The Barker's Adventures...: Emery's Birth Story

Well it's been almost a month since Emery was born... I haven't had much time for anything else besides taking care of her and trying to get some sleep. I wanted to write her birth story before I forget all the details about it. I started having regular contractions on sunday June 1st around 11:30pm and they got progressively stronger and closer to each other. I woke Jon up around 4:30 am with pain and told him that these contractions were not stopping. He woke up and helped me labor through the contractions. The only thing that seemed to help was to be able to take deep breaths and slowly breath through the contractions and change positions as well. I kept thinking "What if they go away soon and this isn't real labor yet?" I kept saying to Jon that I didn't want to go to the hospital to get checked yet because I didn't want to get sent home and what if the contractions stopped soon? But they didn't; they continued and got progressively more painful. I think it was around seven or eight in the morning when Jon went and got ready for the day and started to pack the car with all of the stuff we had prepared to take to the hospital. Good thing I had finished packing my bag the day before! I still remember telling him "Why are you getting the car ready?" I think I was still in denial that I was indeed going to have the baby that day! Jon told me we we're going to the hospital, so I decided to hop into the shower and take a quick shower before leaving the house. I got dressed and I think by that point it was close to ten in the morning when I finally agreed to be taken to the hospital, even though I was still hesitant whether it was time to head out since I had never done this before didn't know if I was in active labor and what where the chances that the baby was going to be born on her exact due date for being the firstborn, everyone kept saying that she was going to be born after her due date...

We hopped into the car and headed to the hospital took about 20 minutes to get there. Jon parked the car pretty far and made me walk pretty far before finally getting to the labor and delivery unit of the hospital. But I was okay - he did offer to drop me off to the side curve and have me wait for him to go park and come to me but I said no. We finally made it to the labor and delivery unit and they took some of my info at the front desk and told me to put on a hospital gown and go into one of the triage rooms. Jon and I waited there for what it seemed to me like an eternity but in reality it was probably 20-30 minutes before the nurse finally came in. She asked me a bunch of routine questions about the pregnancy and how much pain I was in, took my vital signs and asked if I was planning on getting an epidural. I told her that I wasn't sure if I wanted an epidural, I said I wanted to labor for as long as I could before considering getting one. The last thing she did was checked me to see how far I was dilated/effaced. She said "Oh honey are you sure you don't want to do this all natural? (looooong pause) You are at 7cm and you don't seem to be in as much pain as other patients who come in screaming and they are barely at a 3 or 4cm". I turned to Jon and we were both shocked that I was that far along. Here I was all along thinking that I hadn't progressed far enough and I was going to be sent home. In my mind I was thinking "Wow this is it then, she will most likely be born today then!" The nurse proceeded to call on her radio to the front desk and told them how far along I was and that they were going to admit me.

They proceeded to roll me out of the triage room into my labor and delivery room. I remember telling the nurse "I can walk if you want, you don't need to roll me out in this bed." I wasn't screaming in pain like you see in some movies or how some people tell you stories how they get to the labor and delivery room just screaming and in pain. I think by this point it was close to 11:30-12:00pm when I got to my room and they started an IV and the nurse came and talked to us and told us that the doctor was going to be called in at this point. We had no idea which doctor was on call. Jon and I knew that my doctor who had seen me throughout the pregnancy was not going to be there because she was going on vacation that week. The doctor came in and checked me and asked if I wanted my bag of waters or amniotic sack to be broken in order to make the labor progress faster. I said "Yes please!!". She told us that the baby would probably be born before dinner that day.

The nurse had asked us if I was going to get an epidural or not. I still wasn't sure if I wanted one or not, so we waited for a while longer and I talked it over with Jon before deciding I should get one. I felt the pain; it was bearable at that point but I knew it was going to get worse. Jon and I decided to go ahead and get the epidural. At this point I was at 8.5cm. They made me bend down in a sitting position and lean forward while Jon and the nurse held me down while the doctor placed the epidural. I felt the needle go in and the weirdest part was feeling the insertion of the catheter go inside my spine, then my legs started to become numb (weirdest feeling ever! to not be able to feel your legs or be able to really move them). After the initial dose of the medication of the epidural went through I was not able to feel the contractions or any more pain from them. I continued to labor and changed positions several times to try to get the baby ready for delivery. I felt that as soon as I got the epidural my labor slowed down a lot (time wise). I finally reached 10 cm and the nurse said I should do a couple of practice pushes to see if the baby was ready. We did a couple of pushes and she said that we should wait another 45 minutes to see if baby dropped further down before starting to push. So we waited until about 4:15 pm and the baby was in a good position to begin pushing. They told us I had 3 hours to push her out or the doctor would call it quits and I would need a C-section (I guess that's their rule or standard procedure). I started pushing with each contraction; this was by far the most exhausting part of the labor. It was hard because I couldn't tell when the contractions were happening, so they would let me know when they were starting. I would do a set of 3 pushes with each contraction. It was hard not being able to feel, but still having to perform a task that you think you are doing it right, but you can't tell for sure because you can't feel anything. I pushed for about 1 hr. 46 mins before the baby was born, with a few breaks in between and a change of shift for the nurses. The baby was finally born at 6:01pm.

At first when they broke my water they could tell that baby had had her first bowel movement, so they told me that there was a possibility that I may not be able to do skin to skin contact right after delivery because they would have to take her and suction her. She came out and she seemed to be doing great, so they let me hold her and do skin to skin for a little bit while Jon cut her cord. I will never forget the moment I first saw her and she looked at me and held my finger with her tiny fingers. She didn't cry at first - not until they started stimulating her. They took her and weighed her and measured her. She weighed 8.5 lb, 20". She started grunting a lot, so they took her to recovery for respiratory therapy. Jon went with the baby and I stayed in the room. The doctor was stitching me up because I had a tear and we waited about 15-20 mins from the time baby was born and I was having troubles delivering the placenta. It didn't want to detach and deliver, so the doctor had to do a D&C or (Dilation and Curettage) where the doctor inserts an instrument and scrapes the lining of the uterus to try to get the placenta out (Jon says it looked like a huge metal tongue scraper). At this point I was super glad I had gotten the epidural, otherwise they probably would have had to put me out completely to do the D&C. The doctor said it wasn't very common - the odds were about 1 in 200 births. She said that if she couldn't get the placenta out, they would have to take me into the surgery room to perform a different procedure to get the placenta out and stop the bleeding. Gratefully the doctor was able to get it out; she said I had lost too much blood for a regular delivery. She said I lost over 800 cc's which is what a c-section delivery looses during delivery. They gave me pitocin and other medications to get my uterus to contract and be able to control the bleeding. The doctor finished the procedure and then they wheeled me down to a different room where I was going to spend the next 2 nights. At this point I was feeling super exhausted and felt weak and sick. On the way to the room we stopped for a few minutes to see our baby girl at the nursery where she was on observation still. I was able to hold her for a few minutes then handed her to Jon because I was starting to feel worse and worse. They took me to the room and baby had to stay a bit longer until the doctor cleared her from being in observation room.

We spent the next two nights at the hospital trying to recover and getting used to our sweet little girl. She still had no name we had picked a few names out but hadn't decided on her name until literally the last second before we went home! We are so in love with this precious gift that Heavenly Father has sent to us. I haven't felt this close to Heavenly Father and his love for us, as I have since Emery was born. The spirit of peace and joy that this little being brings into our lives is truly indescribable. We feel humbled and blessed to start on this new journey of parenthood with this sweet baby girl and we are so happy that she is finally here! Emery Katherine Barker we love you so much!