Birth Stats:

Born at 7:36 pm on 9/29/08 in Denver, CO at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Hospital

8 lbs 2 oz

Head circumference 13.5 in

19 inches long


Labor:

Lauren was awesome! When admitted for induction we were excited to find out that she was already dilated to 2 cm and was 80% effaced, -2 station (which we attribute to walking, swimming, and acupuncture). Her membranes were stripped upon admission at 8 pm on Sunday 9/28 and regular contractions started. At midnight she was given 1 misoprostol. By 4 am she was dilated to 3.5 cm and still 80% effaced, -2 station. The Pitocin drip was started and she received an epidural catheter for anesthesia after being given 2 liters of lactated Ringer's solution. Lauren's blood pressure had been high during the last trimester of pregnancy (the indication for induction) and in spite of the fluids it fell to 100/50 with the epidural anesthesia. With the Pitocin stimulating contractions the baby's heart tracing became less reactive and she had some late decelerations (a sign that the baby isn't getting enough oxygen through the placenta). The pitocin was stopped at about 5 am and she received another 2 liters of fluid. Her blood pressure increased to about 120/70 and the fetal heart tracing was more reassuring at about 6 am and she was dilated to 4 cm and still 80% effaced with -2 station. Even off the Pitocin she was regularly contracting so it was left off. At 7 am on 9/29 external monitors were changed to internal monitors (water broken at that time) and we were able to see that the contractions were of sufficient strength and number, so Pitocin was left off. At 11 am she was still 4 cm and 90% effaced in spite of adequate labor--the NPs started talking about C-section (which we emphasized we were not enthusiastic about). Contractions had decreased in strength and number and the Pitocin drip was started again, this time with excellent blood pressure on Lauren's part after almost 5 liters of fluid. There were no signs of fetal distress, so the Pitocin drip was titrated upward and by 1 pm she was dilated to 5 cm. She continued to dilate at 0.5 cm/hr until 7 cm. At 5 pm she started dilating faster and the station had changed to -1. Between 5 pm and 7 pm Ella descended to a +2 station and the cervix continued to maximally dilate to 10 cm. At around 6:15 pm the epidural catheter plugged and the anesthesia started to quickly fade. In spite of numerous attempts to fix the catheter, there was little that could be done. By 7 pm Lauren was feeling most everything and had complete motor control. The nursing staff encouraged Lauren to wait to push until the baby had moved farther down into the pelvis. Nevertheless, at 7:10 pm Lauren (who was feeling every movement) had the urge to push. The pushing lasted only 26 minutes before our beautiful little Ella was born. Having helped to deliver 2 dozen babies (and seeing many more delivered by others), I can say that Lauren did the best job of almost anyone I've seen. One consequence of pushing the 8 lb baby through the birth canal so fast was pretty extensive tearing of her perineum. The epidural was gone, so the obstetrician suggested that she be taken to the operating room and given general anesthesia for the repair. The anesthesiologist talked the obstetrician into trying a spinal dose of anesthesia first; the anesthetist's work was effective and the obstetrician took the next 45 minutes in completing the repair.

During all of this, Ella was quick to recover from traversing Lauren's pelvis with APGAR scores of 7 and 9. She was taken to the nursery for her initial assessment, meds, and her vitamin K shot. I was in between the nursery and the labor room supporting both of my girls the best I could.

Julie (Lauren's Mom), came to Denver to aid in the childbirth process. She was in charge of photography during the birth and did an excellent job (we have many more photos, some of which are rated R, but will be valuable to Ella as she gets older). Afterwards, she was a huge support to Lauren while I was running between rooms. She has been very sweet and supportive and we have appreciated having her here with us very much.

We're now doing fine. Lauren stoically has endured the extensive repair without any narcotic analgesia. She and Ella are napping now while I am writing. We'll keep everyone posted on progress in the coming days.