At about 3:00 this morning, I woke up. At first I tried to go back to sleep, but it wasn't taking. I tried lying in bed and checking facebook, hoping my eyes would get heavy again, but that didn't take, either. Finally, at about 4:30 I got up and went upstairs and flipped on the TV.
Which is why I wasn't there in the room when Ilene's water broke at 4:55. I was happily watching Castle when I heard what sounded like my name being called out. I glanced over and thought that Afton had started to fuss in her room. I decided to let her go back to sleep. A few moments later, I heard my name again, and it was clear that this was Ilene calling.
I ran down the stairs to find Ilene standing over a puddle of slimy clear liquid which had splashed all over the cover she had placed on the floor next to the bed. Good thinking, Ilene, because if it weren't for that, we would have to have the carpets cleaned.
Recognizing it for what it was, we started to move. Ilene started to clean herself up as much as possible and get dressed, while I called Donovan to come get the kids, woke the kids, moved packed bags to the car, etc.
After Donovan arrived and the kids left for a fun couple of days with the cousins, I got Ilene loaded in the car. We left home at 5:31 and arrived at the hospital at 5:50. It took a few minutes to get parked and up to the 4th floor, where they grabbed a wheel chair for Ilene and moved her into triage. Ilene got changed, onto the bed and hooked to the machines. By this time it was about 6:05. Things seemed to be progressing normally, and they checked the cervix, which was about 5 cm dilated.
We sat in the triage room for about 45 minutes, and at just before 7:00, we moved into the natural birth delivery room. Once in the room, Ilene was supposed to get on the bed. That's when things stopped progressing normally. Ilene was trying to get on the bed, but she would have a painful contraction and freeze in the process. She would wait for about 30 seconds after to rest, and then start again, only to be interrupted by another painful contraction. I started tracking on my wristwatch (no time to pull out the phone and use the contraction timer app!), and they were coming every 60-90 seconds and lasting about 60 seconds. Just when Ilene would get on the bed, she would have a contraction and jump right back off of it!
Finally, after about 4 tries, we got her on the bed, and the nurse checked her cervix again. She told us Ilene was only at 7 cm. This was at 7:10. Ilene was starting to panic because the pain was so intense, and she couldn't get comfortable.
Off the bed she came, again. That's when she decided that natural was not the way to go, after all, and it was time for the epidural. The nurse stuck her head out and asked, only to find out that the anesthesiologist had left (since we had gone into the natural room) to go help with a C-section for another mother. Ilene was not pleased.
Standing beside the bed, Ilene bent over at the waist and started bearing down. The nurse yelled that she needed to get back on the bed and stop pushing because she was only at 7 cm. Ilene yelled back that she was trying not to push but she couldn't help it. We were fortunate that we had a fairly stern nurse, because she, in very serious tones said to Ilene "I would rather have you on all fours ON the bed than next to it." Ilene climbed up on the bed.
The nurse came over and took one look at Ilene's back side and ran straight to the door. She called for the doctor to come in, and she did. This was the attending rather than our doctor, Dr. Deschamps, who was off, or her partner, Dr. Moyer, who was on her way down from the other end of the hospital. The doc said "I'm here just in case" to which the nurse responded "Put some gloves on, she's crowning."
I looked. Yep. It was 7:19.
Dr. Zelenkov followed orders, put on the gloves and started to put on the gown.
7:21. I checked on the baby, who was beginning to slide out. I saw eyes. I saw a nose. I glanced up and saw that the doctor was getting the gown tied on. I decided they might need an update.
"I'm seeing a face here," I said as calmly as the moment would allow. It might have come out more as a panicked scream, I'm not sure. They later told me that mine was the quote of the day. I also stuck my hand under the baby in case I needed to catch.
The doctor took three steps to the bed as the head came the rest of the way out. She got stuck at the shoulders, and the doctor latched on, reaching just inside, and pulled Shiloh the rest of the way out.
7:23.
Shiloh was blue. She had some bruising on her forehead from the quick delivery, but she was getting bluer by the second, having not yet taken a breath. As the doctor cut the cord she said "Usually, I would let you do this if you wanted, but we're a little short on time." The nurses took Shiloh quickly, and within 5 to 10 seconds Shiloh was crying. She was turning pink, relieving me immensely.
Official Stats: 8 lbs 12 oz., 20 inches.
Fast forward past the placenta and getting Ilene adjusted which went fairly quickly and uneventfully.
I took Shiloh and got to hold her for a few moments. Ilene also got to hold her. She was content and quiet, and seemed to be perfectly healthy.
In came the nurses to check Shiloh's vitals. Temperature was a little low, they thought it would be wise to get her under the heat lamp for a few minutes. Blood sugar was...low. Best to have that checked in the lab.
The lab confirmed, blood sugar was 18, which was too low since it's supposed to be over 45!
They took us to the transition nursery where they got her under the heat and started to give Shiloh a bottle. I got to take over the feeding, and the girl finished the entire thing! She ate more at her first feeding than Toby or Afton did in their first 12 hours.
There was a question as to whether with such dangerously low blood sugar they should start an IV. The nurses called the attending pediatrician, who said to hold off and see what happened with the bottle, since she had taken to it so readily.
After a half hour they checked again. Now the blood sugar was at 43, which was much improved, but still to low. In came Dr. Cobb (the pediatrician), and they asked whether to start the IV. He said hold off for another half hour and check again.
At this point, Ilene and I were taken to the postpartum room to get Ilene into recovery. Ilene is doing great. She even is up and walking around on her own, and she says she feels terrific. She was even thinking one day of recovery would be enough. Until...
Once Ilene was settled, I was back to the transition room.
After the half hour, they did a 3rd blood draw. Apparently, Shiloh doesn't care for blood draws. And they didn't get quite enough for the test. 4th blood draw for the extra little bit. The lab reported the blood was clotting and the test couldn't be done. 5th blood draw.
Blood sugar reached 54. We were out of the woods.
By this point, Shiloh's temperature had come up, as well, and they wrapped her up to keep her warm and sent us off to the postpartum room, together.
I got to hold Shiloh for a minute, then Ilene wanted her. Ilene held her for a few moments and I ran to the car to grab my bag with my clothes, computers, and all the other things that we wanted to have for our stay in the hospital.
When I got back to the room, the nurses were just finishing up another check on Shiloh, who was showing as having a bit of a low oxygen level. Off to the nursery with her so they could keep an eye on her. Dr. Cobb checked on her oxygen levels. A while later, Dr. Cobb came to our room to check on things again, and to his surprise, she wasn't with us. After checking up, he reported that Shiloh had to be given oxygen, and with the higher risk of Strep B (because Ilene wasn't on antibiotics for 4 hours before the birth), she was taken into the NICU.
After talking with the NICU neonatalogist, Shiloh is still having difficulty with keeping both sugar and oxygen levels in the normal ranges. She has been placed on an IV to keep her blood sugar up, oxygen to keep her blood oxygen levels normal, and she will be receiving antibiotics in case her Strep B cultures come back positive. She will be on antibiotics for at least 48 hours. She will be in the NICU for at least 2 days.
More to follow once we know more.
In the meantime, a few photos.
