A BABY STORY

Although you can plan and plan babies come each in their own unique way. It was going to go like textbooks: my water would break between 37 and 42 weeks at home and labor would naturally progress with contractions slowly increasing in strength as the day wore on. All the while, we would be eating our last meal as a couple and enjoying our last few moments as two. Once contractions were close together (5min) we would head to the hospital and without an epidural the progress would continue until we held our baby safely in our arms. This was how it was supposed to go but this is what really happened:

At our 35 week appointment, I went by myself because it was supposed to be routine. I had to see a nurse midwife in my doctor’s practice because he was delivering a baby. She, Katy, said the baby was quite large and although she was scheduling an ultrasound at my next week appointment she was sure my doctor would want to either induce our baby or go ahead and take it by cesarean section. This mama was devastated in part but also excited to know the end of this pregnancy was quickly coming to an end. For the next two weeks we (me, Daniel, and my mom) would approach each appointment with anticipation of progression: a centimeter, a new station, a reduction in cervix, etc. Each week the doctor reminded us of our baby’s growing size (at 36 weeks it measured 8lb 8oz via ultrasound) and that although the ultrasound can be 15% off that meant our baby could be approaching 10lb, thus he would like to induce or schedule a cesarean but ultimately it was our decision. At 38 weeks, we discussed my lack of progression, he noted that at 40 weeks he would be on vacation. For some people it may not be a big deal to use an alternate doctor for birth, but we LOVE our doctor and were honestly devastated to think of anyone else joining us in the birth of our baby. That helped settle it, at 38weeks 6 days, we scheduled our next appointment to determine which day our baby would be born.

Our plan had been East Ridge Hospital so we had taken all of our prenatal classes there, so at our appointment the doctor called and we would be admitted immediately, good thing we had travelled with our car packed for three weeks! As quickly as that was planned, the hospital called back stating that unless my doctor could promise a birth before 9am the deal was off. Of course he found that absurd so we resorted to our second choice, Women’s East. The irony of this was Anthony and Jamie had planned on a birth at Women’s East and taken classes there but gave birth at East Ridge because there was no room at Women’s. Women’s had no room for us that evening but would take us the following night giving 24 hours to prepare ourselves for a baby. We left the doctor’s office and headed straight to the hospital to fill out admissions paperwork. The desk clerk was VERY RUDE, making us regret our decision to birth there but on our way out the door a nurse took the time to politely answer all of our questions leaving us at ease.

Wednesday night we went to a late dinner with Anthony, Jamie, and baby Parker to Aretha Frankenstein’s pancake house. A phenomenal pancake topped with ice cream and candied pecans was my last meal before birth, Daniel dined on pancakes and biscuits and gravy both house specialties. At 9:45pm, we headed to the hospital as we were supposed to be admitted at 10pm. Once settled in our room, my doctor came waltzing in as it was his night to “room in” at the hospital. He would quite literally be joining us for the night’s stay at the hospital. The nurses then started cervadil to thin my cervix and jump start labor. Our night nurses were spectacular: Dee Dee and Brooke. Brooke took over and watched my vitals throughout the night. I didn’t rest much with the anxiety and blood pressure cuff inflating every 20min but that was okay since I knew the baby would come the following day, regardless of my sleep or not.

At 6:30am the pitocin was started at 0.4 (max would be 20 but up to 40 with doctor’s orders). At 7:15am the doctor examined me, still at barely a 1cm, he decided to break my bag of waters. Labor progressed slowly to 4cm around 11am. We had been forwarned by the doctor that after 2 hours and no progression we would consider cesarean. At 1pm and still 4cm, this mama was afraid a cesarean loomed in the future. Although the progression stopped, the contractions increased with pitocin coursing through my veins at 40, and the vomiting began. They administered zofran, which I had taken throughout the pregnancy, but it took a while to take affect. In the meantime, feeling like I could take no more, I gave in to an epidural knowing the roughest part of the road lay ahead. A young doctor tried, no luck. An older doctor tried in the same spot, still no luck. Finally, with different placement, the older doctor succeeded in subsiding my pain. My doctor came in soon and said he would call for a check in at 4:30 to see where I was at in the progression. I napped and rested intermitantly only feeling the pressure of contractions and very numb legs. At 4pm the nurses came in to check my vitals and my family reminded them to check me since the doctor would soon be calling. The two said they would wait until closer to 6pm to check me because “you want to have this baby naturally and you do not want a cesarean.” At exactly 4:30pm, they reappeared thru the curtained door and said they had to check me because my doctor had called. The elder of the two nurses was quite rough and measured me but insisted the other nurse also exam me before making the judgement on my progression. The two then discussed: the elder saying I was a firm 6 maybe 7, and the younger saying I was a 4 maybe 5. The doctor was called outside the room and we later found out he was told I was a 6, my family and I firmly believe the elder nurse totally lied in order to avoid a cesarean which could have cost Maggie’s life and my own. Labor continued slowly until shift change.

