We did it! Emerson Raye Barnard was born on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 6:43pm. I was induced on Wednesday morning, and thought the whole process to be very smooth. I'll fill you in on my point of view and then the point of view for the people paying attention to the drs and nurses. :-)
We went to see Dr Majors on Monday afternoon, and he said we would have the induction on Wednesday, and that his nurse would call to make sure we had all the details with time and everything. We were expecting the call Tuesday, and she actually called a whole 20 minutes later. We were to be ready to come in any time after 3a on Wednesday. THREE AM?? wow! So, we set an alarm to be up at 2:50am and waited for the call. Nicole called us at 4:45am (she's my sister-in-law Robyn's dear friend, who happens to work as an OB nurse at Good Sam) and said "do you want to have your baby girl today?" DO I? we jumped up and got ready to head down to the hospital. We were told to be there between 6a and 6:30a and got there right on the dot at 6:15a. We got all checked in, and settled, and at 7:30a I had this pill placed on my cervix that would help "ripen" it. I was 100% effaced, but my cervix was so high and back it needed a bit of help. :-) so then they checked me at 11a and I had dilated to a 4, and they put me on pitocin. I still hadn't felt my contractions, so I walked around and visited with family in the waiting area. At about noon I went back into the room, and they gave me my epidural. Ok, it is not as bad as everybody says it is! I got stressed that it would hurt super bad, etc, and maybe it was my anesthesiologist, but it was just like a regular shot. Anyway, it started to take effect on my right side but not my left side. After about an hour the Dr decided he wanted to change the direction of the needle to try to get the left side numb as well. That worked beautifully... and then the anesthetic started wearing off on my right side. We just left it. I knew it wouldn't be forever, though some of the contractions did bring me to tears. I don't remember exact time frame, because, well, in my book, I can't even believe I was in labor for 12 hrs... the time flew by, and I didn't start hurting until the home stretch. The nurse had me start pushing, and she would giggle every time she could see Emerson's head. She was turning it like she was trying to get comfortable where she was! Sorry babe, you're coming OUT! They had me push several times on my side, and I didn't think much of it, especially after the nurse talking about how squirmy Eme was. Then it came time for Dr Majors to come and assist. From the time I started pushing until she was out was about 1 1/2 hours, so not bad at all for a first baby AND an induction! I saw Dr Majors grab the scissors and say he needed more room, and I was ok with him cutting my leg OFF to get her out. :-) Thankfully it only ended up needing a few stitches! Anyway, she comes out, and everybody says "Danielle look at her!" and so I open my eyes and see a rather large baby. The first words out of my mouth were "That is NOT a 6lb baby!" haha! She was just too precious though! Josh cut the cord and they gave her to me. We were in total awe. We still are, who am I kidding?? So we're just oogling over the fact that we just had a baby, and I see a nurse come up and give me a shot in my left thigh. Don't think much of it. The nurse that pretty much ran the delivery came over and started massaging and pushing really hard on my stomach. Again, nothing to compare it to, so I assumed this was standard procedure... like maybe they were trying to get the placenta out? Well things settle down, and they bathe Eme and measure and weigh her (20 1/2 inches long, 8lb 7oz) and gave her back for more snuggles. After about 20 minutes Josh went out and got the family to introduce them to Emerson. We had Josh's parents, Angie, Robyn, DJ, Amber, Ray, Mikey, Owen, and of course my mom and sister. The staff was great at letting them be in there all giddy for Eme. Everybody left about 8p, and a few times during the chaos, the nurse would come back in and massage my stomach. It was super painful. At about 9:30p Christina came in to see her, and they decided to move us from the delivery room over to our mom/baby room. Glenda had me stand up and walk to the wheel chair, and MY HIPS DIDN'T HURT!!! I wanted to cry with happiness! Josh had our cart of things for the next couple days, and Christina got to push Eme in her bassinet to the room. She was so cute, she was super slow and careful so she wouldn't wake her. She stayed about an hour, and then it was just Josh and I with our beautiful baby girl.
Now ready for what really happened?? I get an email from Stepheni Mason of Mason Jar Photography, telling me how happy she was for us, and to tell me how worried she was for me with all the bleeding. It scared her. I thought, "huh... I thought things went beautifully". Maybe she just hasn't been around a birth outside of her own boys, and you can't really see what's going on down there when it's your own child, you know? So my mom and sister come over to bring us dinner, and fill me in. Apparently each time the nurse had me push through a contraction on either my left or right side, it was because Emerson's heart rate was getting too low. So much for thinking it was just because I had a squirmy baby girl! Then, afterwards when the nurse was pushing so hard on my stomach, she was trying to contract my uterus from the outside while Dr Majors was INSIDE trying to contract it from there. I was bleeding entirely too much. So when I saw the nurse give me the shot in my thigh, that was actually to try to stop the bleeding. Apparently Dr Majors, and Glenda the nurse were getting worried. My family stepped back and just let them do what they needed, while Josh and I, blissfully unaware, loved on our little baby girl.
Now when Dr Majors was leaving that night, he came up to me, took my hand, and said "You never want it to be interesting... you... were interesting". Again, because I was unaware of everything that was going on, I assumed it was because of the shape of my uterus, and the pain I had the whole pregnancy, etc. Yea, not what he was talking about.
So all in all, I thought labor was surprisingly the easiest part of the whole pregnancy. We go back to see Dr Majors mid September, and we'll see what he has to say about the whole debacle. We're a bit nervous about the dangers of me having another baby, but we're just loving on our sweet girl right now, and not thinking too much into the future. Cherishing every cry, groggy midnight feeding, and snuggle we get from this sweet gift!
