We chose to be induced on Monday night the 19th when I was 39 weeks 1 day pregnant. We chose induction then because she was getting quite big and Jonathan starts the fall semester on Aug 26th. We wanted to have time to adjust to a newborn, me to have someone to help for a few days, and him to get to spend time with her before going to school again. The plan was for us to go to the hospital on Monday night between 9 and 10pm to start the induction process and have her on Tuesday. When we got to the hospital we had to sit in the waiting room for over an hour because there were so many babies being born they didn't have a room for us (or a friend who was being induced the same time). When we finally got put in our room I was 3cm dilated and contracting on my own but not regularly enough to have a baby so they started a low dose pitocin to help me have more consistent contractions. Soon I was contracting about 4 times in 10 minutes and they increased my medicine to make me contract every 2 minutes (5 times in 10 minutes is the goal). Around 5:15am I was found to be 5cm dilated and they broke my water to help things along a little more. I was being monitored during this time and Amelia was doing fabulously. My goal was to have a natural birth without pain medicine and I was doing well handling the pain. Around 7am I went for a walk around the halls with my sister to help pass the time and hopefully help me progress a little more. I was then checked again and was at 7cm. I was now having quite a bit of pain with each contraction and they were getting stronger and closer together. They turned off my pitocin because I was contracting so well and my labor continued on it's own without any medicine. My nurse was amazing! She helped me get in the shower at the hospital to labor with the hot water hitting me and it made all the difference in the world. Jonathan was a great labor coach. The contractions continued to get stronger and more painful and we thought I was getting closer. However when they checked me again around 11am I was still only at a 7. About an hour later I was still at a 7 and chose to get an epidural. I had been awake all night at that point and wasn't progressing. I was hoping that if I got the epidural I could rest and let my body relax a little and it would help me progress. The epidural went in great and Amelia was still doing wonderfully. I was able to rest for a while when things started getting a little scary. The monitors were showing that Amelia was having trouble with each contraction and wasn't recovering very well after some of them. Her heart rate was dropping and staying too low. They had me lay in different positions and put some oxygen on me and she was doing better. I laid on my right side, where Amelia was doing the best, for what seemed like forever. When they checked me again I was at an 8 and she was still not dropping down much into the birth canal. She then started having a few more heart rate drops so they put monitors on her head to watch her more closely, put some fluid back into the amniotic sac (hoping it would help her handle the contractions better) and we continued to watch. She was still doing ok and I was doing better with the epidural. Around 4:30pm they checked me again and I wasn't even at a 9 yet and she was still high. Then her heart rate dropped into the 40s and she wasn't recovering very quickly even with changing my position and putting me back on oxygen. Her heart rate did come up back to normal but she wasn't handling contractions well. We decided to go with an urgent c-section at that time to prevent needing an emergency c-section if her heart rate dropped and wouldn't come back up. Our only goal was to have a healthy baby and we didn't want to jepordize that just for a natural birth. The anesthesiologists and OB doctors rushed in and prepped me for surgery. Amelia was born at 4:46pm by c-section. When they were trying to get her out they discovered that her head was stuck in the birth canal. Someone actually had to push her back up into my abdomen to get her out. She did great! My recovery is now a little more complicated and I am very sore from laboring all day and then needing a c-section but we are doing well.
Amelia Kathryn Bybee
Born August 20, 2013 at 4:46pm
8lbs 7oz, 19 inches
She has her brother Grant's nose, her dad's hands and feet and my mouth and she is absolutely perfect.
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| Right after she was born! So alert! |
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| My new favorite picture! Today getting ready to come home. |
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| Getting ready for her first car ride. |
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| Hanging out on the couch tonight. |
