Labor & Delivery

Since our little boy is 1 week old already, I decided it was time to post about labor, delivery & our hospital stay.  I'm just gonna give you a heads up, this is gonna get long so feel free to scim or disregard & check out pictures coming soon.  I'm wanting to get this documented so I don't forget those little details that fade away with time.

Friday, April 26th I was almost 1 week overdue & had a doctor's appointment.  We packed our bag just in case she decided to start me that morning.  When Dr. Hippensteel checked me that morning, I was about 2.5 cm dilated & 70% thinned out.  She told me she felt comfortable starting me that morning if there were any available beds at the hospital.  We decided to go for it & had her check the hospital.  Unfortunately, there were no available beds at the time but there was a patient being discharged so they could maybe get me started that afternoon.  They would call me when it was ready.

We decided to go to my parents to kill time until they called.  Around noon I called the hospital & they told me they weren't going to get me in that day, but maybe in the morning they could start me.  We were disappointed but there was nothing we could do, so Ryan went to work & I stayed at my parents to help pass the day.

Later that afternoon, Sandy, Dr. Hippensteel's nurse, called & told me they weren't going to be able to get me started in the morning & we would have to wait  until the next week.  She said to pick a day & let them know.  After talking to Ryan we decided Wednesday, May 1 was a good time to make an appointment.  Ryan could work a couple days & then take the rest of the week off.  They said to come in around 7:30 AM on Wednesday, unless I went into labor on my own before then.

Wednesday morning rolled around with no sign of a baby, so we packed up & headed to the hospital.  We got registered & they called OB to get a room for me.  The OB nurses said there was no room & they probably couldn't get me started until about 11:00 AM.  They said we could wait at the hospital or go home & wait & call back at 11:00 & they should know more.  At this point, Dr. Hippensteel was contacted & she said she didn't want me to wait any longer & if they couldn't get me in at Adams Memorial, she'd take me to Fort Wayne to start me.

FRUSTRATED & ANNOYED are the two words that come to mind when I think about our feelings at that point.  TWICE we had wanted to get started, and TWICE we had been rejected!  I was ready to leave but Ryan thought we should stick around.  He thought if we were there, they might get us in earlier.  I was convinced they were going to call & say they couldn't get us in at all & I didn't want to sit at the hospital for three hours just to be sent back home!

We decided to be optimistic and found chairs & sat down with all our stuff.  All of a sudden, I started to get emotional!  I was tired of waiting & just wanted a baby!  Ryan went to find the lady that checked us in to ask what exactly they meant when they said they could probably get us in at 11:00 & ask if there was anywhere I could go to lay down.  (Neither one of us had slept great the night before & we were tired.)  She did some checking & came over to talk to us.  All of a sudden the tears came.  I couldn't hold them back, which made me feel really stupid because this lady was a stranger & there I was bawling my eyes out.  The tears were a good thing, it turns out, because not long after my breakdown, the head nurse of the OB unit came up to us & said they had a room ready & they could get me started.  Confused, we asked what she meant.  She said they had a room for me, just not enough nurses to get me started, but she had called in extra help so we were going to get things going.

We got settled, & they inserted the first Cytotec at 10:10 AM.  The nurse said they could give me another dose around 2:10 PM if things didn't pick up by then.  I started having consistent contractions about 4-5 minutes apart, but I was feeling absolutely no pain.  When the nurse checked me at 2:30, not much had changed.  I was 3 cm dilated & 80% thinned.  She was hesitant to give me another dose of Cytotec because she said that would only speed up the contractions & if I didn't progress, the stress on the baby wouldn't be good.  She called Dr. Hippensteel to see what she recommended.  Around 4:30 PM Dr. Hippensteel came into my room & asked if I wanted her to break my water.  This sounded great to me!  At 4:45 PM she broke my water.  Things definitely picked up right away.

I had my first painful contraction around 4:55 PM.  They were coming about 4-5 minutes apart & continually got more painful.  My pain level went from a 4 to a 9 in less than 30 minutes.  At this point we started talking about an epidural.  The nurse checked my progress & I was 5 cm dilated.  When I realized I was only half way complete, I decided I wanted the epidural.  The nurse started the fluids & called the anesthesiologist.    Around 6:15 PM the anesthesiologist came & started the epidural process.  He inserted the tube in my back & started the medicine.  Unfortunately my body didn't take it right away.  He said I should be feeling relief but I was still feeling quite a bit of pain with each contraction.  He seemed a little puzzled, but they had me re-position & around 6:45 PM I was pain free.

At this point, I was able to rest.  At 9:30 PM Dr. Hippensteel checked me again & I was 9 cm dilated & almost 100% thinned.  She said she'd come back in half an hour & check me again.  Around 10:30 PM I was fully dilated & thinned & ready to start pushing.

The first hour of pushing went pretty good.  At some point they put me on oxygen because after each contraction/push my baby's heart rate would drop & take a little while to come back up.  In the second hour, Dr. Hippensteel decided to use suction to help get the baby out.  She tried three different kinds of suction, but nothing worked.  I was pretty much exhausted  by 12:15 AM.

Around 12:30 AM Dr. Hippensteel started looking worried...not a good sign because not much gets this lady worked up.  She told me my baby's heart rate was dropping too low & taking too long to recover after each contraction.  She said she had two options, forceps or a c-section.  She knew I didn't really want a c-section, but she said she had to tell me the risks of using forceps.  First of all, I would tare pretty bad.  Second, there would be bruises and scrapes on my baby's face.  Last, there was a chance that the forceps could break some of the bones in my baby's face.  After hearing all that I decided to let the Doctor make the call.  Whatever she thought was best I'd be okay with it.

She had me push one more time on my own & told me to make it a good one.  We could see the baby's head & she said I was so close to having him/her out!  She pulled the forceps out & used them on the next contraction.  I pushed once & HE was out!  I was so relieved it was over!  I looked at the clock & it was 1:00 AM on the dot.  Two and a half hours of pushing is a long time!  After Ryan cut the cord & I had little Leo Trace in my arms I heard Dr. Hippensteel tell one of the nurses to go ahead & cancel the surgery.  I'm so thankful we didn't need to keep that appointment!

Yes, the day was long & exhausting but holding Leo in my arms made it all worth it!  Thanks to Dr. Hippensteel, the Adams Memorial OB nurses & my very supportive husband for making this day a HUGE success!

LEO TRACE STEFFEN
BORN MAY 2, 2013 @ 1:00 AM

7 LBS 10.4 OZ

20 INCHES LONG

More pictures to come.