Checking In

I've been to the hospital to have babies enough times to know how it works. Once you check in, they put you on a diet of ice chips until everything is over with.

Which is why I ate a huge chicken fried steak at Luby's before we checked in this time.

I know my body enough to know that the chances for me to get sick are a whole lot better on an empty stomach than on a full. This day was going to be miserable enough already. I did not want starvation to add to the drama.

A nurse admitted me at the front desk and led me to my room in the labor and delivery wing. We walked past the room I was in when Gideon was born. Past the room I was in when Canaan was born. All the way to the very end of the hallway.

As far away from the nursery as possible.

I guess they didn't want me to be able to hear the other mothers going through real labor. Or the echos of newborn cries eager for their first middle-of-the-night feedings. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or insulted, so I opted for apathetic and settled into my room for the night.

The room which, not coincidentally, I'm sure, did not have a baby warmer in it.

Dr. Nguyen explained that several things could happen over the next few hours. First, he would give me a very mild dose of Cytotec. It is a drug that causes the uterus to contract and expel whatever contents are inside.

And yes, it is the same drug used to administer abortions.

Because of my previous C-sections, he wanted to start me off on the smallest dose possible to avoid any undue stress on my uterus. We wouldn't want to add uterine rupture to the mix, now would we? If my body responded well to that, a second double-dose would be administered at midnight and another around 6 am.

He explained that I could respond well, deliver, and be done with it. I could respond partially and still end up needing a D&C afterward. Or problems could arise and I could end up needing another C-section.

Let me tell you, I did not like not knowing what was going to happen at all. Delivery. D&C. C-section. Each option worse than the last, and no way to know what would happen except to accept the drugs and wait...