Elliot Dashiell’s birth story

Stats
36 weeks 5 days - 12 hours of labor from first contraction to birth
Date: 1/21/08 Time: 5:28 a.m. cst
Weight: 7 lbs. 5 oz. Length: 18.5 inches

Elliot Dashiell

I had been having prodromal labor since Sunday, January 13 and felt so tired of contracting two minutes apart, every evening. I decided to be a little more proactive at helping things along, even though I really wanted the baby to be in there as long as possible. On Saturday, January 20, I spent the afternoon shopping and running errands with Krista in the hopes of helping the baby descend and getting my contractions to do something.

At 5:30 p.m. Sunday evening, my nightly contractions came on like someone had flipped a switch. These contractions felt stronger than anything I had had so far, but I still wasn’t convinced we were going to see a baby soon. I did decide to have AJ time them, and he also kept track of how strong I felt they were compared to each other. This is the only way to tell if anything is happening when you have an irritable uterus like I do. They came 2 minutes apart right away. The contractions started out alternating medium-hard-medium hard, and then settled into every one being hard.

AJ and I decided to go into the hospital, even if just to have the baby monitored. He called Krista to come watch Alden, and she made it to our place in record time (amazingly, she even managed to eat dinner and pack some stuff for the evening before leaving home). Once she arrived, we headed off to the hospital.

We had been listening to the Packers/Giants game while timing contractions and immediately turned the game on when we arrived at the hospital. The doctor on call stopped in and was glad to see we had the game on. He jokingly said if we hadn’t had it on, he wouldn’t check me. He did do a quick internal exam then to see if things had progressed and I was 4cm and 70% effaced. Definite progress from the 2cm and 50% I had been the week before! So he called my doctor (they like to deliver their own babies at my clinic, even if they aren’t on call) and we all watched the rest of the game until she came.

My doctor arrived and she checked my progress just to see for herself where I was at. A loose 5cm and 80% effaced with the baby still floating. At this point, they moved us from triage to our LDPR room. AJ and I spent some time getting our labor stuff prepped and then I decided I wanted to walk laps around L&D to try to bring the baby down.

I walked laps for a couple of hours, and felt really good. My doctor decided to go to sleep, since it looked like things were going well with the baby and it didn’t seem like my labor would go too fast. As I walked around, I called my parents to tell them we were having the baby. My dad said, “You sure don’t sound like you’re in labor.” I laughed, and assured him that I definitely felt contractions; they were just really manageable at the moment.

After all that walking, my legs and back became sore. I decided it was time to get in the tub. I was still in a really good mood, and couldn’t believe how great I felt. I knew transition was coming, though, so I wanted to save up some energy. The nurse drew a bath and did another NST. The baby looked great and she couldn’t believe how active he was as she checked the strength of my contractions.

I hopped in the tub, hoping the warm water would ease my back pain. It suddenly occurred to me that the baby might have changed positions again (he had started the day facing my back on the left side or LOA (left occiput anterior), and I worried that he had turned posterior. AJ decided to get some sleep while I hung out in the tub. I did a lot of thinking and breathing in there. When I started to think, “I can’t do this. This is crazy. When will I be done?” I realized I had probably hit transition and it was time to get checked again to see how things were going with the baby.

The nurse did an internal, and I had hit 6cm and 90% effaced. I was a little disappointed because I thought for sure I would be closer to 8cm. At that point, the nurse convinced me to take a break in bed. So I dozed between contractions for about an hour. Then I got up to walk for another hour, and joked around with the nurses at their station. The doctor on call came back around to see how things were going and to wish me luck.

I started to feel worn out again, so decided to get in bed to rest. At this point, I couldn’t even doze off between contractions and started to feel some pressure. I got up to use the bathroom and felt like I had to push. That made me so excited! I called the nurse in and told her the news. She decided to do another internal to see if we should wake the doctor up. I had made it to 9cm and completely effaced, but I had a lip on the right side (this comes into play a little later). My water bulged with each contraction and she thought it would be smart to have the doc break it, if we agreed.

