Birth Story

We were scheduled for an induction on June 21, 2009. Emily had measured about three to four weeks larger than her estimated age around my thirty second week of pregnancy. After an ultrasound the following week, it was determined that she weighed in the 79 percentile and there was a higher than normal level of amniotic fluid. With that said my OBGYN, Dr. Jacobs, allowed me to chose a date for delivery when he was scheduled to deliver babies. This was quite a treat seeing that my labor with Porter started with my water breaking at midnight after being up all day long. It was nice to know that we would be able to have a full night's rest before little Emily would arrive. The day before the induction we had cleaned out my office at work since I was closing up shop. The night was spent finding a place for all the office furniture in our house and cleaning up. We got to bed early and looked forward to my induction.

On Sunday, also Father's day, we showed up at the hospital about 8:00am. Labor and delivery was fairly quiet, and the lights were dimmed in the hall. Only one other person was delivering that day. My nurse Cathie took us back to a huge labor and delivery room! We had a view of the university and Mike had a very comfortable leather recliner to keep him cozy. Cathie said the doctor had not faxed over orders so she had to wait to see what he wanted to start with first. Meanwhile, we spent some time listening to Emily's heartbeat and watching the contraction monitor. It appeared I was already having some minor contractions every three minutes. Around 9am the nurse got the pitocin started to help increase the strength and intensity of the contractions. The "early labor" was completely painless and actually quite boring. Mike sat in the big leather recliner reading his VW magazines, and I spent some time catching up on the Hollywood gossip reading People magazine.

Finally around 3pm the doctor showed up. He had a busy morning delivering babies at the other hospital in town. He checked my cervix which was only 2 3/4 dilated and 80% effaced which meant it was a perfect time to break my water. He decided to use internal monitors which apparently screwed into Emily's scalp. Mike watched in horror as the doctor and nurse placed the two wires on her head. After that was complete the doctor was off to the other hospital again to deliver more babies. The nurse told me that she would need a lot of time to prepare me for an epidural and warned that I shouldn't wait until it was "too late" to ask for it. I am not proud and told her she could start her preparation soon. This required a few more bags of saline to be pumped into my vein which took a few hours.

While the saline was dripping I began to experience some painful contractions. I listened to some relaxing music and breathed through each one. I was surprised at how well I handled the pain. My contractions with Porter felt like a vice grip on my cervix. The beginning of each contraction felt like the vice was as tight as it could get on my cervix and the peaking contraction was the equivalent of the vice begin squeezed even more. While this analogy proved to be accurate this time around, it also felt a bit like the baby was trying to push through the cervix (which she was... go figure). Just when the contractions were getting to be unbearable the epidural man showed up. What a relief. He went over all the risks of the epidural which seemed somewhat inconsequential to the pain I was experiencing. We discussed how my epidural went wrong with Porter and ways he would avoid a similar situation this time. He got me all numbed up and placed the epidural needle. The nurse told me I would feel a "funny bone" sensation in my butt and she was right. It was very strong on my right side so he placed it again. It took a few tries but he got it just right. Once the medicine hit I was feeling so much better. He showed me how to use the remote button to get more medicine if I needed it. He said he would come back in a few hours and check the computer to see how much I used the remote and adjust the amount accordingly. Since I was feeling so much better, Mike and I chatted with the epidural man for a while. I remember thinking I couldn't imagine why people have babies without an epidural!!

Since I was feeling sooooo much better I watched HGTV for a while and read a bit more in People. Around 6:25pm the nurse came in and checked me and I was only 4cm dilated and 80% effaced. Mike and I were a bit disappointed seeing that I had already been in labor for about nine and a half hours and if the old wives tale of one cm an hour was true, it was going to be a long night and we would not have Emily on Father's day. As the hour progressed the pain got more intense and I began using the remote epidural button every few minutes or so. I began to worry that this epidural was also not placed right and this would drag into a long painful night.

Around 7pm our nurse Cathie came in with Beth who was taking over for the next shift. As the two went over my status I began to feel a lot of pressure in my rear. I let them know I think I had to go poo and immediately Cathie told Beth to check me. Apparently I was had dilated to 8cm. Beth told me if I felt a constant need to poo to call her again because it might be time to push. So Mike and I hung out trying to get through each uncomfortable contraction. Breathing techniques seemed pointless but they gave me something to focus on instead of the pressure. Thankfully because of the epidural I didn't experience the piercing pain I did with Porter. The nurse came in again and I told her I didn't think it would be long. She dropped what she was doing and went back out to call the doctor. About 15 minutes later the doctor walked in and Beth checked me once more. I was a full 10cm dilated and 100% effaced. I recalled from my labor with Porter that pushing really alleviated the pain of the contractions so I was looking forward to pushing. Around 7:41pm the doctor had me start pushing.

I was determined to do a good job pushing since the harder I pushed the less work it would be in the end. I had quite the encouraging team and the nurse, doctor and Mike assured me I was making some real progress with each push. In between pushes I was able to carry on a conversation with the doctor and nurse. I shared that I had just closed down my practice and I would be staying home with the baby. Between one set of contractions Mike made the observation with a laugh that the epidural was obviously placed correctly this time since I was in such a good mood. Once Emily made it under the pelvic bone the pressure became extremely uncomfortable. The doctor assured me that I was close and only a few more strong pushes would get her out. That was motivation enough for me. Even though the pain and pressure was unnatural, it was my only way out. About three pushes later Emily's head, and hand, popped out. The doctor said Emily was waving "hello" as she made her entrance into the world. Unfortunately the contraction ended and Emily was only halfway out. The doctor told me to go ahead and push again and she was delivered.

The doctor took one look at Emily and commented on her large size. He plopped her up on my stomach as she managed to make a few attempts at a cry. Her little eyes blinked a few times as she stared at me. Mike was able to cut her cord and the baby nurse carried her over to the bassinet. Mike and I both cried over how wonderful the experience was. I was so happy I was able to experience her birth without being so exhausted like I had been with Porter. We all took guesses at her weight and Dr. Jacobs was the closest to her actual 9lbs! The baby nurse got her all cleaned up and wrapped snug in some blankets. We were able to spend some time with her before she was taken to the nursery.

We decided to stay in the hospital the maximum number of days in order to get some much needed rest and extra care from the nurses. It was nice to have the nurses take care of us while we were still recovering. We were discharged on Tuesday and asked to go back to the pediatrician on Wednesday because Emily was a bit more jaundice than what is typical. My dad and his partner Kriss came down from Washington to spend the first few days with us. Emily was a pretty average sleeper and we enjoyed only waking up to feed and change her diaper our first night home. On Wednesday we headed off to the doctor to have her looked at. The doctor was a bit concerned about her color and so a lab was ordered. Mike and I went over to Lab Corp and had her blood taken from her foot. I think it was harder for us than for her. The levels were pretty high, but the doctor wanted to wait another day and have her labs checked again on Thursday. So Thursday morning we went back to have her blood drawn again. Turns out her levels continued to rise so the doctor ordered a bili-blanket to help her bilirubin levels come down. We called her our little "glow worm" because the blue light blanket mixed with a swaddle turned her into the perfect glow-worm. After a few days on the blanket, and a few more blood draws her levels started to come down. You might notice in some of her first pictures how tan she looked, and how non-tan Mike and I are. Emily has been such a wonderful addition to our family and we have just absolutely fallen in love with her.