At 7:30pm, my favorite nurse from the previous night, Broke, entered my room by surprise. She had previously informed us she was off the rest of the week and leaving Friday for a long weekend of camping. She was smiling ear to ear as she entered the room. She took her initial measure of a firm 6cm, maybe 7cm. She waited half an hour, monitoring my progression closely then worked her magic around 8pm. She placed me on one side with the opposing leg in a stirrup, a position she had used for labor nearly two years ago at the birth of her little girl. It worked! Twenty minutes later I had moved to 8cm. I rotated to the other side and again progressed a cm. At this exam my contractions were in full swing and my epidural had worn off. Shaking with pain Brooke ordered a re-dose. I got it but as I contracted I continued to feel it all. My doctor had been called at last movement to 9cm. When he arrived, I was a ten but writhing in pain. I promptly notified family “I’m about to scream,” at which Daniel’s stepdad left the room and my family came to my side Daniel to my right, mom to my left, with Daniel’s mom to her left. This left Jamie, Parker, and Shannon (Daniel’s stepdad) in the waiting area at 9pm. Pushing began with excruciating pain and my begging my doctor for more drugs to which he said no. 10-20min in I was vomiting and Brooke was being so persistant on my behalf, that he gave in and ordered a third round of epidurals, which sadly did not offer any relief. Daniel held my right hand, Brooke held my right leg, mom held my head, and Daniel’s mom, Becky, held my left leg with each contraction. Somewhere in the process, Daniel’s mom went to the bathroom. Jamie also entered the room seconds later and gently asked permission to enter. Mom, basically shouting, said “Yes, get in here and hold her leg,” thus filling the position Becky had held. We later found out Becky was praying for a safe delivery. The entire time I pushed I screamed I can’t do this to which the reply was always “You are doing it, and you have to, there is no turning back.” I’m glad everyone else held that stance giving me confidence throughout the process. To be honest, I wanted to give in, although I had come so far, I wanted to scream “Just cut it out already.” As the baby’s head came out, the nursing staff got concerned, with each push that should have further delivered the shoulders, there was no movement. After what seemed like minutes, but was only moments, the nurses shoved my family out of the way, hopped up on my bed, and pushed with all their force and might downward on my belly amidst my pushing and contractions to get the baby out. Out came the shoulders finally (2min. 30 sec. later), but the stress wasn’t over as the abdomen also would not deliver. They pushed further, and out the baby came. A relief, it was over for the most part, all the pain would be over. Now the doctor threw the baby up on me with it’s back towards me. He quickly cut the cord, and passed it quickly to the nurses all the while I asked is it a girl or boy, will someone please tell me. Finally my doctor heard my cries and told me we had a girl. It was moments later before we heard a cry. All the while everyone in the room held their breath until our baby finally breathed her first. A huge sigh of relief was felt by all as the cries were heard. Everyone praised me for my hard work, then the doctor began the tedious work of stiching me up as the phone calls were made to family and friends. Our baby, Margaret Grace Winn, was born at 10:37pm on February 9, 2012. She weighed 9lb 13oz, and was 21.75in long. How blessed we are to be a family of three!

The story continues: Our nurse, who was scheduled to leave at 2pm stayed well past that to clean me, my baby, the bed, etc and make sure I was a comfy, cozy, happy, momma before leaving my bedside. For her creative labor positions, steady encouragement, and heartfelt dedication to this patient, we are forever indebted. My doctor, told us the next day, he too was scared as baby Maggie Grace was stuck. It can cause a broken clavical, nerve damage to the shoulders and arms, fetal death, maternal death, if the baby remains stuck for much more than 2min, all things we were glad we didn’t know the night of her birth. He also said, “You will NOT have any other babies this large.” We are thankful for his insight and careful maneuvering of our baby to ensure a safe delivery for both mamma and baby. Most of all, we are thankful to the friends, family, and facebook followers, who monitored my progress and continuously prayed that day. There is no doubt in our minds that is was the petitioning to God for safe delivery that landed a healthy baby in our arms late that February night. To you all we are forever indebted.

PS – Mom says although I warned, I never yelled.

The last two epidurals went into effect sometime between 2 and 7am as the following morning my legs felt like jello.