One week later

Sorry that it took so long to update. This week has been a blur.

It really was labor and I skipped over the contractions every 15 minutes and the part where you go to the hospital when your contractions are every 3 to 4 minutes apart for at least an hour. When we left for the hospital at about 2:00am the contractions were 2 minutes apart and lasting 45 to 50 seconds (so I got about a minute breather in between). Unfortunately, when the resident checked me I was 20% effaced, but not dilated at all. So, we hung out in the triage room on the fetal monitor for a couple of hours and I walked around a little and breathed through my contractions since the pain was only about a 2 to 3 out of 10. It did get up to a 4 by the time the resident checked me again at 5:30am, but breathing was working well.

Still no progress as far as dilation went at 5:30am. The resident called Dr. Byrne and she said that we could either go home or wait until she came in about 7:30 or 8:00am. We live very close to the hospital, but at that point it was easier to just stay. Thankfully, they moved us out of the triage room into a labor room with a better bed and a chair that pulled out so that we could try to sleep. My last day at work had been Saturday morning, so by this point I'd been up for about 22 hours and Tony wasn't far behind me since he'd installed the floor in the kitchen that day. I don't feel like I slept, but I must have for at leat half an hour. The contractions got up to a 4 to 5 on the pain scale. I could still breathe through them, if I knelt down on the bed with my head on my hands or I stood and leaned forward onto the bed. The anesthesiologist, Dr. Brzkowski (I'm certain I spelled it wrong) actually came in before Dr. Byrne, just to touch base on anesthetic techniques in case a c-section would be needed.

Dr. Byrne came in and checked me about 8:30am. 2 centimeters dilation (not a whole lot, but progress) and 80% effacement. We discussed options and risks, given the baby's size, and decided to wait and check me again in a few hours. If I was progressing, great. If not, then we would skip cervical softening and pitocin and just move to c-section. I was allowed to move around the room, an IV of lactated ringers was started and I was officially admitted to the hospital. The next few hours were actually OK. Breathing did the job. The contractions did get stronger, but sitting on a birthing ball helped a lot. The rocking chair and sitting/laying in bed did not. Walking was good, too. We listened to cds and played Blockus and waited for our parents to arrive. I didn't want to risk slowing anything down with an epidural. The monitors looked good except for three instances when the baby's heart rate dropped along with or right after a contraction. The nurse, Chris, told us they were also monitoring and not to worry just yet. At 12:30 Dr. Byrne came back. There had been no progress. We opted for the c-section rather than risking further distress or a shoulder dystocia with pitocin.

Grayson Christopher was delivered at 1:52pm on Father's Day, June 17. The cord was wrapped twice around his neck and he had meconium, but he was still able to let out some good yells and his APGAR scores were 7 and 9. Tony cut the cord and even peeked over the sheet once during surgery. Dr. Brzkowski used a spinal block with bupivicaine, fentanyl and morphine and it worked beautifully.