Induction Wars

I have come to the conclusion that if you ever really want to experience a foreign country's culture you must spend the night at one of their hospitals. I had my chance last night. I entered the hospital yesterday morning prepared to be induced. Oh so ready to have my sweet baby. The procedure is a 3 step process. And when the doctor explained it to me in the clinic last week, it sounded so quick and easy. Natural compared to being drugged up and in constant pain for hours upon end like they do it in the states. I was perfectly comfortable with the process, and still am. I just had no idea that it takes several days to get things moving. Not for the faint at heart by the way. If you are a sissy la la or are not comfortable with reading medical terminology, do not continue reading. Just my warning to you. But if you can stick it out like a trooper you might get a good laugh. The choice is yours. The procedure goes as follows:

Yesterday morning 2 thin sticks were inserted into my cervix. The sticks expand up to 3 times their size. The purpose is to get my cervix dilated. However it takes 24 hours for the sticks to expand to their full size. After that they will be removed and a balloon will be inserted in the stick's place. The balloon will also expand, but to a much larger size. It should dilate my cervix from anywhere to a 5-7 on it's own. This process takes several hours. Then after I have dilated a majority of the way, they will give me pitocin as needed to help me out. If I can go the rest of the way on my own, pitocin will not be used. Great! Sounds pretty easy right?

So the story continues. I got the sticks put in. Not fun. I was riding high in the "Disneyland Chair" ( I have blogged in a previous blog about this chair). What a ride that is!! Having the sticks put in was not the most joyful experience, but I'm sure it's nothing compared to what I will feel when Jackson's head is coming down the pike. So I sucked it up and trooped on. I had to stay overnight at the hospital. Which is a whole other world compared to the wonderful hospitals in the states. I shared a room with 3 other women. All pregnant and in different stages of their pregnancies. The room was pretty small and divided with curtains. All of us women were hooked up to fetal monitors, that listen quite loudly I might add, to the baby's heartbeat. The other 3 women were all Japanese and did not speak English. They did all laugh and talk together, but not to me. I felt like I was living in one of those Asian nail shops, where you aren't quite sure what they are talking about, but judging by the looks they give you, you have a feeling it's about you. They all had IV's which would run out of fluid like clockwork every 20 minutes. When their bags would run out, it would make a horrible screeching noise until the nurse would come down the hall to refill it. Pregnant women also use the restroom a lot. Which means that several times during the day or night one of the girls would get up and have to take their IV bag with them down the hallway to the restroom. The restroom was at the complete opposite end of the hallway of my room. I shared a bathroom with the entire 4th floor of the maternity ward. There are 4 stalls for the whole floor. And a long trough of stainless steel sinks where we all brush our teeth and wash our face. There are 2 showers. You must schedule a shower with the nurse to be able to use it because there are so many women. I was pretty close to the nursery though, and on my trips to the restroom I would peek in and look at all of the tiny babies. It made me smile just to know that Jackson will be here soon.

My bed was small and hard. I am a short woman, but my feet still hung off the end of the bed. My pillow was small and filled with rice. There was a tv in the room, but you have to pay to watch it, and since it was Japanese I had no use for it. The air conditioning gets shut off in the evening and the room turns into an oven. The meals are Japanese of course. For breakfast I was brought pickled fish with rice and a tofu gruel with cow tongue flavored seasoning packages for my rice. Mmmm...Tasty! Brandon is only allowed to visit me during certain times during the day. He brought me food that he had cooked at home for me for my dinner and we played cards for a bit. He sat against the wall in a metal folding chair during his visits. It was nice to have him there, because without him to make me smile I was a little lonely. Between the contractions I had that were 5 minutes apart all night long, all of the noise from the other girls and their machines, and the extreme heat, I am exhausted today from lack of sleep. And quite crabby if I do say so myself. I am excited to take a nap today and eat some American food.

My doctor, Jap-Dreamy, came in to visit me last night. I call him Jap-Dreamy because he is so young (early 30's) and he's kind of a cool/hip sort of guy with longer surfer hair, he wears regular clothes under his long white coat, and drinks Starbucks coffee all day. All of the Japanese girls swoon when he walks by, and it gives me a good chuckle. I always have a translator and he always speaks Japanese. Last night he strolls in and asks me "How's it going?" My head shot up from my pillow. I thought I was dreaming. Nope there he was plain as day speaking perfect English to me. He had a full conversation with me, explained what he would be doing in the morning and told me to get some rest because he would be back to my room bright and early in the morning. He even used English slang words just like he'd been speaking it for years. What?? Are you kidding me?? What do I need a translator for? It was the weirdest thing.

Today is a Japanese holiday. Autumn Equinox Day. It is the celebration of it getting darker outside earlier. If you ask me, they just want another day off, so they make up holidays for it. Oh well, nothing I can do. However, because it is a holiday the doctor would not insert the balloon into my cervix today. The hospital was dark and basically shut down, not to mention short staffed. And because of this, I have to wait until tomorrow to be induced the rest of the way. He took the sticks out of my trap door and I am starting to dilate on my own now. My contractions are pretty strong and regular and I am bleeding a bit. But he decided that I could "visit" home. I have to be back to the hospital at 9 am in the morning. This time when I go to the hospital I won't be leaving until I have my baby with me. I have no desire to go back to the hospital. I told Brandon he would have to drag me back. I would give birth in my bathtub if I had the choice. It's really not that bad, I should try and be more positive. After a good nap I will feel better I'm sure. But as for now I never want to see the hospital again. Hopefully I will be holding my Jackson Ryan in a few days. Until then wish me luck, it's gonna be a long couple of days.