Our Birth Story

Well, little Keegan Catherine is now busy enjoying her 1 week birthday in this big crazy world. And in honor of that, here is her birth story...

The plan was to begin our induction on Monday morning (the 17th) with cervical ripening gel and then to go home on Monday night for early labor and return Tuesday morning (the 18th) to start Pitocin and have this baby. Unfortunately, the baby's heart rate wasn't having enough accelerations for the doctors to feel comfortable giving me the gel. Instead, the midwife on call decided that we would just start Pitocin on Monday and get the show going since I was still only 1+ cm dilated and 70% effaced. We were a little surprised and unprepared, thinking that we would have one more night at home, but luckily we had all of our supplies with us and we were anxious to meet our little one. We were checked into labor and delivery and I started on a Pitocin drip as well as IV fluid. I was hooked up to monitors to track my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. Then the waiting started....

It was a long day and night of little sleep, contractions, walking the hospital halls, constant nurse visits and monitor readjustments. Timmy even went out and got us milkshakes to help pass the waiting time (I have a great husband!) By 6 o'clock Tuesday morning I was exhausted and I decided I really needed to get some rest because I would need it for delivery. The nurses gave me a shot of nubain. I can't sing the praises of this drug enough. It was like taking 6 shots of tequila without any of the horrible side effects. First I became giggly and then I happily became very sleepy and was finally able to get some rest. I definitely think it was the best decision for me. Throughout the day they continued upping they amount of Pitocin I was receiving. When I got to 4 or 5 centimeters (around 12 noon), the contractions were painful enough that I requested an epidural. I felt no guilt about this since I knew I was going to want it going into labor. The anesthesiologist was wonderful (and also pregnant and understanding) and all I felt was the stinging of the local anesthetic. Before I knew it, I was much more comfortable. I lost all feeling from my abdomen down, but was happy to still be able to feel my legs enough to move my body on my own. I was worried that everything would be limp, but glad that that wasn't the case. By 3 o'clock I was 7 cms and at 5 o'clock, I was surprised to be fully dilated and ready to push.

Rachel, one of the midwives who took care of us during this long labor, had already delivered 3 babies that day and was hoping that ours would be her fourth. Unfortunately, I was still pushing 2 hours later when all of the shifts changed and we got new nurses and midwives. Although I really had the pushing technique down, our little girl was in a posterior position or "sunny side up" and therefore had a much more difficult time passing through my pelvic bone. My usual midwife, Helen, took up the job that Rachel had to leave and it was nice to have someone I was so familiar with being there with me. Tim was the best coach and he held one of my legs while counting me through all of my pushes. Unfortunately, my contractions, even with the help of Pitocin, weren't occurring often enough to really make the baby progress between pushes. At 10 o'clock, the medical personnel had decided that I had been pushing for far too long and they were going to have to use the vacuum to assist our little girl on her way out. Along with this would come the dreaded episiotomy that I had insisted I did not want. I assured them I could continue pushing and luckily my attitude was positive enough that within minutes, I had made just the progress that I needed to. Everyone was amazing and so encouraging. Before I knew it, there was some slight burning and then I felt my whole body empty and I heard my little girl crying. It was absolutely the most surreal moment of my life. Tim and I were both crying and I just kept asking "Is she pretty?" I think I must have been unable to wrap my mind around the extraordinary thing that had just happened. Tim says she was blue when she first came out, but within seconds, she was pink and in my arms. Tim cut her cord and there we were, a brand new family.

We stayed in the hospital until Friday. I had developed a fever while I was pushing and so they needed to keep Keegan on IV antibiotics for 48 hours. It's been a huge transition being home, but we're all getting much more accustomed to eachother as each hour goes by. Tim has been absolutely amazing and my confidence is getting better every day. Breastfeeding has left me pretty sore to say the least. It's not easy, especially with the baby blues and hormonal craziness I've been experiencing, but she's just such a joy, it's hard for me to feel anything but total love for everything she does. We're just very very lucky new parents.

Scary Baby!

As my work day was wrapping up yesterday, I came to the realization that I hadn't felt Tazby move for almost all of the day. Now, I can't emphasize enough what an incredibly active baby we have here. I didn't want to be alarmed, but my midwife is always telling me that the baby should never slow down (which is what some people say will happen as you near your due date).

So, I gave my doctor's office a call, but of course by now it was after hours so I was connected with Brigham and Women's and the midwife there said they wanted me to come in and get monitored right away. I called Timmy and told him what was going on, but that everything was probably fine. He sounded so nervous I think he probably had enough adrenaline to run to the hospital faster than he could drive.

I hopped in a cab and went straight to the hospital. They took great care of me and immediately hooked me up to a bunch of monitors to track Tazby's little heartbeat and my contractions. It took her a little while, but after 3 glasses of apple juice, our little girl was back to her normal rambunctious self. Timmy raced to the hospital (even offering to get our labor and delivery bag from home on the way...I told him we wouldn't need it) and he was great at reassuring me that I had done the right thing by getting us both checked out.

Long story short, every thing's great. She's even been overly active today (which is much more reassuring than bothersome right now). I think it might have something to do with the stern talking-to Timmy gave her last night (don't worry, he read her a book right after :-) My midwife even called me at home before work this morning so she could have me come in and get monitored at my usual doc's office just for extra reassurance. Everything looked great. Despite the scare she gave us, she really came through in the end. I couldn't be happier or more relieved.

Only one more week to go until the big due date! Come on little Tazby!

UPDATES!

I know it's been a while since my last post. I certainly didn't mean to let it go this long, but thankfully I'm in the "honeymoon" period of my pregnancy and therefore don't have too many things to report on.

I recently switched doctors for convenience reasons and am thrilled with my new midwife (no, I'm not having an at-home, unmedicated birth...bring on the drugs as far as I'm concerned at this point!). Anyway, the point is, I'm really glad that I've switched and will be delivering at Brigham and Women's Hospital (yes, the same one where I was born!) I'm also pleased with the fact that I've only packed on 11.5 lbs. as of my 23 week appointment...not so bad from what I hear!

Tazby's doing great and she's moving like crazy these days. It's very reassuring to have a constant reminder that she's doing well and thriving in there. This Sunday was my very first Mother's Day (even though I'm only a mother-to-be I still think that I get to celebrate.) I have to say that the best part of the day was Tim finally being able to feel her kick. Lately, every time she's been kicking like crazy, I've tried to get him to feel it, but usually as soon as he gets close, she stops. This time though, she was running a marathon in there and he definitely didn't miss it. I can't wait until he starts feeling it more and more. Sometimes I feel bad that he doesn't get this time with her like I do. At least I know he'll be a wonderful father and probably never want to put her down! We also picked up some very cute baby things at Target. It's crazy to think that with medicine these days, if little Tazby was born today (knock on wood), there's a good chance that she would be just fine. I think I get more excited for her arrival every day. Also, my mom finally remembered that my due date was September 6th JUST LIKE MY LITTLE GIRL! WEIRD! I'm not sure why this blows me away, but it totally does.

I'd say the worst part about this time of the pregnancy is the allergies. I'm so used to popping a benadryl every night before bed when this time of year rolls around, but that's a no go for now so I'm living off of our new awesome ionic air filter...so far I have to give it a thumbs up. I'm sure you'll all be checking in every day for my allergy updates (yeah, right...I warned you that I didn't have much to report).

Unless, something miraculous happens in the next couple of days, my next post may just be about the ridiculously difficult time I've had finding a dress to fit my growing belly...that's ok though. It's worth it for our little girl! Happy Mother's Day to all you mommies and mommies-to be! You deserve it!