so we were moving along, it seemed Rebecca’s pushing had become much more focused and we were beginning to make progress. But as time passed, we found ourselves not progressing and Rebecca was getting more and more tired. By around 8pm, Rebecca was very frustrated and was beginning to talk of going to the hospital, getting some pain meds, and delivering the baby. We discussed it with Jaren and Caroline and determined that the hospital wouldn’t give us pain meds but would most likely give her petosin and she would push the baby out, likely causing even more pain.
I got Rebecca into the pool and we chatted for a bit. I said since this was something we had decided on, the homebirth, that we should do our best to make it work. So we pushed and pushed and while it looked like we were improving, we lost each push because there wasn’t a contraction following to keep us progressing. We also continued to check the fetal heartrate and noticed it was dipping right after each push. Since we weren’t progressing, the heart rate was low, and Rebecca was extremely tired (by this time we had been working with regular contractions for roughly 31 hours, and we could see the head but not progress any further for the last 4 hours. We passed the cervix about 12 hours ago.) The decision was made to transport to the hospital. All of the options were laid out to us, and we chose the hospital due in large part to the low heart rate, indicating the baby was in some form of distress.
So we called 911 at 8:08pm and they sent a fire truck and an ambulance. I calmly explained the situation to the 911 dispatchers and we were taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital just off North and Western. Unlike movies and TV, the ERs in most hospitals is very slow. And it isn’t too often that an ambulance transports a woman in labor, so everyone knew we were coming. We got upstairs and Dr. Toks was there to deliver the baby. Rebecca was on a saline drip. She was moved to a bed with stirrups and the doctor started looking around. Since he could see the head, and the color was purple due to the swelling of labor, we wanted that baby out quickly. While he got the tools ready to do an episiotomy and had a vacuum ready to suck the baby out. But rebecca pushed the baby out and the Dr. pushed and prodded and the baby came out quite quickly.
At first I saw the head and I thought the baby was really tiny. Since we were a bit early (2-3 weeks) I worried. Until I saw the REST of the head come out, and it was clear that what we saw was only a portion of the head. It was kind of molded to meet the openning we were pushing it too, but that goes away super quick. The baby came out quickly once we passed the head and shoulders and we saw our new baby boy.
Immediately Dr. Toks clamped the cord and stopped him. I told him we didn’t want the cord clamped right away, we wanted the cord blood to pump into the baby. He looked at my very confused and said “Well, what do we do with him then?”. I politely but sternly told him to take the clamp off the umbilical cord and to hand the baby to Rebecca. Everyone in the room was aware that this was a homebirth that needed transport, so the support staff was actually very nice and accommodating. The doctors, however, were very concerned and confused. Almost bewildered, the doctor handed the baby to Rebecca and the support staff quickly wiped him down. It was actually really really cute. I wish I had brought my camera, as I had forgotten it in the hustle of the transport. Dr. Toks started talking immediately about liability and procedure but we ignored him. The pediatrician on the scene also talked about liability, etc. But I shot them both dirty looks and told them to hold on, and I was aware of the procedure. It was a very nice moment. After a little bit, most likely less than a minute, we let the Dr. cut the umbilical cord and they took the baby to the bassinet in the room.
We questioned everything they did to both Rebecca and the baby. We passed on the Hep B, we wiped off the eye goop pretty quickly. We questioned the stitches, as Rebecca tore. We were pleasantly surprised to find out the baby stays with us most of the time. We go him breast feeding pretty quickly. We got a couple shots (vitamin K, blood work, etc) but it was pretty smooth. The support staff was great and were very friendly, helpful, answered all our questions and odd requests. We got 4 vials of cord blood and the placenta. While they looked at us kinda oddly, they let us keep them.
Once the baby was back (vitamin k, food print on the birth certificate, etc) he was quite response and appeared to recognize our voices. His official weight was 8lbs 3.4 ounces and 21 inches. He was a 9.9 on the blah blah scale, which is good. Official time of birth was 8:38pm and we had only been in the hospital for like 20 min tops. I can stop him from crying with my voice. I got to wash him for the first time, and I admit while he is pretty fragile, he is also pretty resilient. Thankfully Caroline and the grandparents were all around to help us n00b parents out. He took the Rebecca’s chest quickly, and has fed a number of times without issue.
We got moved to our postnatel room and I had to get a cab to take the placenta and cord blood vials home, since there was no way for them to be stored there, which was fine. I did meet Daisy the woman at the security desk as we hung out as I waited for cabs that never came. She called me one, he drove by with no lights on (headlights/taillights) and never stopped. The 2nd guy never came. I got another cab company before the 3rd was suppose to show up.
So I finally got home, took a quick shower, grabbed clothes for myself and Rebecca and baby. I grabbed my laptop to write this. I took a shower and returned to the hospital. So tired, crashing out soon.EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
YEAH, I really did just type that as I fell asleep at hte keyboard… until tomoorrrrooowww….