The young girl knew that her doctor did not want her to go more than a week late. It came as no surprise to her when she was still pregnant at her 40 week appointment and still only 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced that her doctor said they would schedule her to start the induction process on May 28th....a day before she would be 1 week overdue.
The scheduled induction brought about many feelings. The young girl had hoped that she would go into labor on her own and be able to labor at home for awhile before actually going to the hospital. She also REALLY didn't want to have pitocin as she had heard that it would make for a longer, harder and more painful labor...not exactly part of her birth plan...But the real goal was really just to have a healthy baby and a healthy mama! :)
The young girl continued with trying to induce labor over the next week, but had no such luck. She tried it all. Finally, on Memorial Day - Monday, May 27th, the young girl woke up worried that her water had broke! There was a wet spot under her on the bed where she had been sleeping. She called the doctor and waited and waited for the on call doctor to call back. Her doctor seemed to be on vacation and hadn't told her!
The on call doctor eventually called and told the girl she needed to go to labor and delivery because if her water had indeed broke, she would need to be induced today and not wait until tomorrow. Luckily it was Memorial Day so the young man was also already home and able to go with the young girl.
They arrived at labor and delivery and the young girl was taken to a room to be monitored. They hooked her up to a machine and monitored baby's heart beat and movements as well as contractions. The young girl was still having mild contractions, but after a cervical check, she learned that she still wasn't progressing. They also ran some tests and discovered that the fluid that she had leaked in bed hadn't been her water breaking. Embarrassing! She must have wet the bed or it could have just been cervical mucous she was told.
The young man was really disappointed as he had hoped that it would be the day they would meet their little boy. The young girl comforted the young man reminding him that tomorrow the induction process would start and they would soon be meeting their baby boy!
The next evening came and it was time to call to make sure there was room for the young girl at labor and delivery. The young girl was so nervous and didn't want to call, so the young man called instead. There was room and the young girl was to come right away! The young girl immediately burst into tears! She was so scared and excited all at the same time! She cried off and on the whole way to the hospital, but shortly after arriving she began to calm down. Her blood pressure was actually really elevated when she was first checked because she was so nervous!
By 9pm the young girl was all checked in and had her first dose of cytotec inserted. The gels would be reapplied every 4 hours (1am and 5am).
The young girl continued with trying to induce labor over the next week, but had no such luck. She tried it all. Finally, on Memorial Day - Monday, May 27th, the young girl woke up worried that her water had broke! There was a wet spot under her on the bed where she had been sleeping. She called the doctor and waited and waited for the on call doctor to call back. Her doctor seemed to be on vacation and hadn't told her!
The on call doctor eventually called and told the girl she needed to go to labor and delivery because if her water had indeed broke, she would need to be induced today and not wait until tomorrow. Luckily it was Memorial Day so the young man was also already home and able to go with the young girl.
They arrived at labor and delivery and the young girl was taken to a room to be monitored. They hooked her up to a machine and monitored baby's heart beat and movements as well as contractions. The young girl was still having mild contractions, but after a cervical check, she learned that she still wasn't progressing. They also ran some tests and discovered that the fluid that she had leaked in bed hadn't been her water breaking. Embarrassing! She must have wet the bed or it could have just been cervical mucous she was told.
The young man was really disappointed as he had hoped that it would be the day they would meet their little boy. The young girl comforted the young man reminding him that tomorrow the induction process would start and they would soon be meeting their baby boy!
The next evening came and it was time to call to make sure there was room for the young girl at labor and delivery. The young girl was so nervous and didn't want to call, so the young man called instead. There was room and the young girl was to come right away! The young girl immediately burst into tears! She was so scared and excited all at the same time! She cried off and on the whole way to the hospital, but shortly after arriving she began to calm down. Her blood pressure was actually really elevated when she was first checked because she was so nervous!
By 9pm the young girl was all checked in and had her first dose of cytotec inserted. The gels would be reapplied every 4 hours (1am and 5am).
By 1am the young girl was having pretty regular contractions, but nothing strong enough that she couldn't sleep, so sleep she did! By 5am baby wasn't responding well to the contractions so the next dose of cytotec was delayed until 6am so that baby could be more closely monitored. The nurses warned the young girl that if baby's heart rate started to drop too much they might rush in and have the young girl put on an oxygen mask. The young girl decided she should wake the young man and let him know what was going on so he wouldn't be too alarmed if anything should happen. They both went back to sleep and by 6am everything looked good so the young girl received her last dose of cytotec and was having pretty regular contractions that she was starting to actually feel so she was done sleeping!
Over the next few hours, the young girl was able to shower and freshen up for the long day ahead. By 9am the contractions were starting to hurt. The couple decided to walk the halls and every 3 minutes or so the girl would need to stop for a contraction. By 10am she was feeling them pretty good and they were fairly regular, but the nurses started pitocin anyway. She was still only 1.5cm dilated, about 80% effaced and baby was at 0 station, so she hadn't made much progress as she was about 1cm dilated and about 75% effaced when she came to be induced.
