Alex's Birth Story

On Friday, June 3, we went to the hospital for a scheduled induction. I was dialated 3 cm and the pitocin was started around 9:30 a.m. By late afternoon my contractions were getting painful enough to get the epidural (sending love to the person who invented the epidural).

At 6:20 p.m. (an hour after getting my epidural) I was dialated to 6 cm and they broke my water. My nurse started bringing in equipment to prepare for the birth and I told her, "Either you are very organized or very hopeful." At 6:40 p.m. (20 minutes after breaking my water) I am dialated to 9 centimeters. WHOAH! The resident says, "Let's call the doctor. You're are going to have this baby." Yes, let's call the doctor.

Well, this hospital is a little different than Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. Various private practices deliver there but I don't think that while anyone is on call that they are actually at the hospital unless they have scheduled procedures/operations/appointments. In Milwaukee, our doctors had their offices in the hospital and when they were on call they were at the hospital the entire time. At this hospital my doctor had to be called and then she had to get in her car, run some errands, get a pedicure, drive through Dunkin' Donuts and then mosey on into the hospital to catch my kid.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital I start experiencing the most excruciating back pain known in the history of mankind. Our little stinker was posterior, meaning he was facing up looking at the ceiling rather than looking down at the floor as he should have. What does this mean for the laboring mother? Well, the baby pushes on the nerves in your back causing extreme pain and it is harder to push the baby out because he is coming out with a wider part of his head. Eventually, I tell my nurse that I don't give two hoots about whether or not the doctor is there--get the resident and let's get this baby out!

I finally start trying to push out our posterior facing baby. Fortunately, the epidural masks the pain of the contractions (thank God) but doesn't even touch the excrutiating pain in my back. Also, I had both the girls out in no time (10 minutes for Eva and just 5 minutes for Cora) so my expectations for this delivery are a bit high. In between pushing I look at Matt and say: "Why is this so hard? I really need him to come out. This is so hard!" After pushing for 20 minutes Alex is finally born!

A couple of interesting facts about Alex's birth:
1. He is our smallest newborn baby weighing 7 lb. 2.7 ounces (Cora was 7 lb 3 oz). Considering his presentation and how difficult it was to push him out, I'm really glad he was small.

2. In the course of his in-utero acrobatics, Alex managed to tie a true knot in his umbilical cord. A true knot can cause some serious problems (things I don't even care to speak about), and we are glad he is safe and healthy. From what I've been able to find on the internet, true knots occur in about 1% of births. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/262470-overview#aw2aab6b6
http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/complications/cord-knots.aspx