Lillian Ruth H. 30 June 2008

Birth Story – June 30, 2008

Lillian Ruth
7 lbs 10 oz
21 in

I met your mom finally after several phone calls and many emails back and forth a few months before your birth. We had a great visit, and were looking forward to your birth.
I got to meet your dad a couple of weeks before you arrived.
Your poor mommy was suffering from a condition called PUPPPs. She was itching like crazy, and agreed to an induction of labor, though she had wanted and prepared and planned for a natural childbirth.
On Monday morning June 30th your mom and dad arrived at the hospital and began the induction of labor. By about 7:30 am the pitocin was hooked up and your mom was doing alright so your daddy called me and said I didn’t need to come yet, as they were doing fine. She was about 3 cm dilated.
At about a quarter to 1 I got a call that the contractions were picking up, and getting more painful, and to head on to the hospital when I could get there. Your mom was dilated about 3-4 cm. About 10 minutes later your mom had your dad call me back and say don’t worry about coming yet, she was managing, and she didn’t want me to just be sitting around all day long. (that’s what I do, but your mom was worried about me and my family. How sweet is that!?)
At 1:20 my phone rang again. Your mom requested that I please come. They were about to break her waters and she was definitely anticipating more pain, and so she wanted me to come to help. (to do my job...)
I happened to be nearby and arrived quite quickly. By 2:00 p.m. your mom was doing great even though the contractions were coming about every 1 ½ minutes. We could barely have a 5 word conversation in between contractions when the next one would hit. By 2:15 the nurse, came in and cut the pitocin back by 10 since they were causing the contractions to come on too strong and fast, and they wanted to space them out a bit.
At 2:30 we got mom out of the bed and sitting up on the exercise ball. This seemed to really help her to deal with the contractions. After about half an hour we got her up to go to the bathroom after unhooking all of the wires and dragging the I.V. pole with her. About 3:30 the nurse checked again and she was dilated to 4-5 cm. Some progress, but I’m sure your mom was feeling a bit frustrated since she had been working so hard for so long, and it seemed that she wasn’t making as much progress as she would have liked.
Your mom really seemed to like sitting on the ball, actually she bounced on the ball and rocked back and forth to help deal with the contractions. During the next while she began vomiting and really hated that, however the nurse and I assured her that it can actually sometimes help you to dilate, and often signal transition. Your mom was beginning to feel like she couldn’t handle things any longer, she had been on pitocin and contracting all day long. I encouraged her to get checked and if she had indeed made progress that might be enough to reassure her and she would be able to go on. At 4:15 the nurse checked her and she was 7 cm. In 45 minutes she had gone 3-4 cm! Great progress! She continued bouncing on the ball during contractions, at 5:05 she had the nurse check her again, to see how close she was, so she could decide if she thought she could continue on or if she felt she couldn’t do the rest without some pain management. She was 8-9 cm, and was talking epidural. Your mom worked really hard for another hour while waiting for the bolus of fluid to run through her i.v. and the anesthesiologist began the epidural at 6 p.m. (still at 8-9 cm) and began the epidural. He finally got the epidural line in, and we waited for your mom to find relief. After several more contractions she was feeling all the pain of the contractions and no help from the epidural. So, he began the process again. He couldn’t find a space between the bones in mom’s back, and had to poke her several times. He tried a spinal to see if he could numb her then try the epidural again, but neither thing worked. He did feel really bad.Eventually after nearly an hour the spinal was finally in place at 6:55 p.m. Her poor back had been poked 6 times at least and would most likely be a cause of bruising and some pain after the birth.
At 7:00 p.m. the nurse checked again and she was 9 cm with mostly just a lip of cervix. 7:05 p.m. There was some difficulty finding the baby’s Heart rate mom sat up and had some oxygen, and they found the heart rate just fine.
At 7:10 another nurse checked to see if she was numb, and she was. Mom’s BP dropped a bit and the baby’s HR dipped a bit. They suspected that perhaps there might be a cord getting pinched or something. 7:20 mom gets more oxygen She really can’t tell if she feels pressure or not. She has no feeling with the spinal. The Nurse checked and she only had a small ring of cervix.
At 7:30 p.m. the nurse comes in and does the ‘wedge’ position. Mom is shaking and dad jokes that she is “shaking with excitement”!
7:50 p.m. an anterior lip of cervix is all that is left and then they ‘re-wedge’ her again.
At 8:10 after 12 hours of labor your dad says to your mom, “ Hasn’t this been fun? It is a Whole NEW experience!” He was so excited as you were about to come into the world!
8:45 p.m your mom began pushing. She felt like she was pushing forever, but you were born at 9:10 pm. You did have the cord wrapped around your shoulder. But it was no problem during your birth at all.

Your dad made a very excited phone call just after you were born. “Hey dad, I mean grandpa! Oh I have the wrong number.” “I forgot it was a 205 area code!” It was quite funny! Your parents sent me out to the waiting room to announce your birth to all the waiting family. It was cute, since there were two families and when I walked in, they wanted to know what baby had been born! I said the “H” family, and the one side of the room stood up and cheered! I told the other family I had heard it would be pretty soon for them as well.

You were 7 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long. You have a head full of dark hair, and what a cutie!!!

It was really wonderful meeting your parents and getting to attend your birth.