Joyful Gratitude: The Story of Emma's Birth!

Here are some pictures from the hospital and the story of Emma's birth. Her birth was by far the hardest physical task I've ever accomplished! This one took everything I had and without Sead's amazing support and care would have been unbearable.

I was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday evening to start Emma's induction. They started me on Cervidal (helps you start dilating) by 8 PM and that actually started me into active labor by 10 PM. By 12 AM the contractions were coming about every 5 to 7 minutes. At about 3 AM Emma's heart rate dropped significantly causing three nurses to run into the room, remove the Cervidal and start rotating me from side to side. Emma's heart rate quickly returned to normal, so they think she may have squeezed her umbilical cord or something like that, but because of the scare they didn't want me to get up and walk around for awhile after that. They also did not replace the Cervidal because it looked like my labor was well established. However, by 7 AM Thursday morning my labor started to slow down and the contractions weakened and spaced out to 7 to 10 minutes apart. I also had only dilated about 1 1/2 cm.

At that point, a couple of the nurses were asking me whether I'd want to go home and wait longer for the labor to develop on it's own. However, my doctor arrived and didn't think that was a good idea. We talked about it and decided to break my water and start me on Pitocin to get things going. She checked Emma's position, which was head down just as it should be and then broke my water. That returned my contractions to 3 to 5 minutes apart. At that point, I was having to use the "breathing" technique to get through them, but was also able to walk the hallway.

At about 2 PM on Thursday the nurse checked to see how far I had dilated. She said I was only at 2 cm and that she wasn't feeling Emma's head where they had felt it before. She called in another nurse to check as well. The second nurse grabbed an ultrasound machine and tried to determine the position of the baby. She could see that her head was no longer facing completely down. At that point they decided I should not walk any longer because Emma's cord might wrap around her neck due to the new position. After about another hour of labor laying on my side in the hospital bed, I was really starting to think about an epidural. I knew I'd want one eventually, but had hoped to wait until I was 5 cm dilated. The nurses also were suggesting I wait until 5 cm, but it didn't seem to me that I was going to achieve that any time soon.

By 4 PM my doctor arrived, she also pulled out the ultrasound machine. She saw right away that Emma was in an inverted position, sort of lying on her back with her head clearly not facing down. At that point, two things were clear... one, without Emma's head in position I was dilating very, very slowly if at all, and two, if Emma stayed in that position there would be no option but C-Section. She also said that I was getting too worn out and should definitely start the epidural. Once the epidural was in place the doctor talked to Sead and I about her trying to move Emma into a downward position through my belly. She said the only risk was that some babies become stressed when their heads are touched through the belly and that if that happened I'd have to have a C-Section immediately. Otherwise, they would just sit me up right and hope that contractions would eventually reposition Emma, but it wasn't too likely. Sead and I opted for the reposition and prepared for a rush to the operating room. The repositioning can also be fairly uncomfortable for the mother, but not only was my doctor able to reposition her quickly, it was over before I even noticed any discomfort. We were so relieved!

A photo taken at about 5 PM, right after getting the epidural and the doctor's successful repositioning of Emma!

So, now I had the epidural and was in the home stretch, or so I thought.

After another 7 hours with only another cm and half of progress, the whole situation was starting to get to me. I had been in bed for most of the labor and was exhausted and hooked up to so many things - an oxygen mask, a blood pressure cuff taking my blood pressure every 15 minutes, a heart rate monitor, two straps on my belly to track Emma's heart rate and contractions, and the epidural, which made the upper part of my body tingle and feel itchy. Once the epidural went in I wasn't suppose to eat or have more than a sip or two of water either. So, I really had to have Sead massage my neck and shoulders to calm me.

At about 3 AM I started to feel a really strong urge to push even with the epidural. I had to use the breathing technique to get through each contraction and I was listing to myself each cat by name we had while I was growing up in the order we got them just to stay focused. I was also squeezing all circulation from Sead's hand. The nurse seeing how worn out I was becoming, called the anesthesiologist to increase my epidural. Once that took effect Sead and I were finally able to sleep a little.

A couple of hours later the urge to push was back and I had dilated to 9 1/2. It was finally time! I started pushing. I was so tired that I would fall asleep in between the contractions (about 3 minutes apart) and immediately start dreaming. A couple of times I even talked in my sleep totally confusing Sead. :-) The doctor soon arrived to assess the situation. When she checked Emma's progress she saw that she was stuck somehow under or behind my pelvic bone. She said that she could try the vacuum as a scooping device and if I was able to push really well it might be successful, otherwise, we were once again looking at C-section. I really didn't think I had enough strength left in me, but decided to go for it expecting to be wheeled into the operating room at any moment. Well, after some major acrobatics and about eight very difficult pushes, the doctor was able to lift Emma enough that she came out (facing down).

Emma!