Birth Story - From the Other Side - Part 3

This part of the story will probably go a lot faster (because it all kinda blends together in my head) but in reality, it took FOREVER!!!!

They finally brought us to a room. What we thought was going to be labor and delivery. But sadly, it was just part of the Machleket Nashim - Women's Ward. We were brought to a little curtained area, 1 of 6 in a room. All kinds of women. Next to us was an old lady and I think the other was empty in the beginning. At some point, they told us we had to stay in this area until Ariella was 3cm dilated. I don't remember if they told us that right away or only after being there for HOURS.

We got there and waited. They were supposed to be bringing Ariella antibiotics. So we waited...and waited. I think at that point Ariella went to take a shower. She felt so gross from the whole experience so far and just wanted to shower and get into the many sizes too large gown. :) Her shower was less than ideal. Apparently she had to hold the shower head. I'm sure THAT was comfortable being 9 months pregnant and in labor!!!! But she came out clean and put on the huge hospital gown. And then they served lunch. We went over to check it out and it actually looked quite appetizing. Chicken and rice and mashed potatoes. I was HUNGRY! But I made the mistake of asking if it was only for the patient and they said yes. I said not even for the husbands? They said no. Daaaaaarn. So went into the dining room area (of this particular ward) and sat down. Ariella got some food and I took a drink. Mm....watered down petel (syrup).......
Ariella said the food was actually quite good - although the mashed potatoes were gross. That was sad. I love mashed potatoes. She was kind enough to sneak me some of her yummy rice :) so I wouldn't starve. Worse came to worse they would tell her not to share. And there was a LOT of rice. Yisrael was sitting with us but feeling VERY uncomfortable. He felt like all the women kept looking at him, maybe even giving him dirty looks. It was kinda weird but it's a pretty religious hospital so who knows. Eventually he left. Ariella finished up and as we were leaving, I noticed a sign saying no men are allowed in the dining room during meal times!!! OOPS! Oh well, I was already there with my short sleeves - I assume they figured we didn't know better. :)
We went back to the room and waited some more and I felt like it was time for some of my doula-ing. Time to take charge. So I went to the nurse's station and waited very politely for them to acknowledge my existence. Once they did, I reminded them about the antibiotics. The first nurse was a REALLY young looking, sweet little girl. :) She was helpful and friendly but maybe slightly overworked. I felt like I had to keep reminding her. Helloooo - you have a patient named Ariella.....we are waiting.
So they gave Ariella the antibiotics. Finally!!! Now to be honest, I cannot remember if they they gave her the pill to induce her or if we waited awhile before that. I know she got the pill at about 2pm so it must have been a bit after. If they checked her prior to getting the pill, she was still at 1.5cm. Grrrrr......
They gave her what looked like half a pill and said ok, we'll be back in 3 hours. WHAAAATTTTT???? They said that's generally how long it takes for the pill to work so at 5pm they will monitor her and see what's going on. Ugh. So we had 3 hours to sit around. Ariella was having some contractions and the main thing we did when she had one was rub her lower back. That is where she said she had the most pain. We asked the nurses if there was anything we could to help her along. Like bouncing on a birthing ball, walking the halls, ANYTHING?? They said nope, nothing. Well that wasn't helpful at all. There was a shift came and enter Mean Religious Nurse. dada, dada, dada......
Why mean people are ever put with laboring women or postpartum women is absolutely beyond me!!! Mean people shouldn't be nurses anyway but there are some wards where they just don't belong. This woman seemed very harsh, uncaring, and acted like she had no patience for us. She was a stickler for the rules and did not seem to have Ariella's best interest in mind.
More waiting and waiting and waiting. 5pm seemed SO far away!!! Yisrael went to check out the cafeteria. He had a toast and came back. Then I went and was hoping for perhaps the same food as Ariella had. But there wasn't even a real cafeteria. It was a little stand that made toasts and sold things like chips and gum and what not. I had a toast in the morning but didn't have many other options and didn't want to leave the hospital grounds so another toast it was! This may have been the only point when I wished we were at Beilinson. The thought of the mall being right across the street with that delicious food court was SOOOO tempting!! Again, it was so funny being on the other side. Being the "waiter" instead of the "birther". I could have used an Aviva right then to bring me a nice hamburger!!! :)
It's all good.
Back to the Machleket Nashim. There were 2 other women that had arrived at the same time as us, more or less, and they were also in the ward. So I kept Ariella updated that they also hadn't had their babies........
The contractions started getting more intense and we had to help Ariella through them more often now. We kept watching that clock tick by, waiting for 5 pm. When it finally arrived, and the pill started doing it's trick, I tracked down the nurse and asked for the monitor. I can't remember if dinner came before or after the monitor.

Dinner was the turning point!!!! We went to go check out dinner and first of all, it looked inedible. It was some kind of fried potato blintz and a side. What kind of food is that??? Ariella had NO appetite for it and as she turned to leave the room, she got hit with a whopper of a contraction. She had to stop moving, grab ahold of the counter, and really concentrate and breathe through the contraction. Ahhh.....FINALLY!!!! Now let's see some action. From then on the contractions were real intense. We went back to the room and Yisrael and I got a lot more involved in helping her through the contractions. She was very impressive though. We rarely needed to remind her to breathe and though the contractions were extremely painful, she would get through them and then really relax. Close her eyes, go limp. She said the contractions were SO totally exhausting!!! We tried different positions for her to labor in and finally brought out the birthing ball. That was a comfortable positing for her. That and being on all fours on the bed. The room was really not cool though. So NOT the place to labor. She felt uncomfortable making noise, there were people walking back and forth all the time. Lots of talking, ringing cell phones, etc. It just was not a place that you could focus on laboring well.

Well, now that things have started picking up (or so we thought), it's time for another break. It's 11:30 at night and I am exhausted!!!

Stay tuned.............................