autumn_lovers: Morgan's Birth Story

Posted Monday, February 09, 2009 12:13 PM

"We were instantly in love with her!  Just seeing her made it all worthwhile.."

Scheduling an induction

My 40 week appointment had finally come and I hadn't made much progress. As of that doctor visit, I was only 1 centimeter dilated, so my doctor decided that I should be scheduled for an induction the following week and told me the hospital would call me with a day and time. I left the appointment (on Friday, October 10) feeling disappointed, but was going to give myself the weekend to do whatever I could to bring on the baby!

Laboring at home
   
Both Saturday and Sunday afternoon we went for a long walk and by Sunday night I started having what I thought were Braxton-Hicks contractions that were around 30 minutes apart. They weren't painful; I just felt a lot of pressure. It was more annoying than anything and I spent the night in the spare room because I was up most of the night timing them just in case, and DH had to work. So I didn't want to keep him up too. Monday morning the contractions seemed to have stopped and I figured I maybe had just overdone it and needed rest so I took it easy all morning, but by Monday afternoon they had started up again and were much more intense. All of the pain was in my back and I had lots of pressure down below. Just as this was happening, the hospital called and said they were scheduling me for induction on Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. I told the nurse that I may not make it and that I thought I was in labor. She laughed and said it was most likely Braxton-Hicks and scheduled me anyway.

As Monday wore on, the contractions got stronger and closer together, slowly but surely. Back labor is a funny thing; it's very deceptive since you have all this pain in your back and you really can't focus on anything else. By Monday night my DH was getting worried and begged me to call the doctor. I finally gave in around 8 p.m. but I knew before I called what she was going to tell me. At that point the contractions were still 10 minutes apart and she said she wanted me to wait until they were 5 minutes apart, especially since I was a first-timer and was a scheduled induction first thing in the morning. Reluctantly I told her I would wait and stuck it out at home until around midnight. By that time I was sick to my stomach and vomiting, and DH had enough and said he wasn't waiting anymore. The contractions were around 7 to 8 minutes apart now and he said, "We're going right now!  Let's go!" He grabbed our bags and a bucket for the car and we were off.    

Getting to the hospital
   
When we arrived at the hospital emergency room I was miserable. They wanted me to sit and answer questions and fill out paperwork and I wanted to get upstairs more than anything. I kept asking why they even bother letting laboring women preregister. When I finally got up there (still vomiting the whole time) they checked me and I was 6.5 cm and fully effaced! I couldn't believe it and was so proud of myself! The nurses told me if I wanted the epi now was the time, and I was afraid of the next phase of labor so I agreed so that I could get rest. The epi went smooth and I felt wonderful after wards. DH and I both finally were able to get some sleep.
   
Then around 4 a.m. my contractions suddenly stopped and the decision was made to give me Pitocin to jump start them again. I was really disappointed in hearing this, but it had to be done. The nurses pushed the Pitocin until around 6:30 a.m. and then things started to get crazy. The baby's heart rate was dropping with every contraction and the nurses were scrambling to have me switch positions and hooking up monitors. There was a shift change at 7:00 a.m. and another doctor from my practice came into the room and told me the baby's heart rate was dangerously low and she wanted to do a c-section right away. I couldn't believe what she was saying. It had all happened so fast, and after some stubbornness on my part I gave in. Of course I wanted to be healthy and wanted a healthy baby, but I was shocked at what was happening at the same time. My DH was given scrubs and I was whisked away to the operating room.

There were nurses all around me and they were instantly preparing me for the c-section. I heard them asking the doctor if she wanted to give me general anesthesia and I hollered out, "No!  I want to be awake to see my baby!" They pushed the anesthesia through the epi, and I immediately felt nauseated. I was crying and scared and when they finally brought my husband in I didn't even recognize him. I said, "That's not my husband... you brought the wrong guy!"  He laughed at me and then I knew it was him. The anesthesia had really thrown me for a loop!  He sat next to me and held my hand and dried my tears as they began to bring Morgan into the world.

Meeting baby Morgan
   
At 7:29 a.m. on Tuesday, October 14th Morgan was born. She had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, but she let out a loud cry and was perfect. She scored 8 and 9 on her Apgars and was handed over to my DH. She weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19" long. We were instantly in love with her!  Just seeing her made it all worthwhile!

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