November 20, 2009 at 5:50 pm our daughter was born.
I woke up at 5:30 with wicked back pain. I read for a while. Around 7 I woke Shannon up. He made me coffee and toast which I was unable to eat. We went for a walk, and the back pain got progressively worse. I was pretty sure I was in labor, but after my false labor scare I was afraid to admit to it. I took a shower, and then we attempted to watch TV. I was in increasing amounts of discomfort, so I took a bath. After my bath we began timing the pain. It was coming about four minutes apart and lasting between 50 and 90 seconds. At about 10:15 I decided that it was time to head to the hospital, but first there was the challenge of putting on pants.
The ride up Calvert Street was the longest ever. I closed my eyes and gripped the door handle.
We got to the hospital and Shannon dropped me off at the door while he went to park. Several nurses were leaving for the day and one of them got me a wheel chair. when Shannon finally came back, I insisted on walking at first. About twenty steps in I relented and used the chair. Once we got upstairs we checked in and then were escorted to triage. At this point I was seven centimeters dilated. It was then that we began making phone calls to rally the troops.
Amber came as soon as she could work out what to do with Finn. I continued to have contractions, and at some point my water broke, and I continued to have contractions, until I felt it was time to push. I wasn’t quite ready the first time they checked me, but I was on the second.
My mom made arrangements to fly in as soon as she could. Amber kept her updated throughout the day.
Once the pushing began I was glad to have something to focus on. It was a long painful progress. I started pushing around 1:30. Each time I pushed I hoped that it would be the time that the baby emerged. Hours passed, my doctors changed shifts. Apparently the baby’s heart rate began dropping during contractions, at this point they gave me oxygen between contractions. I continued to push still focused, I was beginning to worry, but as far as I knew all was well. Eventually they gave me Pictocin to try to make the contractions stronger. I changed position for a while. The Dr. Whispered something to the nurse, who informed her that I hadn’t had an epidural so she couldn’t do what ever she had suggested. At this point the Dr. became more focused and attentive. She let me push for a few more minutes and finally. told me that the baby’s heart rate was not increasing during contractions and they needed to try something else. She got my permission to bring in the resident who runs the vacuum and I chose to have some pain relief (Lidacaine) for this procedure.
A pediatric team was brought in as back up to provide support for the baby after she was born.
The Dr. came in with the vacuum. It took two tries and over five rounds of contractions to extract the baby. I was amazed at the force of the pull. Apparently the Dr. was pushing against the bed as he pulled with the vacuum. I felt one final tug and a popping sensation as the baby emerged into the world. She was born at 5:50 pm after 4 hrs of pushing.
They showed me that she was a girl and then whisked her quickly away. I didn’t hear her cry and I was panicked about what was going on. It turned out that she had swallowed miconium and it had to be suctioned out of her lungs. Eventually after what seemed an eternity, but was probably only minutes, she began to cry. I was very relieved.
Once she was stabilized they let me hold her. I have no words for that moment.
They took her to the NICU.
She was given oxygen for 12 hrs, antibiotics for several days, and finally after a billiruben scare we went home on Tuesday. I had been discharged on Sunday, but allowed to stay in a room on peds until she was able to come home. This allowed me to nurse her as soon as she was allowed to eat.
Getting ready to go home
Home at last
