9 AM Update

Good Morning!

Katherine writing this time, while Mark is washing his face and getting dressed. So last night was an interesting night - again, it's very unreal waiting here to have our baby. It was very strange "settling" into our room for the night. Brushing our teeth, taking out contacts, turning off the lights and saying good night. Mark has a little couch to sleep on that's across the room, so he gave me a kiss goodnight, rubbed my back for a few minutes and then went to his bed. This was at about 1 AM.

It took us both a while to fall asleep. So nervous about everything yet to come! Around 1:30 AM, I decided to ask for an Ambien to help me sleep. Since I won't start the pitocin until 11 AM today, and my body has a lot of work to do to get this baby out, I wanted to make sure I had gotten some rest. The Ambien did initially make me feel drowsy, but it also gave me these CRAZY dreams, and I definitely did not feel like myself --- I felt a bit like I was on drugs (I guess cause I was). I dreamt that there was a large hole in the room, and we were trying to push all the furniture out (I think I even mentioned this dream to the night nurse, Teddy, during one of her visits... I'm sure she's used to whacked out women. :) ). I dreamed about large furry, feathered beasts. Don't remember much about them, I don't think they were scary, but they were part of the dream. A couple of hours later, I went to the bathroom, and I staggered there.

At some point (maybe 2:00 AM), Mark and I were both still awake, so he came and snuggled with me in my hospital bed. At first, we were reluctant to, but I'm really glad he did. It was very sweet and comforting, and a nice reminder that we're in this together.

We slept most of the night --- getting up occasionally to go to the bathroom, or being woken up by a nurse to take temperature, etc. At 7:30 our day nurse, Paige, came to say hello. At Patti's recommendation we requested Paige when we checked in last night. She is the daughter-in-law of our doctor, and she won a state award for excellence in perinatal care. I'm encouraged that we now have a team in place (doctor, nurse, doula) who have all worked together and are fond of each other.

At about 8:40, I couldn't sleep anymore, so I tried to get up quietly so Mark could continue to sleep (he didn't have the aid of a sleep pill). I brushed my teeth and hair and put in my contacts to feel more like it's day. Still in the hospital gown, though. :) Mark did wake up, anyways, and now we're ready to get this day going!

Now we just wait until somewhere between 11 and 12, when they will remove the cervidil and start the pitocin. Mark is going to get some breakfast, while I make do with ice chips and apple juice (thank goodness, I can at least have these!), and then I'm hoping they'll let us walk around for a while, to help baby put some pressure on my cervix.

Depending on how things go, maybe we'll update again later.

Happy Monday everyone! And happy birthday baby girl!