Birth Story

Over the weekend
At my Friday, June 7 doctor's appointment, Dr. Healy told us that I was 3 cm dilated. We had mixed reactions from people, from "you guys are having this baby tonight" to "people are 3cm for weeks." Dr. Healy headed off to Spain for two weeks but we felt like I wouldn't deliver before she came back. We went ahead and got things done over the weekend just in case, like last minute things for our hospital bag, and for Miles' room. I had been feeling slight contractions on Sunday afternoon and I started keeping a log of them around 4:00 p.m. They stopped and we went about our day, thnking they were false labor and watched the last episode of The Sopranos and the NBA Finals.

Labor begins

Around 11:45p.m. on Sunday, June 10, I started having more intense pains but not much more intense than that afternoon. I logged them again and they were 5-6 minutes apart and lasted 15-20 seconds. After 1.5 hours, Rodrick and I called the on-call nurse for my OB and she said that we should head up to the hospital. Rodrick put our bags in the car and got to the hospital around 1:30 a.m. We checked into the assessment area, (I hate that they don't allow spouses back until after they've checked you in--I was really nervous) and got hooked up to the fetal monitor and contraction monitor. I was talking through the contractions at this point, and was in a good mood, so I probably wasn't very believable. The contraction monitor showed no contractions, so they sent us home at 3:20 a.m. saying that it was "uterine irritability" and to drink water, and to return if the contractions were 3-5 minutes apart for two hours.

Back at home

I was pretty disappointed and I thought for sure that they probably laughed me off as a nervous first time mom. Rodrick said it didn't matter if we came up there 20 times, if I thought I felt contractions, we needed to get checked out and not to worry about what they thought. So, I fell asleep and awoke at 4:45 .am. with incredible pain in my back and abdomen. I started timing the contractions at 5:00 a.m. They were 4-5 mintues apart, 60-75 seconds long and I couldn't lay down or sit down with them. After two hours (of me dusting the house, getting Maggie and Pebbles' food together in baggies for whoever would be with them, and us walking up and down the street) we went back to the hospital--bags still packed from the earlier trip.

Second time

I wasn't talking or laughing or walking very fast this time, so maybe they took me more seriously. In assessment, at 7:30 a.m., the contraction monitor showed contractions (finally!). That was confirmation enough for me. I wanted to say, see I wasn't lying. I was 5 cm dilated and the assessing nurse yelled out "She's a keeper!" and told me that I would have the baby by afternoon if not by lunchtime. They ordered bloodwork for my epidural; Rodrick started calling family into town, and they wheeled me into the Labor and Delivery room.

Labor and Delivery

My contractions were for real and I felt like climbing up the side of the bedrails. They weren't completely unbearable, but I was surely grateful for the epidural. The nurse anesthetist adminstered the epidural (Thank you Kim!) and when the nurse checked me I was 6 cm. The L&D staff at Baptist was awesome. I dilated more, family arrived, and I was 10 cm by 12:25 p.m. At 1:00 p.m. I started pushing off and on but I wasn't feeling much due to the epidural, so I didn't know where to push. Note: Rodrick is the best daddy/labor partner in the world and got me through every contraction, push and pain. He did everything PERFECTLY. I certainly didn't have that t.v. show experience where women yell and hate their husbands. He was my communicator when I didn't know what to say to the staff and I am so grateful for him. Ok, so after the pushing, the nurse explained that I probably would not push Miles out without turning off the epidural (!) so that I could feel the contractions. I told Rodrick that I didn't want to push anymore and he told the nurses that I was done and we were okay with a C-Section. Dr. Stern from my doc's practice group came in and confirmed that Miles was in my pelvis and probably couldn't be pushed out. We just wanted him out safely and quickly, so we prepared for the C-Section.

C-Section and Recovery

After explaining all of this to family, we were prepped for surgery and shortly thereafter, Miles arrived at 3:59 p.m. Rodrick went over to watch the tests and Miles' cleaning. Then we took pictures with him and he was taken to the baby nursery. After staying in recovery, they took me up to our room, and we saw Miles. What a beautiful baby boy! We are so happy that he is here and pictures of our day will follow shortly. Time and sleep are both precious!