Over the next few hours the contractions became VERY strong. For awhile they were pretty regular, about 3-4 minutes apart, but then they started to really blend together. The young girl was having a hard time telling when one contraction started and one ended. The nurses were also having a hard time picking this up on the monitor. Since they couldn't really tell how regular the contractions were, they slowed the pitocin down, as they had been doubling the dose every hour, but the girl was still on a very low dose!
The girl was starting to be in extreme pain but kept telling herself that it would only get worse. The nurse would ask her pain level and she would say maybe a 3...then a 4...and finally was nearing a 5 or 6. It hurt too much to sit or lay down so the girl stayed on her feet where she could keep moving. The pain of the contractions really surprised the young girl, as she had thought the pushing would be most painful. She expected bad period cramps for contractions and had had some REALLY bad period cramps so thought she would handle contractions just fine.
The young girl had planned to get an epidural at some point and had discussed this with her nurse early on. She had asked the nurse how far she should try to progress before asking for the epidural and how long it would take to get it once she asked. The nurse encouraged her to try to make it to at least 4 cm and said that once the young girl asked, the anesthesiologist would be able to come right away and it should be inserted fairly quickly. The whole process should maybe take a half an hour.
By 1pm, the young girl was exhausted and in terrible pain that was bringing tears to her eyes. The young man hated seeing the young girl in so much pain (yet somehow looks quite happy in this picture he snapped during a contraction...)
The young man encouraged the young girl to ask to be checked again to see how far she had progressed. The next time the nurse came in, the nurse told the young girl that she didn't have to wait for permission for the epidural...she could have it whenever she was ready! The nurse could tell the young girl was in extreme pain as she wasn't smiley and chatty any more. Later, the girl saw a pain chart and realized that her pain had actually been more of a 10! Not the 6 she kept telling the nurse...
So the nurse checked the young girl and she was indeed dilated to 4cm and ordered up the epidural! YAY! Relief was on its way!
By 3pm the epidural was inserted and the girl was finally able to rest and relax! She was so tired! Right after getting her epidural, the young girl's doctor came to break her water. Her bag of waters was very thick and hard to break. Her doctor also checked the young girl's cervix and she was now dilated to 5cm, 95% effaced, and baby was at 0 station. The pitocin was then turned off as baby had started to not respond well to the contractions and an internal monitor was inserted to track the young girl's contractions.
The young girl had started to get the shakes before getting the epidural, but after the epidural they increased a ton so she was covered in warm towels. She also was given an oxygen mask to help get more oxygen to the baby and help him handle the contractions better.
The young girl then laid in bed and rested for about 2 hours before she started to feel a lot of pressure in her bottom. She called for the nurse who then checked her again! She was 10cm dilated and100% effaced already! Baby was also at a +1 station and was getting close to being out! The young girl thought, "Boy, that was easy!" and was somewhat glad she labored for as long as she did (even if it was only a few hours) without the epidural so she could feel like she actually had to do some work, but was super thankful for that epidural!
The nurse said that she would call the young girl's doctor and see if he wanted the young girl to start pushing or wait and labor down (let the contractions continue to push baby lower). The young girl's doctor said to start pushing!
The young girl had been most nervous about pushing and asked the nurse, "What if I can't do it?" to which the nurse confidently replied, "You CAN."
By 6:45pm the young girl was pushing, but by now her contractions were getting hard to read again and she of course couldn't feel them because of the epidural. Over the next 45 minutes or so, the young girl pushed only a handful of times. The nurse would count down from 10 and the young girl would push. She would do this about 3 times per contraction. Eventually, the young girl's husband did the counting...but he counted SO slow! The young girl yelled at him and said he needed to count much faster or she would never be able to push that long! As the young man counted down during each contraction, the young girl could tell when baby boy was starting to crown just by the waver in the young man's voice. After her last contraction, the young girl had finished pushing and a few minutes later, out popped her baby boy! At 7:36pm on Wednesday, May 29th, 2013, Christian James Foote made his grand entrance into the world!
This may explain why Christian's heart rate kept dropping during contractions...there was a knot in his cord! Praise the Lord he was born strong and healthy! My doctor said this was only the 3rd time he had ever seen this, so its not very common!
His first bath before heading to our Post Partum room.
All dressed and trying to get warm in our new room.
This fleece swaddle is a miracle/life saver! All new babies NEED them!
Daddy's first time holding Christian.
Special message from puppy Baxter :) ... (and Uncle Pat!)
Thursday morning - May 30th
Saying his prayers, thanking God for bringing him safely into his mommy's arms :)
And Christian and his Mommy and Daddy, and puppy Baxter too, lived...
HAPPILY EVER AFTER!
But it was just the beginning... :)
To read Christian's entire Birth Story click the links below:
Chapter 1 - The Beginning
Chapter 2 - Mommy and Daddy Meet
Chapter 3 - First Comes Love
Chapter 4 - Then Comes Marriage
Chapter 5 - Mommy and Daddy Get Married
Chapter 6 - Then Comes a Baby in a Baby Carriage - We're Pregnant!
Chapter 7 - Growing a Baby
Christian's Full Birth Story
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