Story Of Our Life: October 2011

Introducing...

Stone Hudson Norton
9-25-11
7:34 pm
6lbs 12oz
20 inches
100% Chase

The Story...

Pre-Labor

With 11 days until D-Day, Chase and I decided to participate in some “labor inducing” activities to get things rolling for the NEXT weekend. We ate yummy spicy Mexican food for lunch and went on a long hike up the Provo Canyon Trail. We then decided to go on a fun date night to a new restaurant downtown called Copper Onion, since we were down to two more “child free” weekends. On the way to the restaurant I started having pretty bad back pain. I have had contractions through out my whole pregnancy but never like the ones I was experiencing. I didn’t think much of them and just thought it was probably a sign I over did it that day. We got to the restaurant and had to wait about 30 minutes until a table was ready. By this time I was pretty uncomfortable. The back pains were horrible and I was having mild contractions. Once we sat down the contractions started coming every 15 to 20 minutes. I was in panic mode. This couldn’t be the real thing. I still had 11 days. It was September and my baby was going to be an October baby. The contractions continued through the meal and I was feeling a little shaky with each one. We finally got home around 10:00 pm (ya not a good idea to pick a downtown restaurant) and by this time the contractions were roughly 5-10 minutes apart and definitely stronger. I got in the bathtub and within 30 minutes they had gone away. We figured it was a false alarm and went to bed. I woke up around 1:00 am in sheer pain. The contractions were stronger, longer, harder and closer together. I got out of bed and made it to the toilet to throw up my gourmet meal. I got back in the bathtub as Chase was looking up at what point you should go into the hospital asking me “shouldn’t you know this?” (Side note: I was reading the What to Expect When Your Expecting Book but I was just barley finishing the Labor and Delivery section and couldn’t remember!) I sat in the bathtub for about an hour and the contractions were coming every 3-4 minutes and lasting 45 seconds. Chase installed the carseat, we grabbed the bag and headed to the hospital, throwing up most of the way there.

Hospital:

We arrived at the hospital around 3:00 am. Once at the hospital they put me in a room and hooked me up to all the different monitors. The nurse came in and checked me and I was only dilated to 1/2cm, the same as my Dr. Apt 4 days earlier. I was extremely dehydrated so they hooked me up to an IV to run fluid through me. (I ended up going through 4 bags of fluid) They came back in an hour later and I was barely at a 1. They were going to send me home but since I had a fever of 103 the Dr. told them to keep me there. They continued to check me every couple of hours and I was not progressing at all. The on call Doctor said she would be in around 9:00 am to break my water and hopefully get things going. They gave me a shot of morphine to hold over the pain until the epidural arrived. As I waited I continued to throw up the little amount of liquid that was in me. After a couple of hours the anesthesiologist finally came with the epidural. I was really nervous for the epidural but I can honestly say the IV was worse than the epidural. Once that thing kicked in I was in heaven. What sweet, sweet relief that was. The Dr. then broke my water and checked me… again no progress. They started a little pitocin drip to get things going, an hour later I was only at a two. My Doctor came in and had been monitoring my contractions from home. The baby’s heart rate was dropping to around 55bpm with every contraction (normal heart for a baby is about 150bpm). Since they needed more accurate reading to observe his heart rate closer they ended up doing an internal monitor. The Doctor said he would give me a couple hours to see if I would progress at all and if not we were going to have to do a c-section due to the baby’s dropping heart rate. A C-section was not what I wanted but if that was going to get my baby here safely then a C-section it was. I prayed that I would progress enough to be able to deliver naturally… and all I have to say is my prayers were answered. Within 2 hours I had gone from a 2 to a 5. The baby’s heart rate was still dropping so they gave me a little shot to slow down labor to give the baby a rest. Kind of an oxy moron I thought but it helped. His heart rate wasn’t dropping as low and I continued to progress. Finally around 7:00pm, 16 hours after I had arrived at the hospital, it was time to push. I started pushing and was making very good progress. The baby’s heart rate started dropping to around 44bpm and the Doctor wanted him out ASAP. They brought out the vacuum, which kept popping off his head, and eventually had to do a little snip so he would pop out easier. After only 34 minutes of pushing our little Stone made his debut with the cord wrapped his neck not two, not three but four times. They plopped him up on my chest while Chase cut the cord. That was one of the most surreal moments of my life.

Post Delivery:

They cleaned him off measured and weighed him, gave him his first little shot and placed him in my arms. I fell in love with this little stranger immediately. He was so alert and was following our voices around with his eyes. He looked exactly like Chase right out of the womb. We got to hold him for about an hour. Stone met all his grand parents and aunt Carissa. Then the nursed had to take him to the nursery for antibiotics. Since I had a fever during delivery he had to be put on antibiotics right away to make sure whatever caused me to have a fever wasn’t affecting him.

The Doctor later told my mom that had I not had the fever they would have sent me home and thinks I would have gone another week or so. I have no idea why I had a fever and have no idea the risk Stone would have been at with another week of the cord wrapped around so many times. What I do know is someone was watching over our sweet little man and made sure he arrived to us safely.

Thank You:
A big thanks goes out to my nurse Heidi who was with us from the start to finish and stayed 2 hours past her shift to be with me during the delivery. Dr. Smith for keeping our babies health in best interest and doing what needed to be done to get him here safely. Last of all a big thanks to Chase. I couldn’t have done it with out him. (literally I wouldn’t have been in that situation without him haha) He stayed by my side the entire time, slept upright in one of the most uncomfortable looking chairs, calmed me down when I thought I wasn’t going to make it, cheered me on during the pushing and cried tears of joy and relief when he saw Stone for the first time. I love you baby and am enjoying our new crazy life as parents.