Birth Story

Warning, this is quite long. I tried to keep it PG :)
So here goes...

On Wednesday, May 26th we had a non-stress test in the afternoon. They hooked me up to the monitors and watched Annabelle's heart rate and tracked contractions (I was having them every 5 minutes or so, but didn't really feel them...just a little tightening now and then). They also did an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid (plenty there!) and we got to see Annabelle again on screen! They watched the monitors for quite a while (much longer than they originally had told me), but didn't say what they were looking at.

We left the hospital around 5pm and headed to Steak and Shake for dinner. About half way through dinner, I started feeling the contractions and we had to make an escape. Funny thing...our next door neighbors had just walked in and were sitting near the exit and it would have been just too rude to pass by without saying hello. So, they were the first to know that it "was time." Kris called the doctor and he said to go home until the contractions were about 1 minute long and 5 minutes apart.

We went home. By the time we got there the contractions were lasting about 30-45 seconds and coming about every 5 minutes. By 7pm they were about 40-45 seconds and every 3 to 4 minutes. I really didn't want to go to the hospital...I just wasn't ready! But, we called the doctor back and he said we had better come in.

When we got to the hospital they hooked me up to the monitors and had me lay down. Unfortunately, there wasn't any progress from my appointment on Tuesday. But, they wanted me to stay for observation considering how close the contractions were. By 11pm, still very little progress. I begged the nurse to let me walk around instead of being hooked up to the monitors (I had to beg earlier to let me even sit or stand...laying down was just awful!) After walking around for a little over an hour and sitting on the ball, we had progressed to 3cm dilated and 90% effaced (from 1cm and 0%). The nurse said she could give me statin (?) for the pain, but that I would have to stay lying down or I could keep going and wait to get the epidural at 5cm. I chose to wait.

Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to walk around any more (back on the monitors), but she did let me sit and stand as often as the doctor approved. When I laid down, they had me lay on my right side and kept watching Annabelle's heart rate.

By 3am we were 5cm dilated and 100% effaced....time for the epidural! :)
They called the anesthesiologist and we were ready to being the epidural by 3:45am. He had a lot of trouble getting it into place. He "really liked" one space, but every time he inserted the tube I got a lot of pain in my right hip and leg. He took everything out and tried again. Finally, he gave up on that space and moved up one vertebrae. One little zing and we had success!

He started me on a low dose of whatever magic potion they put in the epidural and I had lost feeling in my legs within 5 minutes (and no contraction pain!). But, then the madness began. My blood pressure fell to 79 /36 and Annabelle's heart rate fell. So, they gave me a shot of epinephrine. That fixed the blood pressure, but I then went into a contraction that lasted almost 5 minutes before they gave me something else to stop it (Annabelle got really stressed). Thank goodness I couldn't feel that contraction! Everything was stabilized by about 4:30am and Kris was allowed back in the room.

On a side note, about this time another woman came into the hospital and had her baby by 6am!!! The sound of her crying baby made me so happy and reminded me what we were working towards.

They told us to try to get some rest. Kris fell asleep (yeah!), but I just couldn't stop listening to the "beep, beep, beep" of Annabelle's heart rate. And, the nurse kept coming in and having me change positions to see how things reacted. I first knew something was really not right when she had me lie on my left side and came rushing back in less than 5 minutes later to switch me back to my right side (I couldn't move by myself due to the numb legs).

By about 6am the nurse explained what they had been watching this whole time. Whenever I had a contraction, Annabelle was getting very stressed. Her heart rate looked great in between contractions, but they were worried. I had also stopped progressing (I wonder if it had anything to do with the meds they gave me to stop that mega-contraction) even though they had broken my water and I was still having contractions (although they were further apart).

By 7am the doctor came in to talk with me and said that a c-section might be necessary. It had been 4 hours since I'd progressed at all and they didn't want to give me pitocin to speed things up because of the stress Annabelle was in. He said he would watch her reactions to the contraction for a while. He was back in the room within 10 minutes and said he wanted to do a c-section. He explained that if there were just one issue, he may feel comfortable watching things a little longer, but that there were too many issues: my fluctuating blood pressure (kept dropping too low), Annabelle's low heart rate (it dropped as low as 60bpm - her heart rate now is 120bpm), the lack of progress but inability to use pitocin to speed it up, and now I was bleeding. I was really, really upset and blamed myself for wanting the epidural. Convinced that if I had just "toughed it out" she might have been okay. Kris was great! He pointed out that we had followed our birth plan (no intervention until 5cm) and that Annabelle's heart rate had been reacting funny the whole time. The nurses asked the doctor if they should call this in as an emergency, urgent, or to fit it in as soon as they could. The doctor said, absolutely urgent. I don't want to wait more than 1/2 an hour because he felt that we'd end up with an emergency c-section if the wait were any longer. In a way, that made me feel better. He was concerned enough not to wait, so I felt like it was the right decision.

By 7:30am I was in the operating room waiting for Kris to get "scrubbed" while a million people buzzed around me.
At 7:40am they began the c-section.
At 7:44am Annabelle was born!!! :)

Kris peeked over the drape to watch her being born and I could hear her cry! It was the best sound in the whole world!
They brought her over to be evaluated and Kris was able to go watch. I could see bits and pieces of her, but was just aching to see her face. She scored 9 out of 10 on her Apgar tests and they carried her over so I could see her perfect, beautiful face.

Kris and I spent the rest of the time (while they were stitching me up) watching our little baby girl as they continued with all of the cleaning and testing and such.
At 5 minutes she scored another 9 out of 10 on her Apgar tests.

The doctor never could determine exactly what was happening that was causing Annabelle to be under so much stress. The cord wasn't wrapped around her and she was obviously very healthy from her very first minute of life. Their best guess is that the cord was wedged in somewhere that it kept getting crushed during each contraction. Who knows?

Regardless, we ended up with the best possible outcome: a happy, healthy baby girl!

Welcome to the world Annabelle Caroline Ying!
Birthdate: May 27, 2010 at 7:44 a.m.
Weight: 7lbs. 10oz
Height: 19 1/2 in