We went to see Dr Majors on Monday afternoon, and he said we would have the induction on Wednesday, and that his nurse would call to make sure we had all the details with time and everything. We were expecting the call Tuesday, and she actually called a whole 20 minutes later. We were to be ready to come in any time after 3a on Wednesday. THREE AM?? wow! So, we set an alarm to be up at 2:50am and waited for the call. Nicole called us at 4:45am (she's my sister-in-law Robyn's dear friend, who happens to work as an OB nurse at Good Sam) and said "do you want to have your baby girl today?" DO I? we jumped up and got ready to head down to the hospital. We were told to be there between 6a and 6:30a and got there right on the dot at 6:15a. We got all checked in, and settled, and at 7:30a I had this pill placed on my cervix that would help "ripen" it. I was 100% effaced, but my cervix was so high and back it needed a bit of help. :-) so then they checked me at 11a and I had dilated to a 4, and they put me on pitocin. I still hadn't felt my contractions, so I walked around and visited with family in the waiting area. At about noon I went back into the room, and they gave me my epidural. Ok, it is not as bad as everybody says it is! I got stressed that it would hurt super bad, etc, and maybe it was my anesthesiologist, but it was just like a regular shot. Anyway, it started to take effect on my right side but not my left side. After about an hour the Dr decided he wanted to change the direction of the needle to try to get the left side numb as well. That worked beautifully... and then the anesthetic started wearing off on my right side. We just left it. I knew it wouldn't be forever, though some of the contractions did bring me to tears. I don't remember exact time frame, because, well, in my book, I can't even believe I was in labor for 12 hrs... the time flew by, and I didn't start hurting until the home stretch. The nurse had me start pushing, and she would giggle every time she could see Emerson's head. She was turning it like she was trying to get comfortable where she was! Sorry babe, you're coming OUT! They had me push several times on my side, and I didn't think much of it, especially after the nurse talking about how squirmy Eme was. Then it came time for Dr Majors to come and assist. From the time I started pushing until she was out was about 1 1/2 hours, so not bad at all for a first baby AND an induction! I saw Dr Majors grab the scissors and say he needed more room, and I was ok with him cutting my leg OFF to get her out. :-) Thankfully it only ended up needing a few stitches! Anyway, she comes out, and everybody says "Danielle look at her!" and so I open my eyes and see a rather large baby. The first words out of my mouth were "That is NOT a 6lb baby!" haha! She was just too precious though! Josh cut the cord and they gave her to me. We were in total awe. We still are, who am I kidding?? So we're just oogling over the fact that we just had a baby, and I see a nurse come up and give me a shot in my left thigh. Don't think much of it. The nurse that pretty much ran the delivery came over and started massaging and pushing really hard on my stomach. Again, nothing to compare it to, so I assumed this was standard procedure... like maybe they were trying to get the placenta out? Well things settle down, and they bathe Eme and measure and weigh her (20 1/2 inches long, 8lb 7oz) and gave her back for more snuggles. After about 20 minutes Josh went out and got the family to introduce them to Emerson. We had Josh's parents, Angie, Robyn, DJ, Amber, Ray, Mikey, Owen, and of course my mom and sister. The staff was great at letting them be in there all giddy for Eme. Everybody left about 8p, and a few times during the chaos, the nurse would come back in and massage my stomach. It was super painful. At about 9:30p Christina came in to see her, and they decided to move us from the delivery room over to our mom/baby room. Glenda had me stand up and walk to the wheel chair, and MY HIPS DIDN'T HURT!!! I wanted to cry with happiness! Josh had our cart of things for the next couple days, and Christina got to push Eme in her bassinet to the room. She was so cute, she was super slow and careful so she wouldn't wake her. She stayed about an hour, and then it was just Josh and I with our beautiful baby girl.
Now ready for what really happened?? I get an email from Stepheni Mason of Mason Jar Photography, telling me how happy she was for us, and to tell me how worried she was for me with all the bleeding. It scared her. I thought, "huh... I thought things went beautifully". Maybe she just hasn't been around a birth outside of her own boys, and you can't really see what's going on down there when it's your own child, you know? So my mom and sister come over to bring us dinner, and fill me in. Apparently each time the nurse had me push through a contraction on either my left or right side, it was because Emerson's heart rate was getting too low. So much for thinking it was just because I had a squirmy baby girl! Then, afterwards when the nurse was pushing so hard on my stomach, she was trying to contract my uterus from the outside while Dr Majors was INSIDE trying to contract it from there. I was bleeding entirely too much. So when I saw the nurse give me the shot in my thigh, that was actually to try to stop the bleeding. Apparently Dr Majors, and Glenda the nurse were getting worried. My family stepped back and just let them do what they needed, while Josh and I, blissfully unaware, loved on our little baby girl.
Now when Dr Majors was leaving that night, he came up to me, took my hand, and said "You never want it to be interesting... you... were interesting". Again, because I was unaware of everything that was going on, I assumed it was because of the shape of my uterus, and the pain I had the whole pregnancy, etc. Yea, not what he was talking about.
So all in all, I thought labor was surprisingly the easiest part of the whole pregnancy. We go back to see Dr Majors mid September, and we'll see what he has to say about the whole debacle. We're a bit nervous about the dangers of me having another baby, but we're just loving on our sweet girl right now, and not thinking too much into the future. Cherishing every cry, groggy midnight feeding, and snuggle we get from this sweet gift!
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