Emmalyn Grace

October 13th at 11:37am she entered the world at 7lb. 12.5oz, and 22" long.

I'm overwhelmed.  I'm intoxicated.  I'm completely taken.  And her name is Emmalyn Grace Shields.  I can't believe she's a week old today.

Here are the details of her arrival...

Tuesday, October 12th:

7:30am - Chris and I checked in at Wesley Medical Center (not the Birth Care center, the LDR floor in the  actual hospital) on Tuesday October 12th at 7:30am for a scheduled induction.  By the time we got to our room and got settled, IV was started at 8:45.  At that point, I was dilated to a 3, 70% effaced, and engagement is "high" (see here if you're not sure what the heck I'm talking about).  Shorthand would be "3/70/high".

9:25am - Pitocin started.  My wonderful Doctor - Melissa Hague - stopped in to check on me, and broke my water at 9:42a.  Didn't notice until my next contraction :)  Officially and medically speaking I was "in labor".

11:45am - Pitocin at 20 (max is 40)

12:30pm - Contractions started to get pretty uncomfortable (an 8 out of 10), so I asked for a local pain reducer.  Stadol given.  That stuff is pretty fun :)  It made me woozy - in a good way.  I couldn't open my eyes because the room was spinning, hard to describe exactly how it felt, but it felt good...  I told Chris if this is the way people on illegal drugs feel, I understand why it's addicting ;)

1:00pm - 4/75/-2

1:40pm - Another dose of Stadol given.  I was rating the pain a 10 at this point.

2:00pm - 5/80/-2.  Stubborn kid.

3:00pm - 5.5/80/-2.  Seriously??

3:13pm - I tried sitting on a birthing ball to ease the pain of contractions.  That lasted about one contraction.  The bed was way better.

4:00pm - Cervix remains unchanged.  One more dose of Stadol.  Stadol is a medicine that doesn't work as well the more times you use it.  The first time was great, but by the third time, it wasn't doing much.

4:25pm - This was the hardest decision yet.  Up to this point, during each unbearable contraction I told myself "I can do this one more time"... But that only lasted to this point.  I broke down and got an epidural.  In hinds sight, it's a good thing I did since my labor lasted as long as it did - 26 hours.  I was nervous about the whole needle-in-the-back thing. Turns out there was no need to be.  I didn't even feel the first shot they give you to numb the area.  The anesthesiologist said I'd feel a bee-sting. I felt something touch my back, but nothing even close to pain.  Kellie said it's because it was nothing compared to what the contractions feel like.

5:00pm - Pain rated a 0 out of 10 :)


5:14pm - 6/80/-2


6:17pm - 6/100/-1


7:16pm - 6.5/100/-1.  The Pitocin was now at 40. 


7:35pm - 7/100/-1


8:10pm - Unchanged.  Talk about frustrating.  It had now been 12 hours since we started everything. Pitocin decreased to 20.  


8:40pm - I started to run a temperature, so Tylenol was given.


9:23pm - Cervix unchanged.


9:39pm - Pitocin turned off.  They said sometimes if it's turned off, then back on it will kick things into gear.  


10:00pm - Pitocin restarted.  They turn it up a few notches every 15 minutes until it reaches 40 again.

Wednesday, October 13th

-- Nothing really happened between 10pm and 2:45am.  I tried to rest some, but how well can you really do that in a hospital, and while in labor? Oddly enough, time seemed to go by quickly. I don't remember feeling like there was a pause in time.

2:44am - 7/90/0.  At this point I was still not progressing much, and it was coming up on 24 hours of my water being broken.  Dr. Hague wanted to give me every chance possible to have a vaginal birth (as opposed to a C-section), but time was running out.  She said one more hour, and if nothing has changed (aka - if I wasn't dilated to a 10), it looked like a C-section would probably be necessary.  After crying (a lot), I finally came to terms that I would probably not deliver my child the way I had imagined.  Yes, I know a healthy baby is the desired outcome and that is all that matters, but I prayed hard the next hour... Chris went out and updated the family, and they were all praying too.

3:56 - Nurse came in to check me.  I was prepared for her to say that I hadn't changed.  But God is SO good... I was dilated to a 9, 100% effaced, and a +1!!  No C-Section! :)  Thank you Jesus!  Dr. Hague wanted me to "labor down" (let the baby come down a bit more), so I did that for a couple more hours.

4:21am - 9.5/100/+1

5:37am - Pitocin turned off / Oxygen turned on.  Something to do with baby. I want to say her HR went up and down slightly?  I can't remember).

6:25am - 10/100/+2! Oxygen off, thank goodness. Hate those masks :)

7:35am - Pitocin turned back on starting at 10, to get contractions going again.  Started pushing.

11:37am - 4 hours of pushing later, Emmalyn Grace was welcomed into the world.

So many thanks to several people...

First of all, Kellie (mentioned above) was so amazing.  She wasn't scheduled to work that day, but she picked up an extra shift just to be there, AND she worked 4 hours over her shift! A 16 hour day, and she didn't even get to be there for the fun part (they made her go home at 16 hours).  But it was sososo wonderful to have a familiar face in the room!  Kellie, you are awesome. Thank you just doesn't cut it, but thank you for everything you did that day!!

Thank you Ginger for coming in and taking beautiful pictures when the family came in to meet Emmalyn.  Your talent amazes me.

We've heard that Wesley is the place to have babies, but we were very impressed with everything and everyone.  The nurses, staff, anesthesiologist... We didn't have a "bad" experience with anyone.

Thank you to our supportive families!  We know they wouldn't have left the hospital for anything, but they stuck it out the whole time in the waiting room while waiting for their [stubborn] Granddaughter and Niece :)