After everything was out of the way the nurse hooked me up to a fetal monitor so they could keep an eye on the baby's monitor.
"You won't be on the monitor all the time but we will probably do monitors every half hour or hour just to make sure that the baby is comfortable and that his heart rate isn't rising or falling." the nurse explained.
My Doctor came in about ten minutes later and looked at the notes the nurse had made in my profile. He asked how my pain was and if I wanted any medication, but I told him that I didn't want any pain meds yet.
"Is the birth plan still the same or have their been any changes?" he asked.
"Nope everything is still the same. We're still hoping for a natural birth." I said.
My contractions were still about 14-15 minutes apart and they would last 30-45 seconds each.
"Okay, your vitals are a little low, and I think you're starting to get a little dehydrated so I'm going to go ahead and have one of the nurses start an IV just for fluids so that we can keep you hydrated." he said.
"Okay, how long do you think it will take for me to be ready to push?" I asked.
"It just depends, Irina. You are still in what we call
'early labor' which means your contractions are still progressing. They are going to continue to become longer, stronger, and closer together. Eventually, they'll be coming every five minutes and they will last 40 to 60 seconds as you get closer to the next stage of labour." he said.
Two hours after I arrived, I was still only at 3cm dilated. Three hours after that when the Doctor checked on me, I was at 5cm.
Carolina, Davi and Tini managed to fly in, same as my mum and sister. Ela, Gavi and Kylian's family were still on the way.
An hour later I was still at 5cm. Then an hour later I finally moved up to 6cm. The more I dilated, the stronger the contractions got, which I knew would happen.
Before, they had been a 5 or 6 on the pain scale. Now I was at a strong 8 or 9 and breathing through the pain wasn't enough to help anymore. I had learned that getting up, rather than laying in the bed, seemed to help a little. So taking turns with the boys, they held their arm securely around me and with the other arm pulled the IV pole behind me, so I could walk around the room.
The nurses had asked if I wanted an epidural but I was being my stubborn self and told her I didn't want one. The main reason was because once I got the epidural, I would be numb and I wouldn't be able to get up and move around, which is what was helping the most with my contractions.
Having most of my friends and family here helped a lot too. They would come in and all just hang around, telling stories and jokes, making everything a little bit easier. And also, having my four favourite people in the world by my side for the 7 hours I had been at the hospital so far.
They kept on giving me words of encouragement and snap pictures every time they got the chance so they can prove to the baby they've all been there when the time came.
*******
The Doctor came into the room and took a look at the beginning pages of the baby monitor to make sure the heart rate was doing okay.
"Everything look okay?" Pedri asked.
"Yeah. Now we just need to wait for Irina to dilate a little bit more. Try to get some rest. This is the best time during labor to try to get some rest. Once you're at 7 or 8 cm it's hard to rest comfortably." he said.
The Doctor and nurses left the room and I got settled in for the long night ahead. Pedri took a seat in the chair next to my bed and reached over and held my hand. He gently ran his thumb over the back of it.
