and was effaced 50%. But the contractions were still coming. She advised us that I would have to be admitted to labor and delivery and that they would administer medication to slow the contractions as well as an IV to keep me from becoming dehydrated. The nurse gave me a hospital gown to change into and soon we were whisked away to Labor and Delivery.