Tales of a journey through infertility into (hopefully) fatherhoodPosts RSS Comments RSS

Emerson’s birth story…

All is well with Emerson. I’ll post more about the first week later. But, as promised, here are the ‘notes’ I kept on my iPhone (slightly polished and edited) about Libby’s labor and Emerson’s birth story. I wanted to get them online before time slipped away and I forgot.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

2:30pm – Ate late lunch at Red Lobster.

3:30 – Water ‘broke’ @ grocery store. Slow leak. Finished shopping.

3:45 – Drove home. Called doctor en route. Picked up bags. Called parents.

4:30 – Arrived at hospital. Pants soaked. Skipped triage.

5:30 – Started ‘pit drip’ (Oxytocin) to induce labor. Played UNO. Nothing happening. Called parents. Dosage kept getting increased. No ‘real’ contractions.

7:30 – Dr. Sanchez arrived (oh joy, L’s least favorite). Inserted intrauterine monitor. This hurt like hell and almost made L cry. L said “It was bad. It was bad!” L at 3cm. Monitor wasn’t working properly… screwed around with that for a while.

8:00 – At much higher dosage, contractions (and pain) started.

8:45 – L asked for epidural and nurse started setup.

9:30 – Epidural finished – went in without a hitch. Great anesthetist – former IVF patient!

9:45 – Pain gone. L happy again.

10:00 – I went for food. Got salami sandwich on onion bun and BBQ chips from UCH’s deli. Returned to room w/ food. Called parents.

10:30 – Nurse checked L: minor progress. Nurse concerned about decline in E’s heart rate during contractions. OK if at 7-8cm. Problematic at 3cm.

11:00 – Reduced drip rate of Oxytocin. Seeing if this will reduce heart rate ‘dips.’ Although it hasn’t been mentioned, we are starting to think a C-section is coming. We shall see.

11:15 – ‘Pit drip’ stopped. Dr. Rousch (now on call; never seen before) called for consult. Libby’s now very nervous and worried – she’s shaking like a leaf. I’m a bit worried too and wish I could do something. :-(

Sunday, February 7, 2010

12:00am – Dr Rousch arrived. Not an ‘emergency’ now. Two options: 1) try ‘pit drip’ again (monitor closely; move to c-section), or 2) skip ahead to c-section now. We quickly made the decision to do the c-section for the benefit of L and E. I had already made my mind up on that front around 11:00. Called parents.

12:30 – We leave for OR. I wait outside while L is prepared for surgery.

~12:45 – I go into the OR.

12:52 – Emerson is born! 7 lbs. 5 oz. 20” long. All is well.

~1:15 – We return to L&D room.

1:30 – Called parents.

1:45 – L feeds E for the first time.

~2:30 – L moved to Mother/Baby room.

Bookmark and Share

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Emerson’s birth story…”

  1. Myndion Feb 17th 2010 at 7:28 pm

    What matters most is the both made it through. Sounds like it was quite a whirlwind. Hope L is recovering well!

  2. kateryon Feb 17th 2010 at 7:46 pm

    congrats on your new arrival!! when my water broke it was a “slow leak” as well, not quite what i had been imagining! they had me on petocin during labor and our little louise’s heartrate kept dropping when they tried to increase the dose, we ultimately ended up with a c-section as well.

Leave a Reply