Zach’s Birth Story

Where do I even begin? I have a feeling this is going to be a long post. But I want to write down & try to remember all the details. I figure since we have two different babies, I need to tell their stories individually. I’m posting this exactly on Zach’s 1 week birthday. Lucy’s will post on her exact birthday too. {Warning this might be kinda graphic, but how do you tell a birth story any other way?!}

Our labor story began May 7th when Zach’s water broke, but I’m going to skip until Saturday night 5/19. To prepare my body for induction Sunday morning, a MFM resident checked my cervix Saturday night around 7 all prepared to insert a Foley balloon to dilate me. Instead she found my cervix was 2-3 cm dilated, very effaced & Zach was already in -1 station. My body had been getting ready on it’s own, so no balloon & she moved up my induction time from 830 to 630 Sunday morning.

I woke up {after a lovely Ambian induced sleep} around 6a. One of our favorite night nurses {Dennis} gave me my heartburn & synthroid meds & wished us a great day. I was wheel-chaired up to our new room where I ordered breakfast {around 8 I ate an omelet, English muffin, banana bread, grits & fruit}, had the babies monitors & my contraction monitor put in place, & got my IV hooked up.

Our nurse for 7a-7p Sunday was Julie & she was fabulous. She was all about encouraging us to have as natural labor as possible~we started the pitocin at 2 & I sat on a birthing ball from probably 830 until mid-afternoon {when Zach had gotten too low for us to be monitor well with me sitting straight up}. My pitocin levels were increased by 2 every half hour. My contraction monitor was showing mild-medium contractions but I wasn’t bothered by them. Jason & I watched NBA games & movies on TV like The Hangover & Old School.

The MFM doctor & residents would come check me {I was around 4-5 cm late afternoon}, but Julie helped hold them off occasionally. Since I wasn’t super kicked into active labor & the babies & I were tolerating the pitocin so well, they decided to take me from the normal max of 30 to 36. The plan was that I’d stay at 36 for a little while. They also decided if I didn’t go into stronger labor with pitocin at 36, that they’d take me off it, let me eat something, then start me back on pitocin at level 2. Around 7p, the MFM chief resident on duty, checked me & decided Zach might have some forewater {a little water bag around his head}, so she went up & broke it.

Our nurse beginning at 7p was Yvonne. I’d barely said hi to her before my body decided to really respond to the meds. Next thing I knew, I was really feeling the contractions & they were coming pretty frequently. This time is all a blur to me. Jason kicked ass as I held his hand & gripped the sides of the bed. The doctors came back in & mentioned getting an epidural at some point. Jason & I had discussed that I wanted to hold off on it as long as possible. I soon realized ‘as long as possible’ was now {around 9p}. Yet, the anesthesiologists were in the middle of a C-section then something else. I was kinda freaking out even though Jason was doing a great job remembering birth class relaxation & massage techniques. It was 10ish when they arrived. Yvonne sat me up & gave me a pillow & herself to hold on to as three anesthesiologists put in the epidural {gotta love a teaching hospital}. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be {thank God I didn’t have any kick-my-ass contractions while they were working}; although Jason’s face watching told me it kinda was. By 1030p, I was taking a nap in between contractions.

I felt the urge to start pushing around 1130p. Yvonne & Jason were my coaches & cheer leaders~ counting as I pushed {on my cue} & holding my legs. My mom would come in & out of the room too {she was officially my ice chip giver & cold washcloth holder}.

It was probably 2a Monday morning when the MFM & residents decided I was close enough to move into the OR. Jason got dressed in a ‘bunny suit’ & I was soon wheeled one door down. A vaginal twin birth including a secondary breech extraction is a pretty rare thing. So I was prepared for the bright lights & lots of people on hand ~ anesthesiologist behind my head, two NICU teams of three per baby over my left shoulder, the head MFM & three main residents were down there & a bunch of young doctor/residents & nurses were looking on. They set up Jason on my left close to my shoulder. I labored & pushed through a few more contractions on the hospital bed until they said they could see Zach’s blond haired head. Then I was moved onto an OR table with these crazy hockey pad-like stirrups. Like three pushes later, Zachary Layne was born at 2:59a Monday morning. I saw the back of his head, two feet & heard the sweetest cry before he was whisked off to the NICU.

My parents & aunt had actually been camped out in my antepartum hospital room all day. My 3rd floor nurses had been watching my monitors on their computer & as soon as they saw Zach come off the monitors, they told my family who rushed up to the L&D floor. They actually saw him just minutes after he was born & have video of him being wheeled into the NICU {I don’t  have copies of the photos yet}.

Now it was Lucy’s turn…