Arriving on Time- LaRayne's Birth Story

September 3rd

I had been having contractions since 9am and the furthest they had ever been apart were 10 minutes. They weren’t overly strong but I could tell they meant something. I was also starting to get rather short tempered, which is a sign that I’m suppressing more pain than I’d like to admit too. Mom had called around 8pm and based on what was happening and how I was doing she decided it was time to come on down. If she ended up being early it was okay, but she didn’t want to miss it.

9:30 pm - Arrived at hospital

The monitors where hooked up and we had an interesting surprise. I wasn’t haven’t contractions every 10 minutes, they were every 2-4 minutes. I guess I really was ignoring my pain… oops. We were informed that my doctor Dr. Cimino was out of town until Monday and that Dr. Petersen was covering for him. Dr. Petersen requires full monitoring and IV fluids at all times. This was very much not the delivery I wanted, I left a doc for this, but Rayne wasn’t going to wait.

11:30 pm - Decided to stay and deliver baby - 2 cm dilated and 60% effaced

We knew that it would be harder to labor on the monitors and it wasn’t what we had planned but that’s birth for you. Also when we were told I was only 2cm dilated we started to have concerns. I was 2cms at my appointment on Monday and I had been having decent contractions most of the week. Fred and I had been trying everything to augment labor naturally. That day we walked nearly 3 miles at the mall. With all this work and still only 2 cm the idea of having to medically augment labor became a real possibility.

September 4th

2:00 am - Mom arrives

My sweet mother drove through the night to help us through labor. And she was put right to work. Helping to massage my back, rotate my hip and just simply comforting me to help me get some rest. Mom and Fred took turns supporting my back while I was bouncing on the birthing ball and rubbing my hands to keep them warm.

4:30 am - Nurse Beth does pelvic exam during contraction that stimulates labor

It worked, but it hurt too. The nurse wanted to do more but I was determined that I could get labor to progress and it not be so painful.

6:00 am - Dilated to 3 cm and 80% effaced!

Slowly but surely there was progress. But the monitors were really starting to get in the way. The one that is for contractions was absolutely horrible. The belt was so tight that every time I had a contraction it would push into my abdomen and I would feel like I needed to throw up. It was bad enough that I was starting to have a fibro flare right around the monitor. I ripped it off at one point and told the nurse, I don’t care what the doc says that belt isn’t going back on. Eventually the nurse brought in some large wide surgical tape and taped the monitor to my belly. That was a whole lot less pressure. It still hurt some but nothing like it did before. I noticed that having either monitor on cause pressure and made the contractions feel worse. But that could just be me.

9:00 am - Dilated to 4 cm and 90% effaced!

6 Hours on the birthing ball were paying off. The doctor said that I could go off monitor for a while and take a walk around the floor. We figure Dr. Petersen gave into my no monitor desire because I was finally progressing and if I can get my water to break on my own it’s one less thing she has to do. Honestly I didn’t care her reason I was just glad to be off the dumb things.

9:30 - 10:45 am Contractions changed to sharp pains and hard to breathe through

I just thought the contractions were getting stronger like everyone said they would. Slowly I was getting better at working through the contractions. Keeping my breathing steady, not too shallow and not too deep. Thank goodness mom was there to help guide me. At this point I had pretty much been awake for 24 hours and what few brain cells I have were certainly not working.

2:00 pm - Took a walk around labor and delivery to stretch muscles

My poor legs, by this point I had been sitting up, sitting on a birthing ball or walking for 12 hours or so. For the first time in my pregnancy my legs and feet were swollen. After one trip around the L&D Floor I was ready to head back to my room. Sadly I couldn’t get comfortable lying down so I was still up on a birthing ball but that is less pressure than standing.

1:30 pm - Having trouble breathing, decided to administer pain medication Nubian to alleviate pain

Oh these were just awful contractions. I had lost the strength to work with the contractions. They were just pain and they were working me. Every contraction was unable to breathe, like a vice was placed around my chest. I would break into tears and only after the contraction was over was I able to talk or breathe again. The fibromyalgia was rearing its ugly head, coupled with exhaustion, my body was giving way. Mom noticed the extreme trouble I was having and she informed me it was time to get something for the pain. Had she not been there I probably would have kept going like that for another hour before recognizing I needed help. And that’s not because Fred doesn’t care or wouldn’t have noticed the trouble I was having but he was trying really hard to be supportive of the birth I wanted. So he would have let me call the shot.

Once the Nubain was in I was able to really relax and I even dozed for 20 minutes. The longest I had slept in nearly 30 hours. I could still feel the contractions but since I could breathe through them I felt a new energy and that I just might make it through delivery alive. Extreme and irrational thinking I know, but what else is new.

2:00 pm - Doctor Petersen arrives and says no more Nubain, LaRayne did not react well, if I want to keep doing pain meds we have to do an epidural

The Nubain put LaRayne to sleep too. But it made her heart rate drop a little too low for the comfort of the doctors. It was not dangerous but low enough and often enough that it was concerning. It took me a few minutes to process is new information. Especially since I was tired and drugged, but thankfully mom and Fred were there to help me talk it all through.

