♥ Dominick's Birth Story ♥

Since I'm starting to feel better and I have a few minutes, I thought I'd write about our birth story. It's a long and slightly scary one but with a beautiful outcome.

It started off as I went to the doctor on Thursday. It was just a regular OB visit. My last one since I was due to be induced the following Thursday. I got up a little late that morning so I had breakfast around 9:30 a.m. and then I got to nesting. I had Dominick's room almost complete. I only had a few things left to do. I also put a load of laundry in the wash and got our room picked up. I ate a snack around 11:15 or so. I left for the doctor at 12:30 and decided I shouldn't eat before my doc appointment. I was going to stop and get lunch on the way home. That was a silly decision.

When I got to the doctor I got in right away. My doctor was gone on a c-section but they got me in and checked my vitals quickly. They took his heart rate and noted it was a little low, but not bad. Then the nurse protictioner (that has to be spelled wrong and I'm so sorry!) came in to see me. She told me that Dr. Webb was busy and she would check my cervix. After she checked me she said I still wasn't dilated and asked me about movement. I told her that he wasn't moving as much and that concerned me. She told me to go home and do my fetal kick counts and if he still wasn't moving a lot then to come in or call in that night. I said ok but that I still wanted to see Dr. Webb. When he came in we talked a lot. I told him about the NST and BPP that happened at the last appointment. He hadn't even been told about that and he was upset about that.

Then he told me the most shocking thing of all. He said, I think we should admit you and induce you today. I thought he was kidding! After I asked a few times if he was serious and he assured me he was, we got talking serious. He told me that with the diabetes and the lack of fetal movement he thought it would be safer for Dominick to come out rather than be in. I said ok, and they wheeled me to Labor and Delivery and hooked me up to the monitors. This was around 2:45. I called Nick and told him to go home and take a shower and get ready for a long long night. My mom also came up to keep me company until Nick could come up.

They inserted a pill in my cervix to make me start contracting and hopefully start dilating around 4:20. I don't remember when I started contracting but it didn't take long. Momma left around 6, with us assuring her that we'd call as soon as something happened. I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes for awhile but they weren't too painful. Mike, our good friend, brought Nick dinner around 8:00 and shortly after that the contractions got bad. I made Mike go home because I didn't want other people to see me like that. The contractions were horrible! Dominick didn't like them so well either. His heart rate was dropping with each contraction so they put the internal monitor on Dominick and put me on a catheter.

I had contractions every 1 1/2 to 2 minutes for the next hour and a half or so. I was crying to Nick for pain medicine. The contractions are measured on a scale of 0-100+. They consider a productive contraction to be over 60. My contractions were all in the 80's or 90's and I was in pain. At 10:30 p.m. (after being in labor for 6 hours) Dr. Webb came in and saw how much pain I was in. He broke my water then and ordered an epidural. After 6 hours I was still only 2 cm dilated...after all those contractions. I was devastated.

The contractions were just getting worse and I still wasn't dilating so they gave me a shot to slow the contractions down. Hopefully just enough to give me pitocin to get them started again and hopefully more productive. I got the epidural around 11:15-11:30. I'm not going to lie...It hurt. It was painful to get the numbing medicine put in my back before they could even do the epidural. Plus I had to sit up and I was getting contractions every minute or so. I was in tears. Nick was such a great "support person". He kept telling me how great I was doing and that it would all be worth it. I just held on to him until they were done.

And oh, what a difference! I am all about the epidural now. It was pure heaven to me. I couldn't feel my legs too well and it was great. I couldn't tell when I was having contractions anymore and I could finally get some rest. Unfortunately, it made me feel better but didn't help Dominick. His heart rate kept dropping (it's supposed to be between 120-160 or something like that and his heart rate was in the 80's almost every contraction). They made me stay on my side and keep an oxygen mask on.

