You'll have to excuse the late blog. Apparently too many hospital workers like MySpace, so it was blocked by the network. Not sure why that other site worked (cough: Facebook), but whatever.
So, here's the story (excuse any typos please...I'm tired)...
Short version:
Emory Wyatt
1-22-09, 4:08 PM
8lbs 5.4oz, 20 3/4" long
born via repeat c-section after stalled VBAC
Full version:
Wednesday at my 39.5 week appointment, we were excited to see that my contractions were finally using their powers for something other than making me hurt. I was dilated to 3 & 80% effaced. So, my OB felt like we could go ahead and schedule a slow induction for the next day.
As most of you know, Evie was born via scary c-section in February '06, but instead of voluntarily going under the knife again, I found a doc who would be willing (and supportive) of my trying for a vaginal birth after cesarean (which will be referred to as VBAC from this moment forward). Seeing as I had the previous c-section, there were a few slight risks in doing a VBAC, but the benefits of a successful one outweighed the small risk involved & the recovery from major abdominal surgery.
Thursday morning bright & early, I called the hospital to make sure they had a bed available & was told to come on up. Nathan & I arrived just before 6AM, finished up the paperwork, and went upstairs. By 6:30, we were ready to start. At 6:38AM, they started my slow IV drip of Pitocin. The plan was to increase it very gradually throughout the day, all while monitoring mom & baby for signs of distress.
At 7:25 AM, my OB arrived to rupture my bag of waters (a.k.a. "OMG! My water broke!"). Think big crochet hook... And boy, was that a tough bag to break. It took at least 3 times to get it to break (I lost count).
By 9:30 AM, I was contracting nicely & was dilated to 5! Everything was looking great! Baby's heart beat was nice & steady, even with contractions. At this point, I decided enough was enough, and it was time to call in the big dog for my epidural cocktail. My OB & I had already decided that the epi should be in place anyway in case we did have to rush to surgery (the alternative in an emergency is to knock mom out & whisk baby away).
Well, after the epi, there's no getting out of bed. They made me lay on my side to try to get our super flipper positioned correctly (we knew the baby was facing up towards the sky or to either side instead of facing my back). But when I laid on my side, that made monitoring the strength of the contractions nearly impossible. So at 10:30, they placed an internal monitor on baby's head to monitor the stress the contractions were putting on baby/me.
By 1:30, I was 7-8cm dilated (they like to stretch stuff) and getting excited. Everyone says it goes quickly from 7. By 2:15, I was still there. And by 3...yeah...still there. I had already asked for them to give me some more epi b/c, while my pelvic area & legs were completely numb, I could feel everything in my stomach.
Well, the doc came in right at this time (just at 3PM). She decided to check baby's position again and found that baby was in a very weird position and could already feel a pretty bad cone head. We talked & she decided to try to turn the baby to face the back. So, for 15 minutes, there was an arm rammed inside of me trying to get a stubborn stuck kid to turn (yeah...thank God the epidural was still working somewhat). By 3:15, it was clear that the baby wasn't budging. And since his head wasn't putting proper pressure on my cervix, dilating past 8 wasn't going to happen. At that point, she said she was gonna have to pull the plug & take the baby.
Yes, there were a few tears, but I was okay with it as long as baby was out safely.
My parents had just arrived with e1 & e2, so they were there when the decision was made (just like when it was made to take Evie...weird). So, my mom & Nathan suited up, and my dad took the little kids to the waiting room.
We arrived in the OR shortly, and the cutting began. Everything was calm (unlike with Evie), so we were definitely more relaxed. The OB kept leaning over my drape to tell me what was going on, and I'll never forget her face when she leaned over and said "This baby is looking straight up at me!" (before they got baby out).
Proud poppa was the first to realized & say "It's A Boy!" followed closely by the doc & the roomful of nurses. He was crying before they even got his body out. And as soon as they pulled him out, he peed! LOL!
Then someone said, "OMG! He has shoulders like a linebacker!"
Yeah...that average 7.5 baby I was promised turned out to be 8lbs 5.4oz and was 20 3/4" long! Just for reference, my "big" baby was 7lbs 2oz! We were all stunned when we heard the word "eight".
He really was looking up!
Little dude was stuck sideways for quite a while!
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