This post is extremely long and may need major editing, but I needed to write it down before I forgot. It's more for my records, so sorry for the play by play. David says it sounds a little OCD :).
Remember my last post about Winter Storm Nemo set to blast the NE with a blizzard dumping 2 to 3 feet of snow in Boston. Well, it started Friday, Feb 8th and went on into Sat, Feb 9th dumping a total of 24.9 inches in the Boston area after it was all said and done. And, in the midst of that blizzard my contractions started. I hear the drop in pressure can cause a women to go into labor, but honestly, I didn't think it would happen to me.
As the snow was falling outside and creating a blanket of beauty, I was snuggled into bed around 9:30pm watching a show when I started feeling some cramps. Nothing major, but definitely out of the ordinary. Around 9:50pm when I realized that the cramps were continuing to come and go, I started googling contractions because I still didn't believe this could be it. David came into the room and I said, "I think I'm having contractions". At that point I started timing them and they were 5-7min apart lasting 40-50 seconds. I could walk and talk through them and they weren't too painful.... yet. The snow continued to fall outside and I started wondering how we would make it to the hospital. Even though it was only 1 mile away, I knew our car would probably not make it safely and public transportation and taxis services had stopped due to a citywide driving ban.
I timed the contractions for the next hour and then at that point I contacted the OBGYN on call, Dr. Hyer, to notify her of my status and to determine my next course of action. She stated that I didn't need to come in yet, but to watch for contractions that were more uncomfortable, closer and closer together without stopping even if not more uncomfortable or if my water broke. Then as we said goodbye she said, "See you later tonight". David decided it was probably good to figure out how we would get to the hospital before the eminent hour, so he called the police department. I was still feeling great and we joked about just walking down to the hospital and waiting until I was in active labor. Well, little did we know that this inquisitive phone call to the police department would lead to a 911 activation of the fire department and an ambulance. Most likely the police man just heard the words "labor" and "contractions" and without consent from David he initiated 911. As I was making the phone call to our insurance company to find out about authorization for a non-emergent ambulance escort to the hospital, there was a knock at our door. David opened the door to find 2 concerned firefighters inquiring about the well being of everyone in the home. Needless to say, I was so completely embarrassed. At first we were going to turn them away, but we realized, I was going to need them at some point to get to the hospital, so we decided now was as good a time as any. I wanted to walk down to the ambulance, but because of the liability, I had to get on the gurney and be strapped in. Once again, slightly embarrassing. Thank goodness it was about 11:30pm and we didn't see anyone.
Once we arrived at the hospital, I was taken directly to the labor and delivery triage for initial assessment. Upon seeing Dr. Hyer, I apologized for not calling again to notify her that I was on my way and for this possibly premature admission. She assured me it was okay and notified me that the only 4 other women that had come in that evening had all come by ambulance. Regardless, I still felt completely silly.
During the assessment she determined I was dilated to 4 cm and 90% effaced. She said that I could be admitted to a labor and delivery room or I could just wait in triage. I notified her I would like to be admitted, so once that was done, I was free to roam around. My plan for obtaining an epidural was determined at this point, so the anesthesiology consult was requested. David and I decided to go get food since it was about midnight and we figured we were in for a long night and with my plans of getting an epidural, this might be my last chance to eat.
I was still have regular contractions, that were bearable, so we headed downstairs to Au Bon Pain for food. While we were in the shop looking for food, I starting getting nauseous and realized my contractions were getting worse. The thought of food repulsed me and I just wanted to sit down. So, while David picked out his food, I hung out in a chair. On the way back to our room I felt horrible and by the time we were situated back in the room, I was ready for the epidural. I was now dilated to a 6. The request for an anesthesiology consult was upgraded to placement of an epidural. The anesthesiologist came to obtain consent. He was an incredibly nice man, but a little too chatty for this particular situation. I just wanted him to get on with it, but he was taking his jolly old time and I was attempting with all my might to smile and be pleasant when in my head I kept thinking, "What is this guys problem? Can he not see I am in pain and feel awful?" Finally, David recognizing the anguished look on my face stepped in and said, "I think she's ready for the epidural now." Love that man for coming to my rescue.
The resident anesthesiologist came and placed a flawlessly, painless epidural. She did a fabulous job. The only thing I felt was the lidocaine shot. Within a few minutes I was able to completely relax and David and I even watched a few episodes of The Hart of Dixie as I continued to labor. For the most part the epidural did it's job and there were only a few times that I needed to give myself some bolus shots. By about 4:45 am, I was dilated to 10cm and 100% effaced, so Dr. Hyer broke my water and the pushing began. I'll admit it took me a bit to get the groove of pushing and to actually effectively push. I was a bit counterproductive at the beginning and seemed to be pushing mostly out of my head. To my defense, I was extremely exhausted from lack of sleep and just needed a little adrenaline to wake me up.
I continued to push and finally got the hang of it and was making some slow progress when I started to feel some slight cramping in my left lower abdomen. Initially I ignored it, but soon it became unbearable and I was nauseous and throwing up. It appeared that the epidural had worn off in just my left lower abdomen, probably due to lying on my right side. As time went on, I started to feeling more and more pain. Fortunately the anesthesiologist was able to come back in and give me another dose which helped to ease the pain, reduce the nausea and allow me to focus again on the task at hand, pushing. After the 45 minutes of non-productive work due to my pain level, I was finally able to push little Porter Martin Bailly out at 6:56 am on Saturday, February 9th, 2013. It only took me over 2 hours of pushing and 2 threatened vacuum attempts (due to fetal HR decels) to get him out. When he was born, he was very, very blue and there was no crying. This concerned me because I knew he should come out crying. Luckily, a little bit of stimulation was all he needed and he wailed. His Apgar scores were 8 and 9. And then I cried. Our precious little man was finally here. He weighed 6 lbs, 2.6 oz (6 lbs, 3oz) and initially was measured at 18 in long, although the pediatrician a few days later measured him at 19.4 in. So, we figure he's probably about 19 in long. He is one skinny little guy with the biggest hands and feet.
We love him so much already and can't believe how much our home has changed with him here. David is so cute with him and snuggles him every chance he gets. He even wants to lay on the side of the bed by Porter so he can soothe him when he whimpers at night. And, almost every night in the middle of the night there is Daddy/Porter bonding time so I can get back to sleep after feeding him.
