New Baby

What a whirlwind adventure we just had! It all started about 11:30pm Wednesday 24, just about 45 minutes into my sleep cycle, when I was awoken to find my wife having real contractions. We had taken a pre-natal class and learned how to monitor contractions and when the hospital says it's good to come in to have the baby. By 2am I was cleaning the bathroom so amy could get ready for a long day, preparing the bags, and getting the carseat put into the car. We called the doctor on-call around 4:30am as Amy's contractions started intensifying beyond her ability to walk or talk through them, occuring about every 5 minutes.

We called the doctor on-call and explained our experience up to that point. He told us to go to the hospital. So off we went... every little bump in the road felt and intensified Amy's pain and discomfort. There were 6 bags, a boppy, and our dvd player/movies to carry, plus get Amy in. We made it and they put us in a room. They didn't say anything to us about being monitored first before being admitted... So I started unpacking. Lori, Amy's mom, came down to help.

Well, after about an hour the nurse told us that she thought we'd be going home, since not enough progression was taking place. Then there was a post change and in came a new nurse with a shot of morphine and a promise to keep us another hour for monitoring. Contractions slowed down about 16 minutes apart, so we ended up leaving. We were all mad!

Amy's mom left us alone for a while to shower and sleep a bit. So we did. Then she came over and had Amy walk around for hours, cause they say walking helps move things forward labor-wise... So I made us some food and we waited until the symptoms were back up to where they told us to be before coming back. Amy lost her mucous membrane and the contractions intensified.

By 2pm we were back at the hospital. Amy was dialated to a 4, 90% effaced, and had really intense contractions. Over the next 3 hours things progressed nicely. When Amy had dialated to a 6, she was so tired and sore that she requested the epidural, which helped her immediately. She was having contractions the same, but could sleep during them because she couldn't feel a thing. By 10pm, there were so many tubes in her: a catheter, an IV, the epidural, a internal baby monitor, a contraction monitor, and potosen (contraction enabler/inducer) line. Little progress had been made in those 8 hours, so they intensified everything so Amy would go complete. The staff started doing everything possible to help us along. They broke the water.

div>Lori and I went to the cafeteria while amy slept, knowing we'd need all the energy we could get for the next stretch. I was so hungry that I had a sloppy joe and tater tots, a 1/2 lb bacon swiss and mushroom burger and fries, a grilled cheese sandwich, a drink, and some gummy peaches. I bought some flowers to bring up and two stress reliever balls that Amy could squeeze. Let me tell you it was a life saver.

Then we started to push. For a little over 2 hours we pushed. Amy was so strong. When they told us we could set her legs down to rest, Amy requested we keep constant pressure, so she could keep applying pressure. She never let go and things progessed so well. One nurse came to help the other determine if the baby was in the right place, but she stretched amy too far and ripped her. They called Dr. Kent Gammet who came right away.

When he came he explained that the baby was trying to come through on its side, facing Amy's leg instead of head down. Since we'd pushed for so long and since the baby wasn't stable, we had to try and turn the baby with forceps or do an emergency C-section. So they had me get in scrubs and prepped us in the OR. If the doctor had difficulty getting the forceps in or turning the baby, it was immediately to the operating table for Amy. Luckily the baby turned! When she did, immediately her head, shoulder and arm popped out. The doctor told Amy not to push, then suctioned the baby's nose and mouth out. He told Amy to look right at his nose, then he changed positions with his hands and Lily plopped right out. The doctor caught her head down and leg in the air. She was a slippery one.