Rory has arrived!

For your afternoon reading enjoyment, here's Rory's incredibly long birth story:

Yesterday around noon Taylor and I went into my OB's office for my regular appointment, which began with an ultrasound to check the baby's growth.  I was 39 weeks 4 days, so this ultrasound was meant to determine how long they'd let me go overdue if necessary.

Taylor was very cute during the procedure, chatting the whole time with the ultrasound tech and showing her all the games on the iPhone.  But the results of the ultrasound were a bit disconcerting - the tech estimated that the baby had only gained about 5oz from the last ultrasound 3 weeks prior and that she'd be around 4lbs 14oz.  She double checked all the measurements to be sure and then sent me off to do my NST while she went over the numbers with the doctor.

The NST hadn't even finished when my OB came in and said that she was concerned enough about the lack of growth to want to induce me today.  She said it would be one thing if the baby's growth remained steadily small, but this last measurement was a big drop off the growth curve.  She suggested I get a snack while she notified Labor and Delivery to expect me downstairs.

It was a bit overwhelming to think about the necessity for induction (I held the tears in as I sat in the hallway and made calls to family/friends), but kind of exciting to know that the baby's birth day had finally arrived. Luckily I had decided to bring all our birthing stuff and our hospital bag with me in the car, so we didn't need to go home (or have Mark go home) to pick it up.  I called Mark to tell him to come down to the hospital, Nancy hopped in her car and started out for St. Louis, and we set up a play date with Samuel so that Taylor would be taken care of for the afternoon/evening until Grandma arrived.

It took a long time to check into Labor and Delivery and after that we sat in a room for almost 3hrs before the nurses were available to start the pitocin IV.  Apparently everyone decided to give birth at once yesterday afternoon, so all the staff was busy.

While we waited, I was actually have pretty consistent contractions about 6 minutes apart.  The nurse said I was already 5cm dilated, 80% effaced, and the baby's head was at a -1 station.  That's further along than most women who are admitted in active labor!

They started the pitocin drip around 5:30pm and contractions sped up to about 2-3 minutes apart but were still very manageable.  I was disappointed I couldn't use the laboring tub as I had originally planned because they were inducing me, but at least we knew that was $200 saved (the hospital's exorbitant rental fee!).  My OB came in with a nurse at 6:30pm and said they were ready to break my water sac.  "Already?!?" I said.  I was shocked that things were progressing so quickly.  They broke the sac and the OB said she expected I'd be delivering in 2hrs, so she'd be back then.  Wow.

As soon as the water sac was broken, the contractions were about 3 times more painful and continued to ramp up.  I start out on a birthing ball, but thought maybe standing up would be more comfortable.  Of course, I didn't consider the mess that a broken water sac creates...but we were able to set cloths on the floor for me to stand on while Mark helped me rock through contractions.

I tried several different positions but found all of them intolerable except for leaning the upper half of my body on a really elevated bed.  Mark put hot towels on my back and massaged my lower back during contractions (I would not have made it without him!).  I tried to breathe deeply, but sometimes felt like I was dying for air and sometimes just needed to moan through the pain.  I experienced only a couple of incredibly unbearable contractions that made me wonder if natural childbirth was really possible, but I kept repeating to myself "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and pushed through.

During this time, nurses kept coming in and fiddling with the monitor that was tracking the baby's heart rate because it wasn't getting good readings in the position I had chosen.  One nurse said I needed to stand up between contractions so they could get a reading here and there, but there was no way I was going to move from my position when the contractions were coming every minute!

While making said adjustments to the heart rate monitor, the nurse told me to let her know when I was feeling bottom pressure.  It was only a minute or so before I told her I was and that I needed to start pushing now.  She insisted that she needed to check to see if I was fully dilated first and I had to get on the bed.  I had to wait through one more contraction before I got a few seconds to scramble on the bed on my side and get the IV cords and monitor cords out of my way.  She said I was good to go and I went!  Mark supported my leg while I was still on my side and it was just a few more pushes before Aurora Evelyn was out!  She arrived at 7:44pm, a little more than two hours after they began inducing.

Because she came so fast, there was barely enough time for an on call doctor to get into the room.  I told them not to cut the cord because I wanted it to stop pulsating first, but the doctor informed me that the blood flow through it had already stopped because it was pretty thin (the likely culprit of Rory's limited growth).  Mark cut the cord and I got to have Rory on my tummy for a few minutes while they set everything up at the baby station.  She felt like a warm, wet, bony little lump.  She was crying well and her Apgar scores were 8 and 9.

They had a pediatrician there to check her out right away since they knew she was going to be a tiny baby.  Rory weighed in at 5lbs 7oz and measured 19in long - 1in longer than Taylor and 1lb lighter.  Besides a bit of fluid in her system (they said she "sounded wet"), she was declared in perfect health.  She just missed the weight cut off for normal infant treatment, so they said she needed to go through three blood sugar tests before her first three feedings and have extra vital sign checks over the next day.

It was about at this time that the OB showed up, shocked that the baby had already arrived (she had barely gotten home and changed into her scrubs when she got the call that I was pushing) and that I managed to deliver naturally.  It took awhile to deliver the placenta after Rory came out and the OB seemed a bit bored waiting for it.  I asked her about it's condition once it was out (because a small baby can also be the result of a placenta in bad shape) and she said that half of it looked like it had some calcification (typical for a placenta that age), but that they would send it off along with a piece of the umbilical cord to be tested to see if there were specific things wrong with them.  I'm not sure when we'll have the results.

I had the chance to breastfeed Rory then - she latched so well! - and stare into her bright eyes.  We held off on the eye drops until after she ate so that she could get a good look at us.  Then Nancy and Taylor arrived to meet the newest addition to the family.  Taylor was instantly in love - she was all smiles and enjoyed kissing Rory's head and touching her cheek and giving her little hugs.  I'm taking this as a sign of good things to come (and of fending off many requests to hold the baby).  They stayed about 10 minutes, which seemed like a good amount of time, before heading off for bedtime at home.

At 9pm, we were transferred to our regular hospital room and we got to work uploading photos and sending out emails and updating Facebook to let the world in on our special joy.  Though we were tired, we didn't turn off the light until around midnight.  We were looking at photos of Taylor when she was born and comparing the two girls (lots of similarities) and just marveling at the tiny little baby who was now in our arms.

Rory slept pretty much all night, not very interested in feeding (I just expressed a few drops in her mouth to make sure she got something) and not too bothered when she had her foot pricked for the blood sugar tests.  She has spit up a few times, getting all that icky leftover amniotic fluid out of her system.  But she fed well this morning and is back to sleeping contently next to me in bed.

Despite lack of sleep for me, I'm feeling really good.  Having a quick, natural, and injury-free delivery (and not being sick this time around!) has made a world of difference in my after experience.  I am alert, in control of my body, and ready to take on anything.  Postpartum nursing contractions are horrendous, but Ibuprofen has helped.  I also had a nice, refreshing shower this morning.  Mark left for home so he could clean up there, eat free food, and bring Nancy and Taylor back for another visit.  They'll be here in the next hour or so.

Mark and I are planning stay in the hospital with Rory until tomorrow morning.  Our insurance allows us to stay until 8pm tomorrow, but I don't think there is a reason to hang around that long unless Rory has issues.

Here are a few photos from last night.  I posted these in Picasa as well, but we'll be adding more as the day continues so be sure to check the album frequently for updates.