Heather and I decided to give you an idea of what happened last week at Parkview North Hospital on a day-by-day basis for those of you who weren't in town to witness it.
Monday August 4, 2008
We went to our scheduled appointment with Dr. Blackmon at 9:15 am to see what the next step in the pregnancy was going to be. Of course they took Heather's blood pressure right away and the bottom number was above 100. Dr. Blackmon opened the door to the exam room we were in and told us right away that she wanted to admit Heather to the Family Birthing Center and get things started. Dr. Blackmon said she wanted to see how Heather's body would respond to some medication to start her labor and then go from there.
In just a few minutes we were in a labor/delivery room signing consent forms and putting our personal belongings in storage cabinets!
Heather was then given her first medicine by nurse Sally to help her body go into labor. This medicine was to be effective for 12 hours and was given to her at 11:00 am.
In just a few minutes we were in a labor/delivery room signing consent forms and putting our personal belongings in storage cabinets!
Heather was then given her first medicine by nurse Sally to help her body go into labor. This medicine was to be effective for 12 hours and was given to her at 11:00 am.
By 10 pm that evening, things had progressed very slowly and Heather was only measuring 1 cm. The nurse told us that they were going to let Heather's body respond to this earlier medication overnight and check her progress in the morning. After knowing this I decided to get my sleeping quarters (sheets on a fold out couch) ready and call it a night.
Tuesday August 5, 2008
At 7 am Heather was given Pitocin to again help her body go into labor. It was a waiting game to see how she would respond to this new medicine.
By 12 noon the Pitocin was stopped and another drug was administered. After hours of waiting this new medicine was ineffective and by 4 pm the Pitocin was started again.
At 7 pm Dr. Blackmon made a visit to check on Heather's status. At this point she made the big decision to break her water and get the contractions started.
What a wonderful decision it was, by 10 pm Heather was at 2 cm and the contractions were coming every other minute and were getting very painful. Due to these contractions her blood pressure began to rise even more. Nurse Christie then told us she would check with Dr. Blackmon to see if it would be okay to have the Dr. give Heather her epideral. We asked if it was too soon because we didn't want the medicine to run out before the delivery and cause Heather too much pain. We learned that by giving her epideral at 2 cm it would help lower her blood pressure readings and that it is almost impossible to run out of medicine through the epideral. Christie did tell us that as she got closer to 10 cm that she would feel some of the contractions, even with the epideral, but that they wouldn't hurt as much as they would without it.
What a wonderful decision it was, by 10 pm Heather was at 2 cm and the contractions were coming every other minute and were getting very painful. Due to these contractions her blood pressure began to rise even more. Nurse Christie then told us she would check with Dr. Blackmon to see if it would be okay to have the Dr. give Heather her epideral. We asked if it was too soon because we didn't want the medicine to run out before the delivery and cause Heather too much pain. We learned that by giving her epideral at 2 cm it would help lower her blood pressure readings and that it is almost impossible to run out of medicine through the epideral. Christie did tell us that as she got closer to 10 cm that she would feel some of the contractions, even with the epideral, but that they wouldn't hurt as much as they would without it.
Here is a picture of her after the epideral was given.
Wednesday August 6, 2008
We were then able to get a little rest until after midnight and then she started to feel some contractions. Christie decided to check Heathers progress (she was only 3 cm 45 mins. ago) and told us that she was 10 cm!!!!! We couldn't believe it!!!! Christie then notified Dr. Blackmon and said told us she would be here to deliver Taylor in a few minutes...
Dr. Blackmon arrived around 1:30 am and prepared herself for delivery. She instructed Heather when to push and how to breathe correctly. After a great push by Heather Taylor's little head came out and then a few seconds later the rest of his beautiful little body!! What a wonderful maker our God is! He looked so perfect.
This picture is of Taylor right after his birth!His official stats were: born at 1:42 am, 5 lbs. 14 oz, 19.5 in long, and lots of black hair!!
This is Taylor in his first diaper - so cute!
2 comments:
Very cool blogging, Dad & Mom!!!
Of course, we think he's just the cutest thing ever!!
What a miracle & blessing! Thank the Lord for Mom & Taylor both doing so well! (and Dad too!)
Congrats, Mom & Dad! And way to go Heather...you did it! It was a rough road but you made it! Taylor is beautiful and you have so much to look forward to! I can't wait to see him grow and watch you develop as parents!
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