Sunday July 6th
We went out to eat at the local Eat-n-Park. (Shouldn't that be the other way around?) The doctor told Steph to eat befre she got to the hospital becasue once she got there, she wouldn't be given anything but ice chips and popcicles. So we ate a nice dinner and then headed for OVMC in Wheeling.
Now Dr. Deguzeman had told us at our last appointment on Thursday the 3rd to be here at 6pm to start the induction process. So we got to the Labor and Delivery Ward at 5 til 6pm. The nurse looked at us with a very confused expression. Seems the paperwork they had received from the doctor said we weren't supposed to be here until Monday morning. *rolls eyes*
Apparently, someone at the office was in a bit of a hurry to get out of there for the long 4th of July weekend and filled out the paperwork incorrectly. She went ahead and put us in a room and made a couple quick phone calls to verify what we had been told and then we were set to begin.
Luckily, we got the big swanky birthing room. It's like hotel room sized big with a shower and everything. The others are about the size of walk-in closets. So that's pretty nice.
The nurse hooked Steph up to the monitoring equipment and she observed her for the first hour. Then she gave Steph a tablet with some gel that goes next to her cervix. This started her having contractions almost immdiately, but they weren't regular or anything.
After that we just waited. And waited. We had brought our portable DVD player and we stopped at Movie Gallery before dinner to pick up some movies beore their buy two get two free sale ended. So we popped "Good Luck Chuck" in and watched that. Pretty cute movie but a tad raunchy in places to put it mildly. We kept pausing it when the nurses came in since they always seemed to walk in during the worst scenes!! LOL
I got to try and sleep in a reclining chair, while Steph kept getting woken up to readjust her monitors everytime she tried to roll one way or the other. Essentially, we weren't sleeping at all.
Finally around 1:30am, Steph's contractions started getting extremely painful. So the nurse called the doctor to get instructions. Steph needed to stretch her legs after being in bed since 6pm. While we waited for the doctor to call back, the nurse let us go for a walk around the hospital to let Steph move around for a bit. The doctor called the nurse back and he prescribed some pain meds through her IV. Those got administered around 2:15am and we both finally got a little sleep. I managed 3 hours while Steph got a bit less from being woken up a few more times by the nurses.
Monday July 7th
They woke us up at 5:40am so Steph could take a shower and be ready to start the next step of the induction at 6am. They started her on some different IV meds. By this time her contractions were starting to get a little painful again.
Aroun 7am our doctor showed up. He broke Steph's water and inserted the internal baby monitors. He checked her charts and stuff and said she could have an epidural anytime she wanted. The doctor who does that showed up just before 8am. I had to leave the room while they did the epidural, they wouldn't allow me to be in there.
Steph's mom arrived just as they were finishing that process. So we waited in the hallway until they let us in. A short time later a nurse started a cathetor on Steph. Then she finally managed to get some more rest.
The contractions kept coming however and by 1:30pm it was obvious that the epidural was not doing much good anymore. Steph's pain was shooting off the charts. They kept uping the dosage as often as they could and administered some additional pain meds a couple of times.
This was probably the worst part for Steph. The contractions were very painful and her breathing exercises were having only moderate success at helping her deal with it. But she kept trying like the trooper she is and got through it all.
Around 4:30, Dr. Deguzeman came back in to check on her status. He did a pelvic exam and told us she was around 8 to 9 cm dilated. Her mom and I thought, "Oh good, only a little more to go and we can start pushing!" Steph, I'm sure just thought, "Crap! Not yet!" LOL
But he surprised us all by telling Steph we should start trying to push with each contraction and see if the baby will move lower yet. With that he left again.
The nurse came in and gave us some pushing instructions. Steph's mom and I would hold each of her legs in the air support while Steph pushed through each contraction. The first couple contractions didn't get us anywhere it seemed. On the third, I thought I saw one of the internal monitors starting to move and I saw something blackish on the end of it.
On the fourth contraction, less than 10 minutes after we started pushing, the nurse came in to check on us. She had been in and out getting all the additional gear they would need moved into the room and setup to go. Her eyes grew wide and she said, "Whoa! Stop! OK! No more pushing! We need to get the doctor back here now! You're already crowning!"
