Abbigail Skye Finally Arrives!

This is going to be a long one! Here's Abby's Baby Story!

We checked in to the Specialty Hospital at 5 p.m. on Tues, Dec.1 to begin my induction. It brought back memories of when we went to have Bella! Dr. Arze was there, but he was in a delivery so we had to wait till about 7 p.m. to get started.

He came in and checked me. The monitor showed I was having contractions, but they were so minor I wasn't even feeling them. I was only dilated 1 cm so he placed Cervadil in my cervix. It's a medication that's in a long string that they placed up inside you, and no, it is not pleasant! Within ten minutes I was feeling the contractions. I had to lay still with no food or drink for two hours, but then was able to get up, use the bathroom, and have a small snack. Mostly I was thirsty so my Sprite was delicious! About ten thirty the nurse gave me an Ambien and we settled in for the night.

I slept on and off till about 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, and by 4 a.m. I was having regular contractions and sleep was out of the question! My mom arrived at 6 a.m. and my contractions got steadily longer, harder, and more frequent. A little after six I got a shot of Stadol for pain. It doesn't really take away the pain, just takes the edge off and makes you a little drowsy. At 7a.m. the doctor's change shifts, so Dr. Tally-Horne arrived. She checked me and I was 2cm, so they put me on a drip of Pitocin to help along my contractions. After that the fun really began! The contractions really began to intensify. Dr. Tally-Horne advised me to hold off on the epidural as long as I could because I'd need it most at the end.

From 7a.m. to 10 a.m. the contractions continued to get worse. Somewhere in that time period my water broke. When my nurse checked me, she noticed my fluid had myconium (sp?) in it, which means the baby has had a bowel movement in utero. This occurs either when the baby is overdue, or placed under stress. Dr. Tally-Horne said because of that, once the head was delivered I would have to stop pushing for her to suction the baby out really well.

Now the fun part. Okay people, my hat is officially off to women who give birth without epidurals! I don't think I'm really a wimp, but by about 9:30 the contractions were so bad that every time I had one my legs would jerk! My nurse called the anesthesiologist, who had a medical student with him. Two nursing students came it too, I could have cared less. I just wanted to be out of pain. The anesthesiologist made mom and Kenneth leave the room while he placed the epidural.

Five minutes later I was in heaven! It felt so good to be out of that pain! The nurse asked if I was feeling okay and I said yes. She was almost to the door when a wave of nausea hit me. I looked at the monitor and noticed my blood pressure had dropped to something like 78/59! I called the nurse back, she came running with a pan for me to puke in. She put some medication in my I.V. and within 4 or 5 minutes I felt better and my blood pressure was back up.

That was all at about 10:15. Very soon after that I began feeling pressure with each contraction. At about 10:45 I was completely dilated and the baby was in position, so my nurse called everyone in, and boy did we have a crowd: the nursery nurse, a respiratory therapist, my nurse, another nurse, Dr. Talley-Horne, and two nursing students!

At 11:01 I started pushing, and after 6 or 7 pushes her head was out and I had to stop so they could suction her really well- that was not fun. Even with the epidural I could feel quite a bit of pressure, pain, and stinging. I remember just thinking , "Get her out! Get her out!" When Dr. Tally-Horne pulled her out I felt a tremendous release of pressure (mentally and physically!) I ended up with a 2nd degree episiotomy, just like with Bella. Only this time, instead of pushing for 45 minutes, I pushed for NINE! I started pushing at 11:01 and she was out at 11:10. I was determined to get her out!

She began to cry right away. They wiped her down and the respiratory therapist put a tiny tube all the way down into her stomach to suction all the myconium out. A few minutes later I got to hold her for the first time!

She is beautiful, she has jet black hair. She doesn't look like Bella at all, she is beautiful in her own perfect little way. I will post some pictures in a day or so.

All in all I couldn't have asked for a better delivery and am feeling very blessed!