Jacob's Birth Story (Part 1)

**This story is very long and detailed (and might possibly be TMI), but I wrote it so that I can always remember the birth of my first baby!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The morning of Tuesday, October 19, 2010 started out a bit hectic for me. At some point in the night, my battery-operated alarm clock died. These sorts of things never seem to happen during the day! Tim woke me up at 7:00 a.m., which gave me 20 minutes to shower and get ready before needing to leave for work. I left for work with only part of my make-up on and my hair was still damp. Thankfully, I got to work right on time, but my students were already lined up at the door wondering if I’d gone to the hospital. The rest of the day flew by because I had so much teaching to do and I had to leave early for my 39 week OB appointment. At 2:15 I frantically tried to grab everything I needed for the evening (i.e., papers to grade, lessons to prepare for, grades to enter for progress reports) and I sent my students to the other teachers’ classrooms. I arrived at my Craig Ranch OBGYN right on time and they got me right in. My feet and legs were still extremely swollen and my blood pressure was high at 143/94. I told the nurse that I had been having a terrible headache off and on for 6 days and that over the weekend I had seen some tiny black spots in my vision. The nurse checked Jacob’s heartrate and he was doing great, as usual. When Dr. Robert came in, she examined me and determined that I was still only about 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. She told me that she was concerned about my symptoms of preeclampsyia and would like for me to go on to the hospital for some lab work and observation. If everything came back looking good, she wanted me to be on bed rest and if it didn’t look good, she suggested that we go ahead and induce. I was already scheduled to be induced on Monday, October 25 if Jacob didn’t arrive by then.

I was disappointed and a bit nervous that Dr. Shimer would be delivering him on that day. He’s an excellent doctor, but I definitely feel more comfortable with a female and especially with Dr. Robert. Dr. Robert told me that it was an option for me to decide to go ahead and induce that evening since I was already 39.5 weeks along and Jacob was measuring 40.5 weeks. She would be the one to deliver if he came between 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday and 8:00 a.m. on Thursday and if he came sooner, it would be Dr. Heather Sloan who I also really like. This was a lot to take in and I told her that I wanted to discuss my options with Tim. She completely agreed and told me to go on to the hospital and that Tim and I could let them know our decision once we arrived at the hospital. I knew that Jacob would be arriving soon, but the fact that we had a major decision to make and that I could potentially be having him that evening stunned me! As soon as I left the office, I immediately called Tim with the news. He said that he would wrap things up at work and would meet me at home so we could get everything packed, just in case we wouldn’t be coming home. I then called my mom to fill her in on what was about to happen. It was about 3:15 p.m. at this point and I was bummed that I was going to miss my 4:00 haircut appointment. When I mentioned this to my mom, she said she would go ahead and get the haircut since it wasn’t an emergency that I get to the hospital. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with the idea! Tim was home shortly and as soon as we had everything packed, he drove me to get my haircut. A girl’s got to look good going into delivery! Laura, my stylist, loved that I came to my appointment on the way to the hospital. They couldn’t believe how calm I was, but I assured them that I was just in shock and denial! After I got my hair cut and styled, Tim and I discussed whether or not we should stop and get food on the way to the hospital. Since I was just going in for labs and observation, we decided that he could always run down the street and get us dinner, so we didn’t stop…bad decision! We arrived at Baylor Medical Center Frisco at around 5:15 and checked in at Labor and Delivery. A nurse escorted us to Labor and Delivery Room 3 and had me change into a hospital gown. She checked my vitals and also drew blood for lab work. Unfortunately, the hospital had not received any orders from my doctor’s office so they had to call to get further instructions. Without even waiting for the results of my lab work, Dr. Robert asked them to go ahead and admit me so they could get started with the induction. I’m not sure how this all happened, but I felt better knowing she would be my doctor. Of course, I kept asking if I was going to be able to get dinner…food is always a priority for me! The nurses said they didn’t think it would be a problem but that they would have to get back to me. Even though they had already drawn blood for lab work, they had to redraw blood and put in an IV lock. The nurses did a horrible job trying to locate my veins! No one has ever had trouble on me before, but they simply could not get the needle in. They kept saying that my veins were rolling or that they blew, which is possible since my blood pressure was so high, but eventually they had to call for the anesthesiologist to put in my IV lock because they had given up. They tried in 6 different places and several times in each of those places!! Thank goodness they were using Lidocaine so it wasn’t hurting me too much! Since the nurses were afraid that they would lose the line, they went ahead and started to give me fluids. I soon found out that I would not be getting any more food. I was going to be limited to ice chips and popsicles until baby Jacob was born (almost 41 hours after my peanut butter and jelly sandwich I’d eaten at school for lunch!)!

At 7:00 p.m., it was time to start the induction process. My nurse, Amanda, came in to start me on Cervidil. She had to place the Cervidil up next to my cervix and needless to say, it was an incredibly painful procedure. Once the Cervidil was in place, we had to wait 12 hours to see how my cervix would change. She checked on me throughout the evening and while visiting with her, we realized that we had a ton of friends in common! She and her husband went to Oklahoma Christian and graduated a year ahead of me so she knew a lot of people that I grew up with in OKC. What a small world! I felt like it was a God moment to put her there for me…just knowing our connection helped me relax a bit.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Before the shift change at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Amanda came in, removed the Cervidil, and checked my cervix. I was still dilated only 1cm, but had effaced quite significantly. Because the Cervidil had not helped me dilate, my doctor ordered for me to receive Cytotec, another “ripening agent.” Cytotec is a small pill that is placed next to the cervix and often, it can start contractions without even needing Pitocin. I must say, out of all the pain I felt through my entire labor and delivery process, the placement of this pill was by far the worst! Cervidil makes the cervix very sore and sensitive and the Cytotec has to be placed inside with very little gel. I was nearly screaming and was crying due to the pain I felt! I know Tim hated to watch me go through that. I told him that I just wanted to forget the whole induction and go home because I didn’t feel like I could go through with it after that. Luckily, the worst, as far as pain was concerned, was over! My nurse at this point was Jamie and she was awesome! I was so embarrassed and felt defeated, but she was very encouraging and helped me feel that what I was feeling and experiencing was very normal.

