Davis' Birth Story

One of the perks of working in labor and delivery is I actually scheduled myself for an induction (with Dr. Weno's approval). She was leaving for her honeymoon when I would be 41 weeks so I was scheduled on her last day of call. That day just happened to be my sister's birthday, June 16.

Being induced worked out perfectly because my parents were able to fly in the night before. We picked them up in Cedar Rapids and ate at Outback Steakhouse for dinner. I was unable to sleep very well that night because I was so excited and nervous.

The morning of June 16, Jason and I ate breakfast with my parents and then left for the hospital. The plan was once I got admitted and settled, Mom and Dad would come to the hospital. I had warned them that it may not be until late that night or early Friday morning that I would deliver.

I checked in at 0735 and went to my room. I had a sweet note from my night shift girls.

Latisha and Jeanelle stopped by on their way home to wish me luck. I was surprisingly not nervous. Soon my nurse Tina came in and started the long admission process. She got my IV started and then we waited and waited on pharmacy. Tina hung my antibiotic and then started Pitocin at 0915. I then decided to be out of the bed and sat in the rocking chair. I talked on the phone with Caryn and Diana, chatted with Tina, and visited with Mom, Dad, and Jason. It did not seem like I was the patient. Tina had turned down the volume to the baby's heart beat and moved the monitor so I could not see what the baby was doing on the strip.

Around 1100, Mom, Dad and Jason left to get lunch. I sent Jason with them since I figured it would be a long day. About that time I finally started to feel the contractions.

Dr. Hines came in to check on me. She asked if I wanted to get the epidural before she broke my water or after. Since I wanted to experience some labor and be able to answer the question my patients often ask, "Does it hurt when they break your water?", I told her to go ahead and break it. At 1115 I was dilated to 2-3 cm and 90 % effaced.

Within 20 minutes, I could really tell the difference in contractions. I had had my experience of painful labor. At first I told Tina I could wait for Dr. Kippes to get done with a tubal and then two contractions later I did not care who did the epidural. Thankfully Dr. Kippes was done with the tubal and came in around noon. By 1215 I was comfortable with an epidural!

Once the epidural started working the real fun began. I started to feel sick so Tina gave me some Zofran. I don't know if it was the Zofran or the epidural but I seemed really out of it. It was hard to complete sentences and then I would forget what I was saying. I teased Tina that she must have given me some other medication instead of Zofran.  I kept touching my legs and asking Tina "Is this my body?" It was the weirdest feeling, it seemed like I was touching a pillow instead of my leg.

At 1305, Tina checked me and I was 8 cm dilated. That was when I knew I would have Charlie on my sister's birthday! We just visited and waited some more. I kept asking her if she was serious that I was that far dilated.

At 1400, Tina checked me again and I was complete. That was when the party began. My coworkers came by to visit and cheer me on. I started pushing a little while later but could not feel anything to know where to push. We did tug of war and then took a break after about 20 minutes. I asked Tina to pause the epidural so I could get some feeling back in order to push effectively.

Brenda took over at 1500 and I continued to labor down to let the contractions do the work while we waited for the epidural to wear off some more. Around 1515, unbeknownst to me, Charlie started being naughty with the contractions. Tina and Brenda both did a good job of hiding what was happening with the heart rate during contractions. At one point I even asked Dad what the heart rate was because the volume was turned down. I wanted him to tell me what was happening with a contraction but all he said was the number. Dr. Weno came back soon and we were all ready for delivery.

This was the moment we had been waiting and praying for but not just all day or the last nine months. Last June I started my first month of Clomid.

After pushing for only 20 more minutes we were about to find out if Charlie was a boy or girl. Charlie had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. At 1535, we heard Dr. Weno say....

"It's

A

Boy!"

Jason cut the cord and Dr. Weno placed him on me. The feeling that I got when Davis Jason Brown was placed on my chest was pure joy.

Davis was taken to the warmer for more stimulation and oxygen. Jason had stepped out of the room to let my parents know that it was a boy and nearly got run over by nurses running to our room. At first he thought that they were just excited to see the baby but soon realized something was wrong. Davis stopped breathing and they had to pull the code pink button to get the NICU nurses over to help him.  I heard the alarm but with so many extra nurses in the room for delivery, did not realize what was happening. Dr. Weno and Tina really distracted me and Dr. Weno kept reassuring me that he was crying and asking me if I could hear it. Looking back now, it was such a blessing that I did not know. His APGARs (10 is the best) were 2, 9, 9.

Davis weighed 7 pounds 4.8 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. Soon Davis was back in my arms and he had to be monitored a little extra. Thankfully he was able to stay rooming in with us.

Later that night he had to go under phototherapy because of his bilirubin levels. His lab work at birth showed he was at risk for jaundice so the doctor decided to start him on phototherapy then instead of waiting for it to get worse. By the day of discharge his levels were right where they needed to be.

The Staples slogan "That was easy" definitely summarizes my labor experience. Eight hours after being admitted to the hospital, four hours of actual labor, and roughly 40 minutes of pushing, I had our baby boy in my arms!