I told her I definitely wanted to talk to my doctor about what she thought, so the nurse went to wake her up. At 4:30 a.m., my doctor came in to do another internal (yuck!). I was 9.5cm and complete except for that lip on the right side. The baby still hadn’t engaged, so we were a little concerned about cord prolapse. His head pressed right up against my cervix though, so the risk was minimal. We agreed that she could break my water since it didn’t look like it was going to break on its own and the baby was having a hard time descending.

At this point, we knew the baby wouldn’t be long in coming, so the nurses started to prep the room. My doctor grabbed an amnio hook to break my water, and told me it felt like I had a leather purse up in there, so she wasn’t sure how much force it would take to break the water. As it turned out, she snagged and opened it without much trouble. The sweet release of pressure inside quickly changed to a desperate need to push after just a couple of contractions.

The doctor wanted me upright to help the baby descend and turn. He had turned LOP (left occiput posterior), so was facing forward. I ended up having a lot of back labor, but my breathing and visualization really helped me manage it. I began pushing by using the squat bar. AJ and my nurse helped me get into position for every contraction and I leaned back to rest between them.

During my labor with Alden, the nurses had me hold my breath. AJ became alarmed at how purple I turned. After doing some research, I found out this type of pushing leads to decreased oxygen levels for mother and baby that can cause complications after birth. So I had decided to vocalize during pushing this time around. Each time I pushed, I let out a guttural growl. I laughed and joked in between contractions because the mood during pushing seemed so terribly serious!

The doctor said she wanted to check me because she noticed things weren’t progressing as they should have with how well I was pushing. It turns out the lip on the right had been caught around the baby’s head, so he couldn’t descend any further. She reached in with both hands to maneuver the head around the lip. The pain made me try to climb up the bed behind me, but AJ and the nurse helped me relax enough to let the doctor finish.

I began pushing in earnest then. Finally, after several large heaves, the doctor told me to reach down to feel the baby’s head. I did, and it was so encouraging! She also told AJ to come down to the end of the bed to help deliver our baby. Just as the head began to fully emerge, amniotic fluid sprayed out in a wide arc, coating AJ, the doctor and a good portion of the floor. We all laughed; even me, mid-contraction!

This part gets a little hazy for me. I know the baby’s head came out and they had me blow through the rest of the contraction to check for a cord around his neck. Then, I remember closing my eyes, and feeling a lot of pulling as the doctor and AJ worked to gently deliver the shoulders and body. Then, AJ popped the baby up on my belly and said, “We have second son!” A boy? What a surprise!

It's a boy!

His cord was really short, so my doctor clamped it and had AJ cut it right away. The doctor checked me for tears. None! Then, they let us continue to hang out together while we waited to deliver the placenta. It took only about 10 minutes before it came out in one easy push, and I was with it enough to look at it this time (I didn’t get a chance to with Alden’s birth because I was pretty out of it).

By the time they were ready to do the newborn procedures, we had hung out for about half-an-hour with our quiet little son. AJ finally announced his name as Elliot Dashiell, and then they took him for testing and measurements. We knew he was big, but my jaw dropped when they told me 7 lbs 5 oz! He weighs almost a pound more than his brother did at birth, even though they were born at the same gestational age. He is also an inch shorter. What a little chunky monkey!

The whole family together for the first time.

Speaking of his big brother, Alden has been absolutely amazing about this whole thing! When he came to see us in the hospital the morning after Elliot was born, Alden climbed right up onto the bed to see his new brother. I asked him if he wanted to hold Elliot's hand, and he said a quiet, "Yes." He reached out for my fingers first, and then gently tucked his hand under Elliot's tiny digits. Elliot immediately grasped Alden's hand and Alden let out a squeak of delight!

We are settling in with our newest family member, so updates to my blog will be few and far between in the next few weeks. Pictures, however, will be plentiful. You can see them all at AJ's Flickr account.