Birth Story

Robert and I went in to the OB's office at 3 pm on Monday, April 7 (Due Date + 1) for a routine appointment & sonogram to make sure everything still looked good. My doctor was really sick, so they sent me to the sonogram and planned for me to see the nurse practioner for the check up. During the sonogram, Claire's heartbeat decelerated into the 80's briefly, but then went back up to the 130's. A heartbeat that low is not something you want to see, and they thought it was probably a fluke, but they sent me down to L&D to get on the monitors with plans for a sonogram with a perinatolgist a little while later. During the time in L&D, we had a couple of small dips, and then during the sonogram with the specialist, it dipped again. He thought that she was probably compressing the cord somehow, and since everything else looked great and she was fully developed, he thought it was time for her to come out.

We went back down to L&D and saw the on-call doctor from my OB's practice. We were not big fans of his - not the best bedside manner. He basically said that I had made no progress towards labor and that he thought I should go ahead and have a C-section that night. Our other option was to start Cervadil that evening, check progress in the morning, and if things had moved along, they would induce contractions with Pitocin the next morning. It was overwhelming to have to make that decision right away. I had been hopeful that I would be able to have a non-medicated birth and did not want to be induced, much less have a C-section, but it was obvious that we did not need to take any chances - this baby was coming either that night or the next day.

Fortunately, we had a great triage nurse, and she talked us through the pros and cons of each, and my OB called to check on me during that time and said she thought it would be fine to wait on the C-section and start the induction. Since I would be on fetal heart monitors the entire time, we all felt like that was a safe option and bought us a little more time to make a decision. Also, I was having small contractions, so we thought maybe the Cervadil would go ahead and send me into labor.

I was admitted after that, and Robert went ahead and called our parents to fill them in. My mom and Robert's mom immediately headed to Dallas. Since my mom was planning to stay for a few days, my dad was going to bring a separate car. We told him that it was fine for him to wait until the next morning, since it would probably be at least Tuesday afternoon before Claire would make her appearance. Little did we know...

That evening was pretty uneventful. Robert ran home to get our bags, eat dinner, and run a couple of errands. I watched some "Dancing With the Stars," and my mom got there in time to see me before I went to sleep. We had a couple more decelerations, but the nurses would have me roll on my side and things would pick up again. They started the Cervadil at 10 pm and gave me an Ambien to help me sleep.

In the labor room Monday night:

The next morning, they came in around 7 - 7:30 to remove the Cervadil. We were disappointed to find that there had been no progress. The on call doctor (a different one from the night before), Dr. Staub, came in and talked to us, and said he thought we should go straight to a C-section. From looking at the results from her fetal heart monitor, he thought labor would be too stressful for her, and that it would be a big risk. That time the decision was easy, and they started prepping me for the C-section. Things from that point went so quickly - it's all a big blur. They started my epidural, and Dr. Staub was telling everyone to move quickly and get me to the operating room - at one point, the nurses told him that the room would be ready in 10 minutes, and he told them that wasn't going to work - to go ahead and wheel me down to the room and they'd better be ready when we got there.

They got me prepped, and Robert came in wearing his scrubs. About that time my OB came in, so it was reassuring to have my regular doctor there as well for the procedure. It seemed to take no time at all. Robert was great - he kept peeking over the drape to see what was going on and got some great pictures, but I'll spare everyone the gory ones. :) My most vivid memories are of Dr. Staub telling Robert to take some pictures, including one of the clock with her birth time, and Robert telling me "It's a girl!" They brought our sweet Claire around, and she was so beautiful and perfect. It was so surreal to have her inside me and then moments later see a living, breathing person that I could touch and kiss. She scored an 8 & a 9 on her 1 minute and 5 minute APGAR scores - she did great!

We thought this was pretty funny:

Here she is!

Something I'm quickly learning is that the expectations you have as a parent may not always play out, but as long as the end result is a happy and healthy child, that is what is important.