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I wanted to post and let everyone know that on January 13, 2002 at 8:52 pm Emma Christine Fowler was born!
I woke up Sunday morning at 230 am MST having contractions every 30 min, so I slept in between them. Then at 400 am, I woke my husband up to let him know that they were 3-5 min apart. We called the L&D floor, and they said to go ahead and come in. We hung up the phone, and my contractions fizzled.... We still went in because my underpants were still wet from the day before. My contractions didn't really pick back up, but they checked to see if my waters had broken, and sure enough they had. I was still only 1.5 cm dilated and 30-50% effaced. The doc let me go home (we only live 5 blocks from the hospital), and get my stuff and to see if walking around would help my contractions start up again. At 845 am we checked back into the hospital, and my contractions still weren't where they needed to be to make my cervix dilate or efface. So, I walked around some more, tried nipple stimulation, and I was having contractions, but they were not strong enough, so the doc started me on pitocin. The biggest concern was that there was a possibility that my membranes had been ruptured for about 18 hours (my underpants had been wet since the day before, and I couldn't tell if it was amniotic fluid or not). At noon, they gave me antibiotics, and then at 1 pm they started the pitocin. At about 230 pm, it started to hurt, and at 400 pm I could not handle the contractions any more, so the doc gave me some Fentanyl (I was dilated 2cm and 80% effaced). No amount of relaxation, nothing was helping me get through the contractions naturally. At 500 pm, I requested a low dose epidural, and 530 pm they gave it to me (4cm and 90% effaced)... OH MY GOODNESS! It felt so much better!!!!! I was able to relax better, I could still feel my contractions (the pressure, but not the pain). I even got to sleep some. It was amazing! At 730 pm (9-10 cm and 100% effaced), they told me that it was time to push. I pushed for about an hour and a half. I remember looking at the clock and it was 830 pm, and I told my husband and the doctor that I would have her out by 9 pm. At about 845 pm the doc said "I know you don't want an episiotomy, I don't want to give you an episiotomy, but if you are too tired I could make one tiny incision and she would slip right out." I said "Let me try a couple of more pushes (I was getting pretty pooped, and it was evident)" Sure enough 2 more pushes and she was born at 852 pm! The doc joked with me and said "I should have mentioned that episiotomy to you earlier!" She was very alert, eyes open and even cried. Because I had been having problems with my asthma during labor, there was concern that it had affected little Emma a bit in utero, so I let them take her (she was right next to my bedside, and Matt got to help the Pediatrician out)- Her APGARS were 8/9, and they cleaned her off, and gave her back to me and she took to breastfeeding really well. She did pass some meconium, and they think it was right before she came out. I have a small 2nd degree tear, and I am healing really nicely from it. The only bad thing is I still have a cough from my cold, so when I cough it is uncomfortable.
With my due date in question, they said that she was a term baby (40 wks), and so the doc thinks my due date was probably Jan 11th.
Emma is the best baby! She is sleeping fairly good, and we are working on breastfeeding, it is a bit awkward for me (I wish I had three hands!) She does really well, it just takes me a bit to get situated. The more I bf the easier and more natural it is becoming.
Her stats- 7 lbs, 12 oz. 19 inches long.
Hope everyone is good.
Crystal
PS- The IM Dept has rearranged Matt's ER shifts for the rest of the week, so that he can have an extra week off. He just had vacation from the 1/6 to 1/12.
I woke up Sunday morning at 230 am MST having contractions every 30 min, so I slept in between them. Then at 400 am, I woke my husband up to let him know that they were 3-5 min apart. We called the L&D floor, and they said to go ahead and come in. We hung up the phone, and my contractions fizzled.... We still went in because my underpants were still wet from the day before. My contractions didn't really pick back up, but they checked to see if my waters had broken, and sure enough they had. I was still only 1.5 cm dilated and 30-50% effaced. The doc let me go home (we only live 5 blocks from the hospital), and get my stuff and to see if walking around would help my contractions start up again. At 845 am we checked back into the hospital, and my contractions still weren't where they needed to be to make my cervix dilate or efface. So, I walked around some more, tried nipple stimulation, and I was having contractions, but they were not strong enough, so the doc started me on pitocin. The biggest concern was that there was a possibility that my membranes had been ruptured for about 18 hours (my underpants had been wet since the day before, and I couldn't tell if it was amniotic fluid or not). At noon, they gave me antibiotics, and then at 1 pm they started the pitocin. At about 230 pm, it started to hurt, and at 400 pm I could not handle the contractions any more, so the doc gave me some Fentanyl (I was dilated 2cm and 80% effaced). No amount of relaxation, nothing was helping me get through the contractions naturally. At 500 pm, I requested a low dose epidural, and 530 pm they gave it to me (4cm and 90% effaced)... OH MY GOODNESS! It felt so much better!!!!! I was able to relax better, I could still feel my contractions (the pressure, but not the pain). I even got to sleep some. It was amazing! At 730 pm (9-10 cm and 100% effaced), they told me that it was time to push. I pushed for about an hour and a half. I remember looking at the clock and it was 830 pm, and I told my husband and the doctor that I would have her out by 9 pm. At about 845 pm the doc said "I know you don't want an episiotomy, I don't want to give you an episiotomy, but if you are too tired I could make one tiny incision and she would slip right out." I said "Let me try a couple of more pushes (I was getting pretty pooped, and it was evident)" Sure enough 2 more pushes and she was born at 852 pm! The doc joked with me and said "I should have mentioned that episiotomy to you earlier!" She was very alert, eyes open and even cried. Because I had been having problems with my asthma during labor, there was concern that it had affected little Emma a bit in utero, so I let them take her (she was right next to my bedside, and Matt got to help the Pediatrician out)- Her APGARS were 8/9, and they cleaned her off, and gave her back to me and she took to breastfeeding really well. She did pass some meconium, and they think it was right before she came out. I have a small 2nd degree tear, and I am healing really nicely from it. The only bad thing is I still have a cough from my cold, so when I cough it is uncomfortable.
With my due date in question, they said that she was a term baby (40 wks), and so the doc thinks my due date was probably Jan 11th.
Emma is the best baby! She is sleeping fairly good, and we are working on breastfeeding, it is a bit awkward for me (I wish I had three hands!) She does really well, it just takes me a bit to get situated. The more I bf the easier and more natural it is becoming.
Her stats- 7 lbs, 12 oz. 19 inches long.
Hope everyone is good.
Crystal
PS- The IM Dept has rearranged Matt's ER shifts for the rest of the week, so that he can have an extra week off. He just had vacation from the 1/6 to 1/12.
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