I tried not to include too many graphic details. But if you are a single person with no thoughts of having a baby in the near future you may want to skip this part.
7:00am March 16th: Heidi spent the morning at home wondering what was happening to her. She made many trips to the bathroom but wasn't sure if her water had broken. She was actually excited to possibly be having some Braxton Hicks contractions. She had not had any yet and with 5 weeks to go she was happy to have them start. But she wanted to call the doctor--just in case. Since you already know the end of the story--you know that our doctor, Dr. Heidi, told us to come on in. (That's right Heidi is named Heidi and our doctor is named Heidi.)
7:30am: Dr. Heidi checked out the situation and Heidi's water had definitely broken. Even though we were only 35 weeks along she decided that the baby was safer out than in.
8:00am: We were moved into a room and Heidi was started on antibiotics to prevent infection and on Pitosin--the chemical that induces labor. Heidi ordered some breakfast at this time too.
8:30am: No breakfast yet. Heidi had only had a piece of bread so she was getting really hungry.
We also met our nurse Heather at this point. She is one of the heroes of this story.
9:00am: Breakfast finally arrives. Heidi starts to feel the contractions come stronger.
10:00-11:00am: Contractions started to come stronger and closer together. Heidi was also very nauseated. Lots of puking and dry heaves.
11:30am: Heidi gets a small dose of Demerol. This slightly numbs the pain but mainly makes the nausea worse.
12:00: Heidi doesn't want to listen to my suggestions any more :)
12-2:00pm: Lots of pain. I held Heidi's hand during contractions, fed her ice, got her ginger ale. Heather was a great partner in helping Heidi too.
2:15: Heidi calls for some more pain killer.
2:30: The anesthesiologist arrives. Heidi would describe this as an angelic moment. The epidural didn't make the pain go away but it made it manageable. At this point Heidi was 4cm dilated.
3:30: Contractions begin to come big time and Heidi is feeling the urge to push. The baby is not cooperating. She is transverse--meaning her nose is pointed toward one of Heidi's hips.
4:00: Dr. Heidi says that she will allow Heidi to push for 1 more hour. Then she would have to do a c-section. During this time Heidi did amazing work breathing the baby through and pushing her out. I could not have done it without Heather who was holding Heidi's other leg. I certainly didn't know how to coach someone to have a baby.
5:00: Dr. Heidi came back to check on Heidi. She really didn't want to do a c-section so we moved Heidi to a birthing stool to see how that worked. While I held Heidi's back and shoulders she pushed while on the stool. Dr. Heidi and Heather just sat on the floor in front of us, watching it happen and encouraging Heidi. It was an awesome scene that I am too tired to capture well here but that will be stuck in my mind forever.
5:09: With one final push Heidi delivered Amelia right into her own waiting hands. She brought her right up to her chest and Amelia snuggled right in. When I saw her come out I said, "Its just like the x-files.") She had a very long head.
The rest of the night was a blur of learning how to change diapers and trying to sleep. But we were happy that Amelia was here and that she and Heidi were OK.
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