Mae's Arrival

Mae was quite content to remain inside and that is why an induction was scheduled for Monday, January 10th at 5am - two days after my estimated due date. Since 37 weeks had had been having clustered contractions, but alas nothing that was terribly productive or progress that was a sign of our little girl coming on her own. So on Sunday night we took Ace to Gran and Pop Pop's - we stayed and got him settled into bed (the report back from the grandparents was that he woke and cried for us - but settled down and slept through the night until 7:30 the next morning! Good job, little guy!) After we left the grandparents - we headed home to finish packing, do another load of dishes, and got to bed.

We woke around 4am and I called to verify we were still on the schedule, and we were. So we got up, grabbed some breakfast, and headed off to the hospital. We got checked in and we met our nurse, Luba and I got all hooked up and ready to roll. At my appointment the previous Tuesday I was 1.75cm dilated and 0% effaced - so we had a ways to go. The IV was put in and pitocin started to flow at 5:45am at 1mm per minute. I sat for about an hour in bed and then Loving Husband and I got up and started to walk the halls - the contractions were closer together when I walked around, but were milder. Every 30 minutes the drip was kicked up by 1mm.



Around 8:30am, our doctor came in to check on us and established that I was 3cm and 50% effaced - it was at that time she broke my water. The contractions definitely increased in intensity after she broke the water and I pretty much decided I was set in the bed. I could have still walked around if I so chose, but I wasn't interested. We put on some Gilmore Girls that I had brought along and relaxed between contractions. Mae's heart rate fluctuated between 130 and 160 during most of the laboring - with an average around 130 most of the time. Unlike her brother who was a steady 150 all through labor.



One of my bigger contractions
After a few more hours of the pitocin being kicked up every 30 minutes or so, around 11am, I finally requested the epidural. After all there are no bonus points for holding out any extra time. At 11:30 epidural was in place and I was 4cm and 50% effaced. A little more time went by and Mae's heart rate started to decelerate with contractions - down to around 100. The doctor was notified and she came and observed and wasn't worried since it wasn't every contraction or consistent.

At 12:30 I was 6cm and 90% - little girl was still -2 station (so relatively high up.) The doctor said to turn the pitocin down from 8 to 4 and she predicted that I would be pushing at 2pm. Our nurse went to lunch a little before 2pm and I informed the relief nurse, Sarah that I was starting to feel the urge to push. She checked me and I was complete. We did one set of pushes through the next contraction and then she called our doctor who came over. After our doctor arrived we did a few more and then Mae's heart rate decelerated a lot (down to the low 80s) through the next couple of contractions. So we gave her a break, put me on a little oxygen and discussed that Mae was a bit too high for the vacuum, but that pushing wasn't good for her heart - they were certain it was cord compression issues - whether it was because it was around a leg, neck, etc - they weren't sure. The ultimate decision was to have me get on my hands and knees had push a few contractions in that manner to help rotate her some. Ultimately, that did the trick. She did great through those contractions and then again she did well once I was back on my back.

In just under an hour of pushing and a total labor time of 9 hours, Mae entered this world at 2:53pm weighing 6lbs and 8oz and 18" long. She did enter this world 'sunny side up' - so she has a bit of a bloodshot right eye due to some pressure from pushing against the pelvis on her way out - but ultimately the cord wasn't wrapped around any of her - and she scored a 9 on the apgar tests.