Baby is here!!

Stephen Michael Reyman joined our little family on October 20, 2009 at 11:54pm. He weighed 8 pounds 7.2 ounces, and was 20 1/4 in long. He was born 6 min shy of one week overdue. He was also born on his great-grandpa's birthday. This was the chain of events that lead to his birth.

I saw my doctor on Mon the 19th and we decided that since I was close to going overdue that we would plan to induce if I didn't deliver on my own. Having talked with the nurses that were going to be there to support me, and discussing it with Lonnie and the doctor we made the decision to go ahead and induce on Tuesday the 20th. That way no one would have to work that night and things wouldn't get complicated. I wasn't comfortable going much over 41 weeks anyways and was getting really frustrated that I wasn't going into labor on my own despite having contractions fairly regularly. I had tried with the help of my doctor and a nurse to try and induce my own labor by having my membranes stripped multiple times, but it didn't do anything other than make me dilate a bit more each time. So that night I cleaned up the house like a mad woman doing some last minute "nesting." Lonnie just sat back and laughed while I did it...he didn't understand. We also took some time to spend as our last night of just the two of us.

On Tuesday morning we got up before seven and got ready. We had to be at the hospital at 7:30, but were just a few min late. We got settled in our room (I had pre-arranged which one I wanted), and my nurse Linda filled out the paperwork with me. I thought that my doctor would have orders waiting to get things started but she didn't, so we had to wait for a couple hours for her to come in and see me. She came in and said that I was 3cm dilated and 90% effaced and she decided that since I was already contracting she'd go ahead and break my water to see if that would be enough to put me into labor.

Right after she broke my water the contractions felt stronger then they were before, but still tolerable. I got off the monitor and took a lap around the parking lot with Kathi. Kathi is one of the nurses that I work with in the OB unit. She and another nurse Pam were the nurses that trained me when I started at the hospital and are very close friends. It was important to me that they be there when I had the baby because they had been involved (or at least around) during the whole thing. They were around when I just wanted a baby really bad, and when we decided to start trying, and when I found out, and throughout the whole pregnancy. So Kathi came in on her day off to be my "doula" and support me in whatever way she could while I was in labor. So we took a lap around the hospital lot to try and stimulate more contractions. I was allowed to be off the monitor for 30-45 min per hour, so we took one loop and went back in. Lonnie decided to take this opportunity to run and get coffee before things got really serious later. The nurse checked me at 11:30 or so and I hadn't dilated but I was then completely effaced. The contractions were getting much stronger as well. Between my walk with Kathi and this check I took a few more laps around the lot with Lonnie. After our second outing I tried to get in the shower and see if that relaxation would help me to dilate. It seemed to slow the contractions down so I decided to get out and get back in bed.

After I got in bed I just decided to relax. The contractions were getting really intense and it was really difficult to get through them in any other position then just laying in a half-sitting position and really relaxed. I didn't want to talk, I didn't want to be touched, all I wanted to do was to relax as much as possible during the contraction and between them. I almost felt bad for Lonnie because there really wasn't anything for him to do. He couldn't hold my hand, he couldn't rub me or help me in any way. The nurse checked me again at 2pm and I was 3-4 cm. I continued to just deal with the contractions as best I could while laying and relaxing. The contractions did slow down to about every 4-5 min apart, which was nice for me, but not productive for making me dilate. So when the nurse checked me at 4pm I was still 3-4 or 4 cm. I knew this meant that I was going to have to get pitocin to make me have stronger contractions. I also knew that if I was going to have to get pitocin, I was going to get an epidural.

So I got my epidural next before we started the pitocin. I had pre-arranged with the nurse anesthetist that I wanted for him to come and do my epidural, and luckily he was already at the hospital, and was on call for OB that day. So I got a great epidural, although I still had some pain on the left side in my hip and low back. The anesthetist gave me a little more medicine which took the pain in that spot away. I was much happier and a lot more comfortable. Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief once I got the epidural because none of them liked to see me in pain. Once the epidural was in they started the pitocin, and things started to progress more quickly.

At 8:45 I got checked and I was completely dilated. We got me in position and I started to push. I could feel the pressure and the urge to push which was helpful but also uncomfortable. I pushed for about 1 1/2 hrs, then pushed on my side for a 1/2 hr because the dr could tell that his head was turned a little funny and we were hoping that turning onto my side would turn his head as well. After 2 hrs of pushing the dr said that his head really hadn't come down much at all, and that she wanted to call Dr Tynes the OB/GYN in to see if he could do anything about the baby's position or see what needed to happen. He got to me just before 11pm and I pushed through a contraction or two with him. He said that the baby's head was turned funny and just wouldn't budge and that the cervix was starting to swell back around his head. He said that the best decision at that point was to do a c-section and get him delivered safely. I was SO exhausted at that point that I was thinking okay...whatever you have to do to get him out. I knew that if his head was turned funny, AND the cervix was swelling up around his head, that there was no likely way that he would be coming out naturally. I told Dr Tynes that we could do the c-section but he had to get the baby out before midnight so that he would be born on my grandpa's birthday.

I went back to the OR and they got me ready to go and brought Lonnie in. Because I was a "VIP" all of the nurses that had come to be with me in labor were able to come and take pictures and video of the c-section. I guess sometimes it pays to work and deliver at the same hospital. So they started the c-section and within a little bit I could tell they were getting ready to get him out. Lonnie stood up and watched most of the c-section. Stephen was born at 2354 on Oct 20th. He went over to the warmer and they got him pinked up. He did need a little bit of oxygen to get him going even though he was crying. Hearing him cry for the first time was an amazing thing. I looked up at Lonnie and I could tell that he was crying too, and it made me tear up as well. Lonnie got to go over to the warmer and see Stephen, and then the nurses wrapped him up and brought him over to me to hold. I got to hold him for a few min, but I was so tired that I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. After a bit, I told him that he could go to the room to get weighed, and then he was going to meet me in recovery. He left and I laid there while they put me back together. I was SOOOOOO tired that I mostly dozed through the rest of the surgery. I had also been shaking and the anesthetist gave me some medicine to make that stop, and I think it made me drowsy.

After the surgery I went to recovery and they brought Stephen to me. I fed him with the help of my nurse, Kelly. She had to do most of the work because I was so sleepy that I couldn't stay awake. We went back to my room after recovery and Kelly gave him his bath while I slept and then he went to the nursery at about 2 am. Lonnie and I were both exhausted at this point and needed to sleep. I woke up at 4 and Kelly brought him in to eat, and then he went back to the nursery until about 8 am. I felt SOOOOOO much better after getting some sleep. I felt like I could keep my eyes open and finally enjoy my baby.

So that is the summary of our labor and delivery of Stephen. The rest of the hospital stay was uneventful and mostly involved sleeping and eating. My recovery went very well and we were discharged on Friday morning.