Fiona's Birth Story...all the gory details

I've been wanting to get this in writing before I forget everything. Please forgive all the little details which really aren't all that important...

Fiona was scheduled to arrive via an induction on May 14th, 2009. By May 13th the house was cleaned, the bags were packed, and we were prepared to bring Gwen to her grandparents' house to spend the night while we were at the hospital.

Around noon on the day before the induction, I got a call from my OBGYN's office, asking me to come in for a quick check. I was told that if I was dilated to a 3, they would let me be, anything less and they would give me an evil little thing called a Foley Catheter which was supposed to help dilate me cervix. If it worked well, it could get me to a 5.

I was only dilated to a 1, so I was the lucky recipient of the catheter. It was pretty painful and I immediately regretted not getting somebody to drive me to the appointment, or at least get somebody to watch Gwen. But, since they called me at the last minute, I didn't have a lot of choice anyway.

Somehow I managed to make to to the grocery store on the way home from the doctor's office to grab some things for dinner and to buy Gwen the popsicles I promised her if she was good at the doctor's office. By the time we got home, I was having some serious contractions. Even the moments in between contractions offered no relief because this thing was just plain painful.

When Rick got home from work, he seemed a little panicked after realizing the amount of pain I was in. As he started to look more frantic, I realized I needed to reassure him that the baby wasn't quite on it's way out, although I wasn't so sure if this baby would come earlier than we thought.

We quickly ate dinner and brought Gwen over to Rick's parents house. The contractions continued every 3-5 minutes, but didn't get worse. Because we are silly, we insisted that we help put Gwen to bed and stayed at Rick's parent's house until she fell asleep. By then American Idol was on and it wasn't like we were going to drive home and miss that. But now, I'm getting off topic.

Around 8:30 the contractions completely stopped, although the discomfort from the catheter continued. In the middle of the night, the darn thing came out and I was immediately pain free. Rick had joked earlier that he wanted to wear the catheter as a necklace, so of course I cleaned it and saved it for him. But, he didn't follow through and now it is somewhere in a landfill.

The hospital called me that night and told me that my induction was scheduled for 11:30 am. They said that there is always a chance that they can get me in earlier, so they said not to be surprised if they called early in the morning saying that our appointment had been moved up.

It's always weird going to bed knowing that the next day I am going to wake up, go to the hospital, and have a baby. I actually slept better than I thought, although I wasn't too happy when the phone rang, waking me up at 5:30 am. It was the hospital calling and apologizing, saying that they couldn't get me in first thing in the morning like they thought they would. They said that we wouldn't be able to get me in until 11:30 am. Hmmmm...they called me and woke me up to tell me something I already knew. She did say that I was the on the very top of their list, so if things slowed down, they would call me.

At 8:15, the phone rang again, waking us up. It was the hospital asking if we could be there at 9:30. Sure thing! We raced around to get ready in time, but not before snapping one last "before" photo.


We got to the hospital, checked in, and met our nurse, Bennett. She was adorable and didn't laugh too hard after I came out of the bathroom with my hospital gown on backwards. I also put the darn thing on wrong when Gwen was born.

Soon, it was time to check my cervix and it took her FOREVER to find it. Really? Where on earth can a cervix be hiding? It was right where it has always been and nobody has ever had trouble finding. After she painfully dug around she finally found the thing and said I was only dilated to a 2 or 3. Seriously? What was the point of all of the misery from the catheter?

Then my doctor came in and didn't believe I could only be a 3. She checked, said I was a 5, and broke my water. I was so happy to hear that I was a 5 and that the pain was worth it. Even if she was lying to me, it didn't matter.

Bennett started my IV which consisted of one bag of fluids to keep my hydrated and a bag with antibiotics because I tested positive for Group B Strep. A third bag was soon added to start the pitocin to induce labor.

In the meantime, Rick kept busy by reading, watching the Mariner's (they lost in the ninth inning), and dozing off. Of course, he was also on standby to feed me ice chips when necessary.

Because of the problems we had with the epidural with Gwen's birth (it took 7 pokes and several hours for them to get it right), the nurse called the anesthesiologist and had him place the catheter right away. The plan was to get it in correctly and then start the meds when I was ready for them. The anesthesiologist was quite confident of his skills and said that the most attempts it ever took him to get an epidural in was twice.

He quickly discovered that there is no space between my vertebrae and had a hard time finding the right spot. He spent about 30-45 minutes poking around my back. It really hurt, but it was way better than my first experience. In the end, it only took 4 pokes this time. He said one of the pokes didn't really count (I think his ego was on the line), but if it caused me pain and left a mark, I'm counting it as an attempt.

