The Birth Story

Janet right before leaving the hospital

Last Sunday morning, a little before 7 am, I woke up with very painful contractions 5 minutes a part.  After a week of on again off again false labor, I KNEW it was the real thing.  I told Joe we needed to make arrangements for the kids and leave for the hospital right away.  He asked if he could shave and take a shower first.  I asked if he was serious.  He was.  I told him if he could get in an out before my next contraction, he could do it.  He said it would be two minutes; it ended up taking seven minutes.  =)  I forgave him for making me go through an extra contraction.

I was already in a lot of pain and my birth plan has always been to get an epidural when it hurts.  It has always worked like a charm, so I never took any lamaze or birthing classes to learn how to cope with the pain of labor. When we arrived at the hospital I was dilated to 5 cm and told them I wanted an epidural when the doc gave the ok.  The doc gave the ok, but the nurse anesthetist was in an emergency c-section, and wasn't available until the surgery was over.  I asked how long that would be. The nurse told me 30 -45 minutes.  It ended up being an hour and a half, after which I was dilated to 8 cm.  The nurse did her best to teach Joe and I some coping techniques on the fly, and they worked for a while, but by the end I couldn't do anything but cry.  The doc said at that point an intrathecal would be more appropriate than an epidural.  It's a shot that goes in the spine and numbs you temporarily for about 2 hours.  The doc said they would break my water after I got numbed.  It worked great and I could still feel the pressure without the pain.  After an hour they checked me again and I was almost ready, but not quite, because something was keeping the baby from dropping completely down.  A few minutes later the intrathecal wore off and I had excruciating back pain because the baby was facing the wrong way.  All of a sudden the full pain of labor was upon me and it way worse than where I had left off before the medication.  The only thing I could do was scream and gasp for air.  The doc said I could still get the epidural since I wasn't at a ten yet.  So while I was waiting for the epidural, the nurse told me to get on my hands and knees to try to get the baby to turn it's head.  After a few contractions in that position, I received the epidural.  They immediately checked me again, and lo and behold the hands and knees worked to turn the baby, because its head was down and it was time to push.  That meant that I had to hurry and push the baby out before the epidural numbed me completely.  After three more contractions she was out and I didn't go completely numb until afterwards.  Phew!

Now for Janet's story.  There are a couple of different things that made her go into distress during/after birth. First of all, when they broke my water, they noticed meconium was present in the amniotic fluid, which meant that she could very well have some in her lungs already, and if she breathed it in before they could clear it out, she could get it jammed deeper into her lungs which could make her really sick. Our family doc happened to be at the hospital that Sunday morning doing an emergency surgery, and had just finished right before I gave birth.  When my nurse noticed he was there, she asked him to stay and await the birth of our baby because of the meconium issue.  So her doc was ready and waiting when she was born.

When she was coming out, my ob doctor was helping her head out when he realized that the cord was TIGHT around her neck and he couldn't unwrap it.  As she descended it got so tight that the only way he could get her to come the rest of the way without making it tighter, was to cut it off while it was wrapped around her neck.  So he cut it, she broke loose, and was able to come out the rest of the way.  When she came out she was REALLY blue.  No cries or breathing, which although scary, ended up being a good thing because they handed her right to her doctor and he got her lungs, which had meconium in them, suctioned out before she took her first breath.  The doc later told us that she didn't even squirm when he was suctioning her which meant she was very distressed.  After he finished they had to pump oxygen into her through a mask to get her to start breathing on her own.  I was so relieved when I heard her cry.  It seemed to take forever.  But within five minutes of her birth, her apgar score was up to 8.   So, even though it seemed like an eternity, it all happened very quickly and she was turning pink and breathing great in no time.

We are so glad that our family doc happened to be there at that time, and that he was willing to come in and help our little baby right after she was born!

More hospital pictures:

Dad and Janet 

Ada and baby

Jennabee's turn

Austin

Hans

Grant

Joseph