On Monday, we checked into Seton Medical Center to get this show on the road. The plan: some meds to start dilation Monday evening, followed by full on induction first thing Tuesday morning, with a natural birth sometime on Tuesday. Clearly not the birth story I had hoped to have, but something I had accepted.
MT and I enjoyed a delicious dinner at Salvation Pizza before checking in. I cried for the full five minutes it took to drive over to Seton…anxiety about the drugs I was about to receive, bittersweet feelings about our last moments as just the two of us, overwhelming emotions in general about the massive change we were going through.
By 8pm, I was in my hospital bed with two nurses making their fourth attempt to put a saline lock in my arm. The first two left me with 2″ bruises that were black and blue weeks later; the fourth one finally worked.
The whole process shot up Shim’s heart rate to 175 bpm, where it stayed for at least three hours and caused enough concern that they ditched the original plan for Cytotec and switched us to the less scary Cervadil.
Monday, 10pm: Barely 1cm dilated, Cervadil administered
Overnight, I had regular contractions and was able to sleep a little. Shim’s heart rate continued to be a bit erratic so the nurses kept coming in to check on us, shifting my position, giving me oxygen, hooking up IV fluids. MT slept a few hours and I got in a few 30 minute naps before Shelley (our doula) and Dr. Weihs (our OB) arrived to get the party started.
Tuesday, 7am: 1cm, Pitocin drip started
Over the course of the day, my dosage of Pitocin was increased bit by bit and by the afternoon my contractions were strong and increasingly difficult to handle. My water broke early in the morning and there was meconium aplenty, so we were watching Shim very carefully as his/her heart rate continued to be erratic all day.
By 4pm, I asked for the epidural because I couldn’t handle it anymore. If I’d been 8cm dilated at that point, it would have been a different story because we’d have been so close to the finish. But at barely 3-4cm, I had more than halfway to go and was having unending contractions already.
Tuesday, 11:30pm: 6-7cm dilated, prepping for C-section
After about 24 hours of labor and constant concern over Shim’s erratic heart rate, we decided that a C-section was the way to go. I’ll leave more of the details for Shelley’s birth story (parts one, two, and three), as she captured everything that happened with a clear mind. I can’t imagine going through that without her; she was able to help me find as much physical comfort as possible while providing mental and emotional support for Mark as he watched me go through all of this.
Wednesday, 12:12am: Shim arrives!
After the long ordeal, Shim is finally here! We discovered a true knot in Shim’s umbilical cord, which means the cord itself was tied into a tight knot. More often you’ll see babies with the cord kinked up or wrapped around a limb, but the “true knot” is very rare. This was the cause of the erratic heart rate and also prevented Shim from arriving through the normal exit.
We’re so happy to have Shim with us, healthy and happy as can be. I’m also completely in awe of what my body was able to do, protecting that baby from dropping down and cutting off blood supply from the cord. It’s pretty amazing.
Adventures with Shim 