At 9:30 a.m. on Friday, I was up to 9 cm. Thank goodness! I had been in labor for awhile at that point and I was just ready to get somewhere. They told me they'd check again in an hour and we'd see about pushing. By 10:30 I was getting very strong urges to push. Everything in my body was telling me I had to push so we called the nurse and they came in and checked me and I was right. I was dilated to 10 cm and fully effaced and I was ready to meet my baby boy.

They had two "students" in the room with me, Nick and the nurse. They were calling the on-call doc since my doctor, Dr. Webb, was off call at 7 a.m. The on call doc was Dr. Moore and she was great. I was so self conscious pushing with all the people in the room but Nick basically told me to get over that and push our baby out. He was right. I didn't need to worry about anyone else, I just needed to get our baby out.

I started pushing at 10:30 and it was rough. It was hard for me and hard on Dominick as well. His heart rate was dropping dangerously every time I pushed. They put me on my side and loaded me with oxygen again. I had to push while on my left side, which is really hard! They continued to motivate me to push and support me but he just wasn't making any progress.

Finally at 12:00, Dr. Moore told me that she didn't like what Dominick's heart rate was doing and she wanted to do a c-section. After being in labor for 19 1/2 hours, that sounded good to me. They brought me down to the OR and got me ready. They increased my epidural meds and they didn't do well with my body! I had the shakes soo bad with the meds. I couldn't keep my hands straight. They were shaking so horribly. They put the curtain up and Nick assumed his position next to me (he didn't want to see any of the surgery) and they got started.

At first it was just strange. I could feel them doing things, like pressure, but it didn't hurt. It was strange. We asked how long the surgery would take and they said 5-8 minutes to get the baby out and another 20-30 to clean me up. Well that didn't sound too bad to me. But that wasn't going to work for us. Of course not! ;-) We weren't so lucky yet.

It took them close to 20 minutes to get Dom out. He was completely stuck in the birth canal and they actually had to call in help to get him out. Nick was really freaked out because he could see that the doctors were basically kneeling on my chest trying to pull him out and he wouldn't come. That's when the "pressure" and pulling started to hurt. I was crying because they were pulling so hard and he wasn't out yet. It took three people to get him out.

Finally, at 12:36 p.m. Dominick finally got out. I kept hearing the doctors say how big he was. I was kind of nervous. I was thinking (in my heavily drugged up state) of a toddler sized child! Then they weighed him. He is big, but not as big as I was picturing! He was 8 lbs. and 9 ounces and 21.25" long.

The worst part of the surgery is that I was so drugged up and feeling so shaky and sick and just plain awful that I didn't even want to see Dominick. I was so scared that I was getting post partum depression because I didn't care. Nick went to be with him while they cleaned me up and Nick cut the cord. I just wanted to get to recovery and try to sleep or something. 45 minutes after getting Dominick out they wheeled me to recovery.

Nick went upstairs to the nursery along with my mom and dad and his mom and I stayed in recovery for about 2 hours. When they finally wheeled me up to a room, I finally felt better. They brought me past the nursery and I saw my baby boy. He was (and of course still is) so beautiful. They got me situated in my room and brought him in for me to try and feed.

That's where I'll leave this story off. I know it's already too long, but I wanted to share what I went through before I forgot.

Dominick is perfect. He's beautiful and I can't even believe how much I love him already. Nick has always said, "I'm not going to be like that with my kids" or "my kids won't be that spoiled" or whatever about whatever situation it is. Nick's sister, Kate, always told him, "wait until it's your own". She's right. Nick is already spoiling that little boy so much and he admits it. He can't believe how much he loves him either. It's so amazing.

Nick's been absolutely amazing. I just want to say that before I log off tonight. He's been changing all the diapers since my recovery has been somewhat slow, and he brings me whatever I need. He keeps telling me how much he loves me and how great I'm doing. He told me how happy he is and he can't imagine being any happier than he is with me and Dominick. He's been great and I know he's going to be (and already is) an amazing dad.

Thanks for all the well wishes and visitors we've had. It makes the day go by quicker! We love you all!!

Dominick Robert

January 23, 2009 at 12:36 pm

8 lb. 9 oz.

21 1/4" long