My mood quickly declined as I started to get more uncomfortable. The epidural was making me feel weird and groggy and I didn't like the feeling of not being able to move my lower body. The epidural was also making me vomit, which meant they added another bag meds to my IV to help with the nausea. The antibiotics for the Group B Strep were making my arm sting- big time. For some reason (which I'm sure was explained to me) my blood pressure was dropping, which made me lightheaded. Another bag of meds was added to my IV and they put an oxygen mask on me.

I realize that none of these things are a big deal, but I've learned that I'm not very tolerant to any sort of discomfort- no matter how minor. I'm definitely not a candidate for natural child birth. For a while, I lay there feeling miserable. I didn't want to talk, I didn't want to watch TV. I just wanted to lay there and close my eyes. I kept dozing off feeling all drugged up and weird.

Also, at some point the nurses noticed that Fiona's heart rate was dropping. They guessed it was because she was sitting on her umbilical cord, cutting off the circulation. They inserted some sort of catheter in me to add back in some fluid to give her something to float on so that there wasn't so much pressure on the umbilical cord.



A little later I was still crabby, but at least the mask was gone. I think I was growled at Rick to stop taking photos while I was crying.

The original plan was that we were going to call Rick's parents to come on down to the hospital with Gwen once things got close. We didn't want her in the room during the birth, but we wanted her to be able to come in right after.

As the day progressed, the nurse decided to check me and she was surprised that I was already dilated to a 10. People started rushing about, calling me doctor, and getting things prepped. Rick called his parents and told them to hurry down to the hospital.

I started crying, mostly because I was just being emotional, but I was also slightly terrified. I kept playing out different scenarios in my head of how things could go wrong. I also was worried that I wouldn't have the strength to push. All the meds I was on were making me feel so funky and groggy- I didn't even have the strength to lift my head. I couldn't feel my contractions or even my legs. I wasn't sure how I would get the baby out.

The brought in a mirror so I could see what was going on, and I also had Rick videotape the event to catch anything I missed. He wasn't super-excited about this but complied because he is the best husband ever.

My doctor came in and had me do a practice push. I said I probably couldn't push, but I tried anyway. She said I was totally pushing great and I laughed from relief. The baby crowned a little more just from the laughing and the doctor said that I could probably just laugh the baby out.

After 3 more contractions and a few more pushes (the doctor said 3 but there really were a few more), Fiona made her way out at 4:49 pm, holding on to the umbilical cord, which the doctor had to get her to let go of.

They briefly set this sweet little baby on my chest and then saw she wasn't breathing well. They whisked her away and I sat impatiently on my bed, waiting to hold her.

For about 20 minutes, they administered oxygen through a tube. After a while, they called in another doctor from another department....maybe it was called Special Care? I'm not really sure. I wasn't too worried because the nurses were great and reassured us throughout the whole process.

After a while, I commented that I wished I could see her better and they immediately wheeled her right next to my bed so that I could at least touch her.

When they finally decided she was alright, I got to cuddle my sweet little girl...

Within minutes of Fiona being placed in my arms, Rick's parents arrived and Gwen got to admire her sweet baby sister. She immediately started cooing at her and singing her "Hush Little Baby"

Rick finally got a turn to hold her too...

Then Gwen managed to steal her back again..

They finally weighed Fiona and she tipped the scales at 6 pounds, 2 ounces and was 18.7 inches long.

Gwen was excited to be able to help with the bath. My euphoria had worn off a bit and my body began to remind me of my nausea, light-headedness, and drowsiness. I'm glad to have photos and video footage of the bath because I don't remember much of it.

After Fiona was nice and clean, Rick's parents finally got to hold her...

Fiona and I with our awesome labor nurse, Bennett...

Early in the day, we were approached and asked if we minded if a male nursing student came in and observe for the day. They said not to feel any pressure to say yes because not very many women in labor want a male student around. We were happy to let him share the experience with us and he was really excited about seeing his first childbirth. Here is a shot of Fiona and I with Greg...

Our new family...

Of course, Fiona got Gwen a little present. A Thomas the Tank Engine book...

We also enjoyed some visitors later in the evening. My sister, Sarah came with her boys, Jared, Eric and Andrew.

Rick's brother, Kirk, and his wife, Whitney also game to admire Fiona...

As I look back now on the experience, now almost 3 weeks later, I realize that it was really easy compared to Gwen's birth. I know I swore that this is my last baby, but now that I look at Fiona's sweet face, I'm not so sure. If only somebody could guarantee the next birth could be this easy too...

Welcome to our family, Fiona! We love you!