At noon, my doctor ordered for me to be put on Pitocin to get the contractions moving along. I definitely started feeling them more and more and was excited that things were getting going! Jamie came in shortly after starting the Pitocin to let me know that Dr. Robert would be coming within an hour or two to break my water. I asked her how painful that procedure was and she told me that to be truthful, it was one of the more painful procedures. I was really not looking forward to having another experience like I’d already had! Because Dr. Robert was extremely busy on this day, she did not make it within a few hours. In fact, it felt like I waited on her all day! Jamie checked with Dr. Robert to see if it was possible for me to receive my epidural before she came by to break my water and Dr. Robert agreed. Jamie had to check my cervix before the anesthesiologist could come and it was no longer painful since I had been making progress! When she checked it was around 5:00 p.m. and I was between 3 and 4cm dilated. The nurse anesthetist arrived and she was wonderful! She explained everything to me in great detail and I felt like that process was easy and painless. My biggest concern was that my epidural would wear off before time to push, but she explained that it wouldn’t because it was a drip through my IV. Within a few minutes, I was feeling great! I could still feel my legs and toes, but they were tingly and there was no pain. Everyone kept laughing because they were watching my monitor and telling me that I’d just had a huge contraction but I didn’t feel a thing!

I was very sad to see Jamie leave, especially after meeting my next nurse Jessica. She was terrible! She didn’t come in and introduce herself when she started her shift and after I finally met her, she would disappear for several hours even after telling me that she’d be right back with something. We were frustrated with her and also a bit frustrated that Dr. Robert still hadn’t arrived and it had been 7 hours! Shortly after 7:00 p.m., Dr. Robert arrived and came in to break my water. She told me that I was dilated to 7cm and almost to 8! She also discovered that there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. Dr. Robert had to leave again to go to another hospital, but was going to be back shortly. I’m sure Jessica checked my cervix several times before this, but I remember that around 10:00 p.m., I was almost to 10cm! She said that there was just a tiny bit of rim left to go. I slept a lot throughout the day due to some Flexeril I had been given for my headache and neck pain and this helped the time go by quicker. At some point in the evening, Jessica had me lying on my sides with one leg raised to get the epidural to spread evenly and also to make sure Jacob’s head was turned correctly. I woke up with significant pain in part of my back and was feeling contractions in that area, so the nurse anesthetist was called back in and she gave me a boost to help ensure the medicine was covering all areas. Unfortunately, that made me go completely numb from the waist down and I had no control over my legs! In fact, my leg kept sliding out of the raised part and my mom had to keep trying to lift the dead weight. Luckily, the complete numbness wore off before time to push so I could feel where the pressure was.

At 11:30 p.m., Jessica wanted me to do some pushing to see if that would help me get to a full 10cm. It didn’t seem to help. I had been hoping all along that Jacob would be born on 10-20-2010, but was starting to get discouraged that he wouldn’t make it in time and sure enough, he didn’t.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

I continued to rest while my contractions got stronger and stronger. We started to think that he might be born in the 3:00 hour of the morning since both Tim and I were born at that time. Around 3:30 a.m. Jessica told me that it was time to start pushing. My mom, Tim and Val were all in the delivery room taking turns helping me with my legs. I never thought I would, but I decided to use the mirror and it was so cool watching him progress through the birth canal as I pushed my little heart out! I pushed for exactly one hour and on my last push, I almost pushed his head all the way out. Jessica had to put her hand on his head to keep him in place and she told me to hang on while she called for my doctor and the nursery staff to join us ASAP! My doctor had been in another room sleeping, so she had to put her contacts in and soon my room was filled with lots of hospital staff. I couldn’t believe that I just had to wait when I was feeling so much pressure and wanted to push! In the meantime, Dr. Robert talked to Tim and they both got ready for the grand finale. Finally, she had me push and once she got his head out, it was Tim’s turn to deliver the rest of him and cut the umbilical cord. He came out very calm and opened his eyes really big to check out the world! I was overcome with tears of joy! Jacob Ryan Kerby was born at 4:43 a.m. weighing 8lbs. 8.5oz. and was 21.75 in. long!

I had been told that he would be immediately put on my chest after delivery, but this wasn’t the case. As soon as his cord was cut, the nursery staff took him to get suctioned and checked out. I guess this was standard since the meconium was already in the fluid and they needed to get everything out so he didn’t get pneumonia. They were also a bit worried that he wasn’t crying, but his Apgar scores were good! While he was being attended to, Dr. Robert was working hard to help me deliver the placenta and this took a while. Finally, she had sown me up and was finished with me. Tim had been holding Jacob the whole time just like a proud Daddy would, but I was ready for my turn. I finally got to hold my baby at 5:15 a.m. and I thought (and still do!) that he was the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen, even with his major conehead! I had been asking when I could have food and a Dr. Pepper and she said as soon as she was finished with me. Val was standing ready with my Dr. Pepper and then she went on a food run to get me some biscuits from McDonald’s. Food had never tasted so good! My nurse Jessica had turned out to be a great help during the delivery process and she stayed with us past her shift to get us situated into our postpartum room (259) at around 7:30 a.m. The rest of our stay at the hospital was great. We had some excellent nurses, both for me and for Jacob!