Having Babies

OK, so I'm going to fuss on behalf of a friend of mine. Her son is in my Cub Scout den and her daughter is also part of my daughters Daisy Troop. Anyway, she's pregnant with her 4th child, originally due mid-February. She started small labor pains at the beginning of January. This past week, the doctors told her that if she hadn't delivered on her own by yesterday that they were going to induce her. All in all painful, but she's managed.

So, she goes to the doctor early yesterday morning to be induced. The nurse gives her a pill (pitocin), monitors her for about an hour, then sends her home to wait for contractions to be at least 5 minutes apart. Her 2 younger kids come home from school with me, as we anticipate that she'll be in the hospital getting ready for her newest. So, I get home and call to check in that her two youngest are fine and we're fixing to go get her oldest (a teenager), when she tells me she's home, still waiting. Her pains are about 7-10 minutes apart, but the doctor/nurse won't let her into the hospital yet since it's not close enough and she's not dilated enough.

Her mother has come into town and they're out walking, so I keep her kids through dinner hoping to hear that she's progressed enough to go in before bed time. I finally end up just keeping her kids here so that she can keep walking and if she goes in during the night we don't have to worry about child transfers.

I call her again this morning to hear that she's had pains 5 minutes apart for 2 hours, but because she's not dilated enough she can't get checked in. She tells me that she feels like her stomach has been pulled out of her body and over her head and she hasn't slept really at all. She's exhausted and in pain.

So, since when do doctors not take into account that things might go wrong and that women in labor can't get checked into a hospital for assistance? This, to me, just sounds absolutely wrong. Especially if you consider a woman having her 4th child?

As of this evening, she'd finally visited her doctor (again) to be scraped. They were finally letting her go to the hospital. Hopefully in the morning everything will be well, there'll be a baby, and all that. But sheesh.. makes me glad I'm done.