For now...

Before too much time lapses since Max's birth, I wanted to get at least SOMETHING about the experience on here. We've been busy packing up for our move back east, preparing for Christmas vacation in Snowflake and Vegas, and taking care of Max... so I haven't found the time to write down the birth experience in detail. Luckily, Nate jotted down a list of events as they took place once we checked into the hospital. For what it's worth...

BIRTH TIMES

- Arrived at 8:55 P.M.
- Checked in and into room 318 by 9:15 – Nurse Paula
- Triage applied to Em’s belly to monitor baby and Em’s blood pressure (it was abnormally high – a bit of the jitters perhaps?)
- 10:30 PM First gel applied
- 12:00-1:00 AM Em is able to walk around, Nate gets stuff out of car.
- 1:00-2:00 AM Second gel applied, Em on her left side, contractions increased in intensity, bloody show making an appearance.
- Nate sleeps 12:30-4:00 (off and on)
- 3:00-4:00 AM Walk around, Em sits with half awake Nate
- 4:00-5:00 AM Third gel applied, Em on her right side, contractions worse, Max punching and kicking the heck out of Em’s uterus.
- 5:15 AM Paula brings birthing tub in.
- 5:30-6:00 AM Em and Nate snack and get through several unfun contractions.
- 6:15-8:00 AM Em gets in the tub, Nate sleeps a bit more
- 7:15 AM Changing of the guard. Paula goes home to sleep. Jamie the new RN arrives. Em says she smells like smoke.
- 7:30 AM Em’s breakfast arrives. Cereal, toast, eggs & ham. Orange juice. Em eats some of it. Nate adds peanut butter to some of the toast for Em.
- 8:15 AM Janice (midwife) makes her arrival and opens one of the blinds to get a bit of light into the room. Puts Em back on monitor for 20 minutes. Recommends a light pitocin drip beginning at 8:45. Em is 4 cm and 80% effaced. Janice "strips" Em membranes. Everything looks good; Max is still active.
- 8:45 AM Jaime puts Em on the pitocin drip – level 1. Going to increase it up to 6.
- 9:00-11:00 AM Em gets checked several more times – at 5 cm, 80-90% effaced. Internal checks more painful than contractions. Jamie is not very gentle.
- 12:00 PM Em gets lunch – steak on bread with gravy, salad. Blah.
- 12:15 PM Janice has the tub emptied, refilled, and moved to the other side of the room.
- 1:00 PM Family arrives – Liz leaves Nash and Haven with Sarah at our apartment, picks up Carol and Bob and they come to the hospital.
- 2:00 PM Jamie gives Em an internal exam that sends her through the roof – she digs her fingers into Nate’s hand. Not very gentle – did she forget that Em doesn’t have an epidural?
- 3:00 PM Em gets back in the tub. She feels progress and the tub relaxes her quite a bit. Nate takes a nap.
o While in the tub, Em’s contractions continue with strength but nothing strong enough to get Janice excited.
- 4:45 PM Em gets out of the tub in preparation for Janice’s exam.
- 5:00 PM Janice says that no progress has happened – still 5 cm. Going to start back on pitocin up to level six. Em is not excited.
- 5:00-10:00 PM Em has contractions – Nate helps her most of the time - massage, pressure, positive verbal reinforcement. Liz also helps here and there, massaging feet.
- 6:00 PM Em receives dinner – spaghetti, salad, veggies, canned peaches. She nibbles and Nate eats the rest.
- 7:00 PM Jamie is off her shift. Here comes Jessica. At first she chews gum obnoxiously, but eventually she becomes a favorite (except for her unilateral decision the next morning to take Em off of pitocin).
- 10:30 PM Dr. Almos comes in to give Em an epidural. We like him, very slow and thorough in inserting the needles.
o Since the epidural, Em has been itchy, a bit of nausea...
o Once epidural takes hold, Em gets a catheter.
- 11:30-4:00 PM-AM Em is finally able to get some sleep. Nate also sleeps, wakes up here and there during the night to check on Em. Jessica is very proactive about adjusting Em in the bed, emptying her catheter bag, and she got the empty tub out of the room.
- 4:39 AM Em’s water breaks while Jessica is doing a routine exam – finally! Jessica makes the decision to stop the pitocin to see if Em will contract by herself. Em doesn’t progress.
- 4:30-7:15 AM Em and Nate are able to sleep a little bit more.
- 7:00 AM Jessica is off of her shift. Some new chick and a student chick are now the nurses. The nurse jokes have started to recycle. Kill Nate now. At least they brought him breakfast.
- 7:00 AM Em gets breakfast – she can’t eat it because she has an epidural. Nate eats it happily. Crappy pancakes, sausage, eggs, rice crispies and milk, and orange juice.
- 7:20 AM Em starts back up on pitocin.
- 7:45 AM Janice comes to check up on Em. 9 cm and 100% effaced and Max’s head is a 0 or -1.
- 8:10 AM Em starts feeling rectal pressure; Max is descending.
- 9:00 AM Liz and Carol arrive.
- 9:15 AM Janice came in and said that she would check Em at 11:00 to see if she is ready to push.
- 9:30, 10:30 AM Em throws up bile twice which she says relieves her nausea.
- 10:45 AM Janice comes in – no improvement in her cervix. She inserts a catheter to measure the strength of the contractions. Max’s head is in a good position, but Janice found a second sac of fluid that hadn’t burst. She burst it and clear fluid came out. Calls for an increase in pitocin – she thinks that things are going to progress.
- 11:05 AM Bob, Nash and Haven arrive.
- 11:15 AM Increase pitocin drip.
- 12:30 PM Em starts feeling an urge to poop a cantelope.
- 1:05 PM Janice comes to check Em – she is 10 cm, 100% dilated. Ready to push.
- 1:10 PM Em starts pushing – nurses Meredith and Maggie (student) help Janice. Em makes four pushes per contraction – about every 1.5-2 minutes. She feels it in her face.
- 2:10 PM Em has been pushing and Janice can see Max’s head (Nate did too), but Em is tired and they think a c-section might be in order.
- 2:30 PM After some breath-pushing through contractions Em is done. Max’s heart rate drops after every contraction. His head is lodged in her pubic bone. After 40 hours of contractions, Em is tired. Doctors come in for Em to sign releases for a c-section.
- 2:30-2:50 Em is prepped for a c-section. Nate has to wait in a separate area after washing his hands and putting on a two-piece gown thingie.
- 2:55 C-section begins. Nate is brought in and placed on a bench near Em’s head. They won’t let him watch it.
- 3:00 Janice says that they almost have him. After a large suction sound that is Max’s head disengaging from Em’s pubic bone, Max is born at 3:02.
- 3:03-3:10 Nurses bring gray Max to a table to clean him off, get him breathing, and to get the fluid out of his mouth, lungs, and nose. The doctors and Janice start sewing up Em. Nate starts crying and gently touches him. They let him carry Max, who now has a diaper and a hat over to see Em. A nurse takes two pictures of the newest Dunford family.