Short Version:
Wyatt Emerson was born at 6:50 pm October 29th, 2009 7.6 lbs 20.25 inches long after over 28 hours of active labor and 3 hours of pushing.
Long Version:
It all started after
this post.My ctxs continued to get worse, and we were timing them at 4 minutes apart (roughly). scott was making fun of me for not wanting to go to L&D yet. I kept telling him that I didn't want to get sent home. Then all of a sudden they were 2 minutes apart. Scott kept saying we were going to have the baby in the bathroom. So we headed to the hospital around 6 pm. After checking in at admitting we got settled into Triage for monitoring. It was neat being able to watch the cxts on the graph, but we could tell they were starting to space out. After 20 minutes on the monitors, they checked and I was 3 cm. Bummer. So we went to walk to halls for an hour. Can I just say that "walking the halls" is easier said than done? I was at the end of my pregnancy, and can't even begin to GUESS the last time I walked for more than 10 minutes, let alone an hour! Anyway, after our trek around L&D we were checked again - still a measly 3 cm. Our triage nurse, Pauline I think, was awesome, and let us hang out in Triage to see if we could get anymore dilated. The goal was 4. If I could get to 4 cm, I could get admitted. At last check at 10 pm we were 3 cm. Again. Still. FOR-Ev-VER. Next time around, if I could skip 3 cm completely, that would be great.
So we got sent home (
insert small I told you so here). And yes, I cried.
We labored at home for a few more hours. Which was possibly the worst thing I have ever endured. Intellectually we knew that
something had to be happening down there. Ctx were consistently 2-3 min apart and very painful. So we called our Triage nurse back, and she said we should just come back on in. ::sigh::. I told Scott that if we got sent home again, that I was quitting. And we just weren't going to have a baby after all. At 3:00 am, triage passed the good news - we had finally hit 4 cm! Progress! I would have danced for joy, had I not been having a contraction. Then, I got the most exciting news in our whole pregnancy - my Dr. said I could be admitted AND GET MY EPIDURAL!!!!
Its now about 3:30 and my epi is in place. After what felt like a millisecond, but was probably more like 5-10 minutes, I was in pain free bliss. We slept through the next 4-4.5 hours or so, until the OB and new nurse showed up after shift change at 7. I was checked (5 cm), they set up internal monitors for both me and Wyatt (they kept losing us on the external kind) and I was started on pitocin since I was progressing so slowly. We hung out (read: slept some more) for a little while until our parents came later that morning. They kept fiddling with my pitocin dose, and after seeing the monitor, I was VERY glad to have the epi. There was no way I would have been able to handle those contractions!
At about 12 I was checked again. I thought to myself, "If I am at a 6 I am going to freak out right now! PLEASE let me at least be a 7! I can't handle this 1 cm every 4 hours crap anymore!" Lo and behold - 9.5!! I was exstatic! I couldn't believe it! I looked at Scott and said "We're going to have a baby today!" lol Duh! So they plan was to keep resting and let him labor down on his own to avoid hours of pushing for me.
Now its 3 pm, and my Dr is back. Time to push! ... I'm going to be honest. I really sucked at pushing. I could see it in her face, and the multiple "Push harder, he's right there!" comments with no one at the warming station. After about 15 minutes I asked if we shouldn't call the newborn team. She told me that they would call when he was about to come out. What happened to he's right there? After pushing for about 15-20 minutes another nurse popped in to ask the Dr about another patient who was going to need a c-section. My Dr told the nurse something along the lines of, "I need to stay here, since if we don't get this baby out in the next 20 minutes, she going to need one too. The other one can wait." HOLD THE FREAKIN PHONE. Who needs a cs? I asked why, and they said that Wyatt's heartrate was in the 170s, so we need to get him out. My first ultimatum of the day. 20 minutes later (since I suck at pushing) and still no baby. His heart rate had recovered a little, so I got a reprieve from the cesarean. So they turned down the pitocin, since they were pretty sure that’s what was causing it, and had me rest for a little while first. Then, it would be back to the grindstone.
After about an hour of resting, and lower pitocin, we were off! During this time I was shaking uncontrollably. I could not get warm. And they wouldn't let me have more blankets, since I already had a fever. At this point I could tell that my epi was starting to fade. I didn’t think too much of it (all the “he’s right there!!!”s I think… and p.s. still no newborn team) since I figured we’d be done shortly. After pushing for another hour, I was beginning to regret that decision. Those contractions hurt. I was still shaking, and demanding ice as often as possible, and all I could concentrate on was the damn blood pressure cuff taking its reading every 15 minutes. I swear I was more pissed off at the cuff than I was at the prospect of the c/s I think. There was even a moment (just one, I swear it) that I thought to myself “If they tell me they’ll take the cuff off, they can do a c/s. I just want this thing off me now!” I didn’t vocalize it, but I certainly thought it. My fever was starting to really worry the Dr, so she said we were going to break for a while and get some anti-biotics in me. I mentioned the epi failing, and they called the magic man back in for me. Ah… bliss again.
So we rested again in the hopes that the iv would bring my fever down, and let the epi do its job. I was warned (yet again) that if the iv didn’t bring my fever down, that we’d be headed to a c/s. Luckily, everything followed the plan and we were back to pushing. It’s now 6:00pm. And we’re pushing, and pushing and pushing for what seems like forever. I was on oxygen to help keep Wyatt’s heart rate stable through contractions, and demanding ice chips like I was stranded in the desert! At 6:30, I noticed that my epi had stalled yet again. At 6: 45 I was told you have to get this baby out before 7, or we are going in for c-section. No more messing around. Scott said something along the lines of “Don’t be disappointed, at some point we need to think about what is best for the both of you.” I looked at him and said, I’m not disappointed, I’m pissed. We were looking at 28 hours of labor, and three hours of hard pushing, for a cesarean?! I think not.
Wyatt was born via 2nd degree tear at 6:50 pm. With no newborn team at the warmer. 7 lbs 6 oz, 20.25 inches long. He is breastfeeding like a champ, and does nothing but sleep and look cute. I can’t believe how much I love this little person already!
Needless to say, I wouldn't have missed this shower for the world! So Wyatt and I gathered up everything I thought we could possibly need, and braved the big bad world for the first time. I am not the only person who felt that way!! The Latte girls were well represented!
