A Baby Story

Well, now that Marshall is over a week old, I thought I should finally get around to posting about his birth! Here’s an account of what occurred. I can’t believe how much I’ve already forgotten about the experience. Warning: there is some graphic information in this post…

We went in Thursday night for our induction. After checking in to the ER, we were taken up to the Labor and Delivery department and were shown to our room. They hooked me up to the fetal heart tone and contraction monitor and we listed to Baby Zucchini’s heart beat as the nurses checked my vital signs, put in my IV line and took a health history. Shortly after 8pm cervical induction with a cervidil suppository was started after the nurses determined I was 3 cm dilated and about 70% effaced. Basically it looked like a “Barbie tampon”- like a piece of shoe string- that was wedged into the posterior fornix of my cervix (not into the external os). I continued to have Braxton Hicks contractions and stayed awake until about midnight when the nurses took me off the fetal heart tone monitor. They came in periodically to check my vital signs throughout the night, which didn’t bother me too much since I wasn’t able to sleep anyway. I had a little bit of the “Christmas Eve” problem, where I was too excited to sleep, but also because the bed was not very comfortable and I had so many wires and tubes hooked up to me. Then, at about 4 in the morning, I started having painful contractions. Now I completely understand the difference between Braxton Hicks contractions and labor pains. It’s like comparing our Ford Focus to a jumbo jet. Sure, both are modes of transportation, but one tops out at 100 mph and the other can cross the country in a matter of hours. The contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes and were lasting about 1 minute each. I could breathe through them, but the nurses offered me some pain medication (IV fentanyl), which I didn’t feel like I needed quite yet. The contractions started to increase in intensity, and a little before 5am I woke up Jordan to tell him that I needed him to hold my hand through the contractions and to talk me through some breathing exercises. He recommended I ask for some pain medication when I felt like crying during the contractions. I received a dose of fentanyl, which induced a state that I can describe with no other words but “the drunk spins.” My college friends can relate to this- the sensation that occurs when you’ve had too much to drink and you know the room is about to start spinning… you know if you run home and fall asleep before they set in, you’re in the clear… otherwise you’ll spend the rest of the night puking and feeling lousy. I couldn’t focus my vision on the writing on the nurse’s white board and I felt woosy, but the pain was gone. The fentanyl dose lasted for about 30 minutes, and I had to ask for another dose, which, thankfully, didn’t induce the woosy feeling. Then, at about 6:45, the contractions were really intense. With a shift change coming up, I had the decision to get my epidural then or have to wait an hour, knowing that I couldn’t have another dose of fentanyl for 30 more minutes. So, I decided to go ahead and get the epidural. The nurses removed the suppository, and then the anesthesiologist became my BFF. He timed the insertion of the needle and the threading of the catheter in between my contractions and it was just a little uncomfortable, rather than painful. The pain relief set in immediately. I felt NOTHING. Literally, nothing. I could not feel the contractions at all, and shortly, could not feel my legs or make them move on my own. It was awesome.

I labored for a couple of hours without any pain and my OB came in to check my cervix- I was 5 cm dilated- and to break my water. Not very much liquid came out when she did that- we were both surprised. We expected labor to go on for most of the rest of the day, with the thought that we might need to induce stronger contractions with pitocin. Then, the contractions started getting stronger on their own (as we watched on the monitor- I couldn’t feel them at all) and Baby Zucchini’s heart rate started to decelerate with each contraction. Usually they don’t expect that to happen until the baby is in the birth canal, so they hooked up a scalp electrode to monitor the heart rate more closely, as well as an intrauterine catheter to monitor the intensity of my contractions rather than just the frequency and duration. They also resupplied liquid into the uterus to cushion Baby Zuccarelli via amnioinfusion and I proceeded to leak all over the bed for the next hour. Every twenty minutes the nurses shifted me to a different position and they had to change the pads underneath me and weigh them to see how much liquid had leaked out.

