Emmeline's birth story

By New Year's day, I was sure that Emmeline would never be born. We were all tired, and I took a 3 hour nap. I woke up and my sister called around 3:30, and I answered with my then typical "There's no baby yet!" And, just like that, my water broke! I couldn't believe it, and I was in shock. It was one of those moments where you have waited so long for something that you can't comprehend that it's actually happening!

I contacted the OB on call from my practice, and she told me to come on in, so we threw the last minute items into the hospital bag and contacted our friends Dawn and Josh, who told us to bring the kids on over. They watched movies, ate popcorn, drank hot chocolate, and ended up waking up before 5am....sorry guys!

After that, it was on to the hospital. By the time we got there and confirmed that my water had indeed broken, we were put into the only available L&D room (around 6:30ish). My OB talked with me about some of my issues (wanting to get an epidural, my tendency to hemorrhage after birth, etc.) My contractions were sporadic and minimal, I was still only about 3cm dilated, which was zero change from the week before.

The plan was to have the anesthesiologist come in and attempt to place the epi before I was in much pain, and in the mean time give my contractions a chance to intensify on their own. The anesthesiologist came, and attempted to place the epi. He seemed to feel fairly confident, so I tried to be, but my left leg had far less sensation then my right, I had minimal effects, if any at all, on my right side. He told me that he was fairly sure it would work, but that the true test would be when I was having hard and fast contractions and he turned the epi on for real.

My OB checked me again around 9:30pm, and I was still only 3cm, so it was time to start the pitocin to artificially induce contractions, since you only have about 24 hours before the risk of infection dramatically increases after your membranes rupture. When I was in some pretty decent pain, I asked for them to come turn the epi on. They did, and I had fantastic relief...for a little under 2 hours. When I was checked around 11:30pm, I was only 3-4cm, which was not very encouraging, I saw a little worry from my OB and nurse.

Things got hairy from there. My blood pressure dropped, and I became nauseous. Then I could feel everything. It was all I could do to breathe, and I wasn't allowed up b/c of the epi, even though I could have walked laps for all the good it was doing. The anesthesiologist came back and pretty much told me that I was confusing pressure with pain, and I had some very un-Christian thoughts at that moment :) This was all between midnight and 1:30 or so.

I was checked right around midnight, and I was 5cm! Finally some progress, although by that point I was convinced that it was going to be hours. In retrospect, I know from my feelings and my words that I was in transition, but I looked into Tyrone's eyes, squeezed his hand ever harder, and told him I could not do this. I begged him to just make it stop, take me home.

All of the sudden, everyone came running into my room, the baby's heart had dangerously decelerated with a contraction. I was put on oxygen and quickly flipped to my left side. After that, she was okay again, but that scared me a bit. I guess everyone finally took pity on me, I was, after all, having Pitocin induced contractions (notoriously more painful then natural ones) with absolutely no pain relief. The nurse (who was wonderful the entire time) came in with some IV narcotics and I vaguely, through my pain, heard her tell Tyrone that this would help some, but she just needed to check me first to make sure I wasn't too close to delivering. That was at about 2:35am.

She checked me and said "You can't have those meds! You are complete, we're going to have a baby!" She had me "practice push" through one contraction, and then told me to stop, she needed to get the doctor. I was tired of having wires attached to me and laying down. I pretty much ripped the oxygen and the O2 sensor off and set up in bed and started rocking to try to ward off the need to push until the Dr. came.

The doctor came, and I again asked that the baby be put on my chest right away, something I missed out on with the boys, and one of my favorite memories with Shiloh. Then it was time. I was told to push as I wanted. Three contractions worth of pushing, and Emmeline Lily was born at 2:53am. She was put on my chest crying and mad. Amazing. Tyrone cut her cord, and she was beautiful and perfect. I kept touching her head full of hair and saying "I can't believe you're here, we love you!" She nursed for almost an hour before being taken to the nursery.

One last thing about her birth, and the week since. Tyrone has been absolutely tireless, understanding, and loving. He looked in my eyes while I pleaded with him to take my pain away, even though I could tell it hurt him. He held my hand, put counter pressure on my hip during contractions (the only thing that helped at all), and could tell by the look on my face and the noises I made when a contraction was coming. He told me how amazing I was and how good at this I was.

When she was born, I have no idea how many times he ran back and forth between me and her, checking on his girls. He made the phone calls I couldn't as I was in pain from the procedures and medications used to prevent hemorrhage, although I did still have some minor issues with it.

Since we have been home, he gets me drinks while I am nursing, he fixes meals, he does laundry, he fixes Shiloh's hair, he helps with homework. He vacuums, he does dishes, and he gets the kids outside to play. Because Emmeline is cluster feeding at night (literally for several hours at a time) I am more comfortable sleeping in the living room. I tried to tell him to sleep in our bed, to get comfy and get rest, but he has refused and tonight will be his 7th night on a pallet on the living room floor in case we need anything. This birth story would not have been complete w/o a note on how absolutely perfect Tyrone has been.

Anyway, that is her birth story, and we are so glad she is here!