Birthing a baby

From my point of view:

Here is my timeline, with my own observations/comments/thoughts added in.

March 15-

9:30pm Gallop down the street. Laugh really hard. Trisha has a few contractions.

10:30pm Lavendar bath.

11:30pm I tell Trisha goodnight and tell her to wake me if anything happens.

March 16-

5:00am Trisha starts having contractions and I am dead asleep.

6:30am Wake up. Sam loves to wake up early these days. Trisha is having pretty consistent contractions. I get really excited.

We slowly get ready for the day, debating when to call the MD or go into the hospital. We decide to go grocery shopping and then maybe go in. We get home from the grocery store and I feel the need to make sure everything in the house is cleaned up. We leave Sam with his Nana Cheney.

12:00pm After having consistent contractions every 7 minutes, we arrive at the hospital.

We sit at the hospital for hours on end. Nothing seems to be happening and we get the vibe that we might be sent home. The contraction monitor is not showing any contractions, although Trisha swears she is having them. Trisha gets frustrated. Nurse is dumb. We have to wait for the doctor to get out of his clinic hours and come visit with us. Contractions slow down a little bit in frequency but seem to still be strong, maybe getting more powerful. Lots and lots of HGTV, driving me insane.

Trisha all hooked up

Stupid machine that wouldn't register any contractions. Not even when Trisha was pushing would the contractions register. Way lame.

5:00pm Doctor finally makes it to our room to check things out. He has to step out for a while to deliver another baby. Comes back into the room to check Trisha and thinks she is dilated to 4cm.

6:30pm Doctor tells us that it is gonna happen.

7:00pm IV fluids are pushed, Pitocin is started.

7:30pm Epidural is given. Doctor comes back in to check on Trisha, she is definitely dialated to 4cm and 100% effaced.

8:15pm Epidural is not working properly. Contractions are getting extremely uncomfortable. Trisha asks the nurse to get the anesthesiologist to up the dose of epidural. Nurse comes back and says that the anesthesiologist cannot up the dose yet.

8:20pm Trisha is not very happy that the epidural is not working. She says, "I can't do this! I wanted an epidural!!" She tells the nurse that she feels the need/desire to push. Nurse checks her and she is at 9cm.

8:25pm The pushing begins. I knew that Trisha would be a good pusher, but I think the nurse, myself and Trisha were all surprised how well it turned out. A few cuss words. Screams. Powerful pushing. At some point the doctor asks, "Do you want me to do an episiotomy? It will be a harder recovery and hurt more, but it will help move things along faster." Trisha replies, "How fast?" Doctor then says, "A few more pushes and you'll be done." Trisha exclaims, "Do it. I want it." Toward the end of the experience, Trisha seems a little bit wired/high/out of it, probably because of the pain. Nurse was excellent at coaching Trisha through the process.

8:59pm Several pushes later and we have a healthy baby girl! Trisha says, "Halle-freakin-lujah!!" We are so happy to have her here.

Baby is perfect, with a crooked nose. Lots of dark hair, darker skin.

Trisha holding the baby right after she was born

Also, the placenta would not deliver very easily. The doctor waited 30 minutes after the birth for the placenta to come out and it wouldn't. He tried to pull it out with all of his weight, but it wouldn't detach. It was crazy. He had to go in and seperate it and then pull it out. Trisha lost a lot of blood during the process of labor, about 4 quarts. That caused a lot of grief over the next few days and ended in a blood transfusion. She was in pretty bad shape. But after the transfusion, she felt so much better. Other than that, it was better than either Trisha or I ever expected. It went so fast! Both mom and baby are healthy and happy now.