whiny baby tales

I never did write up Zachary's birth story. It's more comical than long...so I think I'll highlight it now while he's sleeping!




We were scheduled to be induced on Wednesday July 19th, told to arrive at the birth center at 6:30 AM. I was having contractions, in my mind it was just like the last 2 weeks worth of them...sure they're coming in a nice pattern (I stopped timing contractions 10 days before! LOL) and were strong enough that I needed to think about my breathing, but come on. Prelabor drama made me know these were going to poop out too. LOL We got taken back to our room and the nurse began to get things started...got my vitals, hooked me up to the monitor (had to have a 20 minute baseline before starting Pitocin), just chatted with Mike and I until it was time to get the ball rolling. My doc stopped in just before 7 AM, she had surgery at 7 and would be back in around 8 to check me and go from there. We got the Pitocin started around 7:30 I think, started the antibiotics as well. The nurse and I talked about the dose of Pitocin I'd be getting...when I was having Haley the doctor wanted the drip turned from all the way on to all the way off a lot...and I hated that, not to mention it's dangerous. My doc now is very conservative...I was started out on 2 micro grams per hour (I think that's the right measurement! LOL) and would be increased by 2 every 20 minutes. Nice and slow...not in a hurry for anything big to happen. We all thought the baby would be here around noon.




My doc came back in to check me at 8:15. I was almost 4 CM and 70% effaced, contracting every 3 minutes lasting 60 seconds. I was watching the contraction monitor...it measures the intensity of the contractions strength by marks of 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100. Most of my contractions at this time were in the 30 range. The doc broke my water at 8:18 AM and we just settled in to see what would happen next.




About 15 minutes later I told Mike I HAD to get out of the bed, the contractions picked up very quickly...they were about 2 minutes apart but now they were hurting enough that I had to really breath and concentrate through them. I got up to use the bathroom and asked for a birth ball to sit on, I just couldn't sit on the bed anymore! Had a tiny bit of bloody show in the bathroom, nothing big but it was there. The nurse was having a hard time finding a birth ball (we were told to just use the hospital's instead of bringing our own...might rethink that if we ever have another baby! LOL) but she finally brought one in. Sat on it and leaned forward on the bed...and basically all hell broke loose. When I got up to use the bathroom the nurse said let me know if you have any rectal pressure, and told us a story of a delivery she had where the baby was born in the bathroom. We laughed, it's been less than half an hour after I was checked and had my water broken, things are just now starting to get going for real...there's no way I'll be having the baby in the bathroom! LOL




Ok, so not the bathroom, but on the birth ball almost! LOL I told Mike, she needs to come back in here, I'm having some pressure...so he used the call button. That must have been the cue to get things hopping as all of a sudden I was in extreme pain, the pressure was now making me bear down, and all these wild noises started to come out of ME! LOL Mike was about to freak out, but the nurse got in the room quickly. She decided to reposition the baby's monitor (leaning on the bed I knocked it off) and wanted to get me back into the bed. I could NOT move. At all. She checked me while I was sitting on the birth ball as I must have sounded like birth was imminent. LOL Well, thinking it's been less than half an hour since I was almost at 4 CM, she was STUNNED to find the baby's head RIGHT THERE! The only people in my room at that moment was me, Mike and this one nurse, who now has her hand firmly up my goodies to keep the baby from coming out! She got down to business, had Mike press the call button so she could get the doctor in the room NOW, and had Mike get the delivery table and everything else out of the closet. She later told Mike how awesome it was that he was together enough during that time to help her out...otherwise Zachary would have been born with no supplies out! Mike works VERY well under pressure. Give him a job to do and he's good. Somehow Mike and the nurse got me back into the bed, my doctor arrived and the next thing I know she said ok push. I gave it a good go and out popped a head...and a hand...and some umbilical cord! LOL She suctioned the baby for a second, made sure the cord wasn't wrapped around his neck (it wasn't, it was just right there by his head) and said push him out. I might have pushed once, but more likely it seems that my body just shot him out. LOL The strangest sound in the world is hearing he's out followed by a FLOOD of splashing water. LOL My doctor had her scrub gown on, but nothing on her head...she didn't have time to get all dressed and ready for the birth. She ended up with amniotic fluid on her shoulders...and I really wouldn't be surprised if she had some in her hair! LOL




Mike went to the warming table with the nursery nurse to clean up the baby, he was put on my chest for a bit as well. Zachary was completely covered in vernix still...he was pure cheesy white! LOL I remember telling him for the most gorgeous baby he was sure gross! I had a small 1st degree tear that my doctor decided to stitch up and the nurse with me decided to look at the computer record of the delivery/birth. The computer noted active labor began at 8:41 AM, Zachary's time of birth is 8:59 AM. He was born in 18 minutes! All told, my "labor" was 41 minutes long.




I know I left some details out, like when I asked for drugs but couldn't make up my mind how quickly I wanted them. And the nurse saying she'd be back in the room in 1/2 an hour...I can't remember where every detail fits in but both Mike and I knew she wouldn't be gone for 1/2 an hour! LOL I have to say that other than being very intense and very fast, this was probably my favorite delivery. It was very overwhelming to progress so fast, the contractions peaked in the 80 to 90 range in the end, but the up side is it was over quickly. BabeDoc joked with us the next day, if we do this again we'll definitely induce, probably sooner than 38 weeks! LOL




I keep thinking about all my deliveries. Micheal's labor, from first noticeable contraction to birth, was 5 hours. Haley's water broke at night, so I was stared on Pitocin the next morning. Her labor was 6 1/2 hours long. Matthew's delivery was 3 hours...Zachary had to beat them all with his 18 minutes! LOL




Have to go...the baby is awake!