Birth Story

~ In Aunt Candi's Words ~

Emma Marie

Born 1-20-04

12:28pm

6 pounds, 20 inches

Proud Parents : Don & Heather

Monday, January 19th

Heather went to her regular doctor appointment and from there they scheduled her to be induced around 5pm that day.

The very nervous, but anxious Don came home from work and off went Mommy and Daddy to the hospital prepared to bring home their baby girl soon.  By 6:30 pm they had inserted Cervadil, which goes on the cervix to help soften the cervix and hopefully start the early stages of labor.  Nothing much happened right away, so I choose to stay home and rest up for the long day, possibly night ahead.  Don and Heather planned on watching some tv, and tried to get some rest...but Heather only slept an hour and a half.

Tuesday, January 20th

At 4:30am I received a phone call from Heather stating that her contractions were about 3 minutes apart.  I asked Heather if they checked her yet and when she told me No. So I said call me back when they do. I knew that things were still going to move slow for awhile.  I laid in bed and couldn't fall back to sleep so I almost got up and went to the hospital. But I must have because I was woke up by the sound of Chase's cry at 6am.  I called Don and he said that they just put the IV in and they were starting Heather on Pitocin.  Don sounded all flustered because they had problems getting the IV going and had to poke Heather three times before finally got the IV in correctly.  I ate breakfast real quick, jumped in the shower, and packed a few snacks, camera, etc...and headed off to the hospital. 

Upon arrival, just before 7am, everything seemed to be pretty quiet. Heather was not in too much pain and they had just bumped up her Pitocin to 2 milliunits.  Her doctor came in around 7:45 to attempt to break her water. Her cervix was still too high and at this point Emma's head was so low, resting right on top of the cervix, so her doctor was not able to reach her cervix. Thus, no breaking of the water. Her doctor informed Heather that they will gradually increase her Pitocin, but it may take all day, possibly she would go home, or they could try the Cervadil again that evening.  The three of us, thought no way...she was going to have this baby today!

At that time the phone calls started rolling in and we told the grandmas to stay home, that things were going to progress slowly, they probably wouldn't try to check her cervix until later on in the day.  Her Pitocin was increased to 4 milliunits and by 8:30 the contractions started getting more intense.  Heather began a routine of feeling nauseated, sweating, tensing up, a little yelling, and a few tears.  It was tough for Don and I to watch...but I imagine 10 times worse for Heather. 

Heather tried the birthing ball because she was having a lot of back pain. That only worked for about 15 minutes. She tried rocking in the chair, getting up and moving around, laying in different positions, and it really did not seem that one worked better than the other.  She was laid back up in bed around 9:15 and she asked the nurse for something for the pain.  She was given Nubain and it helped for a good half an hour, but gradually lessened it's ability to take the edge of the pain.  Heather did laugh a little and made jokes about the picture of the pregnant women on her bed hand rail.  Don and I exchanged some chuckles about her new sense of humor.  Don also pointed out that the Pitocin was increased to 6 milliunits.

By 10 am Heather was complaining that the contractions were getting much worse again and she started shaking pretty badly.  I couldn't remember doing that myself, or ever reading about that anywhere, so I went off to find her nurse.  Her nurse said that it is normal if you are in labor, but so far Heather really wasn't in active labor. So she said it was time to check her cervix again and see if she possibly made some progress.. Sure enough the cervix was dropped down and she was fully thinned and dilated to 2cm and her membrane was bulging.  She announced that it was time to get her water broken and get an epidural.  Things started to move fast from here.

As the contractions worsened, Heather was doing all she could to try to withstand the pain...but you could tell it was getting pretty bad.  I kept thinking how far we had to go if she was only at 2cm and in this much pain.  10:30am, the epidural was put in without any problems.  I made sure Don didn't watch what they were doing to Heather's back because I didn't need him getting sick or passing out.   In fact I did not even look at the needle myself.  I stood up in front of Heather and helped her lean forward.  After the epidural, I noticed that it had decreased Heather's blood pressure to 78/50 and I asked the nurse if that was normal. She told me the epidural does that and it was okay. But next thing you know the anesthesiologist comes back with some Ephedrine to increase her blood pressure. By then her blood pressure was back up, so she didn't need it. Her pain was totally subsided and she was able to lay there and rest. From the looks of it she couldn't even feel her contractions.

