Nicholas Joseph Adam

Nicholas was born on Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 10:09 am. He was 6 pounds, 3 oz and 18 inches long. He wasn't due until April 2, so he was 3 weeks early. The night before was a full moon, so maybe that had something to do with the day of birth?!?

Here is the story of Nick's arrival.

As background, I had an emergency cesarean section with Emily and didn't want to repeat that again. We were trying for a vaginal birth after cesarean (vbac).

On Tuesday and Wednesday I had a fever. I spoke with the doctor's several times and on Wednesday morning they had me go in for some labwork and monitoring of the baby to make sure that all was well. Fortunately, the baby checked out just fine!

Wednesday afternoon the fever shot up to 102 and I started having some very mild, but close together contractions. I rested and drank water and they went away. After dinnertime, the fever was at 103 and I felt awful. The doctor had me take an additional dose of Tylenol and he called me back an hour later. That took care of the fever and it broke around 10:30pm. I got up and ate a little pasta since I hadn't really eaten any dinner. I went to bed and fell asleep while the 11:00 news was on. I woke up around 11:35 with a painful contraction. After a few of those and Greg coming to bed, I got up and started timing the contractions and seeing if I could make them go away with water or walking. We thought it made sense for Greg to try to get some sleep if he could in case it was the real deal. Around 1:30, the contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasting for at least a minute. I had to breathe through them. We called the OB on call and he said to come on in. Of course, then we had to find middle of the night care for Emily since her grandparents weren't planning on getting out until the end of the weekend. We called a couple of neighbors, but they didn't answer their phones. We ended up calling one of my friends that is a stay at home mom and she readily agreed to have Emily come over and spend the night. We ended up deciding that that was for the best because Emily would know that she had gone over there and not wake up with someone she wasn't expecting at the house. Of course, Elizabeth lives in a different direction than the hospital, but roads were empty at the hour. Greg got Emily settled while I waited in the car (we had to pack a bag for her when we realized she wasn't staying home). Emily was excited in the car at spending the night out, though as Greg put her to bed there, she asked for me a few times, but overall did ok, I think!

We went to the hospital from there. The contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart. They monitored me and I was 2cm dilated and the cervix was thin. The day before when I'd been in with the fever, I was 1cm and thick. So there had been some change. They let me stay for an hour or so, but since there wasn't any additional change, decided that my best option was to go home. This was early labor and could last a day or so and being in bed in the hospital could stall things and make another c-section a reality. They suggested that I go home, have something to eat, take a warm shower, walk around, take a nap, and that I would know when to come back.

We got home around 5 or 5:30. Greg went to bed and I decided to try the warm shower. It helped some, but not a lot. Then I walked around the house, tried a variety of laboring positions, and finally sat on the floor of our room for awhile and then got into bed. Sometime around 7am, things got more intense. We decided to get up, Greg made us breakfast, and I tried to get comfortable again. We decided it was time to head back to the hospital, but took our time for a bit because we didn't want to get back too early. We got to the hospital around 9 and I was in a lot of pain. It was obvious to anyone who could see me or was in hearing distance!

At the hospital, Greg dropped me off and I decided that I would get started upstairs to get checked in as quick as possible and hopefully get on my way to some pain relief. I was exhausted and told Greg that I wanted an epidural so that I could take a nap. At the information desk, they asked me if I wanted a wheelchair (hadn't been asked before), I said no. On the elevator with several people who work in the hospital, I was asked by 2 or 3 more people if I was ok and needed a wheelchair. Again, no. The admissions person in labor and delivery only half admitted me and said that she'd bring everything over, it usually takes 5-10 minutes. My pain was apparently quite obvious. In the "triage" area of L&D, they took me right in and checked me before doing any of the other "usual" things like setting up monitors on the baby. I was dilated to a 9! It had been 4-5 hours and I had gone from 2-9 and had not had a vaginal delivery before. But, I was too far gone for a nap to happen! They jumped into gear, the midwife who was there was able to help me through a couple of contractions very well and the nurse started a very quick IV in the crook of my arm, a place that is easy to start, but not great for long term. They needed easy to start. They wheeled me right down to a regular labor and delivery room and a bunch of people ran in to get the ball moving. My doctor was right there and she personally found the anesthesiologist to get me that epidural. She was thrilled that the vbac looked like it was about to happen! They pumped the iv fluids into me and the epi got started. It was heaven, but I started feeling a lot of pressure right away. In the meantime, Greg was answering all of the questions that the nurse was asking him. The doctor broke my bag of water and they let me give a practice push. I was fully dilated and ready for pushing.

Sometime during all of this, the baby's heartrate dropped and wasn't recovering. They moved me from my back to my side to try to "fix" it, but it became non-reactive as well, which means that it was just staying right where it was, no fluctuations. After the heartrate was low for 6 minutes, Dr. D said that was it, in for the c-section. Once the heartrate is low and not recovering, there is concern about a uterine rupture. She wanted the vbac, but not enough to compromise anything with the baby. We were rushed in for the surgery and fortunately found that all was fine with the uterus. They had the baby out within 10 minutes or so and that was after they'd slowed down.

Nicholas Joseph Adam was born at 10:09 am on 3/12/09 at 6 pounds, 3 ounces and 18 inches long.

We later found out that we had gone in as a crash c-section. Fortunately all turned out fine.