What better way to start then with the birth story...
Short version:
27 hours of labor. Baby's heart almost stopped twice. Emergency c-section. Adam Gray Bailey joined us at 12:33am at 9lbs, 2oz and 21 inches.
Long version:
I was told throughout my entire pregnancy that I had a "hefty" baby, so when I went past my due date, my OB decided it would be best to induce. We were told we would get a call from the hospital for when to come in and to go about our day as normal. Rusty was working from home that day, but neither of us got much done in anticipation of the call. Finally, whilst sitting in Chick-fil-a for dinner we got the call to come in at 7:45pm on 4/9/14.
We went home, grabbed out "go bags" and headed to the hospital. Phase one began at 9:20pm. This was the inserting of Cervidil. The purpose of Cervidil is to basically soften and teach your cervix to start expanding. As I was dilated 1cm at the time, we were told that we had a long way to go.
The Cervidil was to stay in for 12 hours, but at 4am alarms began going off and I was met by a rush of nurses and a midwife who had me moving and shifting. An oxygen mask was thrown on me as well as more wires and monitors. I had no idea what was happening, but the urgency in which they were working let me know it was serious. It turns out, the Cervidil was working too well. It has caused me to have contractions almost immediately - but it caused them to occur too close together. This stressed the baby out and caused his heart to almost stop.
The wonderful staff at the hospital got his heart going again and after a call to my OB, it was decided that the Cervidil be removed and phase two begin (5 hours ahead of schedule). I was given an hour to shower and eat (had I known that it would've been the last time I would eat until after the whole process, I probably would've asked my husband for something more hearty). During this break I was also given an enema - without being too graphic, it was one of the most discussing things that ever happened, but I'm very glad it did because it made the post-birth time less stressful.
At 6am-ish we began phase two, which consisted of Pitocin. It's purpose was to regulate contractions and get them consistent. Again, this phase worked "too well" also and at 9:30pm, I was met with another rush of nurses and hospital staff because the baby's heart almost stopped again. This time was even more terrifying because I knew what was happening. They got the heart working again and stopped the Pitocin until my OB arrived.
My OB decided to restart the Pitocin, but at a level 2 instead of a level 5 (which was what most women started at). About this time (10:30am -ish), our family began to arrive. We could only have 3-4 visitors in the room at a time, so our parents and siblings visited in shifts. I'll take this time to shout out to them - who stayed until the wee hours of the night even though many of them had to work the next day.
In the early afternoon, I called for the epidural. I have never been one to want a "natural birth". I don't like pain and through my own personal research, I decided I would have one. Once the epidural was in (which was not as scary as I thought it would be), it was a sweet relief. I hadn't gotten any sleep that night because of the contractions and although the nurses had to flip me every hour, being able to sleep really helped me.
Whilst on the Pitocin, I was slowly dilating and at 10pm-ish, I hit 8cm and was excited that the baby would be here soon. Unfortunately, I began feeling the contractions again, so we had to increase the epidural. Right before midnight, I hit 9cm so my OB was called in. I began to feel the pressure that the baby was ready to come. I told my husband to get a nurse. I was in tears because I felt I needed to push but was told to wait - worst feeling ever! When my OB got there (very quickly I might add), she assessed the situation. The baby had been pushed his head against my cervix and had caused it to begin to swell shut (kind of like getting hit in the lip). At this point, nothing could be done and an emergency c-section was called.
The surgeon, anesthesiologist, nurses and techs were there within five minutes. I was wheeled to the OR. I was very afraid to say the least and could do nothing but keep my eyes on my husband and let my OB give instructions to the staff. Within ten minutes, Adam Gray was with us. My husband went with him to the recovery room. Fifty minutes later I was stitched up and brought to the recovery room where Rusty and Adam were waiting.
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