Revisiting birth stories... 3rd edition: Rylan James
Surprise! I found out I was pregnant again when Payton was only 9 months old... On October 7, 2006. I'm pretty sure I screamed from the bathroom.
The first trimester was a little bit more "fun" this time, I threw up pretty much every morning, but once I did I was fine and could go about my day. I had two little boys keeping me busy as well as a daycare business that kept me running constantly.
My first trimester ultrasound was the very first that I didn't not have my due date changed. I was so relieved. He measured for a June 19th due date, but they left my due date in my chart as June 14, 2007. Little did they know I had fibbed on my dates a little bit, the right due date was June 19th, I just didn't want to have the issues with due date discrepancies again, so I wanted a sooner due date in my chart. It worked.
At the 20 week ultrasound, something happened I was not expecting. Not surprisingly, it was another boy. What was surprising was the way the technician acted. He would hardly let us see the baby, he kept turning the screen away from us. After he finished the ultrasound he left the room for quite awhile and when he returned he said very coldly to me "your doctor will be contacting you." I KNEW he had seen something that raised a red flag, but I was left to wonder what. I left the appointment not even able to say with certainty that my third son was healthy. I cried. A lot.
A few days later I got a call from the head OB on base. She said that the ultrasound had revealed several hard markers and soft markers for a chromosomal abnormality. They thought the baby had either downs or trisomy 18. They were going to refer me off base to a perinatologist for another ultrasound and an amniocentesis. She also said I would be given termination options. I was devastated.
I was given my referral to the peri at the Native medical center, but the perinatologist was currently on vacation, so we had to wait until valentine's day for an appointment. I spent those weeks just crying. I held my boys and cried. I tried so hard to get through each day and be strong for them, but I was so scared for my unborn son.
All my fears were relieved at that appointment. We immediately saw on the screen that without a doubt, he was a boy. As the appointment continued, they did not find ONE indication of an abnormality. NOT ONE. Stupid base hospital had made a huge mistake. I walked out of that appointment armed with the 99% chance that my son was going to be perfectly healthy at birth. And tall. He was measuring quite ahead at 23 weeks along.
For ten weeks I refused to go to appointments at the base hospital. I was furious. By 33 weeks I knew I needed to start going again. I chose to see the midwives in the practice though, I wanted nothing to do with the OB who had read my ultrasound results.
I made it to about 35 weeks before contractions started coming regularly and strong. At this point I was already dilating and effacing, and no one thought I would make my due date. Over the following four weeks I experienced the most miserable prodromal labor. I would contract very strong every three minutes, yet I would make no progress when they would monitor me. I was already 4 cm dilated and almost completely effaced, but I was not yet going into labor. So many trips to L&D, only to be sent home.
By June 8th I was getting pretty darn fed up. I wanted an induction. However, L&D didn't have any openings until the 12th. I was scheduled with my favorite midwife and told it would be a pitocin induction. I was VERY ready. I was measuring 5 weeks ahead and I predicted he was going to be within ounces of Avery's size.
The morning of June 12th, I was admitted and at around 9 am my midwife came to talk to me. I asked her if she would be willing to just break my water to get this party started. She said she would because his head was engaged, so there was no risk of cord prolapse. She broke my water at about 9:30 am- it took two amniohooks to get it to break, and within 30 minutes I was in labor. Each hour I dilated another cm, I focused through the contractions and decided this time to not even bother with an epidural. After two failed epis, I didn't see a point.
By 3 PM I was fully dilated. But I had absolutely NO urge to push, which was weird. My midwife said we would just give it some time. By 4 PM I still had no urge to push, but she decided we would try anyway.
I started pushing and with each contraction pain was bottling without any relief at all. I made absolutely NO progress on getting Rylan's head to come down. None. Around 5:50 PM I was crying and losing faith, my midwife called in the OB in charge. He thought that the baby was too big for me to deliver, and he asked to consult with my midwife in the hallway. I KNEW they were about to prep me for a c-section. It had been three hours that I was fully dilated, two hours of pushing, and I didn't get him to budge at all. Before my midwife went into the hallway, she and a nurse turned me onto my right side for one final attempt to deliver this baby. With one contraction I felt Rylan's head finally slip down, and I screamed because of the intensity. My midwife came running in and said "I know that scream!" Within five minutes Rylan James FINALLY entered the world at 5:59 PM on June 12, 2007. He was 9 pounds 8 ounces 22 inches long (I KNEW he was close to Avery's size- just two ounces smaller). He and I both had a rough first few hours after delivery. My blood pressure plummeted as well as his blood sugar. I was throwing up and shaking. It was around six hours before we were brought to our room in recovery when we had both stabilized. Without giving too many gruesome details, all that time pushing resulted in me having a very very rough recovery.
It was not until several years later that I truly understood why Rylan got stuck. It had nothing to do with his size, two of his brothers have been bigger with bigger heads. It has to do with position. There is more to baby's position than just being head down. The position he presented in made it difficult for him to be delivered. MOST babies (not all) will get themselves into the correct position for delivery before the mom goes into natural labor. Since labor was induced with Rylan, he was not in the optimal position for a smooth delivery. This is a PRIME example of why inductions sometimes fail. I was prime candidate for an induction with Rylan, I had a very high bishop's score for induction, at 39 weeks I was dilated to 4 cm, 100% effaced, his head was engaged. I had two previous successful natural deliveries, one being an induction. To any doctor or midwife, an induction was a low risk for me. But there is ALWAYS a risk involved with inducing labor. Rylan's labor and delivery showed me that.
