Thomas' Birth
I've just realized that not everyone on the list has been getting the emails. I am SO sorry about that! I can't seem to figure out how to get it to work properly and to be quite honest I don't have the energy right now to try and figure it out. So I'm just going to condense all the emails into one, here, for those of you who have missed stuff. Here we go.
Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 3:22 PM
Hey everyone! Here's the skinny on Hootie Bean!
Last cervical check was at 1:30 and revealed an almost complete effacement and 2.5cm dilation. Right after that we took a walk during which she went from laughing during contractions to not being able to focus on anything else when they came. Since then, contractions have gotten loads more intense and are sometimes almost right on top of each other.
Julie is at this point still totally unmedicated and doesn't even have an IV port! The doc and nurses are totally awesome -- Everyone is SO nice, and very supportive and respectful. Julie is coping awesome, using a combination of slow breathing, a TENS unit ("The most awesome pain relief in the world," she says.), guided imagery, rocking, walking, and bouncing on her ball. John is very supportive and has amused himself during downtimes by watching Scrubs and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Julie and John want to thank everyone for their support and will send photos as soon as we have them!
Will write again sometime after the next cervical check which is scheduled for about 4 or 5 EST.
Yay!
Bridget, Shelley, John and Julie
Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 6:43 PM
Julie just spent about 45 min - hour in the tub and they're doing some baby monitoring now -- Thomas has been doing great this whole time...slept through most of it. They're about to do another cervical check...drumroll please...
She's at zero station, totally effaced, and 3 cm. All she has left is more dialation, which unfortunately is mostly just a waiting game. We're probably gonna try resting again here.
Bridget
Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 8:21 PM
Hey guys...I think some kudos is in order for how patient everyone has been. I know you're all on pins and needles, here!! Please know that we're doing our best to keep everyone updated, but a lot of birth mostly just involves waiting and walking and working and stuff.
Julie has been working super hard and making steady progress that the doctor is pretty happy with. She has effaced from almost nothing to completely effaced since she got here, and from barely half a centimeter dilated to 3 cm as of an hour ago. The baby's head is very low, which is what really makes the cervix dilate, especially with new mothers.
Julie has been officially in active labor for almost 2 hours now, and we're trying to get one more rest in before we start more agressively moving around, changing positions, etc to get the dilation rate that the doctors want to see in order to avoid starting pitocin. We will be reconvening on this matter in about an hour and a half, with her doctor. If they do start pitocin, John and Julie have decided to also do an epidural as well, right off the bat. She is very exhausted, which is why that decision was made. But we're also hoping that when she wakes up from her nap she will be rejuvinated and ready to deal with the road ahead, which is probably going to be a while.
Sorry we can't be more exact, but it could be tomorrow morning, even later, before this baby is born. Please sleep tonight and if you want we will call you if it happens at night! (Send me an email if that is your preference!)
Until next time...
Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 9:52 PM
5cm, +1 station and still rollin'!
Sent from my iPhone
Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 11:18 PM
Oh man you guys, she's doing so awesome.
Got to 6 cm a little bit ago, and she decided to get some Nubain, which has allowed her to REST in between contractions, which she is doing right now. She seems reinvested and positive.
I just shared something with her that my sister said, which was basically that not only is she going to do this, she IS doing this. She's so totally right. The fact that I am able to take a break right now and type this speaks to that, because 1/2 hour ago she needed the constant attention of all 3 of us.
They've started to bring supplies into the room, and turned on the warming table to get it warm for baby...although the plan is to put the baby on mommy's chest right away for some kangaroo care.
I'm gonna get back to Julie now...
Love and hugs,
Bridget (and everyone!)
Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 2:42 AM
So after the 6cm check, Julie labored like crazy for, I dunno, an hour, hour and a half, and still was only 6cm after that. At that point, the general consensus was that her body had just had it and was to exhausted to progress, and Julie uttered the code word for "epidural." Whomever can guess the code word gets to keep the placenta!
It is now 2:30am, and things are goooood in Julieland. She is currently discussing with the nurse and Shelley all the different things you can do with a placenta, and how the nurse's mom accidentally threw away her dissection cat in nursing school and she had to re-do the whole project.
I asked Julie how she feels and she said (rather exhuberantly) "I'm feelin fiiiine!"
