Sophie's birth continued

So where were we..
Ahh yes, leaving for the hospital.
After being in labor for over 24 hrs, hearing that you aren't progressing is completely disheartening. All the work you and your body are putting in to manage contractions, reminding yourself that they don't have to feel painful, just uncomfortable...well you just stop caring about that.
Our midwife was able to contact nurses at different hospitals to find out who the doctor on call would be. This was incredibly fortunate, since two of the three hospitals had doctors that had incredibly high rates of c-sections on that night.
I made it to the hospital, moaning so loudly at the admittance window in the ER that they sped things up quite a bit. My midwife had actually made the joke that I should do this on purpose, but as it turned out I just did it anyway. Husband met us on the labor and delivery floor (someone had to park the car) but had to leave me to get up to speed with the doctors and our midwife/doula team. So I lay on a bed totally by myself in a room, knowing I was going to throw up yet again, having contraction after contraction....
When the nurse and Steve finally came back in, we asked for something for me to throw up in. She hands me a kidney dish (think very small). What are you thinking lady? I'm gonna blow!. I grabbed the garbage can thankyouverymuch.
Anyway, so much for unmedicated birth. I needed some rest. I was given fentanyl (which made me loopy, and very out of it... not particularly enjoyable) and then, after what felt like forever, an epidural.
So there we are, me woozy, Steve exhausted, Sophie hanging in strong.

And then she wasn't.

I was not entirely aware of what happened (courtesy of the fentanyl), but all of a sudden machines beeped and in swarmed a team of doctors and nurses who all started telling me different things at the same time. Sophie's heart rate had dropped from the 130-140 range to 60 in seconds. Thankfully, by moving me and some other techniques I don't remember, her heart rate came back up. After things had settled down, Husband puked. It was that upsetting. I was afraid to lay on the side I had been on again, lest it happen again.

I tried resting but it was hard knowing they were going to start contractions for me, and possibly need to do a c-section if I failed to dilate again. They pumped us with antibiotics b/c they were worried about infection since my water had broken over 24 hrs before. My doctors and nurses were wonderful- even though they were prepping me just in case of c-section, they also were doing everything they could to prevent that. The next morning I negotiated (literally,"can we wait to start? oh, only a half hour? ok.") with the doctor for an extra half hour of rest before they got the party going. And demanded something to eat. Oh yeah, they gave me something wonderful to stop the nausea...absolutely wonderful I tell you.

Family is coming over, more later!