Elijah: the birth story

two days old, going home

Elijah Ernest
born August 31st, 4:17 pm
19 inches long, 8lbs 2oz
and I think it's hilarious that this date wasn't even a choice on my birthday poll. Oops.
 Now for those who are interested in all the details, here is his birth story!

                    I had a doctor’s appointment set for the 30^th, and we had reason to believe they might keep me there (my doctor was really worried I'd have the baby in the car on the way there, and so was I a little!), so we arranged sitters for all of our kids. We took Josh and Jonah to the house of someone from church in town, and we arranged for one of Joseph’s coworkers to pick up Elora from school and to bring her to Faith at the end of the day.

                At my last appointment the previous week, Doctor Berdahl had expressed concern about our commute and my shorter labors. She had offered to strip my membranes and keep me there then, but after she checked me and realized I wasn’t even dilated, she said that wasn’t a possibility (as I expected). Induction was considered an unnecessary risk because I’ve had a previous cesarean, unless of course I went over my date. She had me come in Tuesday to reassess everything, and because of her previous statements I thought she might keep me. She actually wanted me to come on Monday, but I really wanted to be there for Elora’s first day of school, so we changed it.

                At the appointment, she reassessed me and said there was more effacement but still no dilation (I told her there never was beforehand) and she said if they did do an induction they had to have the whole O.R. staff on hand, just in case I had any problems. She went to talk to the doctor on call that day and she said she was willing to induce me, but the staff wasn’t all there that day. At first it sounded like they’d have me come back in after several days, which defeated the whole purpose, but then in the end they said I could come in early the next morning.

                We got a hotel room at the Days Inn nearby, since it was actually cheaper for us to stay overnight than to drive home and back again. (Even though really, we can’t afford either). Also, easier for us since we had the kids all being watched already! I was really worried about being induced, since I’ve always been so against it in the past, but we really saw no alternative with our situation…oh did I mention the babysitters would be leaving for Memorial Day weekend, which is when we were now afraid the baby would come?  Waiting was becoming even less of an option as time went by.

                So Joseph and I got to work trying to get the labor started naturally. We walked all around Safeway next door where we bought some doughnuts and rolls to eat, we  looked at the Redbox movies in front of Walgreens (then remembered hotels don’t usually have dvd players), etc. Later, we bought our dinner at the deli in the Safeway, then took it to a pretty little park, where we took some nice pictures of my last day being pregnant.

It might have been better if I had somewhere other than the car windowsill to rest the camera!

After we ate, we walked around some more as it got darker, and while my contractions weren’t regular, they were definitely pretty strong while we walked.

                Early the next morning we went over to the hospital. Both my doctors were there (there are three total, so I know all of them, unlike my previous births!) The doctor checked me and said I was dilated to a three! I felt so relieved. She broke my water, which didn’t feel like anything, and they left me to see if labor would start on its own. I suspected it would, since there was no dilation the day before! Joseph got two movies at the Redbox we’d seen the night before, and we settled in to watch the new release, Limitless,  then later we watched most of Joseph’s choice, Mars Needs Moms. By 9:30 AM when they checked me I was only at a four, but they were willing to let me wait longer, and by noon I was dilated to an eight, which surprised much of the staff.

                This time they listened to me about how I go quickly in the last part of labor, and they got me started on a drip right away so they could have the anesthesiologist come in before I was ready to push. I remembered being so miserable and angry with Jonah’s birth, that I was certain I wanted an epidural this time. Even though I wanted it all natural with Elora's and was mad that didn't work out!

                It was interesting to me that the entire staff at the hospital- including this specialist- were all female. I messed the anesthesiologist up at one point by reaching back to point out something on my back, and I felt like an idiot but she didn’t get upset about having to start over again. There weren‘t any problems with the epidural, and we layed back to wait a little longer.

                Around one, someone came in to drain my bladder, and she decided to check my cervix before she did, just in case. To her surprise, she said I was definitely at a ten and all she could feel was the baby’s head in there. She went to get my doctor at the clinic next door before she did any draining, because they were all sure that the full bladder was the only thing holding him in there, and they were all prepared for him to come popping out the minute she emptied it. When they went to get her, Joseph asked if he should restart the movie, and I looked at him incredulously, asking if he’d heard the part about my being at a ten! (He didn’t get to watch the rest until that evening, though I couldn’t believe he was worrying about it now!)              

"This is a piece of cake!"

       
At some point I said something about this being the easiest labor I’d ever had, but I immediately felt like I shouldn’t have said that, because I knew it wasn’t nearly over yet, and I’d probably just jinxed it! The doctor came in to help me start pushing after they drained the bladder, and she said he was moving down very slowly; she could feel his head and his ear right away. Soon we discovered that he was facing sunny-side-up, which she said usually makes the pushing phase last a little longer, but the baby wasn’t in any distress so we weren’t in any hurry.