I asked her if she had anything to say to y'all and she said, "Don't call me, I'll call you tomorrow."
They just checked her out and she's still at 6cm but has dropped a station, and it looks like the baby is posterior -- that is, sunny side up which is not the ideal position for birth.
OK I'm off to get some food with shelley. Woot!
Bridget
Bridget, Shelley, Julie, John and THOMAS!!!
Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 11:02 PM
I just realized that I never really spelled out what ultimately happened. In case you haven't heard yet, they ultimately did a c-section.
After about 20 hours of labor, Julie's body basically just started to give out, and she asked for Nubaine, an opiate, which did help but it just wasn't enough, and an epidural soon followed. The epidural really slowed things down, and they added Pitocin (a synthetic hormone which helps induce/increase contractions) and by then Thomas had had enough and it caused his heart rate to drop. The only solution to that is a c-section.
It was a very difficult decision, and a very difficult time for all of us. But as soon as the baby was born, it was like immediately all was well with the world. Especially with Julie -- that woman is high on mommy love hormones, man! God bless oxytocin.
Thomas is healthy and extreeeemely alert and inquisitive about the world around him. He is very engaging, and looks right at you with comprehension and thought. He has loads of so, so silky soft hair and the sweetest little cry you will ever hear. It just melts me into a puddle. He got the hang of nursing right from the getgo, as if he'd been doing it for years. This is one gifted child and I daresay I have found myself quite smitten.
...And that was the short version of what happened!
P.S. Oh and the final consensus seems to be that the root cause of the intensity of the pain and slow progress of labor (and ultimately the epidural, which led to pitocin, which led to the section) was that Thomas was turned around the wrong way. His head was facing down, which was good, but the back of his head was pressed up against Julie's backbone, causing severe back pain. This is known as occipital posterior. It is also known as "back labor." Aside from being painful, it is not physiologically correct enough for the baby's head to fit properly through the pelvis, hence the stalling of labor.
Also, Julie reports that the TENS unit was just so helpful that she just didn't realize the severity of the back trouble she was actually having. So we really just had no idea that that was what was going on until very late in the game, after Julie's energy was completely sapped and her body had already given out.
Thomas' size also would likely have made it particularly difficult to deliver vaginally.
Hey everyone! Here's the skinny on Hootie Bean!
Last cervical check was at 1:30 and revealed an almost complete effacement and 2.5cm dilation. Right after that we took a walk during which she went from laughing during contractions to not being able to focus on anything else when they came. Since then, contractions have gotten loads more intense and are sometimes almost right on top of each other.
Julie is at this point still totally unmedicated and doesn't even have an IV port! The doc and nurses are totally awesome -- Everyone is SO nice, and very supportive and respectful. Julie is coping awesome, using a combination of slow breathing, a TENS unit ("The most awesome pain relief in the world," she says.), guided imagery, rocking, walking, and bouncing on her ball. John is very supportive and has amused himself during downtimes by watching Scrubs and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Julie and John want to thank everyone for their support and will send photos as soon as we have them!
Will write again sometime after the next cervical check which is scheduled for about 4 or 5 EST.
Yay!
Bridget, Shelley, John and Julie
Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 6:43 PM
Julie just spent about 45 min - hour in the tub and they're doing some baby monitoring now -- Thomas has been doing great this whole time...slept through most of it. They're about to do another cervical check...drumroll please...
She's at zero station, totally effaced, and 3 cm. All she has left is more dialation, which unfortunately is mostly just a waiting game. We're probably gonna try resting again here.
Bridget
Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 8:21 PM
Hey guys...I think some kudos is in order for how patient everyone has been. I know you're all on pins and needles, here!! Please know that we're doing our best to keep everyone updated, but a lot of birth mostly just involves waiting and walking and working and stuff.
Julie has been working super hard and making steady progress that the doctor is pretty happy with. She has effaced from almost nothing to completely effaced since she got here, and from barely half a centimeter dilated to 3 cm as of an hour ago. The baby's head is very low, which is what really makes the cervix dilate, especially with new mothers.
