Wyeth Foster Storn

Wyeth Foster Storn was born on 11/2/2013 at 6:17 am weighing 7 lbs, 3.2 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long (although later measurements at his pediatrician's office put him at 19.5 inches long).

Taken before we left the hospital

For those who know me, nothing about this journey, with the exception of actually being pregnant, has been easy, and labor and delivery was no exception.

At 7 am on Friday, November 1, as I was getting ready to drive JD in to school (he was going biking with a classmate afterwards), I suddenly started "leaking".  I stayed in denial while I dropped him off, came home, and started looking it up on Google. The more I read, the more I knew that my water had broken, although I did not have contractions. From what I had read, and since I was already considered "high risk" due to my "advanced maternal age", I knew that we would have 24 hours and maybe just a bit more to deliver our child before they would decide that a Cesarean section would be required.  At this point, I started doing all the last minute stuff around the apartment - trying to stay active, get packed up, eat, and maybe get those contractions to start for real!

40 weeks on 10/31/13

JD called once his classes were done at 10, and I told him that we'd be meeting our baby boy in the next 24 hours. He canceled his ride and biked home, where we finished getting ready, put the rest of our stuff in the car, and headed to the hospital. We were excited, terrified, and also disappointed, since we knew that we weren't going to get the chance to labor at home until we had to go in to the hospital.

39 weeks

Once at the hospital, triage for labor & delivery was the most frustrating part of the whole process. No one asked why we were there, how fast/hard contractions were coming, etc. We ended up waiting for 1.5 hours that could have been used more productively. When we finally got to see the doctor, it was determined that yes, my water had broken, I was having very mild contractions, and I was only 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. He wanted to start me on pitocin immediately, but I was hungry, so we went for a walk and got lunch. I knew that would be my last real food before Wyeth was born.

About an hour and a half later, we checked back in, and after the nurse blew 2 IV attempts (apparently I look like I have good veins, but I don't really), the pitocin was finally started a little before 6pm. So far, contractions were mild. Because my water had broken and I was on pitocin, I had to be hooked up to an IV, blood pressure cuff, and continuous fetal monitoring, all of which we had hoped to avoid.

JD and I had a nicely typed out birth plan for our ideal natural birth. We knew as soon as my water broke that we'd be deviating majorly from plan "A", so we were prepared mentally. I will say that being attached to all the gizmos made it more difficult to move around during labor. We eventually took off the BP cuff and slipped it back on just before it took my blood pressure every 15 minutes. The IV and fetal monitoring we were stuck with, though.

I don't know if it was because labor was induced, because Wyeth and I didn't like the pitocin, or what, but I never had nice smooth contraction tracings. Mine were all jagged. Contractions got sharper and sharper as the night went on, and I got more and more tired (I hadn't slept well the night before - maybe my body knew?). I couldn't find a position that allowed me to rest between contractions but was comfortable for contractions - JD and I tried a whole bunch of things - heating pad, massage, standing, leaning against the back of the bed, sitting on the balance ball... .

I think that it was about 1 am when I was checked and I had only dilated to 3cm, 80% effaced. That was definitely disheartening to know that I was going through all this work and not much was happening. I believe that it was at this point that I asked for some medicine to knock the pain down a bit so that I could rest. They gave me one dose, and JD and I were both able to get some rest. As it wore off, I found that I was less and less able to deal with the pain of the contractions - I had been mentally prepared for muscle-type pain, but this was very sharp, and it kept moving from my low back to my front.

Ultimately, sometime between 4 and 5am, JD and I decided that it was time for the big guns. We also knew that the clock was running out on being "allowed" to labor after my water had broken, and that a C-section was becoming imminent - if I didn't have an epidural before the C-section (especially if it ended up being an emergency), I would be under general anesthesia, and JD would not be allowed in the OR. I was checked again, and was only at 5 cm, 80% effaced (again, disheartening!), so we agreed that I wanted an epidural. The epidural was placed, and I think that it was too strong - suddenly ALL the pain was gone! Granted, I could now relax, and I just hoped that some of it would wear off by the time that it came to push.  JD and I both knew that I wouldn't press the button for more medicine.

Around 5:15ish, JD, feeling that he hadn't been able to support me that way that he wanted to & I think disappointed that we weren't able to have the birth that we wished for (I couldn't have gone that far without him, that's for sure, and there was no one else that I would have allowed to be that close to me!), decided to take a walk around the hospital to calm down and relax. Not long after that, our nurse came back in telling me to lie on my other side, since Wyeth's heart rate was decelerating with each contraction. At 5:49, I was surrounded by several nurses and 2 doctors as they tried to keep Wyeth's heart rate stable, so I texted JD to come back up ASAP. We both knew what would happen next, and I'm so glad that I had the epidural so that JD could be there!

I was rapidly prepped for the surgery, signed some consent papers, and wheeled to the OR. JD was left behind to put scrubs on while they got me ready. During this time, Wyeth's heart rate stabilized- I'm guessing that my blood pressure went up from the stress. Once I was all prepped, JD was allowed in the OR, and at 6:17, we heard Wyeth cry. Which, of course, started me crying! Such a wonderful sound after all that we had been through. I got to see him briefly before he and JD went to be measured, etc and I was put back together. I heard all the nurses exclaim over the size of his feet and hands - he certainly has his Daddy's feet!

After not too long, Wyeth was put on my chest, and we got our first picture of him:

I was then moved to recovery where we started working on getting Wyeth nursing - this definitely was a learning process! The nice thing about not having general anesthesia is that the recovery process was much easier. I felt really good, and it wasn't long before I could start to move my legs (even though they still felt like pins and needles).  After about 2 hours, we were moved up to our room, where we spent lots of time getting to know Wyeth, learning how to nurse, and generally not sleeping!

Sunday, I was up and about, disconnected from all the different things that had been connected to me. It was so nice to be "free"! I was finally able to take a shower, too, which felt really nice. I was feeling so good on Sunday that we convinced the doctors to allow us to go home that evening. I was so excited to be in my own bed, and I felt really good considering that I had just had major abdominal surgery. In fact, I never needed the prescription narcotics!

Look how little he is in JD's arms!

Wyeth's going home outfit. Sadly, we didn't get a good picture of him in this.  JD had been holding him skin to skin before we got Wyeth dressed. 

And now we're home and I can't believe that its already been 2 weeks since our little man was born!  We're still working on figuring each other out, and I'm hoping that he adopts a schedule that works with our schedule sooner rather than later, but since he's only 2 weeks old, I'll let him do what he wants for now (which at the moment is nurse constantly - likely due to a growth spurt). He was over his birth weight by the time that he was 5 days old, and seems to be doing well. We have another weight check next week, so hopefully he's continuing to gain weight and get less orange (he also had some jaundice, just like I did and my sister did and my Mom did), and he continues to be more and more alert each day.