Five years later... my spunky wild third boy.
The first trimester was a little bit more "fun" this time, I threw up pretty much every morning, but once I did I was fine and could go about my day. I had two little boys keeping me busy as well as a daycare business that kept me running constantly.
My first trimester ultrasound was the very first that I didn't not have my due date changed. I was so relieved. He measured for a June 19th due date, but they left my due date in my chart as June 14, 2007. Little did they know I had fibbed on my dates a little bit, the right due date was June 19th, I just didn't want to have the issues with due date discrepancies again, so I wanted a sooner due date in my chart. It worked.
At the 20 week ultrasound, something happened I was not expecting. Not surprisingly, it was another boy. What was surprising was the way the technician acted. He would hardly let us see the baby, he kept turning the screen away from us. After he finished the ultrasound he left the room for quite awhile and when he returned he said very coldly to me "your doctor will be contacting you." I KNEW he had seen something that raised a red flag, but I was left to wonder what. I left the appointment not even able to say with certainty that my third son was healthy. I cried. A lot.
A few days later I got a call from the head OB on base. She said that the ultrasound had revealed several hard markers and soft markers for a chromosomal abnormality. They thought the baby had either downs or trisomy 18. They were going to refer me off base to a perinatologist for another ultrasound and an amniocentesis. She also said I would be given termination options. I was devastated.
I was given my referral to the peri at the Native medical center, but the perinatologist was currently on vacation, so we had to wait until valentine's day for an appointment. I spent those weeks just crying. I held my boys and cried. I tried so hard to get through each day and be strong for them, but I was so scared for my unborn son.
All my fears were relieved at that appointment. We immediately saw on the screen that without a doubt, he was a boy. As the appointment continued, they did not find ONE indication of an abnormality. NOT ONE. Stupid base hospital had made a huge mistake. I walked out of that appointment armed with the 99% chance that my son was going to be perfectly healthy at birth. And tall. He was measuring quite ahead at 23 weeks along.
For ten weeks I refused to go to appointments at the base hospital. I was furious. By 33 weeks I knew I needed to start going again. I chose to see the midwives in the practice though, I wanted nothing to do with the OB who had read my ultrasound results.
I made it to about 35 weeks before contractions started coming regularly and strong. At this point I was already dilating and effacing, and no one thought I would make my due date. Over the following four weeks I experienced the most miserable prodromal labor. I would contract very strong every three minutes, yet I would make no progress when they would monitor me. I was already 4 cm dilated and almost completely effaced, but I was not yet going into labor. So many trips to L&D, only to be sent home.
By June 8th I was getting pretty darn fed up. I wanted an induction. However, L&D didn't have any openings until the 12th. I was scheduled with my favorite midwife and told it would be a pitocin induction. I was VERY ready. I was measuring 5 weeks ahead and I predicted he was going to be within ounces of Avery's size.
The morning of June 12th, I was admitted and at around 9 am my midwife came to talk to me. I asked her if she would be willing to just break my water to get this party started. She said she would because his head was engaged, so there was no risk of cord prolapse. She broke my water at about 9:30 am- it took two amniohooks to get it to break, and within 30 minutes I was in labor. Each hour I dilated another cm, I focused through the contractions and decided this time to not even bother with an epidural. After two failed epis, I didn't see a point.
By 3 PM I was fully dilated. But I had absolutely NO urge to push, which was weird. My midwife said we would just give it some time. By 4 PM I still had no urge to push, but she decided we would try anyway.
I started pushing and with each contraction pain was bottling without any relief at all. I made absolutely NO progress on getting Rylan's head to come down. None. Around 5:50 PM I was crying and losing faith, my midwife called in the OB in charge. He thought that the baby was too big for me to deliver, and he asked to consult with my midwife in the hallway. I KNEW they were about to prep me for a c-section. It had been three hours that I was fully dilated, two hours of pushing, and I didn't get him to budge at all. Before my midwife went into the hallway, she and a nurse turned me onto my right side for one final attempt to deliver this baby. With one contraction I felt Rylan's head finally slip down, and I screamed because of the intensity. My midwife came running in and said "I know that scream!" Within five minutes Rylan James FINALLY entered the world at 5:59 PM on June 12, 2007. He was 9 pounds 8 ounces 22 inches long (I KNEW he was close to Avery's size- just two ounces smaller). He and I both had a rough first few hours after delivery. My blood pressure plummeted as well as his blood sugar. I was throwing up and shaking. It was around six hours before we were brought to our room in recovery when we had both stabilized. Without giving too many gruesome details, all that time pushing resulted in me having a very very rough recovery.
It was not until several years later that I truly understood why Rylan got stuck. It had nothing to do with his size, two of his brothers have been bigger with bigger heads. It has to do with position. There is more to baby's position than just being head down. The position he presented in made it difficult for him to be delivered. MOST babies (not all) will get themselves into the correct position for delivery before the mom goes into natural labor. Since labor was induced with Rylan, he was not in the optimal position for a smooth delivery. This is a PRIME example of why inductions sometimes fail. I was prime candidate for an induction with Rylan, I had a very high bishop's score for induction, at 39 weeks I was dilated to 4 cm, 100% effaced, his head was engaged. I had two previous successful natural deliveries, one being an induction. To any doctor or midwife, an induction was a low risk for me. But there is ALWAYS a risk involved with inducing labor. Rylan's labor and delivery showed me that.
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