Kayla Marie 4/21/08

It's a long one....

Pictures are in my album.

My DH, sister and I kept joking around on Sunday 4/20 that the full moon was going to cause me to go into labor.
Well I guess there is some truth to the old wives tale.

I woke up at around 12am on 4/21 with pretty strong contractions that were very different from the Braxton Hicks I had been getting. They were about a half hour apart at this point, so I laid down on the couch because I didn’t want to wake up DH if it was a false alarm. They started to get closer and stronger and at about 2 am they started to come about 5 minutes apart. At about 2:10 am I felt a little trickle. I was half asleep and not sure what it was so I went and emptied my bladder and laid back down for about 20 minutes. When I stood up there was another larger trickle, so I knew my water broke. I went inside and woke DH at 2:34 am (he remembers what the clock showed). I grabbed a towel to put under me in the car just in case of a gush. He got dressed and we headed straight to the hospital. I had tested positive for Group B Strep so we needed to get there fairly early to put me on Penicillin.

As soon as DH stopped the car in front of the door at Winthrop I felt a huge gush. I walked into Winthrop with a towel between my legs. My contractions were still 5 minutes apart but I was only 3cm. After they got the IV in and started the Penicillin and I was still not getting past 3 cm. They wanted to see how I progressed on my own but when I didn’t they started me on pitocin. They had to keep upping the pitocin because I was still not dilating. I didn’t ask for the Epidural until the fourth or fifth time they upped the pitocin. With the amount of time it was taking me to dilate, I didn’t want anything to slow it down unless the pain was awful. When I go to the point of needing the epidural I was five Centimeters.

I went from five to seven centimeters quite slowly as well. When I was seven centimeters (about 15 hrs after my water broke) Dr. Dolisi had the nurse have me change to laying on my right side because for some reason one side of my Cervix was 100% effaced while the other was only about 90%. The change in positions caused the baby’s heart rate to drop when I had a contraction. I quickly changed to the other side and everything was fine. Dr. Dolisi felt the low level of fluid from my water breaking may have been causing the umbilical cord to be compressed of could be loosely around her neck. We discussed a possible emergency C-Section at this point. I told Dr.Dolisi, to do whatever was needed to keep the baby safe. He decided to watch her heart closely while I lay on my left side reintroduce fluid directly into my uterus to loosen or cushion the cord. .Dr. Dolisi tried having me turn to my right again after more fluid was introduced and the heart rate dropped again but not as much. We switched to my left again and it was fine. After more fluid was introduced he had me lay elevated on my back and started to reintroduce the Pitocin. The baby’s heart rate held steady and they brought me back up slowly. She did fine with every contraction from that point on but Dr. Dolisi warned me I would have to push like crazy to get her out or I may end up with a C-Section.

I went from seven to ten rather quickly but was still only about 90% effaced on one side. Dr. Dolisi had me start pushing and discussed the possible use of a vacuum if needed. He also let me know that if her heart-rate dropped again the ER was prepped for an emergency C-Section. Her heart was steady for the hour of pushing. I ended up needing an episiotomy but she was finally born at 8:12 pm on 4/21.

It was a scary experience at points but Dr. Dolisi was fantastic throughout. I am so happy he wound up being my Dr. by chance. I can not say enough about how wonderful was, he kept everyone calm and explained everything as it was happening. The whole staff at Winthrop in Labor and Delivery was fantastic. They were very attentive and informative.

I decided to go for the private room after and am very glad I did. The new visiting hours of 1-8pm made the maternity wing a bit of a circus. All of the two person rooms seemed so crowded with visitors. All the nurses were frustrated with it and I felt the attention given during this point was a bit lacking because of it. Many of the women on the floor were frustrated by it. I hope they do something to change it because the rest of my experience there was great.

Message edited 4/29/2008 8:44:59 AM.

Re: Kayla Marie 4/21/08

Congrats on your new bundle of love!

Re: Kayla Marie 4/21/08

congrats! thanks for sharing your story

Re: Kayla Marie 4/21/08

CONGRATULATIONS!!! She is beautiful!!!!