Emily's Arrival!

Last we left off, our valiant heroine was off for a power waddle and heading toward labor. Let's pick up from that very spot...

After our 45 minute walk contractions started coming about every 5 minutes for at least a minute a piece. Dr and doula agreed that at that frequency, it was time to head to the hospital. Luckily for me, Mike had already packed the car that morning, so all I had to do was hop in and away we went. (Although, he did make me put a thick blanket down on the car seat to make sure I didn't ruin the interior of his new 4Runner.)

In the 15 minutes it took to get to the hospital my contractions started coming 2-3 minutes apart. They were so intense I was crying through them, trying to breathe in that cliched "hee-hee-hee haaawww" kind of way you always see on tv. It was hard not to laugh through the pain when I realized I sounded like a crying donkey. I sometimes wonder how a man forgets moments like that and still finds a woman attractive. Mike was incredibly supportive and managed to get us to the hospital with minimal cursing.

We checked in to the hospital at about 5:30 and found out I was dilated to 2 centimeters. (Only a two??? I was ready to cry some more) and I was about 90% effaced. Now, what I didn't know at the time was this: In a first pregnancy it is normal to efface fully to 100% before any dilation occurs. In later pregnancies the two can occur simultaneously, but it is very rare for that to happen at the stage I was in. (And for those of you not up on the pregnancy lingo, think of effacing like a rubber band. A fat rubber band wont stretch very far but a skinny one will stretch for days. Same thing with a cervix. A fat (0% effaced) cervix wont dilate but a skinny, soft (100% effaced) cervix will.) I also later found out from our doula that the timing and intensity of my contractions at that stage was comparable to what someone dilated to an 8 would be experiencing just before pushing the baby out!

By 7:00 I was dilated to about 4 centimeters. I was in so much pain I was begging for an epidural - and you all know how I feel about needles... Getting the IV put in hurt more than getting the epidural itself and the relief was instant. What amazed me was that I could still feel (although I did have a lot of trouble moving my legs) I just couldn't feel the sensation of pain.

I stalled out at 6 centimeters of dilation with no change in the effacing. They broke my water to try to move things along and that is when things started getting exciting. With each contraction the baby's heart rate dropped pretty dramatically, so it was evident something was compressing the cord. We tried several different positions and nothing seemed to fix the problem. Then Emily decided to poop while still inside the womb. That only happens if the baby is stressed. Which, with the contractions coming every two minutes and cutting her heart rate down, she clearly was.

In an attempt to flush the amniotic sac of merconium (the poo) and relieve pressure from the umbilical cord, fluid was reinserted into the amniotic sac. When this had not solved the problem, the doctor decided it was time for us to have a chat.

At 3:00 a.m. I got the news no laboring mom wants to hear. It was time for a C section.

Our doctor was phenomenal. He calmly explained why a C section was necessary and walked us through the procedure. Then he gave us time to "get ok with the idea" instead of rushing us into action. We talked to our doula and she was very reassuring. She told us most of the time she would suggest other courses of action before rushing into a c section, but with this doctor, if he said we needed a c section, we really did. She then explained that aspects of my labor had been odd from the start and she wasn't totally surprised that was where we ended up. She did a lot to calm us down and actually went into the OR with us so she could explain what was happening and why as the procedure took place. Mike and I were both a lot calmer because she was there to reassure us. I would recommend her to anyone going into labor, especially because most insurance companies cover the cost.

Actually, our doula took pictures of the procedure for us, but I'll spare you having to see them. Those will not be photos I upload. Instead you can just see the before and after.

Mike was amazing throughout the entire surgery. He talked to me the whole time and held my shaking hands. I'm sure he was just as scared as I was, but he never showed it. I realized afterward I had only been worried about Emily, but Mike was worried about both of us. I think it must be really hard to be a man - you have to be strong when everyone else gets to be weak. I have nothing but respect and love for him. He is going to be such a great dad.

Emily arrived at 3:27 (although her birth certificate says 3:40) on Saturday September 17th. She weighed 8lbs. 6 oz. and was 20 and 7/8 inches long. It was a good thing we decided to proceed with the C section. As it turned out, Emily had wrapped her umbilical cord around her belly and aghain around her neck. Mom is convinced she was playing Princess dress up in the womb. She must have mistaken the umbilical cord for a feather boa and wrapped it around herself. She has a flare for the dramatic already!

I didn't get to see her right away because she had merconium on her and they didn't want her to inhale it when she started to cry. And cry she did! The first words out of my mouth when I heard her were "She sounds just like a feral cat!" I blame the morphine in my IV drip.

We were in recovery by 4:15 that morning. Since then, mom and baby have been fine. No complications for either of us. We are happy to be home and getting to know one another.

More posts to come.