Segen's Birthday...5 Weeks Later

Tuesday, June 16th. We left the house shortly before 7 a.m. and took one last picture with Duke as our "only child." I don't think it had actually sunk-in that we'd be having a baby that day.

We arrived at the birthing center and were greeted by our nurse Amanda...who could have only been like 22 or 23. She hooked up to IV fluids and started the Pitosin drip right away. About 20 minutes passed and I still felt pretty comfortable. I was assuming this would be an all-day affair. I reassured C. that he would have enough time to run home and get my body pillow and favorite water bottle...I was wrong! Around 8:30 a.m., Dr. OB stopped in for a visit. Always a prankster, he scolded me that I was late for my induction...trying to rattle me! He then checked my cervix which was STILL at a 2 and very posterior, and broke my water. He decided to put in an internal catheter to closer monitor my contractions, and a scalp electrode on our little one because he was moving around so much we couldn't keep baby's heartbeat on the monitor. Dr. OB said the catheter often "gets things going" because it irritates the uterus. He wasn't wasting ANY time! I was completely unprepared for how quickly the contractions would accelerate. Within 20-30 minutes, I was feeling strong waves every 2-2.5 minutes. Thankfully, C. returned with the requested items around 9:30. Labor continued to intensify.

Around 11:30 a.m. I starting thinking about pain management. The waves were so gripping, I held back tears. I asked about an epidural. I knew that it could take awhile to get things started. The nurse checked me again and I was at 4 cm and 100 percent effaced. She called Dr. OB and he wanted me to sit in the whirlpool tub for 40 minutes before OK'ing the epidural. At this point, I didn't want anyone to touch me and the breathing techniques were doing NOTHING for the pain! I gutted it out in the tub for the 40 minutes and then waited another 30-40 minutes for anesthesia to get my epidural going. I had been laboring for almost 5 hours.

Once anesthesia placed my epidural, I slowly started to feel some relief. Unfortunately, the nurses were quietly discussing something about baby's heart rate. I heard the word "deceleration." They put me on supplemental oxygen to try to get the baby to respond. It appeared that he wasn't tolerating the contractions very well. Oxygen appeared to help.

Soon after, the doctor came in to check how I was progressing, and the look on his face scared me. No more joking...everything became very serious. He told Amanda to come and check me again. He said: "Do you feel how puffy the cervix is?" She said yes. He then scolded her in front of husband and I. He used the phrase "ominous sign," and told her that she needed to call him right away when something like this was happening. I was in shock. Terrified. After an explanation that baby's head/skull wasn't turned correctly and was actually hitting my pelvis...bone on bone...the doctor advised that we prepare to deliver baby right away via c-section. We were going to meet our little boy much sooner than we had anticipated.

C. suited up in scrubs, anesthesia added additional drugs to my epidural and we were whisked off to surgery. Even during the actual delivery, Dr. OB had to make light of the situation and asked one of his nurses to "Hold the instruction book higher so he could make-out the illustrations!" And then it happened...we heard the cry. I cried. We saw our little chipmunk. He sprayed pee everywhere as he entered the world. His Apgars were 9 and 9. Our baby was OK. I cried some more.

After putting me back together, it was discovered that anesthesia had accidentally given me morphine for pain. I am allergic to morphine. I had a big red band on my arm that clearly said "MORPHINE." The anesthesiologist was beside himself with regret. He promised to take good care of me about a million times and pumped me full of something to try to offset the reaction. He's VERY lucky that at this point, all I wanted to do was hold and feed my baby. Fortunately, the itching only lasted for three of the four days of my hospital stay and I didn't get any hives.

The three of us were reunited in our room, and I asked to feed Segen and he latched on like a champ. He snacked for about 20 minutes, and then decided to fill his diaper and then some. He had meconium from his chin to his shoulder blades. He had his very first sponge bath within an hour of being born! Ahhhh...so this is what motherhood is going to be like, huh?

Finally, our family of three (plus one big, furry doggie!) was complete.