New Life Decides to Come Through the Front Door --- A Running Birth Blog

~ THIRTY-EIGHT WEEKS ~

FYI: This is a running blog I am attempting to keep on today's events, leading up to the birth of our first child! It's not going to be an exact science but I will do my best to keep everyone informed. Thank you in advance for all of your prayers!

7:05pm --- Fever has gone down! I have been on ice-washcloth duty switching out washcloths bathing in a bowl of ice water, onto Stace's forehead and neck. Now around 37.4 C and dropping!

6:30pm --- 8 cm dilated - Nevermind... still has a slight fever and if the dilation doesn't continue to progress and the fever doesn't go down much we may be looking at a C-Section as Grace's heart rate is still high.

6:01pm --- And looks like those worked... temperature starting to drop.

5:42pm --- Up to 7 cm --- Temperature has been up a bit over the 38 degree Celsius mark (fever) so they had to give Stace some Tylenol and antibiotics to try and keep any infection down if that were to happen.

5:15pm --- We've hit the 6 cm mark... heart rate back on the rise however.

4:45pm --- Quick update if I scared anybody with the last post... BP seems to have normalized now, and heart rate has stabilized for both Stace and Grace. Pitocin is back on.

4:26pm --- Dozed in and out for a bit and when I woke up Stacey's blood pressure was having some issues... very low and her heart rate was up a bit. They say usually that happens right after the epidural and weird it has happened so far after. Stopped the Pitocin for 30 minutes or so and they gave her some new drugs to hopefully help get her BP back up... hasn't been working so well but they seem to finally be getting somewhere. She is shaking quite a bit from the meds, they say - hope to turn it around soon by next update. Stay tuned... Also just wanted to say thanks for everybody's comments and encouragment - very much appreciated!!

3:10pm --- Started the Pitocin - or "Vitamin P" as they call it here... and Stace is doing real well. Grace's heartbeat has been steady for the most part all day, just went down a bit after the 2nd epidural and they had to give Stacey a bit of oxygen to help with that. Also, happy to report she does not need another dose of the Cytotec! Our nurse, Linda, is hoping we have the baby by the time she has to leave (7:30p) as the same thing happened to her yesterday with another lady - went all day and missed the birth! Everyone in the room here (Sue / Patty) agrees that would be a good thing (only 4 more hours of labor). Might try and take a nap here if possible --- only had 4 hours of sleep last night. Not good.

2:15pm --- 4 cm dilation - After many trials and tribulations, the anesthesiologist had to redo the epidural, as it wasn't in the correct way the first time and Stacey was still in a great deal of pain and able to feel most of her body, having some very painful contractions. Now that it is back in correctly, seems to be much smoother sailing and Stace is actually talking and laughing some. Trying to get a bit of rest now...

12:05pm --- 3 cm dilation - Epidural is only working on the left side of the body, trying to figure out what is up with the right side...

11:30am --- Epidural has been inserted - they seem to be having a busy day here with other couples as well... Dilated over 2 cm, 90% effaced, -1 position.

9:00 - 11:00am --- Moved into our room now, met with a doctor from Stacey's office (ours is not on call today), and they gave her a Cytotec pill to help "soften the cervix" and hopefully help get some dilation working. This dose will take about 4 hours and then they'll see if she needs to take another round of it. Stacey is having a lot of back pain and back labor along with the contractions which isn't helping much, however the labor actually seems to be progressing a lot faster now the meds have set in and the contractions are getting a lot stronger. Wasn't the original plan but will probably soon be going for the epidural...

7:30am --- Arrived at the hospital (Rochester General), went to triage unit. Everything checked out well - They told us we wouldn't be going home, Grace is head down, vital signs good. The nurses kept saying "what a happy baby" according to the heart beat. However, it seems like we are only dilated a tiny bit, which means we will be here quite awhile... The nurse couldn't get the IV in so well in either arm (veins collapsing) so they had to call up a IV specialist.

6:50am --- Leaving for hospital now!! --- Contractions ~5 min apart lasting ~56 sec

5:04am --- Contractions about 6 minutes apart and lasting around 53 seconds each.

4:03am --- Stacey's water breaks --- (see post below) Oh my, a little over 2 weeks early. Well, away we go...