Then, when Baby Z’s heart rate started to stay low throughout the contractions, the nurse decided to check my cervix and was surprised to tell me that I was completely dilated and 100% effaced! She went to page our doctor and when she came back, she started to teach me how to push and some breathing techniques. Since I could feel nothing, and I mean nothing, she told me to “bear down” and she had to confirm if I was actually pushing by feeling my abdomen. Shortly our doctor returned and we started setting up the room for the delivery. The next thing I knew, there were 8 nurses in the room and it was time to start pushing! I glanced at the clock and it was 11am. I thought to myself how Chasen, our friends’ baby, was born at 11:17am and I thought that it would be another crazy coincidence if our baby were born at that time too. The lead nurse kept her hands on my abdomen and watched the monitor and told me when each contraction was coming on so I could push. I pushed so hard, not knowing if I was doing the right thing, and I was scared I might burst a blood vessel in my eye or defecate all over my doctor. Thankfully neither of these things happened. J As Baby Z dropped down into the birth canal, the heart rate continued to drop, and minutes went by with the baby’s heart rate well below 100. At one point the heart rate was in the 80s and MY heart rate was higher. So, our doctor made eye contact with me and told me that if I wanted to have this baby vaginally, I would have to continue pushing as hard as I possibly could and that we would only be able to try for a little while longer before she’d have to do a c-section. Well, that was motivation enough for me. I pushed as hard as I could as all the nurses yelled, “come on, Britton, you can do it!” Our doctor ended up having to use a vacuum to help Baby Z out the rest of the way, and at 11:22am, Marshall Walker Zuccarelli finally made his appearance.

He was so determined not to come out of the womb that he exited the birth canal with a hand up by his face and scratched me on the way out. Since the heart rate had been so low, we didn’t have time to allow my perineal musculature to stretch naturally, so he did a number to my anatomy while making his exit (more on that later). Additionally, he had wrapped the umbilical cord around his neck, his arm pit and his abdomen, trying to tether himself inside the clubhouse as a last resort effort.

When he came out, he was bluish and floppy. I was so worried and overcome with emotion that I was bawling. Jordan was crying too and kissed me and said, “honey, we have a baby!” Our doctor cut the umbilical cord and hurriedly unwound it from his body, just as he let out a cry and opened his eyes. The nurses took him to the incubator bed in our room to clean him off and let Jordan trim the cord. Then, I got to hold my sweet little angel.

As I mentioned, because everything was so rushed, my body didn’t have time to prepare for the passage of an 8 lb 7 oz baby boy, and without getting too graphic (DISCLAIMER: This is probably too much information for most…), I ended up with a stage 4 tear involving 2 vaginal wall tears, 2 labial tears and 3 perineal tears. While my OB normally uses 1-2 suture kits to repair perineal lacerations, she used 10 kits to fix mine. After 2 hours of extensive reconstructive surgery, it was finally over. Thank GOD for the epidural, which was still flowing at this point.

Marshall’s apgar scores were 6 at 1 minute, and then 8 and 9 (out of 10). I was immediately overcome with love for him and was in absolute amazement that Jordan and I had created something so perfect.

Unfortunately, because of the delay due to my repair, Marshall didn’t get a chance to try nursing until 4 hours after birth. We had a rough go of nursing in the hospital because Marshall would fall asleep shortly after latching on or he would scream when I offered. He ended up receiving a bit of formula supplementation in the hospital to make sure he took in some calories. At his first pediatrician visit 4 days after birth, he had already lost 10% of his birth weight. By day 7, he had lost a whole pound. But, I am so happy to report that now Marshall is nursing, pooping and peeing well and we have another appointment on Tuesday with the pediatrician to make sure he hasn’t lost too much weight such that he requires formula supplementation. Certainly if that is what’s necessary, I’ll be glad to do it, but I’m hoping we can continue to nurse exclusively.

Thank you to everyone for the warm wishes and for all the help we’ve received. We couldn’t have done this without you!

I never knew that I could love someone so much. I also never knew I'd be so excited when another person pooped or peed. :)