Birth Story

We went to our 39 week doctor's appointment at 9:20am on Wednesday May 27th. If you have kept up on my blog then you know I was already planning on pitching the whole induction idea to Dr. Shaw, but really I didn't have to say much. She said to head to the hospital at 8:00pm that night so that we could start an induction! She checked me in her office and said I was 3cm and that my cervix was much softer and more favorable then it had been the previous 2 weeks.

Chris and I both went back to work and worked until 4:00pm, then headed home for some last minute packing and chores! For my last "pregnant" supper I had frozen burritos! Then some vanilla ice cream with chunky peanut butter!

Once we got to the hospital we got checked in and started the first round of Cytotec about 9:30pm. Cytotec is basically the oral pill version of Cervadil which most people are more familiar with. I was surprised to learn that I was having contractions before we even started the Cytotec, but I wasn't feeling them at all. About 11:30pm they gave me an Ambien to help me sleep and by about 12:15am I was OUT! The nurse came in about 3:00am and gave me my second round of Cytotec and checked me again and I was still 3cm.

I was woke up at about 7:00am and ate breakfast shortly after, I showered and got as dressed as I could get. About 9:00am Dr. Shaw came in and checked me again and said I was still pretty much 3cm, but that my cervix was very soft and had started the thin really well. At this point I had continued to have contractions all night long, but never felt any of them. Dr. Shaw decided to go ahead and break my water and explained that we would get my epidural before we started the Pitocin so that my contractions wouldn't get too bad (she warned me that after she broke my water I would probably start feeling the contractions!). I was so unprepared for what I was in for - I started feeling the contractions pretty much immediately and I seriously couldn't hardly handle it! I don't even have cramps with my periods anymore so it was an unusal and horrible feeling! My nurse, Roxanne (who was great!) called Anethiesiology immediately to get my epidural, but they were really busy and said it might be 15 minutes - well 15 minutes turned into about 50 minutes so I had to endure about and hour and a half of contractions which was enough for me! Anyone that has a "natural" birth is 1. crazy and 2. a much better woman than me!

The epidural process went terrific - I was a bit nervous about it but the lady, Shannon, that did mine was awesome and 2 contractions later I didn't feel a thing! It was a little after 11:00am by the time my epidural was in and I was once again comfortable. We started the Pitocin and then Roxanne checked me and I was 4cm. So now I was just laid back watching TV and waiting, enjoying the day. About 1:00pm an alarm started going off on the monitor and Jack's heart rate had dropped down into the 80's and 90's. Roxanne came in and said that I was having too many contractions that were lasting a long time and that Jack was probably just getting a little tired and stressed so she turned off the Pitocin in order to give him a bit of a break. She checked me again at this point and I was 5-6cm. We laid off the Pitocin for about 45 minutes, but Jack's heart rate continued to decrease with every contraction, but would always bounce back up into the 140's - 150's when the contraction was over. Roxanne now said he was probably having some cord compression, but didn't really elaborate because I don't think she wanted to stress me out too much - although it was obvious I was. I was pretty much glued to the monitor from that point on. She checked me again at about 2:00pm and I was 7cm. Roxanne turned the Pitocin back on, but at a very slow rate and we waited. Then I started to feel the tightness in my stomach from the contractions - it wasn't painful, but I could tell so I asked Roxanne what we should do and she gave me an extra shot of my epidural and then decided to check me again - this was about 3:00pm and I was complete and he was at a +1 station.

Roxanne called Dr. Shaw and told her my status and this is why I love Dr. Shaw - Dr. Shaw said that as long as Jack was doing OK that I could "labor down" on my own, which basically meant wait and let my body do the work naturally of pushing Jack down further into the birth canal rather then me "push" him down. So Roxanne said now just tell me immediately when you get the urge to push and I just kept saying I can't feel anything (because of the extra shot of epidural she had just given me) and she kept reassuring me I would know. Well she kept checking me and his head kept getting lower and lower, but I never had the urge. She finally decided that we needed Dr. Shaw because he was getting so close and Dr. Shaw headed over. There was a little bit of hurry up and wait as the room was set up for delivery and then Dr. Shaw arrived and the show was on the road! Roxanne said OK - bear down and push! So I closed my eyes and pushed with everything I had (or thought I had because I still wasn't feeling a thing) and that's when I felt his head pop out, I took a breathe and pushed again and I felt the rest of him slide on out and I was done! I seriously couldn't believe and I never felt a thing - other then the slight pressure of him coming out, but ZERO pain!

The reason for all the decreases in Jack's heart rate became very clear at this point - his cord was wrapped around his neck twice! So as he was getting farther into my pelvis and the birth canal it was getting compressed! I'm pretty sure Roxanne knew that the whole time, but didn't want to worry me - which I'm OK with because I know she would have told me if anything was seriously wrong or she was concerned! The nursery nurse, Joyce, took Jack and started cleaning him up and checking him out - he got a 9 out of 10 on the Apgar Scale! She weighed him and he came in at a slender 6 pounds 15.4 ounces and 19 inches long! We were all expecting a much bigger baby, but he is just a little guy!

Within about 25 minutes Jack was already latched on and breast feeding and things have been going well since then!