The story of Cady's birth

Cadence Ann, born 7/20/07 at 10:14 p.m. 8 lbs., 1 oz.

On July 18, I was having some minor contractions that while they were not timeable, were slightly painful, so I called my midwife and she had me come into the office to check me out. She examined me and found I had progressed to 4 cm from my appt. the week before when I was 3, however I was still not at all effaced. She suggested if I had not gone into labor on my own before Friday morning, I call her while she was on call at the hospital and she'd see about possibly breaking my water then.

As Friday approached, I started thinking more and more about whether having her break my water was a good thing. In the past, I've had my kids pretty quickly after my water broke, but I started getting nervous thinking what if nothing happened and they needed to give me pitocin. I was dead set against this. So, in the meantime, I did everything I thought safe to induce labor: pineapples, spicy food, red wine, walking, sex... Nothing worked. On Friday morning, I called the MW and it turned out the hospital was too busy to give her a nurse unless I was actually in labor. She told me to "make passionate love" to my husband and she guaranteed she'd see me in the next 23 hours she was on call. I told her there'd be nothing passionate about it...lol. She insisted and said, "It doesn't have to be good for him, just good for you." I hung up the phone and we headed upstairs. Still nothing.

I wound up taking a nap and after I woke up, Corey wanted to take the kids to the park. We did and on our way back, we stopped at my parents' house. While we were there, we decided to stay for dinner. Corey was going to make us all Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and he insisted I go with him to the store to get the stuff. He wanted me out and walking as much as possible. When we got back, he started cooking and the rest of us just hung out and played with the kids. We sat down to eat about 7 and a few minutes in, I noticed the contractions I had been feeling for a few days now were starting to catch my attention and were actually timeable. I then announced to a room full of relatives (it was my parents, my aunt and her boyfriend and her two kids, my husband and my two kids) that the baby was coming tonight. Corey let out a loud, “YAHOO!”
I started timing them and they were 2-5 minutes apart. At 7:30, I called the MW, Lucie, and I told her while normal people wait an hour, I didn’t think I should since I knew it was the real deal and since I have fast labors, we wanted to get in there ASAP to get the antibiotics (I test positive for the Group B Strep). She agreed and told me to come right away.

When I got there, the waiting room was PACKED! I waited a few minutes before I went back up to the desk and told them while I wasn’t trying to be pushy and I saw they were very busy, I had fast labors and was GBS+ and needed to get on the antibiotics right away. To my surprise, they took me right in, did my BP, paged Lucie and put me in triage. They hooked me up to a monitor and started the IV. Lucie checked me and I was 7 cm.

After a few minutes in triage on the monitor, Lucie told me the baby’s heart rate was too high and because of that, they were moving me up to a regular L&D room, not the ABC (Alternative Birthing Center) like I had planned, so they could keep me on the monitor. Fine by me. She also tells me just Corey in the room for now even though my best friend was waiting with my parents to film and take pictures.

Once we got upstairs and got settled in, Lucie broke my water at 9:11. She immediately noticed meconium in the fluid and told Corey he wasn’t going to get to cut the cord after all. She said because of the meconium, a team of pediatricians would take her as soon as she came out and work on her right away. I knew a little bit about meconium and what is was and that it is usually not a big deal, so I wasn’t really worried about it.

I breathed through the contractions for an hour and with each one, I had to tell myself in my head over and over again, “You can do this. You can do this.” They flipping hurt!! With the first few really bad ones, I was a little freaked out thinking, I can’t do this and I considered drugs. But, I reminded myself that I had done it twice before and I could do it again. Just breathe through them, I told myself.

Because I was on my side the whole time, I wasn't sure if the baby was moving of if perhaps it was time to push. I was starting to get antsy again, so I asked Lucie to check me again. She did and I was 10 cm. "It's time to meet this baby who couldn't keep her room clean," she said. "Or womb, whichever you prefer." She reminded me the importance of making sure to stop pushing when she said so she could suction her out. If not for that, Cadence would have been born with one big push. Instead, I pushed, held, held, held..."Come on!! Can't...hold...anymore...!!" Released hold, pushed and out came Cadence, following by a really large splash. I didn't look. It was 10:14 p.m.

Just as Lucie said there would be, a team of doctors came in and worked on Cadence for...gosh, a few minutes anyway. It felt like an hour, but it was probably more like 5 minutes, if that. I didn't hear her crying, but I had seen, heard and read enough to know that was ok - I needn't be too concerned. When after a few minutes she was barely squeaking, they told me they were bringing her to the NICU and I could expect her to be there at least 48 hours. (Of course this meant my entire post-pardum stay she never came into the room with me once.) She had inhaled a considerable amount of meconium and needed intensive care. They brought her over to me and she was just gorgeous. It all happened so fast, so thinking back all I can remember are her eyes. She had the longest lashes - and her lips were so perfect. I held her for about 10 seconds and she was taken away again.

I knew she was in good hands. I tried not to get upset and I told myself she was going to be fine. No matter what she was going through, they had everything they needed to care for her and help her with her breathing until she was well enough to do it on her own. After she was taken away, I was in good spirits. We delivered the afterbirth and Lucie commented on how she had found our culprit. There was a true knot in her cord (pic: http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c282/austricklia/CalliasPictures001.jpg ) It was her belief that the knot was causing her to release the meconium, breathe it in and raise her heart rate. I distinctly remember thinking how lucky I was she was ok. I had no idea what was in store...