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Sunday, September 23, 2012

Riley's Birth Story

 
 
 
 
Well, it's been awhile since my last post.  I've been meaning to update this thing ever since we arrived home from the hospital but due to sleep deprivation, napping always prevailed as THE  priority during any "free time"....so, finally...here's Riley's birth story (mostly told by daddy/Dr. Toby Rockefeller...as you'll be able to tell).
 
 
"Birth Day Thoughts:
06:00 – Awake after a TERRIBLE night of sleep. I tossed and turned all over the place. I’ve never done well with anticipation of big events (e.g. vacations, tests, birth of my first child, etc).
07:58 – Just arrived to the hospital for our 7:00am check in time… Yeah, we’re that late. The front desk lady was pretty rude, but we eventually got registered. We had to wait for the front desk lady to register the 8:00am appointment first. She didn’t care that the traffic was atrocious.
10:00 – Oxytocin started after 3 painful attempts at placing an IV. Apparently she was a little dehydrated so they gave her a liter of LR. Man, I really hope this goes well…
10:15 – Bridget struggled out of bed to straighten her hair in front of the mirror. Unbelievable…
10:30 – We prayed together that Riley and Bridget would stay safe. God is sovereign over all things, including the delivery of his handiwork. Can’t wait to see what He’s been knitting for the last 40 weeks.
10:45 – Contractions are starting to get a little stronger. Now coming every 4 min and lasting 2 min.
12:00 – Mom is pacing the room, intermittently watching the monitor. We’re talking about Mom’s deliveries, and apparently, I was the perfect child. Unfortunately, I was born 8 days late and I seemed to have passed this trait on to Riley. Contractions are becoming a little more painful and frequent.
1:20 – I step away and grab a bite to eat.
3:00 – Nothing is happening now. Seems like everything has stalled out… Did we make a mistake?
3:30 – Dr. Philpott came in to talk about our options if Bridget gets to 20 on the Pitocin in the next hour and things still haven’t changed.  We can try an artificial rupture of membranes and put ourselves on the “we’re gonna have a baby in the next 18 hours come hell or high water” pathway, or we can go home and try again in another week or so if things don’t take off naturally in the meantime. Needless to say, I was pretty frustrated at this point, because no one had any strong opinions. We all just looked at each other and said, I could go either way…
3:30 - 4:40 – I read everything from midwivery blogs to Cochrane Reviews and I still haven’t convinced myself of the perfect decision. I’m mentally weighing the risks/benefits with no real research to guide me. I hate when medicine is more art than science… Midwives might say “you never should’ve tried the induction in the first place because there’s no such thing as a baby that’s too big, and Pitocin is made by the devil himself,” OB/Gyn’s would probably say, “go ahead with the AROM and see what happens. If she fails to progress and gets a c-section that’s not the end of the world,” and the research I was reading claimed something in the middle: Primigravida AROM causes more fetal distress than SROM, but inductions prevent meconium aspirations and deaths… So, if we proceed with induction and do the AROM, I feel that the risk of c-section is unchanged, the risk of infection from prolonged rupture is higher, and the risk of meconium aspiration is lower versus going home to wait for SROM or a more receptive time to induce. Add to that the fear that insurance may balk at paying for an induction under the diagnosis of “high risk for cephalo-pelvic-disproportion” if we just walk away later in the day. I mean Riley’s head is changing faster than Bridget’s pelvis. How could the risk for CPD be present in the morning and not in the afternoon? I can hear them now, “if you went home, then there obviously wasn’t a real indication for induction.” They may be right…
4:40 – Bridget’s Pitocin is turned up to 20 microunits/min and the countdown begins. We’ll give it an hour and recheck her cervix. If there isn’t any change, then we’ll be forced to make a decision. Pretty sure I’ll push for going home…as crazy as that sounds.
5:00 – Contractions are coming pretty regular now and they seem to be more painful. Wish this would’ve happened hours ago!!
5:30 – Contractions are pretty painful! Bridget is crushing my hand and she’s telling everyone to shut up while she’s making a floppy face and blowing away the pain…
5:45 – Cervix rechecked and we’re 5-6cm, 90% effaced, 0 station. Things have changed…some. The nurse asks for a decision and I voice all my concerns. Bridget is laboring away. We’ll wait and see what Dr. Philpott thinks of the change…
6:00 – Bridget’s contractions are considerably more uncomfortable. Dr. Philpott basically said we can do whatever we think is best. The nurse is wishy-washy. Ahhhh! I ask Bridget one more time if she has an opinion (which she didn’t have before) and she now seemed adamant about finishing what we started. She wanted her water broken and she wanted Riley OUT! We prayed it over before making it our final decision. In the middle of the prayer I had the realization that my anxieties about the delivery would never go away, there is no way to reduce the risks to zero, and I just needed to trust God’s faithfulness. The decision to induce was made after much prayer, so why second guess it now? Onward!
7:30 – Contractions are regular and intense. No AROM yet because the Dr is busy, so we checked the cervix again. 7cm and 100%!! We turned down the Pitocin to 10 and plan to ride this thing to SROM!
9:00 – SROM occurred and it was clear. Contractions are really good and we have a great system of rubbing every inch of Bridget’s body while she blows the pain away…
10:00 – Bridget got in the shower for some warm water/relaxation. It was actually quite nice, and she seems to be doing a little better.
10:45 – Bridget is REALLY tired and the contractions are starting to get to her. It’s time for that epidural. She seems defeated, but I’m really impressed with her tolerance so far!
11:10 – Epidural is in and she’s getting some relief. We checked her cervix after laying back down and she’s completely dilated with some of Riley’s hair visible!!
11:20 – She’s now feeling numb all over and wants the epidural taken out. Hahaha. Grass is always greener…
11:45 – Bridget’s starting to push!!
12:07 – Riley is literally at the threshold! Dr. Philpott is on the way in! Bridget actually asked to use a crotch mirror to see Riley’s head! Mom is taking off-centered pictures!
12:17 – Riley Anne Rockefeller is born, healthy! Bridget has minimal tears/tears and is so beautiful! Pictures galore. She weighs 6 lbs/12oz, is 19 inches long, and had APGARS of 9 and 9! God is good…"
As for my thoughts...I can only simply say, it was the most AMAZING feeling to finally have her here!!  I endured hours of pain (was pretty proud of myself that I made it to 9 cm without the epidural!), was beyond thrilled that we didn't have to have a c-section (as many thought I would), thanked God that she came out screaming, kept wondering why she had dark hair :), but above all else, now know what love at first sight truly means! 
 
I am currently loving my job as full-time mommy & wouldn't trade this for anything. We have prayed for her for years & now have her in our arms....yes, we're completely & utterly in L-O-V-E!
 
 
 
Daddy's little girl...
 

 
About to head home from the hospital...
 

 
Hating the carseat...
 
And we're still trying to decide who she looks like...thoughts??

Mommy
Daddy
Riley
 
Riley

Riley


Cutie Pa-Tootie


And don't worry...more updates to come such as: 1wk stats, 2 wk stats & first bath...but right now I need to go change a blow-out diaper.  ;)

 


1 comment:

  1. Love reading her story of getting here! And I'd say she's a little mixture of you both but more so Bridget =) Soooo cute and can't wait to meet her someday!

    ReplyDelete