February 15

The story of JT's birth, continued.

The morphine the night before did actually help me to rest and so I awakened on February 15 in a pretty good state. That was the good news. The bad news was that I didn't seem to be having any contractions of any merit. I was on a uterine monitor and nothing was happening. The midwife said that if there was no action by noon, they would turn off the pitocin to give my body a rest. And I negotiated with her: if the pitocin was off, could I have a shower? The answer was yes.

I spent the morning waiting for a sign that this baby might be willing to join us outside his uterine condo. But the answer was no. At noon, the pitocin was turned off and I had a shower. I was allowed to eat ------- Coke and a McDonald's cheeseburger. Plus, it was a warm day, so I got to sit outside for a bit. I'm sure that I looked like a scary wraith, there in my wheelchair (no walking permitted) with my IV bag by my side. Plus, the mag sulfate was still coursing through my veins and I still felt slightly tipsy from the effects of the drug. And I wouldn't shut up. This was particularly a problem as I weighed in with my opinions on the 2000 New Hampshire presidential primary. At one point I announced that the Republicans were damned fools. I said this in rural Nebraska, the most Republican place in America. I'm lucky they didn't shoot me right then.

And, as it turns out, the mag sulfate wasn't just a problem because it made me run my mouth. It's a great drug to lower blood pressure in pregnant women but it also can be used to stop early delivery. So the drugs in my system were working at cross purposes and I was getting nowhere.

As the time to turn the pitocin back on neared, I made a pitch for letting nature take its course and waiting until this baby was ready to play ball. But my idea was rejected. At 5 pm, the pitocin was cranking through my veins again and now I was on a baby monitor, to make sure that the babine was not in any distress.

Night number two saw me saying yes to yet another morphine shot to induce sleep. Surely, tomorrow would bring a baby my way.

Ha.