Steph groaned because she had discovered the pushing was actually far less painful than the contractions by themselves. So she sat and breathed through the next two. Finally the doctor showed up again and got suited up for the delivery.
Less than 10 min. after that, we saw the head starting to emerge. The doctor had to give Steph something to numb her down there because he saw he was going to have to cut a little to make additional room for the baby to come all the way out. Another big push after that and Gwen's head emerged. The doctor had Steph pause for a moment to ensure the cord wasn't wrapped around the baby or anything else and then it was back to pushing. Another good push and Gwennelyn Rose Brown was born at 4:56pm!! From pushing to delvery had taken less than 30 min. and probably would have been shorter if we hadn't had to stop in the middle.
The doctor clamped the cord off in two spots and then handed me a set of scissors. I cut the cord and they took the baby to be cleaned up while he delivered the placenta and started stitching Steph back up.
There was a good bit of difficulty with the stitching. It seems Steph had a good deal of internal tearing in addition to the cutting the doctor did. He took a good while getting her stitched up and she will be quite sore for several days, I am sure.
Then, Steph got to hold her baby. I, of course, being quite manly and gruff, teared up. So did Steph and Grandma. Then I got to hold her for a bit and then Grandma.
Steph tried to breastfeed right away but we didn't really get very far. Momma and baby were both quite exhausted so the attempt didn't last very long. During it though, Grandma went out to the waiting room to see who had shown up.
Steph's Aunt Debra and cousin Bec were waiting. They got to be the first to see Gwen outside the three of us who were already there. *Insert more crying here*
We also gave Grandma her first present from Gwen. A small necklace that said, "Nana" on it.
By now it was time for the baby to go down to the nursery to be checked out and cleaned up some more. The requisite flurry of phone calls were made and then Steph needed a nap. The rest of us went up to the hospital cafeteria to eat. While we were up there, our friend and soon to be day-care mommy, Christy showed up. I took them all down to the nursery to see if we could see Gwen again yet.
We only stayed there a short time as they needed to deal with her blood sugar. Steph had had gestational diabetes during the pregnancy, so the baby' blood sugar was something they needed to deal with right away. We decided to go see if Steph was awake again yet. Debra and Bec decided to leave and come back the next day.
When we got back, Steph was sitting up and had finlly been given a full meal. We all chit-chatted for a bit and then it was time to move all out stuff to the maternity ward over by the nursery. They wanted Steph to stay behind for a bit though so they could help her get a shower.
In the maternity ward, I was finaly able to take a shower myself. Boy was I getting funky!! LOL
They brought Gwen in to see us for a bit at 9pm. Daddy and baby girl got to do a bit of bonding and then mommy got some more time with the new girl. Then at 10, they brought her back to try and breast feed again. This time there was no trouble at all! Gwen latched on right away and did a great job!!
And that's the end of Monday!! Go Team Brown!!Tuesday July 8th
Tuesday saw lots of visitors and feedings. Here's dad with a bottle. Gwen was on a formula supplement for a few days to help get her blood sugar balanced again.
This is our good friend Christy when she came back to visit again.
A few shots of dad and mom with Gwen.
And in a rare appearance outside the house, Grandpa came to visit!
More bonding with mommy and Nana.
Here you can see the IV they had to put in Gwen's hand to help with her blood sugar.
This is a great shot. It's Bec holding Gwen for the first time right before Steph asked her to be a godmother at her baptism. She said yes and cried.
Several other folks showed up as well. Ellen and Judy from Steph's work came by. Cousin Brandi came for a bit. And Paula came to take some more pictures.Wednesday July 9th
We got to leave the hospital Wed. after 5pm. During the day we only had one new visitor, another lady Steph works with, Debbie.
After that it was mostly waiting around until we were cleared to head home.
When we got home and unloaded, Nana and Grandpa came over to visit for a bit.
After that, it was time to settle into Gwen's cradle for the first time. It's a handmade wodden one that Grandpa built for Steph when she was a baby. Several other cousins of hers used it after she grew out of it, but now it is just for Gwen.
Well, that's it for now!! When we take some more pictures, I'll post again.
Tim
