With a due date of May 8th, we were thinking we had a few more weeks until needing to be fully prepared for the arrival of our little baby boy. Much to my surprise, he decided to come a little early. I was at work on Tuesday when my water broke. I was with a patient and not quite sure what was happening. It was about 11:45 and I was having no contractions. I decided to keep working and call Tyler at lunchtime - 1:00. I felt fine and decided to finish up the work day and then call the doctor. So, unbeknownst to them, I saw three patients while leaking amniotic fluid.
Luckily, my last two patients of the day had cancelled so around 3:30 I headed home. I packed up a few bags to bring to the hospital just in case and called Tyler to come home. I then called the hospital and they told me to come in.
Once we arrived, I had to fill out the admitting paperwork and was taken to triage. They monitored the baby's heart rate and checked for amniotic fluid. The nurse decided to admit me immediately and called to have a room ready. It just so happened that my doctor was the one on call that night and would be working until 7:00am. It was about 5:00pm and I began walking to try to start contractions.
After an hour or so of walking and doing every type of stretching/poses possible, my room was ready and I still was having no strong, regular contractions. The doctor recommended starting Pitocen to induce labor. This was very frustrating to me because things were going exactly against what I wanted but I agreed because it had been about seven hours since my water had broken and I knew that the risk for infection to the baby goes up and there is usually a 24 hour time frame that the hospital would prefer to deliver in.
Once the Pitocen was started, I asked to be hooked up to a telemetry
unit and be able to walk around. Tyler and I strolled the hallways for a
few hours but the monitors kept slipping on my belly and the nurse
would have to come get us to readjust because she was not getting steady readings.
I tried different positions in the room to try to speed things up and reduce the pain of the contractions.
Around midnight, I was having regular contractions that were getting moderately painful. I told Tyler to get some sleep because we still had a long time to go and he would need it later. We were still having trouble with the monitors slipping every time I switched positions so the nurse asked that I stay in the room hooked to the six foot cord. Apparently it was happening because of the shape of my stomach. They said because I had a basketball tummy that things move more. They told me it was a complement and that I would be grateful for it after labor but that unfortunately it made it harder while in labor. I was having lots of contractions that were being missed so I laid down for 30 minutes to get a good baseline.
You can see above on the graph what they were monitoring. The top line is the baby's heartbeat and the lower is the contractions. In the picture, they are about one minute long and every 2.5-3 minutes.
Around 4:00am, the baby's heart rate started to drop a few times so they put me on oxygen to get it back up. He responded well but I was not feeling too great at that point. I asked to nurse to check my progress and I was only dilated 4cm after laboring for almost 17 hours. They upped the Pitocen to as strong as they could and things went down hill fast. I was in a lot of pain and about 5:00am called for an epidural. Tyler awoke to me on the phone and felt bad that he had been sleeping but I was glad that he had because I thought I would need him for the pushing stage more.
The anesthesiologist arrived around 5:20am and I got immediate relief. I'm very glad I decided to have the epidural done. It let me rest some but was not strong enough that it kept me from feeling pressure and minor pain - exactly what I asked for.
The nurses continued to have trouble monitoring my contractions with the band slipping each time I moved. They called the doctor in to place an internal monitor to get a better reading. When he arrived to place it, he said there was no need because he could see the baby's head and it was time to push. It was about 10:00am and as you can see above, I was thrilled with this news - maybe we would make the 24 hour period after all!
I asked to watch in a mirror and this made it easier because I could see my progress. About ten pushes and twenty minutes later, Samuel was born. It was Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 10:32am.
Tyler cut the umbilical cord and then Samuel was placed on my chest.
He began crying immediately and looked perfect! We spent the next half an hour bonding while I delivered the placenta and got a few stitches.
I asked the nurse to show me the placenta. Tyler and I are both scientific people and I really wanted to see what had been keeping my baby alive the last 37 weeks. It was amazing to see.
About an hour after he was born, he got cleaned up a little and weighed. He was 6lbs, 5oz and 19 inches long. The pediatrician declared him in good health and he was given back to Tyler and I for some family bonding time.
He stayed in our room the entire time from birth until going home. He had several tests done and passed them all with flying colors except for his hearing screening. We have to go back in two weeks to have it done again but the woman running the test said he likely failed because of a quick pushing stage leaving fluid in his ears and that he had higher than normal brain activity going on that was throwing things off.
The next morning, the nurse asked us when we would like to go home. We were all doing well enough that we could leave at any time. We filled out all the necessary paperwork and were discharged around 2:00pm Thursday afternoon.
When we got home, the animals were very excited to see me after being gone for a few days. They both were also very interested in meeting their new family member. Poppy began guarding Sam immediately and has not left his side since. She looks the most tired out of anyone in the family. Volt also reacted well and has been affectionate and sweet trying to cuddle with us and purring up a storm.
On Friday morning we went for our first walk as a family down the street to the park. I am in a fair amount of pain still but it was nice to get out and get some fresh air and exercise. Every day we are figuring things out more and enjoying our new family member Sam.
