ebsandcat: Savannah's birth story (by daddy)

Posted Wednesday, October 10, 2007 6:20 PM

Daddy's side of the story...

Plans for induction
Earlier in the week, B and I were told that B would be induced. Though only one week overdue, the doctor thought it would be best to help bring the baby into the world, considering her potential size. We agreed and prepared for the day—it was nerve racking and exciting. It was neat knowing the exact day—Thursday, March 29th!

Plans start to change...
I got home the day before around 5:30 PM and B was watching the news—she looked at me at one point and said “I think I just had a contraction.” I went about my business reading the paper and heating up the mornings leftover coffee. We went to Ledo’s where B almost immediately was saying that her stomach hurt and felt funny. She at one point asked me to time her pains. The timing was very inconsistent—15, 13, 18, 17, etc. minutes a part. Bree was thinking it was Braxton Hicks contractions. Dinner finished and we arrived back at the house around 9ish. B and I continued to time her pains; there was some consistency starting to form—our favorite show “Lost” came on at 10 PM. We began watching and it seemed the pains B felt were getting stronger. By the time the show was over, it became clearer that this was not Braxton Hicks, but real contractions—at least to us it was! We thought maybe we should get some rest before the big day, still thinking that inducement was just around the corner (7 AM to be exact on the 29th!). With the time 11:30 PM, we began to turn in.

Labor!
March 29, 2007
12:10 AM—pains were coming stronger and stronger. The time in between was about 8 minutes. However, it became quickly 5 minutes a part. Bree walked the room a bit, but decided to go downstairs to walk and relax in the glider. Right around 1:00 AM, B walked upstairs to find me half asleep; she was thinking that we should think about the hospital. I told her we should take some more time and wait for the contractions to come a bit closer—we still were timing about 5 minutes a part. B laid down in the bed but quickly popped back up—the pains were just too tough to bear lying down. She squatted, leaned, anything you can think of to get the pains to pass. By the time 2 AM rolled around, the contractions became quickly 3 and then 2 minutes a part. B called her doctor on-call to check and see what we should do—he said get your stuff together and head to the hospital. Besides, we were being induced so it was not a big deal to get ready to head the hospital a bit early—so, we just do not get any sleep tonight.

The hospital
The contractions in the car were coming stronger and stronger and were not consistently 2 minutes a part. We arrived at the hospital and we checked in and the desk attendant moved the process along at 3:15 AM. Admitted first to the triage area, B was hooked up to the IV and was check internally—4 centimeters. What a big difference from Monday where she was only 1 centimeter! The contractions kept coming and for about a good hour and a half, the pains were unreal; of course, I could only imagine as I pressed into her back to help the pain.

The nurse on call was helping to move things along—especially to get B’s epidural started and to get us a room in Labor and Delivery. As the contractions were stronger (hitting 40s and 50s on the monitor) and closer together still, we moved into room 08 where the epidural was begun and the nurse assigned to us began the paperwork. The epidural kicked in right around 5:30 AM—B began feeling no pain! She also was measuring 7 centimeters. Now the realization that an inducement would not happen began to sink in—this is the real deal! The nurse told us to rest—we did for about a good 2 hours. More contractions and more centimeters were added.

Time to push
Right around 10:30 AM, our nurse stopped by the room to check the log, B’s status, and contractions—she looked at us both and said that she was going to find the Dr in order for us to start pushing. Pushing? Yes, pushing—it is time. I told the group who scattered to the waiting room. The Dr. came in and prepped us for what was to happen. B “saddled up” and started to push as contractions came—not much progress at first, but only a few pushes into it and I could already see the head. B was pushing like a champ and making this whole labor thing look easy. At one point during this, it was only the Dr. and I—I am thinking, “where the heck is the nurse?!” After a few more pushes (most likely at total of 15 good pushes, the baby’s head was really crowning!). The doctor told me to get my camera ready; and yes, the nurse was back by this time.

She's here!
A couple more pushes and a quick move of the fingers of the doctor and there was a baby’s head—A BABY’S HEAD! Quick snap of the camera before one more quick little push and the whole baby was out—suction, suction, cry, cry, scream, suction, more screaming, 10 fingers, scream, 10 toes, screaming louder, suction, “dad, are you cutting the umbilical cord?” “I am sorry?” I look at B—a definitive “yes.” Okay, I am. The doctor preps the cord; I take a couple more photos. The doctor hands me the scissors. “Is this going to hurt?” is the only thing that kept running through my mind. Snip—done, good, congratulations! 11:52 AM—baby is born. 40 minutes of pushing total. Baby is put up on B’s stomach for some warmth. We did a little tearing up. A sense of “wow” came over us—never thought that crying like that could sound so good.