2:15 pm - Decided to go 100% medical, epidural and the doctor breaking water

It didn’t take a lot of talking to come to this decision. We all knew that my body was tired and I just wasn’t progressing very well on my own. I’d made a grand 2cms in 14 hours. The baby and I were going to need medical help to get through this. Our bodies just weren’t communicating and working together.

2:30 pm - Epidural is administered

Thank goodness for the Nubain, which was pretty much gone by that point but I wasn’t in such agony that was easy to sit up and take the little pinch that comes with the epidural. And really that’s about all that hurt and then some pressure with it going in. I did feel like smacking the anesthesiologist. He walked in and said “Why anyone would want to feel pain is beyond me, and its nuts.” Just because he has an advanced degree doesn’t mean he has the right to insult my choices. Ug doctors.

3:00 pm – Pitocin drip is started and water is broken by Dr Petersen

Pitocin was interesting. They started me on a does that was too high and I started to feel clammy and sick. Luckily Dr. Petersen was standing in the doorway and notice that I very quickly turned a pale gray. They got me on my side, brought my head down, and checked my blood pressure. My blood pressure had dropped to just below normal. They leveled the pitocin and my pressure started to come up. Was stabilized they put in a catheter and broke my water. Didn’t feel either, which was kind of cool.

4:50 pm - Dilated to 7cm

This was a relief to hear. It would have been awful to do all of that medication and not make some serious progress. I wasn’t really feeling the contractions at this point. But I was noticing that every time a contraction showed up on the monitor I’d kind of half black out and I’d feel the need to take a deep breath. It was a very strange feeling and I complained about it almost every time. I didn’t like it at all.

5:40 pm - Started having oxygen to help with labor

My complaining must have triggered something in mom because she started watching my oxygen levels. And when I’d have a contraction she could see my levels drop to or below 95. Then during the rest periods my levels would be up to 99-100. So mom asked the nurse if we could put me on some oxygen. The nurse did and took an alcohol wipe and rubbed it on my chest to see what areas I could feel. The epidural had moved up instead of just down, so my lungs were being numbed. They sat me up and got the oxygen going and we were able to stave off anymore problems. I’m happy we got the epidural but I’m glad we didn’t get it sooner because I would not have wanted to have labor for a day that way.

5:50 pm - Dilated to 9 cm

I could tell when I was contracting at this point. I could feel the pressure in my belly but it still didn’t hurt too badly. They called that doctor to let her know she should make her way up to us. The nurse said she’d be back in 20 minutes to check on my progress.

6:00 pm - Dilated to 10 cm

There was no mistaking the feeling that I wanted to bare down, or push. But of course I breathed my way through it and waited for the doctor. Very quickly mom grabbed the nurse saying we weren’t going to make it to 20 minutes. Sure enough I was fully dilated and they were stat paging the doctor.

6:15 pm - Started pushing with Doctor Petersen

Before you could say “Bob’s your uncle” 3 more nurses where in the room, they had taken half of my bed off and made it into a labor bed. It looked like a completely different room. As I look back on it I honestly have to remind myself that it was the same room. I was never moved, it’s kind of freaky.

7:25 pm - Attached vacuum for help with one final push

That was a long hour, even though I had no sense of time. I was able to push any contraction I wanted too and sometimes Dr. Petersen would encourage me to push during certain ones because she could see the trend on the monitor. Progress was pretty slow; LaRayne was not positioned well into the birth canal when we started pushing. So I had to push her into the canal and then we could start pushing her out. LaRayne also kept shifting her head so she would fall back a little after every push. Finally I got LaRayne to a place where they could attach the string vacuum and I was starting to show serious signs of tiring. I was back on the oxygen, and my legs were starting to go numb. Then the moment came, and what a moment. In a single major contraction, my epidural wore off, the vacuum was attached, and LaRayne made her entrance into the world.

7:30 pm - Baby LaRayne is born!

I said “Hello Darling” then she was taken out of my sight for all of her testing. They delivered the placenta as quickly as possible and Dr. Petersen started to work on me. And it was work for the both of us. I had to do my best to stay calm and still and Dr. Petersen had to start some serious sewing. I had several internal vaginal tears that needed immediate attention. Quickly she called for a dose of Nubain, then 2 doses of Versed and to get the anesthesiologist in there for more epidural medication for me. Eventually all the meds were on board and the doctor was able to finish her work.

8:45 pm - First breast feeding session

As quickly as the room had been changed into a labor room it was changed back into a normal room. Because of my complications they put me on extended watch which meant that were staying in that room instead of moving into a post-partum room. They did get me one of the softer beds, which was a challenge getting over to the new bed. My legs were dead weight and my arm strength was shot. As soon as I was in my new bed I was handed my baby girl and we were able to breastfeed for the first time. Although we only got about 5 minutes on each side before she fell asleep it was great to feel her latch on to me and really bond as mother and daughter.

LaRayne Darcy Kaestner

9/4/2010

7:30pm

20.75 inches

6lbs 13 ounces