Lori's Birth Story

While I had an uncomplicated pregnancy, there was the usual myriad of minor complaints. The uncertainty over the continuation of the pregnancy in the beginning helped me to appreciate the privilege of creating a new life, as uncomfortable as it may be. By Saturday, at 39 weeks and 6 days, I felt beyond done. I began having regular contractions at 7 am that morning. They continued regularly throughout the day, but remained mild- noticeable but easily handled. Since I needed antibiotic treatment for the GBS positive result, I opted to get checked out at Labor and delivery when they were coming 3 minutes apart. After a few hours of monitoring the staff told me to go walk and come back in a few hours, as the contractions were not causing any cervical change. So, off I went to enjoy the Battalion Easter party at Happy Hollow. The contractions continued all day long, as we walked the PX and the neighborhood, but never increased in intensity. I went back to the L & D floor that afternoon, hoping some change had been made, but not expecting anything. I was dismayed to find out that there had been no progression. Dr. Skinner was on call and came in to discuss options. He offered to help me out with some pitocin or AROM- which was very tempting. John pulled out the monitoring graph he'd grabbed before we left that morning and the nurse and Dr. Skinner's eyes just about popped out of their heads! Apparently they kind of like to keep those things in your medical records ( : Dr. Skinner said I obviously had a good contraction pattern, they just weren't working effectively. After much discussion John and I decided to wait it out. We went home and the contractions fizzled out. After 10 hours of regular contractions, I was more than a little worn out, so we enjoyed a dinner out with my family and got one of our last good nights of rest.

Sunday we went to Stake Conference and saw the two OB's in our ward, Dr. Skinner and Dr. Fowers. Dr. Fowers approached me afterwards and asked if I was averse to induction. Dr. Skinner walked up and said, "I offered yesterday". I told them that, no, at this point in time, I wasn't. A day or two can really make a difference, and after a few episodes of false labor, hitting my due date, and having family in town for a limited time, I welcomed the opportunity. He told me to come in Monday morning and the anticipation began. We enoyed the rest of the Easter holiday looking forward to the welcoming of a new life shortly.

Monday morning, after a not so restful night, we arrived at the hospital at the bright and early hour of 5:45 am. We had a pleasant surprise when we were shown to LRDP room 1, which just happened to be the room where we delivered Sophia nearly 20 months ago. After hours of boring admittance procedures I was examined at 8 am. I was still at 3 cm, partially effaced, and baby was not yet engaged at a -3 station. At 9:20 they began a pitocin drip at it lowest setting. Contractions began immediately, relatively strong. After quite a while they began to slow and I went walking to help things progress. Strangely, walking slowed them down. Throughout the morning and early afternoon contractions continued, but I could still walk, talk, and even read through them. Every once in a while the nurses would up the drip just a little bit and they would kick into gear again, only to slow down after a while. I watched The Odd Couple, rocked, used the birth ball and generally just waited around, working through each contraction. At 4 pm I was examined and was at 4 cm (1 lousy cm of progress for the whole day!). Baby was comfortable in the womb, it appeared. I was, however, 75% effaced and baby was finally engaged, so Dr. Fowers ruptured my membranes. Stronger contractions began pretty quickly after that, with the watery cushion removed. At 5:20 pm I was checked, feeling pretty confident I was making good progress because labor was getting pretty intense. I was sooo frustrated to hear I was only at 5 cm! But, I was 90% effaced and baby had moved down to 0 station. After this point things got pretty fuzzy, with contractions coming right on top of each other and hitting hard. When I started feeling shaky, nauseous and more pressure I asked to be checked again, a little bit after 6. I was only at 6 cm! Luckily, I had two of the best birth attendants a girl could ask for, my experienced labor coach husband, and my Mother helping me through. At this point I was losing it and asked for the Epidural. The anasthesiologist had gone home so they called him, but warned me that the baby may very well arrive before him. I went from a 6 to a 9 in approximately 20 minutes. That was fun. The urge to push hit hard, and before I was quite ready to push. Dr. Fowers ran to the room next door to check another woman, who was also ready to begin pushing. I remember at this point wondering what he was thinking as I knew this baby was ready to come! I told the nurses I needed to push, and there was no getting around it this time. They ran to grab Dr. Fowers, and it seemed like everyone was taking their sweet time breaking down the bed, gowning up, etc., as I was panting through contractions, trying my darnedest not to just push that baby out right then. Finally, it was time!

I pushed twice and out popped a little head, no crowning, just a pop right through that ring of fire, John was saying, "You did it!". Then some more panting and trying to gently deliver the body and I felt a wonderful release and John exclaimed "It's a GIRL!". What a moment! I believe I said "Thank God that's over!" and "Praise God" when I found out it was the sweet little girl we had hoped and dreamed for. Immediately after Daddy cut her cord he placed her on my chest. We enjoyed a lovely hour together of bonding, examining each little finger and hair. After over an hour, they took care of some routine procedures and the kids came up to see their newest sibling. For an induced birth, it was still marvelously natural and reminiscent of the terrific experience I had with Sophia.

Lori is getting prettier each day (not that I'm biased) and is such a mellow baby, a good nurser and a good sleeper. She does scream through diaper changes and doesn't love the car seat, but she is a terrific girl. We feel so blessed to have her in our family.