The Birth of Our Son - DUNCAN JAMES

Sorry for the big long delay in posting, the last 6 weeks have just flown by.  It's to have so many readers though that care about my story, I got a ton of messages and emails asking how things went so thank you so much for that!

I am happy to report that on December 29, 2016 @ 8:59pm, our son Duncan came into this world.  He weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces and measured 21 inches long.

As was planned with our doctor, due to our high risk status, we decided to induce early, so at 38 weeks and 6 days we checked into the hospital at 7pm.  We fully intended on being administered drugs to begin contractions and dilation, but when we got there and I was hooked up to monitors, they informed me that I was already dilated 2 centimeters and I was having so many contractions that they couldn't time then, it basically read as one continuous contraction on the printout.  They referred to this as an irritable uterus. It didn't really bother me and I wasn't in any kind of pain.  We decided to just let my body carry on and continue what it needed to do naturally.  So we sat back and watched a few different movies on demand on our TV ( great feature Sharp Mary Birch has).

At about 3am, I decided to take my first pain meds.  It was just a small dose in my IV, but it helped take the edge off so I could sleep.  Both Ryan and I closed our eyes and nodded off for a few hours.

Sometime in the morning, after continuing to have contractions and dilate on my own, something dramatically changed.  Literally one second I was talking to my husband and laughing about

something, to the next second being in so much pain I couldn't even talk.  I could barely breath for that matter.  He rang for the nurse to get help.  This was literally the only time during labor that I was scared.  I couldn't even open my eyes, I could barely breath. Then about 2 minutes later my water came gushing out.  So that's what it was, my water broke but because his head was in the way, nothing came out until I moved so we didn't know what it was.  Unfortunately they found meconium in the fluid so the NICU team was called.  That is standard procedure in case the baby aspirated any of it and there are any issues.  So they informed me that extra people will be on hand at the delivery.

The nurse asked if I wanted some more pain meds and I said "we are way beyond that, get me the epidural!".  Now came the tricky part.  The anesthesiologist came and said he was getting called into a c section and that he had to do my epidural quickly or I would have to wait 45 more minutes.  I was still in so much pain that I couldn't talk or move on my own.  Luckily the nurses said they were just going to move for me so I wouldn't have to wait.  They all counted to 3, propped me up and he was able to get it in my back in one shot.  Within a minute or two I was back to normal, no pain, and we continued to watch movies.  Luckily that was all the pain I fell for my labor.

At around 1pm, I was dilated 9 1/2 centimeters and it was looking like we would be getting ready to push soon.  That wasn't the case.  I got stuck at 9 1/2.  After a few hours of staying there, the doctor decided to administer pitocin.  Another few hours went by and still only 9 1/2.  So more pitocin was given.  After 6 hours of that, our doctor said she wouldn't let it go on any longer and we decided to move on to a c section.

The hardest part of a c section is that you are separated from your spouse for what seems like forever but it's probably only about 20 - 30 minutes.  When they finally let Ryan in the operating room, I was so glad to see him, but we were still kind of separated.  My arms were tied down and he was in a chair next to me.  There were so many people in that room and it was pretty loud.  We had the regular staff, an extra nurse for me and and the NICU team for the baby.  During the c section, we quickly realized why I could dilate to 10, hi shead was too big and it would have never fit.  Not only that, he was so wedged in there, even with a c section, they still had to use a vacuum to get him out.  Our doctor was actually laughing because she just couldn't believe how big he was.  He was whisked away by the NICU team and everything checked out, no breathing issues, YAY!

Our first family photo

So a pretty uneventful birth, the recovery, not so much.  When I was in teh operating room, I was shaking uncontrollably and that was due to a reaction to a medication from the anesthesiologist. No one seemed too concerned but it sure scared Ryan.  When I was in recovery, they gave me medication to counter that and it wasn't working so I was still shaking so they wouldn't let me hold the baby.  They had Ryan do the skin to skin.  Then they noticed my oxygen levels dropped and they put me on oxygen.  We were downstairs in recovery for about 3 hours.

Duncan in the NICU

We finally made it to our room sometime around 1am I think. Then the nurses came in and had to do stuff with the baby.  They finally hand him to me and I finally am holding my son for the first time.  I was exhausted and so was the baby and my husband.  We put him down in his bassinet next to me and turned off the lights.  About 10 minutes later the lights came on, the nurse said I had something called chorioamnionitis which they referred to as chorio as if I knew what that meant, and told me they had to take my baby and send him to the NICU and that I needed to go back on oxygen again.  This was a whirlwind of information thrown at us in the middle of the night after 24 ours of labor.  We didn't understand what was going on.

I sent Ryan to the NICU to be with the baby because I wasn't allowed down there while I was on oxygen.  Later it was explained to us that chorioamnionitis is an infection most commonly contracted after a lengthy labor.  So I was treated for this infection by given several high doses of antibiotics through my IV.  The baby was sent to the NICU also for antibiotics and monitoring in case he came down with an infection.  Luckily he never did but he still stayed down there for 3 days while they waited on his cultures to come back to prove that he was ok.   The hardest part was that I couldn't see him the whole first day.  Luckily Ryan could go down there so he was with him a lot.

We were finally released from the hospital on January 2nd to start our life together as a family.

I would like to thank everyone for following our story and for all the support you have shown us.  It has truly meant a lot and we couldn't have made it hear without you all!

Much Love,
Ryan, Heather & Duncan