Yardley's Birth Story

Well, here it is! Without much notice, Yardley decided to enter the world on November 20, 2012. Here is how it went... I know this is lengthy and I don't expect anyone to read all of this...It is more for me to have the memory of it all :-)

Monday November 19th was just like any other day...didn't really feel a whole lot different. I did however decide to finish packing my hospital bag and I also decided to pack Yardley's Thanksgiving outfit just in case she decided to make her appearance at some point during the week. By the afternoon I started feeling kinda yucky...just nauseous and such. I decided to bounce on my exercise ball and walk up and down the stairs...

About 6pm I started having mild contractions about 7 minutes apart! I hadn't really had contractions before so I was unsure of what they were at this time. I really thought they would just go away. Eric got home from work about 7pm..I had made hamburgers but I wasn't feeling good enough to eat-I just had a few bites. The contractions continued ranging anywhere from 2.5min-7min apart. They continued to get stronger and a little bit more painful.

We headed to bed about 10pm..I remember hoping this was the real deal but I didn't want to get my hopes up at this point. I was 38 weeks 6 days pregnant and READY for this baby to come out! Eric fell asleep pretty quickly but my contractions started to get pretty painful and I of course could not sleep. I laid in bed for awhile just waiting until they got unbearable to wake Eric up. I kept timing them and telling myself oh I will wait until __ o'clock. I did that numerous times. About 1230am I woke Eric up and told him I needed to call the doctor...I couldn't stand them any longer. THEY HURT!

I called the MD and he said come on to L&D! So, we packed up the car and headed out. At this point they were about 3 minutes apart. On the way to the hospital I would watch the clock knowing that another contraction was about to hit.

We checked into L&D at 0115 on November 20th. It took them a little while to get me settled in. They checked my cervix around 0200 and I was only a fingertip dilated and 80% effaced (which she didn't tell me I was effaced and I thought I had made NO progress since the last appointment). I was disappointed and worried. There was no way I could go back home with this pain. I did NOT want to go home with "false labor". The nurse called the MD and he gave me 3 options: 1) take some pain meds and be checked again in an hour 2) hang tight and be checked in an hour 3) walk around and then be checked in an hour. 3 it is! I wanted progress! I remember laying there praying for progress to be made. So Eric and I walked around L&D...I would have to stop and lean on the siderail every time a contraction would come. They were getting more frequent, lasting longer, and more painful. At one point I told Eric I had to go back to the room...couldn't do it any longer. Once we got back to the room, I threw up...lovely.

The checked my cervix again about 0315..the nurse said I was almost dilated to a 2 and 90% effaced! PROGRESS! She said she would call the MD and they would probably admit me....she talked to the MD...ADMISSION! YES! MD came by..he said I was 3cm dilated and 100% effaced at 0330 with my membranes bulging. Eric called his mom and she was headed on her way! He said I could go ahead and get an epidural since I was progressing so quickly..I just needed some fluid in me first. The contractions were getting pretty bad at this point. I remember watching the fluids waiting for them to finish.

We get moved to the L&D room..epidural time! HECK YES! Epidural was put in at 0438. I got some boluses...Eric decided to go out to the car and grab a few things...well that is when things got a little hectic to say the least...I remember asking if it was okay that my hands were really numb..the nurse told me yeah you may feel that. The next thing I remember was the nurse telling me to turn on my left side and I said I couldn't feel any of my body and I couldn't turn. I remember her pressing the nurse button saying she needed another nurse that baby's HR had dropped. About 8 people came in there...my BP dropped, my HR dropped, baby's HR was in the 60s. They put a nonrebreather oxygen mask on me. I remember them telling someone to prep for emergency C-section. Eric was still gone. I was scared. Not only for Yardley but for myself. My entire body up to my neck was numb and "paralyzed". What was going on?? Epidural was turned off at this point. There was nothing they could do but let time take its' course and let the epidural wear off.

They were able to get baby's HR back up to 140s...but I was now pretty much unresponsive except to stimulation and even then VERY lethargic. I couldn't feel any of my body. Eric comes back in the room and they explain a little of what happened. They asked me to squeeze their hands..I couldn't. They asked me to move my arm and I remember my arm going flying in the air spastic like. Then..I realized I couldn't swallow. SCARY. I was SO scared at this point. They kept having to suction out my mouth for me. They checked my cervix at some point and I was dilated to an 8. I remember them saying baby's HR was dropping with contractions so they put an internal monitor on baby's scalp. Then I remember them saying they were going to break my water to get things going. But then they realized I was 10cm dilated and my water still hadn't broken (about 0530am). They broke my water and it was time to push. Problem was...I was too out of it to really be able to push.

I remember them telling me that I had to wake up so I could push. They didn't understand...I couldn't! Oh and I remember Eric telling me she had hair..YAY! The doctor explained, mainly to Eric since I didn't understand anything he was saying, that he would need to use the vacuum to get baby out so that I didn't have to have a C-section since I couldn't push as good as I normally would due to the epidural fiasco. So...they wake me up as best as they could..I push and the vacuum is used. They kept waking me up every time I needed to push. I pushed to the best of my ability and then I remember her being out and all was then okay in the world. At 6:06am, baby girl was born! She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and 20.5 inches long! I felt the best I had felt since the epidural. I could finally swallow! I remember asking what her APGAR scores were... 8 and 9! YAY! I also remember the doctor stitching me up..I tore downward..dang. But all was good because baby was doing great and I was finally starting to get some feeling back in my upper body.

As the next little bit went by, I continued to feel better and I was overwhelmed with everything that had happened, but I was SO thankful that baby girl was doing great! We still don't fully know what happened with the epidural. The anesthesiologist kept saying it was in the right spot because my HR would have dropped to 20-30s (my HR did drop, just not THAT low) if it was in the thoracic space...so was it in the right spot? Who knows...Was it a reaction to the medicine? Who knows...I guess we will have to come up with a Plan B for the next pregnancy...All I know is that it was SCARY. I thought I was going to be intubated or something. I think it was in the wrong place because I had all the signs and symptoms to the T for a thoracic epidural instead of a lumbar epidural...plus if it was a reaction the medicine, my signs and symptoms would have been different...

It is amazing that even though I was completely drugged up..I went from being a fingertip dilated at 0200 to being 10cm dilated at 0530. Talk about quick progress! Obviously, Eric was traumatized through all of it. He was scared half to death. Literally. He will never be leaving my side during labor ever again..I can promise you that.

But when it is all said and done. Everything was okay and it really wasn't that bad. Traumatizing, yes. Scary, yes. But that was because of everything with my epidural. It was an amazing experience (well, what I can remember of it) and I will cherish that time forever. It is definitely a good story but I am glad it is over. That was scary stuff. More so for Eric probably than myself.

The next few days were wonderful and I will forever cherish them. We are SO blessed and SO overwhelmed by God's love. We are now proud parents of the most wonderful gift God could ever have given us. We came home on Thanksgiving and have been getting used to life with a newborn since then.