my new baby human! a birth story

[Catherine Nilson]

The short part: Sibyl was born at 4:08 pm, May 5th, by emergency c section after getting her arm, leg, and torso wrapped in her cord. She is 20.5" and 6lb 15.1oz.

A pic of the happy family!
http://i.imgur.com/4XTTfzy.jpg

The long part, for those of you interested in the actual birth story:

I started having contractions around five in the morning Monday. After an hour and a half, they were pretty painful and running seven minutes apart, so I went to the hospital. They fished around in there and, once I had gone from a three centimeters dilated to five centimeters in an hour, sent me back to a nice birthing suite. The suites at the hospital are comfortable, they are similar to a nice hotel room, complete with fully adjustable medical bed, a bathroom and bath, a sliding chair, a couch bed, and a tv. The cooking network channel was on when we got there, and I spent most of the labor watching it and hunkering down in the sliding chair sighing and holding my head or holding Tim's hand and groaning.

When the contractions got too uncomfortable, I got an epidural. Receiving it was very unpleasant. There was an attending anesthesiologist and two assistants, one of whom wasn't quite practiced in what she was doing yet. Even after the numbing agent, it was very uncomfortable to feel them needling around in my back. But they did it, and I got my epidural.

For those of you who don't know, an epidural is a magical fairy juice that makes your legs go numb and your body not able to feel any pain, just some pressure, below the waist. Well, things had been progressing normally and it was starting to look like I was about to be fully dilated (ten centimeters) in no time, when suddenly at 7 centimeters two things happened. First, my epidural failed. So I went from feeling nothing but sunshine and rainbows to crying out in pain. Second thing that happened was I stopped dilating so regularly. A doctor came in and broke my water to see if it could speed things up. My wonderful nurse let the anesthesiologists know that I wasn't feeling my epidural anymore. They said they'd come fix it eventually.

Labor still wasn't progressing past seven centimeters, and suddenly baby's heart rate plummeted from a normal 155 beats per minute, to 50 beats per minute. My room became very crowded very fast. They had me position myself on my hands and knees, and her heart rate went back to normal while the doctor explained that if her heart rate plummeted one more time, it would be best to do a c section, because she wasn't getting enough oxygen for some reason. She said maybe the baby had rolled over on her cord but that my hands and knees position made her go back to normal.

I was perfectly fine with a c section if it meant that Sibyl would be born okay, and so of course I said yes, and when her heart rate plummeted a second time, the room got even more crowded. Probably a dozen nurses and doctors at a time were in there. They gave me another dose of epidural (the tube had gotten kinked apparently) and my legs gave out. Then I was rushed by an entire fleet of nurses and doctors who had descended from nowhere, into a brightly lit sterile room.

I was completely numbed but not knocked out. Someone asked me "I'm pinching you really hard, can you feel that?" When I said no, she said "Get the knife."

Two minutes later, they had Sibyl out! She had managed to tangle her leg, arm and torso in her cord, and thanks to the swift actions of the doctors and nurses, she is fine. If she had gone too long without oxygen she would have had brain damage, or worse, but instead they gave her to my husband right after cleaning her up, and the two of them got to bond while they sewed me up.

We get to go home from the hospital tomorrow. I'm excited to see how the cats and dog get along with Sibyl. Thank you players of Cat's and Paige's family and friends for the support. Thanks in particular to people who have given me advice throughout the pregnancy.

[Reganleif]

Congratulations to you and best of life to lil Sibyl.

[Renee]

DAWWWWWWW!!!!!! XD Congratulations!!!!!!!

[Strix (DELETED 5285)]

I'm so excited for you! She's precious and your story sounds scary, but it seems like you were also well taken care of.

+1 on the future epidural for me.