Stop the contractions
The doctor decided to add some additional embryonic fluid. She had broken the bag earlier already to increase contractions. Now she wanted to re-add fluid to support the baby. Simone also had to put on an Oxygen mask to increase the oxygen level for herself and the baby. I was side-lined and had to watch the heart rate monitor and what was going on. I seldom felt so helpless in my life as this night.
Things did not work out as anticipated by the doctor and she decided to stop the contractions for a while to give the baby a break. The nurse came back and gave Simone another drug that would stop the contractions. I do not remember the name of the drug but do remember that the drug pushed Simone’s blood pressure high up. Unfortunately a site effect of this drug that could not be avoided.
We found an hour of rest once the contractions were stopped. It was 3.00 AM when the nurse came back and turned the Pitocin back on. The contractions started to come back after about an hour. Once the contractions got stronger the baby’s heart rate went down again. The doctor and the nurse did not decide on anything just yet.
Simone felt the pain coming with stronger contractions and she pushed the button of the automatic release of the pain killer dispenser. A rattling noise filled the dark room in the middle night. The noise did not stop. The dispenser did its work very noisy. Simone panicked that she would now get too much pain killer from her epidural. I rushed outside to find the nurse. Our nurse was not available but a different nurse said that it would not overdose the pain killer level. It’s just how these devices would work. I went back and was able to calm Simone down a bit. All this stuff was taking a toll on us. We had not expected to be here today. It was in the middle of the night and we had not slept at all. Very nerve-wracking situation.