Then she decided after a while that my epidural might be a little too strong, because I couldn’t feel anything when I was pushing, even when the doctor tried to help by applying pressure with her hands.  It was weird too, because they put my legs up for the pushing and while I could feel my right leg a bit- like Joseph’s hand on my foot and leg- the left leg was completely numb, so I was a bit startled to turn and see my leg up in the air when I was picturing it just lying down on the bed.
                Then they had the epidural turned down so that I could push more efficiently, and shortly the doctor said she could tell a difference in the strength of my pushing now that I could feel it a little bit better. She said the baby’s head seemed to be stuck on the pelvic bone, though she said it looked like there was plenty of room for him to get out if he could just turn his head a bit. With each push, she says he’d wiggle his head back and forth, but it wasn’t really moving anymore. Sadly, the epidural continued to loose strength as time went on. Around two pm, I really started to feel uncomfortable pressure on the right side of my torso, then it got much more painful, and finally it was spreading to both sides. It seems to me that when I can feel the whole strength of labor, I am a much less efficient pusher because it hurts too much!

The baby continued to endure well, but after another hour of pushing, he hadn’t budged a bit. She decided to try the vacuum assist, since I mentioned we’d used it on some of our other births. She explained that his head was not only pointed up, but he kept extending his neck instead of tucking his chin, so he was presenting the widest part of his head, which not only made his passage harder, it also made it less likely the vacuum thing would work, since the wrong part of his head was available for her to work with. She said we might consider using forceps if the vacuum didn’t work, but I was a bit leery of that option, as I’d heard horror stories of the damage they might cause. (Though others might feel the same about a vacuum!)

They had to turn up the epidural again so that I wouldn’t be hurt while they used the suction cup on the baby, so we pushed for a while as the medicine gained strength again. Then we started pushing with the vacuum around three in the afternoon. She kept saying we were just going to do it once or twice, but she wanted to get the baby out the right way just as much as I did, so she kept trying! She tried to manually move his head at one point, but he just budged a few centimeters, thus the two different circles on his head when he was born.

Finally, she acknowledged that the vacuum wasn’t working, and said since it hadn’t moved him at all, she doubted forceps would do any better, so she asked if we could do a c-section. I could tell Joseph was really upset, but by this point I felt very calm about it, and knew it was the best option at this time.

It was a very different feeling from when they pushed the c-section with Elora’s birth, when I felt like they were treating me like I was stupid. This time, I felt the doctor had tried everything in her power to help the baby come the right way, and that she was asking me instead of telling me to go with the surgery. So this was all decided around 3:50, and they had to start prepping me for that.

They gave Joseph some scrubs to change into, and started wheeling me to the O.R. room, which wasn’t so traumatic because this time I knew what to expect. They tried to give me some anti-acid medicine to drink while we were in the elevator. They said it was in case I had to be put under for some reason, which would put me at risk for aspiration (Throwing up and breathing in my vomit) so this was supposed to neutralize the ph levels in my stomach. Unfortunately, the medicine itself tasted like bile! I took one sip and quickly handed it back, saying, “I can’t drink this,” and that moment I threw up all over the place. Bleah.

In the operating room they took off my soiled gown and got me all ready, setting up the blue screen so I couldn’t see my abdomen, laying my arms out to either side, and turning up the epidural medicine for the surgery. They pinched me stomach a few times to test how strong it was, though I was little worried, remembering how quickly I’d been able to feel pain when they’d turned it down earlier!

 Joseph came in and sat by my head, and I asked him to get the camera ready so that when they lifted the baby out he could take a picture of him. Poor Joseph misunderstood me and actually stood up and looked over the screen, catching a glimpse of the open abdomen, them tugging on skin and pushing the baby out! The lady sitting next to him (yes, the whole OR staff was also female) asked if he was okay, and told him he should sit down because his face was white and he looked like he was going to faint! I bet he would have too, he freaks out when anyone even gets a cut!

Finally at 4:17 little Elijah (or Eli) was out, and they took him to the other side of the room to get him cleaned up and to test his Apgar scores.

the color version of this picture is more disturbing...

Then Joseph was allowed to bring him over to me so I could look at him. The baby was crying in a high-pitched voice (much higher than our other babies have had) but when I said his name and talked to him, he stopped crying immediately and looked at my face. It was so cute! Of course, it might not have been my familiar voice that soothed him, but rather the dark-framed glasses I happened to be wearing.

Then took him to a different room to weigh him. I thought it was weird they didn’t have a scale in the room there, but at least they let Joseph come too.  Joseph got to go out with the baby while they stitched me up, and the doctors and staff all talked about how well I heal, because they couldn’t even find my scar from my previous c-section with Elora.
So far, Elijah and I seem to be doing fine! He had to bring a bilirubin blanket home over the weekend, but he's fine now, and I seem to be healing quickly. We're just glad to have our little boy home! Here are a few more pictures from the hospital and shortly after:

proud daddy in the O.R.

meeting the baby for the first time

baby in the early morning

daddy and baby the next morning

His poor head! Don't worry, it's already healing and almost gone.

I love how it looks like he's smiling back at them!

proud siblings

Jonah is not the baby anymore!