Heather's regular doctor was not there, so the hospital Dr. came in to break her water. 11 am... her water bag was broken.  When the Dr. checked her she was dilated to 4-5cm and the Dr said the head was so far down she would probably be able to push her out with ease.  They put the electrode monitor on the baby's head to better monitor her heart rate.  Everyone felt a little more relaxed and as the grandmas called to check in we let them know that things were picking up and she was getting close.

Then the problems began.  I couldn't help but notice right away after they broke her water that the baby's heart rate kept dropping way down. It went as low as 70 at some points, lingered around in the 90's for awhile and then went back up to 140-160.  I explained to Don what was going on and we both were sitting down, most likely with scared looks on our faces when Heather looked over at us. She began crying...she was scared. We all were.  The doctor ordered some fluid to be pumped back into Heather's uterus, sort of give Emma a little swimming pool to see if that was the problem. Some babies get upset when the water bag is broken and they needed to see if that was what caused her heart rate to decrease.  The nurse was monitoring the heart rate for over a half an hour and I started to feel sick to my stomach. I thought it was best to go grab a quick bite to eat in case it would be several hours before I had the chance again.  I figured Heather was quiet and relaxed, take advantage.

About 11:50 I told Don I would be right back...on the way to the cafeteria I ran into my mom who was on her way in.  She decided to go with me so I could fill her in on what was going on.  I ate and talked and we headed back up to Heather's room about 12:10. As we are walking off the elevator I seen Don sitting in the chair all dressed in scrubs. What in the world?  Apparently Heather's doctor came in and said she wasn't going to sit and watch the babies heart rate go up and down like that, that it was time for a cesarean.  I knew this was a possibility, because this is exactly what happened with me when I had my first baby, but I truly did not think they would move so quickly. They surely didn't for me.  Don looked as scared as could be and you could tell he really didn't know what to think. As they called him back to surgery, my mom started crying. My mom was upset that she wasn't there to see Heather before she went in for surgery. I felt bad that she was with me instead. Real bad.

I stood outside the surgery door and we heard a baby cry. I asked the nurse if there were any other patients back there besides my sister and there wasn't. So we knew it was baby Emma crying! What a relief.  Within a matter of ten minutes Don's mom arrived and Don was walking out with the baby. Don told us that the umbilical cord was wrapped around Emma's neck twice! That was why her heart rate kept dropping with each contraction....thank goodness they did move as quickly as they did.  

Emma was so cute, and pink!! He carried her down to Heather's room and we all were able to "eww and ahh" over her while she laid under the heater to warm up.  Shortly after they wheeled Heather into the room and both grandmas were told to leave.  I got to stay....yea!!  I couldn't stop starring at Emma...she was so perfect and cute. What a cute cry too! She had her eyes open for awhile and kept crying.  After they got Heather situated and cleaned up she was able to give Emma a bottle. She sucked that down pretty quickly.  Even a nice little burp. 

The grandmas came back, along with grandpa and they each took a turn holding Emma. We got some more pictures and got to watch the nurse give Emma her first bath.    Again, it was time to check Heather, so the grandparents left as I rocked Emma in the chair.  She slept the whole time.  She smelled so good! Once my parents came back Heather and I played with Emma's hair a bit. So long!!! Her eyebrows are real dark too so I bet her hair will stay dark too! Okay enough for me...I had to leave or I was about to stay the night. I didn't want to leave her!

Don and Heather are so lucky to have such a beautiful baby girl!!  She is going to be so so spoiled!!  I can't until tomorrow to smell her some more. More cuddles, more pictures. Stay tuned....

Photos

One Day Old

Emma and Mommy

Emma and Aunt Candi & Cousin Blake

Emma and Chase

Two Days Old    ~    Dressed to go Home