Welcome Brynna!

We welcomed our third child into the world at 6:27pm on July 14 2009 after about 4 1/2hrs of labour that ended up being completely un- medicated. I went in to the hospital around 10:30, waited for about 45mins until being taken back to a case room to be assessed prior to the inductions starting. This involved the resident taking down my history, vitals being taken, then an NST. I ended up having time for lunch before they did an exam(which the senior resident asked if the junior resident could perform as well, I said that I would prefer the fewest # of exams as necessary, which was apparently a good thing b/c my cervix was difficult to find) which told them I was still at 4cm, so not much changed from last week. They decided that AROM was the way to go, so that was done around 2pm, Fluid was clear, so I was able to be mobile around the floor(they said I could go pretty much where I wanted to, minus the elevators), which, as it turns out, was very helpful. I started having mild contractions roughly every 10-15mins. Every half-hour or so, they wanted just to listen to baby's heart to make sure everything was still good. My nurse said they'd give me until about 4pm and if there wasn't any more progress that they would unfortunately have to start a small oxytocin drip, and then I'd have to be monitored, which would mean being stuck in the room on the bed. By the time 4 came and went, the nurse asked me how the contractions were progressing, and I told her they were getting stronger and closer together, starting around the top of my belly and going around my back. That and the fact that the fluid remained clear, and baby's heartrate was strong, was good enough for her to keep me off an oxytocin drip and monitors.

Between 4 and 5, the contractions started getting stronger, and coming roughly every 5mins but only lasting about 45 seconds or so. Then my nurses did a check and found me to be at about 5.5 and 50% effaced and baby was doing fine, so I got to keep going on my walks still. But by that time, the contractions were strong enough and close enough together, that walking too far was getting very uncomfortable, so I decided to stay in the room. Tried the birthing ball, but it was just way to uncomfortable to sit on during a contraction(which were starting to come about 1 minute apart and lasting almost a minute), tried lying on the bed on my side and that was even more uncomfortable. I ended up kneeling on one of the chairs they had in the room and putting my face over the A/C vent, as I was getting really hot and sweaty by that point.

My nurses(who were the absolute best, right from start to finish) came back from their break around 5:45 or so, and wanted me to get up into the bed for a check, as I had told them how far apart contractions were and how I was considering wanting some pain relief as it was beginning to get really painful for me. They found I was at 9cm+ , baby's head was right on the cervix and I was almost ready to push, except for a small bit of cervix still in the way. The senior nurse had me get on my hands and knees on the bed to see if that would get that lip out of the way. I really don't remember how many contractions I was in that position for before I heard the doctors and nurses come in behind me. She then told me I had to get on my back b/c the baby was about to be born, and the doctor needed to be able to reach to help. I had troubles keeping my breathing slow and deep, and really wanted to just yell and scream with each contraction/push. I kept repeating that I couldn't do it, and then the nurse looked me in the eye, and said that I was the only one who could do it, so I would have to. Also at that point, Brynna's heart rate dropped to 90 or less, so she was in a bit of distress. That gave me the push I needed to get the job done, although I still wanted to yell.

At 6:27pm, after less than half an hour of pushing, I was holding my new baby girl on my chest before the cord was cut and while the doctors were trying to assess why/where my bleeding was coming from. I needed to be taken to the o/r so that they could put a spinal in, otherwise I would've been in too much pain from the stitching they had to do. Kevin accompanied Brynna to the NICU for her assessment(basically blood sugar monitoring) where she ended up receiving a tiny amount of formula even though they knew we wanted her to have none. They also gave her a pacifier to try to help keep her calm b/c she was apparently the noisiest one in the room looking for mommy. Both her APGAR scores were 9s, so she was very good.

After about a half-hour in the o/r I was in recovery where once I was checked in, Kevin went to get Brynna from nicu(which was right across the hallway, thankfully). It took a couple of hours until I was able to be taken to the room I was assigned in the Mother and Baby unit(unfortunately it wasn't the private room I had requested as there were so many new moms and babies, there just weren't any available). Our night was relatively calm as Brynna slept quite a lot(I think the morphine they put in my spinal gave her a bit of a buzz), but definitely not quiet so we didn't get a whole lot of sleep.