I woke up on Thursday, March 31 with contractions. They felt different (more painful) than the Braxton Hicks contractions that I had been having for a week. Still, they were about 10 minutes apart and went away once I got up and went for a walk with Brice and Dakota. I had no other signs that labor was impending, and it was my last day of work anyway, so I didn’t even bother timing any of the contractions I had throughout the day. Brice had also woken up not feeling good and with cold symptoms, so I already had someone to take care of!
After soup and salad for dinner, we went to bed early since Brice was not feeling any better. Even though I was trying to fall asleep, the contractions were pretty painful and at around 11pm, I told Brice that maybe we should start timing them. We timed them for about an hour and they were consistently 4-6 minutes apart. We called the doctor on call who told us we should go to the hospital, so we took showers and got the rest of our things packed up. Neither of us were convinced it was “the real thing,” but we decided that we might as well go in since it was the middle of the night and so there wouldn’t be much traffic if we were sent back home (only in LA does one have to consider traffic when going into labor). We left the house at 1am, dropped Dakota off at my parents (she was very confused the whole time we were getting ready to go) and got to Cedars at 2am on April 1.
Right away we were put in a triage room, they took all of my information and vitals and 2 bands got strapped around my belly—one to measure my contractions, one to measure the baby’s heart rate. The nurse mid-wife came in and introduced herself as Diane (Brice’s mother’s name), and we felt like it was a sign. Contractions were still 4-6 minutes apart and I was 2cm dilated (I was fingertip on Tuesday at my last appointment). She called Dr. Serden to give him our update, and he told her to admit me and that he would come at 6am. When we got this news at around 3:30am, we both started to feel like today might be the day. An April Fool’s Baby was no joke! We called Brooks and Bonnie in Palm Springs to give them the heads up. We hadn’t told anyone else, besides my parents when we dropped off Dakota, since it was the middle the night and even though we felt like today might be the day, it certainly wasn’t going to be happening any time in the near future.
Dr. Serden came at about 6:30am and by then my contractions had slowed down to every 6-8 minutes. He gave us the option to go home and labor there for awhile or start on pitocin to kick start the process. One of the best things about the pregnancy has been Dr. Serden, and we already trusted him implicitly, so we deferred to him. He suggested that we get going on pitocin because I was already making some progress, I was already at 40 weeks and we were already there and checked in. We agreed, and I’m so glad that we did, since just a few hours later the waiting room was PACKED and Brice overheard a couple saying that they had been waiting for 2 hours for a room to open up. The triage room was extremely tiny, dark and pretty uncomfortable, but I was so happy we even had a room!
Judy Glover, our nurse, checked in at 7am and would stay with us for the rest of the day. She was fantastic. By 8am, she got me on the IV for fluids and pitocin in my left arm, a blood pressure band on my right arm, and we were on our way!
The pitocin certainly did get things going. Contractions started to pick up and get more painful. Brooks, Bonnie, Howard and Sam all came by, but I was still in the triage room so there really was no room for more than 1-2 people and I was pretty uncomfortable to even socialize. I just gripped onto the hospital bed rail and did counting and breathing techniques. By around 11am I started thinking about getting some pain relief medication. I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted the epidural yet knowing that once I got it, I wouldn’t be able to get up and walk around any more, and given how early I was in labor, the thought of being unable to get up and move around for hours and hours and hours was not appealing.
Dr. Serden came back at about 12 and said that he was going to break my water and that contractions would pick up even more after that. I decided that was my cue to go ahead and get the epidural, and I’m SO glad that I did, because even during the 30 minutes that I waited for one, they were getting stronger and stronger.
The epidural was fantastic. Although I was really scared having seen those gigantic needles before, the doctors and Judy were great. Getting the IV was actually more painful than getting the epidural. The sensation was very surreal. While I could still move and wiggle my toes, I was definitely numb and felt so much better immediately. My spirits were up, I could talk and RELAX. Amy, the resident, broke my water, which did not hurt at all surprisingly, thanks to the epidural. The only problem was by this point I had 2 belly bands, 2 IVs in my left arm (pitocin and fluids), blood pressure strap on my right arm, epidural down my back and catheter on my left leg.
I was so relaxed and having not slept since Wednesday night, I told Brice I needed to rest. He was pretty hungry anyway and needing some fresh air, so he went out to grab lunch. While he was out, I noticed that the baby’s heart rate was going down during contractions since I could hear the monitor. When Judy checked it out, she agreed but said it was not unusual and put an oxygen mask on me. Of course, Brice kind of freaked out when he walked back in and saw me with an oxygen mask in addition to all of the other tubes, monitors, bands, etc. on me.
Although I could feel contractions picking up, at around 2pm, they checked me, and I was only 5-6cm dilated. We told our parents to stay where they were, that it was probably not going to happen until late tonight, and especially because we were STILL in the triage room, we didn’t want everyone waiting around for hours and hours.
Finally at 3pm a delivery room opened up and we got moved/I got wheeled out from the triage room. The delivery room was beautiful. One whole side was windows looking towards the Hollywood Hills. It was very spacious and bright—we were so much more comfortable.
