Dear Declan,
Love for eternity,
Mom
After our last OB appointment where baby was head down, he flipped back into a double footling breech position at 39 weeks. We did 2 more chiropractor appointments and I spent the weekend on my hands and knees basically. He must have been on some kind of nerve because I could hardly walk. I was taken out of Unity Hospital (my MFM appointment) in a wheelchair, all the way to my car because I couldn't walk and was almost in tears from the pain. It was not fun.
8/5/13- 7:15am we arrived at the hospital. They took us to our room and got baby and I hooked up to the monitors and did all the question asking. Had us sit tight and wait for the doc to come in and do the u/s to tell us if baby was once again head down or if we would be proceeding with the external version and then the induction or c-section following.
8:10 ish they came in and did a preliminary exam with an ultrasound and it showed baby was head down, and I was 3cm 70% effaced and -2 station. They had us wait for my doc to confirm. Around 8:50 am they confirmed and put in the orders for Pitocin.
Between 8:50- 9:30am they got my IV in, blood work drawn, paperwork switched over and Pitocin started at 9:30. Started having contractions pretty much right away but they were not painful enough to be doing anything.
They started my Pitocin at a 2 and increased by 2 every 20-30 minutes. Contractions started coming in a good pattern, but they weren't strong enough so we got hooked up to the wireless monitors and tried walking. Between my sciatic nerve and the wonky monitors and then contractions fizzling out we decided to sit up for a while which was bringing on good contractions. The walking brought baby down quite a bit so we were getting stronger contractions now. YAY! Still not a good active labor pattern and still not strong enough to be doing much.
Around 4pm the contractions were getting pretty strong and coming in a good 2-4 minute pattern. I was getting pretty uncomfortable but hadn't been checked since before they started the Pitocin so I didn't want to decide on epidural or not until I knew what my cervix was doing.
Cervix checked at around 4:25pm and was a measly 5cm 80% effaced and -1 1/2 station. I opted for an epidural... I was getting exhausted and not handling contractions well. They gave my epidural around 4:50pm and almost as soon as I was numb, I started feeling more pressure with each contraction. They checked me again at around 5:35pm and I was still 5cm 90% effaced and -1 station. They said that they wanted to break my water and see if that helped things progress so I agreed and when they ruptured me there was some meconium in the fluid. They said it was not a lot, but that the pediatric team would need to be present during the delivery and that they would be whisking baby away as soon as he was born. I was ok with that even though I was sad and worried it wasn't going to be what I wanted.
At 6:10pm my nurse came in to give me my 3rd booster of Penicillin for the GBS and as she was doing that I told her that the pressure with each contraction was getting more intense even with the epidural. She asked if it was just with the contractions or if it was a constant pressure. I told her it was just with contractions. The contraction immediately following that the pressure never went away and baby was coming down the birth canal fast. She went quickly from the room to gather everyone to come down.
As soon as she left I turned to DH and said, "we are going to have a baby." He had been reading so I wasn't sure he was paying attention to what had just happened. He said, "yeah that is kind of why we are here." :giggles: At that point I had had another contraction and could feel the baby move down further in the birth canal but being somewhat numb I didn't know just how far. I told him to stick his head out the door and make sure they were coming. The meconium freaked me out... I knew if he were to just come out he would get it in his lungs and that would be really bad. I was trying to hold him in.
When the docs came in they said he was right there but not to push yet, they suited up quick and I couldn't not push anymore pushed twice and he was born at 6:33pm. He had the cord wrapped around his neck 3 times and was blue, but somehow managed to get Apgars of 9 and 9. He immediately started crying and they put him right up on my chest. I couldn't stop crying. He was so little and had a very long cord. The doc said if he hadn't been born so fast he could have had some serious issues with the cord. I didn't tear at all which surprised me with how fast he came. He weighed in at 7lb 6.3oz and 21" long. His sugars were awesome despite the GD, though all during labor my sugars were great too. Even after some apple juice. It was nuts! My fasting sugar that morning was only 58.
He pooped on me, then pooped on the nurse, then pooped on the pediatrician and then pooped the next 2 diaper changes. Needless to say he is a great pooper. :) He had some issues with maintaining body temperature, but we did some skin to skin and some time under the warmer and he warmed right back up.
Our little Declan Archer was 100% perfect and finally here. He was my longest pregnancy but smallest singleton baby. He weighed slightly less than one of the twins even. Crazy! He is a great baby, and nursing well. He came home Wednesday 8/7 at 6lb 13oz and had a bili level of 8. The following day his bili level was up to 12 so we did one more on Friday at it was down to 11 so we didn't have to repeat again thank goodness.
