Dylan's Birth Story

We welcome baby Dylan Joseph Z. on Nov. 9 (Tues), 2010 at 6:21 p.m. He weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and measured 22.5 inches long. His head measured 14 inches. Apgar score of 9.9. Here's his birth story. It ended up being a doozy. :) I was due on Friday, Nov. 5 (and I'll share that on Saturday, Nov. 6 we had to take Nate to the ER for forehead stitches...oy). So, to set the stage, I was 4 days late!! Easier to do this chronologically:

Sunday, Nov. 10
- Recover from Nate's ER visit.
- Walk with good friend LM hoping to get us both in labor (no go as of 11/14, two days late...come on baby girl!!)
- Dinner with college friends.

Monday, Nov. 11
- Take boys to school, clean house, do laundry.
- 1:30 p.m. OB appointment with non-stress test. Still just 1 cm. Baby is fine. No membrane stripping possible.
- Hang out in the afternoon with my mom, celebrate her birthday.
- 4:20 p.m. Feel a contraction. Begin to feel them every 30 minutes.
- 7:00 p.m. Greg brings home Indian food.
- 9:00 p.m. Shower and attempt to go to bed. Fall asleep and have a great night's sleep.

Tues, Nov. 9
- Take James to school. Greg stays home with Nate to greet the FIOS guy. Good timing to get cable!
- 12 noon: Contraction (30 seconds). Put Nate down for his nap (James was at lunch bunch and then with a friend for playtime in the afternoon). Feel contractions every 20 minutes. Take a shower, watch cable (!!), call a friend, relax. Contractions continue. Lightly but definitely have to stop and breathe during them. Still just 30 seconds.
- 2:30 p.m. Call Greg and ask him to come home. Call my mom and ask her to come over.
- Contractions continue to come regularly -- not incredibly long in time but definitely painful. Finish packing hospital bag.
- 3:00 p.m. Greg comes home, James is dropped off. Get on exercise ball, helps immensely with pain.
- 4:00 p.m. My mom arrives. Everyone is up and running around. Contractions have increased in frequency to every 6 minutes. Lasting about 45-50 seconds.
- 4:30 p.m. Greg suggests downloading an app to my Droid for timing the contractions. This is helpful although I'm still watching the regular wall clock. I'm very old-fashioned.
- 4:50 p.m. Decide to call the OB. Contractions have increased to 1 minute, every 5 minutes. When OB calls back (via answering service), I can't talk to her because of the pain. Greg talks to her and then I talk to her. She convinces me that if I'm in this much pain, I should come in.
- Finish packing bags, kissing boys, exchanging keys, etc.
- 5:20 p.m. Get in car. Experience two painful contractions on the way to the hospital. Decide that I'm never having a baby again.
- 5:35 p.m. Arrive at hospital (thank God it's close). Walk in and go directly to the 2nd floor and go directly to a room. I decided to wear my "I think I might be pregnant" shirt for the last time. The nurses got a kick out of it.
- 5:42 p.m. Get hooked up to the fetal monitor. The nurses are very agreeable to my vision of going drug-free for the delivery but the baby has to be monitored first. I agree and lie down. The nurse checks and I'm at 3-4 centimeters. I guess the contractions are working!!
- 5:44 - 5:59 -- Very very painful contractions. Coming faster and faster. I am clinging to the side of the bed in a lot of pain. No real break. Feel like I'm dilating as I'm lying there.
- 5:59 p.m. - Feel a weird click and pop inside my body - at first I thought it was gas (oops) but then felt water all over my legs. For the first time in my history of having babies, my water breaks. It's EVERYWHERE on the table. And continues to pour out of me. At that point, the pain is almost indescribable. I'm not sure how to explain it but like my entire middle section was being squeezed.
- 6:01 p.m. - I beg for an epidural. I decide that it's not worth it. The nurses jump into action. Our main nurse tries to get an IV in my arm. After three attempts that hurt almost as much as the contractions, she goes to get someone else. At that point, I'm yelling and screaming about the pain, saying I can't do it, make it stop, get him out (literally, I was scaring people down the hallway). I tell Greg that I think I'm dilated. He asks the nurse to check me.
This is where things get a little fuzzy. Dr. C. comes in at some point to check on me. I hear her say, "You're going to have to tell that C-section to wait." (obviously, I was in a bad way!!). I keep asking for an epidural but am told it's probably too late. I keep saying I can't do this. At least two nurses and the doctor get in my face (like 3 inches from my face) and get me to calm down and to breathe.
- around 6:10 p.m. - The nurse checks me (I've had no IV, no fluids, and haven't even been admitted to the hospital at this point) and says to Dr. C. "she's complete". So I've gone from 3.5 centimeters to 10 centimeters in about 1/2 hour with no drugs. Apparently I do need to do this for a living. :)
- around 6:15 p.m. - Still guessing on time at this point. I'm being told to not push but my hand to God it felt like Dylan was coming out on his own and I couldn't stop him...Dr. C. had to get on her protective gear and was telling me to pant to stop the pushing feeling. So I did that and it did help a bit. But MAN it was hard. Poor Greg - the entire time (for like 40 minutes) all he did was hold my hand. More like, I was gripping his hand. I remember he let go once and I flailed around until I found his hand again. Death grip. He was great - When I asked for the epidural and said, "I just can't do this, it hurts too much" he was totally supportive. Then with everything else he just did and said whatever the nurses said to do. Anyway...
- around 6:17 p.m. - Was told to push. I wanted to hold the side rails but was told to hold my legs instead to help get him out. Oh, I was not happy. And I literally said out loud, "I'm so sorry, I'm going to push out poop". They all reassured me that it was okay. At that point, I was much calmer and focused. I found out later that I had indeed gone through "transition" (which I think is the last 2 centimeters or so) -- I was out of my mind in pain, grabbing at my hair, saying irrational things, and just being nuts. So, I pushed and it burned!! I was given a local narcotic to help with the pain down there. I felt that needle, trust me.  I think I pushed one more time and Dylan's head came out! During that push the nurses were SO great, telling me they saw his hair and to keep it up. Once his head was out, I felt a bit of a relief. But had to stop because the cord was wrapped around his neck twice and around his body once. So Dr. C. un-did it and then told me to push again - it was almost instinctive to push, I just HAD to do it. Push # 2 got his shoulders out and then that was it. I have NEVER felt so relieved or EMPTY in my entire life. He was officially born at 6:21 p.m.
- Soon after...I had one stitch, the placenta came out, and Dylan was handed to me. He nursed for an entire hour until he was taken to the nursery!
- Find out later...if we had had the ultrasound on Thursday like scheduled, and they'd seen the cord wrapped like it was, we probably would have been scheduled for a C-section. Also, if he hadn't come as fast as he had, and the cords had gotten tighter, his heart rate would have been compromised, and I'd have had an emergency C-section. So...all's well that ends well. Just funny that after he came out and I'm resting, the nurse admitted me to the hospital. :) Thank goodness I'd pre-registered.

Welcome baby Dylan!! (and welcome baby Colton, my blogger friend/running inspiration D.'s baby, who was born the same day at the same hospital!)