May 2 - The Birth

We welcomed our healthy baby girl into the world on May 2. Here's the birth story:

We checked into the hospital on Tuesday evening expecting to get Cervadil to prepare my cervix for induction on Wednesday. When I got to triage, they decided that I was dilated enough to try a different method of induction. They checked me into a labor and delivery room and then inserted a catheter with a bulb on the end that they inflated with saline to expand my cervix to 4 centimeters. They also started the Pitocin. I immediately requested an epidural! I got my epidural a few hours later after I had progressed to about 4cm.

Overnight, I got to 7cm. But in the morning my cervix had failed to progress past 7cm (the goal is to get to 10 and then push the baby out). After some additional attempts to adjust the Pitocin, it began to look like the baby was not going to delivery through my birth canal. I consented to the C-section.

The surgery was atypical. There have been several suggestions from my doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists about what happened, but I experienced too much sensation and sharp pain in my abdominal area. I was in pretty bad shape by the time they delivered her, but I got to see her crying before they took her over to the warmer. Once they began removing the placenta, I was in really severe pain and so the anesthesiologist gave me some serious drugs. It pretty much knocked me out and I didn't really come back to reality until sometime later in the recovery room. My baby was doing great - she scored a 9 out of 10 on her APGAR test - very healthy. She weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and measured 21 inches long. She has lots of dark hair.

Other than that first glimpse over the curtain in surgery, I don't remember meeting my daughter until I was checked into my hospital room. But 1.5 hours after she was born, I was able to hold and nurse her. It was love again at second sight! My husband did a great job supporting me during the whole experience. Baby girl and I are lucky to have him...we're all doing really well now.

Week 41 - Induction

What's up with baby in week 41: she's still in the womb. Today I am 4 days past my due date. We've had several non-stress tests and the baby is still doing fine. So she's fine, but late.

What's up with mom: I am not so happy that she's this much overdue. I was hoping for her to come by the end of the weekend, but that didn't happen. So we saw our doctor on Monday and decided the plan would be that if she didn't come on her own by Tuesday afternoon, I'd come to the hospital on Tuesday evening and get checked in. So Tuesday night (tonight) I'm going to get Cervadil to further ripen my cervix. As of Monday I was at 2 centimeters. Then on Wednesday morning, they'll start Pitocin to bring on the labor contractions. Sometime Wednesday the baby will arrive!

I'm a little stressed about having medication intervention to bring on what I thought would be a natural process. But I have to stay positive and remind myself that at the end of it all, as long and me and the baby are both healthy, then everything is as it should be. I can't wait to meet her!