Good Times with the Ryans: September 2009

When Kate arrived on Tuesday, it probably didn't seem like much of a surprise to anyone, since we were already scheduled to go in for an induction that day. Well, as it turns out, it was a bit of a surprise. We spent Monday night finishing up a few last things around the house and packing our bags for the hospital. We went to bed around 11, prepared to get a call from Rex sometime Tuesday morning, to let us know when we should be at the hospital. Well, not surprisingly, I had a pretty restless night. I had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Around 3am, I remember waking up with a lot of back pain and feeling a little crampy. I would doze back off and wake up again a few minutes later feeling the same way. I started wondering if I could be having contractions, but then just convinced myself that I was just dreaming. After all, I was going to be having a baby in just a few hours. Well, finally, I just got up and went downstairs. I sat there on the couch for a few minutes, looking at the clock and finally realized...I was having contractions! We were going to have a baby soon -- induction or not! I went back upstairs and tried to go back to sleep, but without much luck. Finally, at about 4:45 I woke Sean up. We sat around timing contractions for a little while, but it didn't take us long to realize that they were lasting close to a minute and were coming pretty regularly. I called the doctor at around 5:30 and she told us to come on in when we were ready. We called our parents to let them know what was going on and headed over to the hospital as soon as Mamma & Papa made it to our house to stay with Jackson.

Sean dropped me off at the door to the Birthing Center so I could go get checked in. By the time he made it inside from parking the car, I was already in a room and in a hospital gown. No waiting at all! My labor and delivery nurse, Amy, was absolutely wonderful! She was very supportive through the contractions and made lots of suggestions on how to get more comfortable. When she asked me about pain management, I told her about the shoulder dystocia with Jackson and that I didn't want limited mobility to be the cause for any problems this time around. She said that even if I had an epidural, they would still be able to help me into different positions, so that wouldn't be a problem. Once I saw the doctor, she confirmed the same thing. So at about 9am, I decided I had been through enough. The back labor was just unbearable. The contractions would come and go, but the back pain refused to subside. The anesthesiologist came pretty soon after I made the call, which was great! However, after enduring the uncomfortable pain of the epidural it ended up not setting up completely on my right side, so the nurse had to call him back in to re-do it. Yikes! It turned out to be much easier the second time around though, thank goodness. Once the epidural was set up well, I obviously felt much better and was able to relax just a little.

When I got to the hospital and was checked I was 3 cm and my nurse told me I was in great shape. About an hour and half later, she checked again and I was 4cm. Good progress, but still a long way to go. The doctor decided to go ahead and start the Pitocin anyway, because my contractions were strong, just a little irregular. She also went ahead and broke my water. When she broke my water, she noticed a little meconium, which meant Kate had a little bowel movement in utero. This can be a concern, so my nurse told me that the Special Care nursery staff would be in the room at delivery to take her right away and suction out her mouth to quickly remove any meconium that may be present in her airways. At about 12, and a couple of hours into pain-free labor and slow drip of Pitocin later, it was time to check again. The nurse told me, "Think big numbers here." So I started saying to myself, "Six. Six. Let me be a six." Then she says, "Yep. You're a good 9!" We were shocked!! (Just to refresh your memory, I was in labor with Jackson for 25 hours! With a very, very slooooooow progression through the day.) So the nurse told us that I'd be ready to start pushing very soon. Well, the OB practice that I go to has several doctors and their on-call shifts begin at 1pm. The doctor that I had been seeing all morning was Dr. Watson. She was the only doctor in the practice that I hadn't met until that morning in the hospital. The doctor that was taking over at 1 was Dr. Wind, the doctor who treated me in the hospital in June when I had the kidney stones. She was wonderful then and was actually the reason I ended up going to this practice -- after my previous doctor decided midway through my pregnancy that he wasn't going to deliver babies anymore. So at 12, it was really up in the air as to who would be delivering little Kate. The nurse told me that as long as I was comfortable she would just let me go a little longer to let Kate move on down on her own, rather than me have to do more pushing. That was good with me, because I was secretly hoping that Dr. Wind would be the one who delivered her. Well, the hour passed and the nurse finally told us that all the doctors in my practice had a meeting at 1pm, so she really wasn't sure who I was going to get. At this point the contractions were getting stronger and stronger and I was really starting to feel them and the back pain through the epidural. I was ready to have this baby, but there was no doctor there to catch her! Finally, the nurse came in and said Dr. Wind (Yay!) was on the way and told me just to bear down through a contraction. Then she said to stop. Seriously! Stop! This baby was ready to come out! So finally (ok, 5 minutes later), Dr. Wind came in, threw her bag down and her scrubs on, and got ready to catch little Kate. A mere two contractions and some really good pushin' on my part later, at 1:54pm, Kate made her big debut!! I cried the happiest of tears when I saw her, because I had been so nervous that we would experience the same shoulder dystocia with her as we did with Jackson. I had put it all into God's hands and was prepared to let Him lead me through labor -- and any decisions that had to be made along the way. And boy did He see me through...in a big way. All my worrying over making the right decision -- natural vs. C-section -- had been for nothing. She came right on out...all 7 lbs 14 oz and 22 inches of her. So she was out safely, but we still had the meconium to worry about. She did let out a little scream before Dr. Wind was able to pass her off to the staff, but they were able to suction her out pretty quickly. It was a really fast transition...Sean didn't even get the chance to cut the cord this time. So as the nursery staff was checking her over, we were getting constant updates and she seemed to be doing just fine. Her Apgar scores came in at 7, then 8. The nursery staff decided to take her in to the nursery for a little while, just to monitor her, but before they took her away, they let me try breastfeeding her for a few minutes. And homegirl came out the gate, ready to go! She latched right on like a pro! Man, things were going just too well!! Thanks be to God for giving us such a healthy little girl!!

Our friends, Jenn and Matt, got married on Saturday and we were so honored that they asked Jackson to be their ringbearer. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be there, because they were married on Bald Head Island and we didn't think it was a good idea for me to travel that far so close to the D-Day. I've been able to see lots of pictures though and everyone has told me how great Jackson did. We asked Jen (Misenheimer) to help out with Jackson, once Sean had to begin his groomsmen duties and it worked out great! Many thanks to Jen for all her help!! I'm not even sure she was able to take in much of the wedding, because she ended up off to the side, playing in the sand with Jackson during the ceremony!

Congrats Matt and Jenn on your beautiful wedding!! I wish you many years of love, laughter and happiness!!