Reese's Birth Story

Taken from my pregnancy organizer from my pregnancy with Reese
June 6th, 2007
I went to the doctor for a checkup 6 days after my due date fully expecting to have to go back to work and wait a few more days. They checked my urine, weight and blood pressure like usual. Then they checked the fundal height and did a cervix check. Because I still was not dilated, the midwife said that I had 2 options: 1) They could insert a catheter that they would then fill with water to mimic the baby's head and cause cause the cervix to start to open (dilate), 2) they could do an ultrasound to make sure the baby is ok and wait 3 days to see if labor started or be induced anyway. We decided to more forward and go ahead with the 1st option and induce labor. They did a non-stress test which checked the baby's heartbeat and movements while I was resting. Everything looked normal, so they told us to come back around 4pm to have the catheter inserted. If I don't go into labor naturally overnight, we are to go to the hospital at 6:30am to start the pitocin. Either way, she will probably be born within the next 48 hours. Although this is not how we planned it, we are definitely ready for things to get moving!
Rather than go to work, I went home from the doctor's office and spent the afternoon resting. At 4:30 we returned to the doctor's office. After going to the bathroom, I prepared for the catheter to be inserted. Kathe explained to us how the cather should work (called the Foley Method) to induce labor and what we should expect. She inserted the catheter and filled the ballon with water. The balloon mimics the baby's head descending down the birth canal and tricks my body to start dilating or opening. Hopefully, it will cause enough dilation that contractions start, if not they will give me pitocin at the hospital to induce contractions. She told us to go home and get a good night's sleep so that we would be rested for a day of labor. We are to check into the hospital at 6:30am if nothing happens overnight. If we start having contractions overnight we just call the office and they will let us know whether or not to come in and notify Kathe.
I was too uncomfortable to do anything but go home. My mom came over to hang out with us for a little bit that night. She made me some eggs, but for the first time I was not hungry at all! I barely drank anything either because it was so uncomfortable to use the restroom with the catheter. I later found out that not drinking had been a mistake because dehydration can cause problems with delivery. I slept (read rested uncomfortably on the couch and in the spare bedroom so as not to disturb Randy) At 5am I jumped into the shower and prepared to leave for the hospital. We checked in a 6:30 on the dot and they took me to a room and got me all hooked up on the monitors. Fortunately, I had started contracting overnight and did not need the pitocin. Once in the hospital, I moved around a lot from the tub to the bathroom to the birthing ball. I even took a stroll through the hallway. Sometime around noon, they did break my water to keep the momentum going. I had terrible back labor and feeling that I needed to have a bowel movement. This sensation was very distracting to me and I did ask the midwife for some meds. She steered me towards something that could be inserted through my IV and did not have the numbing effects so that I could still get up and move around. Though I was not numb, I was sort of delirious. Everyone in the room kept laughing because I would mumble something incoherent or totally unrelated to the topic of conversation. Sometime around 3pm I began to have the urge to push and started to bear down. The midwife noticed this and said something about my being a natural and not even needing her there! Ninety minutes later, Reese was finally born, weighing exactly 9 pounds and 20 inches in length. She was facing backwards (posterior) which explained all of the back labor and pain. She suffered from shoulder distotia, but they said that it should heal within the week and not cause any long term damage. Several family members were there to greet her into the world immediately! That night there were horrible storms and grammy and grampy had trees down and no power at their house when they returned home!