It wasn’t long before our peace and quiet came to an abrupt end. Judy was the first one in and then 5 more doctors came running in as alarms were sounding on the monitors. The baby’s heart rate had dropped too low during contractions. While they turned down the pitocin, flipped me in all different positions, got Dr. Serden on the phone right away, and tried to calm me down, I started crying (fogging up my oxygen mask) and shaking. Brice held my hand and tried to keep it together, but I could see him shaking too. We found out the next day (thank goodness) that the cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck and so every contraction was pulling on her neck causing her heart rate to drop. After awhile things seemed to be in control, and they checked me again and I was already 7-8cm. We decided it was time to call the parents and let them know that it would probably happen in a few hours so they should start thinking about getting ready to make their way here.
Dr. Serden came at around 5pm and we both immediately felt so much better. He was so calm and comforting, and neither of us were nervous or scared any more. He checked me and I was already 9cm, so Judy started getting the room ready. Both Judy and Dr. Serden were so calm (of course they were, they do this every day), and so we also felt calm. We were so surprised that I had gone from 6cm-10cm so quickly. We called our parents again and told them to HURRY, this was happening NOW.
Although I had envisioned my legs in stirrups, surrounded by nurses and doctors, huge lights over me, a big blue plastic sheet over me, sweating, screaming and panting away, the scene was so different. It was just Dr. Serden, Judy and Brice in the room with me. My legs were not in stirrups, and Dr. Serden sat on the edge of the bed. It was so calm and peaceful. Dr. Serden said that we were ready and at 5:55, I started pushing. The epidural was still in full effect, so I did not feel any pain, just a lot of pressure. I had 3 sets of pushes, and 10 minutes later, Delaney Miya London was born.
She joined us crying right away and we watched her arms and legs kicking out, thrilled to not be confined to the tight space any more. They put her on my chest and even through our tears, we could see 10 fingers and 10 toes, a full head of dark hair, and the cutest, warmest, squishiest little body—perfection in every way. We were so overwhelmed with emotion I had to remind Brice to get the camera out.
She scored 8 and 9 on her Apgar, weighed 7 lbs 10 oz (I could not believe so much!) and measured 20.5 inches long. Meanwhile, I delivered the placenta, Dr. Serden stitched my tear and harvested the cord blood for banking.
I could not stop shaking, so they put a warm blanket over me and I requested to start breastfeeding right away once her vitals were all checked. It was amazing to see her latch on and start feeding immediately, like she knew exactly what she was doing. Nature is miraculous. Brice went out to the waiting room to tell our families, who had all just barely made it minutes before.
Everyone piled in—Brooks and Bonnie, Howard, Paul and June, Sam and Chris and Stephanie—and it was a beautiful time for our family. Brice got to hold her for awhile and she stared at our faces calmly.
After awhile I was moved to post-natal and got set up there. I finally got to eat (after over 24 hours of nothing but clear liquids) and they finally took the IV out.
Although we were both exhausted, I could not sleep very much. I just could not wind down from the experience. Delaney was exhausted too and slept soundly. She made a few cries out during the night but stayed asleep. I nursed her the times that she cried for awhile, and the nurses showed us the basics of how to burp, change a diaper, swaddle and soothe. It was not a restful sleep since nurses kept coming in to check vitals, we woke up at every peep out of Delaney, and there was no way I was going to sleep with all the excitement from the day before and the day ahead.
On Saturday, Dr. Serden came to check on me and everything looked great, and Dr. Kleiner came to check on Delaney and everything looked great with her too. Unfortunately, Brice had continued to get sicker and sicker, and by the afternoon, we were really concerned that he was putting Delaney, me and the other parents and newborns in danger. It was one of the hardest things Brice has ever had to do, but we made the decision for him to go home in the afternoon. I kept him up to date with lots of calls, pictures and the nurses took excellent care of Delaney and me. Meanwhile, Delaney passed her newborn screening test and hearing test.
We had many visitors at the hospital—Benita and Darren Litt, Brooks and Bonnie, Howard, Sam and Chris, Barbara Glucksman and Joanne Vaisman, Stephanie, and our neighbors Judy and Kasey. Between socializing with friends and family, nurses coming in every few hours to check our vitals and learning how to take care of Delaney, the hospital was not a very restful place. After final check-ups from Dr. Serden and Dr. Kleiner on Sunday morning, we were finally discharged and were so happy to go home.
Dakota was thrilled to greet us and the introduction to Delaney went really well. Dakota was not very interested in her at all, but has gradually gotten more loving and protective of her since then. Danielle and Michelle had arranged for a stork to be in our lawn, and so the whole neighborhood knew about our homecoming. We’ve had a steady stream of excited visitors, and we are adjusting really well. Thanks to the help of Kim, our night nurse, we are getting into a schedule already, which Delaney is very responsive too. Breastfeeding has been going extremely well, and since I got sick as well a few days after we got home, I knew especially how important breastfeeding would be. We get more confident and comfortable every day and are loving every moment with Delaney, meltdowns and sleepless nights too. She holds our whole hearts in her sweet little hands.
Stats:
Delaney Miya London
7 lbs, 10 oz
20.5” long
Date: April 1, 2011
Time: 6:05pm
Location: Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles California
OB/GYN: Dr. Scott Serden
L&D Nurse: Judy Glover
Post-Partum nurses: Mary, Carrie, Dulce, Helene