Julie has been officially in active labor for almost 2 hours now, and we're trying to get one more rest in before we start more agressively moving around, changing positions, etc to get the dilation rate that the doctors want to see in order to avoid starting pitocin. We will be reconvening on this matter in about an hour and a half, with her doctor. If they do start pitocin, John and Julie have decided to also do an epidural as well, right off the bat. She is very exhausted, which is why that decision was made. But we're also hoping that when she wakes up from her nap she will be rejuvinated and ready to deal with the road ahead, which is probably going to be a while.
Sorry we can't be more exact, but it could be tomorrow morning, even later, before this baby is born. Please sleep tonight and if you want we will call you if it happens at night! (Send me an email if that is your preference!)
Until next time...
Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 9:52 PM
5cm, +1 station and still rollin'!
Sent from my iPhone
Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 11:18 PM
Oh man you guys, she's doing so awesome.
Got to 6 cm a little bit ago, and she decided to get some Nubain, which has allowed her to REST in between contractions, which she is doing right now. She seems reinvested and positive.
I just shared something with her that my sister said, which was basically that not only is she going to do this, she IS doing this. She's so totally right. The fact that I am able to take a break right now and type this speaks to that, because 1/2 hour ago she needed the constant attention of all 3 of us.
They've started to bring supplies into the room, and turned on the warming table to get it warm for baby...although the plan is to put the baby on mommy's chest right away for some kangaroo care.
I'm gonna get back to Julie now...
Love and hugs,
Bridget (and everyone!)
Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 2:42 AMSo after the 6cm check, Julie labored like crazy for, I dunno, an hour, hour and a half, and still was only 6cm after that. At that point, the general consensus was that her body had just had it and was to exhausted to progress, and Julie uttered the code word for "epidural." Whomever can guess the code word gets to keep the placenta!
It is now 2:30am, and things are goooood in Julieland. She is currently discussing with the nurse and Shelley all the different things you can do with a placenta, and how the nurse's mom accidentally threw away her dissection cat in nursing school and she had to re-do the whole project.
I asked Julie how she feels and she said (rather exhuberantly) "I'm feelin fiiiine!"
I asked her if she had anything to say to y'all and she said, "Don't call me, I'll call you tomorrow."
They just checked her out and she's still at 6cm but has dropped a station, and it looks like the baby is posterior -- that is, sunny side up which is not the ideal position for birth.
OK I'm off to get some food with shelley. Woot!
Bridget
Bridget, Shelley, Julie, John and THOMAS!!!
Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 11:02 PM
I just realized that I never really spelled out what ultimately happened. In case you haven't heard yet, they ultimately did a c-section.
After about 20 hours of labor, Julie's body basically just started to give out, and she asked for Nubaine, an opiate, which did help but it just wasn't enough, and an epidural soon followed. The epidural really slowed things down, and they added Pitocin (a synthetic hormone which helps induce/increase contractions) and by then Thomas had had enough and it caused his heart rate to drop. The only solution to that is a c-section.
It was a very difficult decision, and a very difficult time for all of us. But as soon as the baby was born, it was like immediately all was well with the world. Especially with Julie -- that woman is high on mommy love hormones, man! God bless oxytocin.
Thomas is healthy and extreeeemely alert and inquisitive about the world around him. He is very engaging, and looks right at you with comprehension and thought. He has loads of so, so silky soft hair and the sweetest little cry you will ever hear. It just melts me into a puddle. He got the hang of nursing right from the getgo, as if he'd been doing it for years. This is one gifted child and I daresay I have found myself quite smitten.
...And that was the short version of what happened!
P.S. Oh and the final consensus seems to be that the root cause of the intensity of the pain and slow progress of labor (and ultimately the epidural, which led to pitocin, which led to the section) was that Thomas was turned around the wrong way. His head was facing down, which was good, but the back of his head was pressed up against Julie's backbone, causing severe back pain. This is known as occipital posterior. It is also known as "back labor." Aside from being painful, it is not physiologically correct enough for the baby's head to fit properly through the pelvis, hence the stalling of labor.
Also, Julie reports that the TENS unit was just so helpful that she just didn't realize the severity of the back trouble she was actually having. So we really just had no idea that that was what was going on until very late in the game, after Julie's energy was completely sapped and her body had already given out.
Thomas' size also would likely have made it particularly difficult to deliver vaginally.
posted by Bridget McGann at 9:25 PM
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