Contractions started around 9:30 p.m. on Monday, August 16th (one day after our due date). On our nightly walk to the park earlier that evening, I told Daniel that I felt like Emma was really pressing down - apparently I was right! Our doula, Sondra Johnson, instructed me to drink water, eat a little bit, and try to get some rest. We finished packing our bags and crawled into bed. Daniel said, "How are we suppose to sleep now?!" We were pretty excited that Emma was finally on her way!
Daniel was able to fall asleep, but the contractions, though pretty mild, were enough to keep me awake. After a couple of hours, I woke Daniel up because I wanted his support while I breathed through the contractions that were gradually getting stronger. After 3:30 a.m. we started timing the contractions. They were 3 or 4 minutes apart but very short (15-30 seconds) for about an hour and then changed to 5 to 7 minutes apart and longer (closer to a minute to a minute and half). We were planning to go to the doctor first thing in the morning, but at that point, I didn't think I would make it through the night. We were waiting for the contractions to be consistently 5 minutes (or less) apart and getting stronger - then we would consider calling Dr. Rister and heading to the hospital. However, around 5:30 a.m., the contractions dissipated; we waited almost 18 minutes for my last contraction before I fell asleep on the couch for about an hour and half! I had been full of adrenaline and energy until then, but being up all night finally caught up with me.
I woke up around 7:00 a.m. and ate a bowl of cereal while Daniel packed up the car. I was having a few contractions, but nothing like the night before. We were at Dr. Rister's office shortly after they opened at 8:00 a.m. When he checked me, my cervix had dilated to 2 cm and was 50% effaced. I had been at less than 1 cm on Friday, so this was good news - these contractions were definitely the real deal and we were making progress! He suggested that we head to Hillcrest to start Pitocin to kick labor back into gear. We were prepared to go to the hospital and Daniel had already called his boss to tell him he wasn't going to coming to work, so we agreed.
A little after 9:00 a.m. we arrived at the hospital. They took me back to a labor and delivery room - changed into a gown, answered lots of questions, and got hooked up to an IV, monitors for contractions, the baby's heartbeat, and my blood pressure, and the Pitocin machine. Daniel used the time to make a few very important phone calls - including both grandmothers! I was having contractions before they started the Pitocin around 11:15 a.m., but they were so mild that I didn't even noticed them! (I only knew I was having them because of the monitor they had me hooked up to.) During that first hour, I was definitely having to focus and breath through the contractions, but I was in good spirits - able to watch another episode of 24, listen to K-love via the internet, talk on the phone, watch the contractions on the monitor, etc. However all of that changed after Dr. Rister broke my bag of waters at 12:15 p.m. (when my cervix was 90% effaced and dilated to 4 cm)!
Sondra arrived exactly when I needed her - around 12:30 p.m. The contractions were pretty intense (they were gradually increasing the Pitocin) and about a minute and half apart, if I'm remembering correctly. (Side note: Hearing the machine release more Pitocin into my IV was awful! It should be silent for anyone who doesn't get an epidural!!) The best position for me during this stage was standing next to the bed that was raised so I could easily lean on it. Daniel stood on the other side of the bed and helped me breath (hee hee hoo!) and squeeze his hands, and Sondra stood behind me applying counter-pressure to my hips while I swayed through the contractions. Later, Judy (my mother-in-law) took Daniel's place and held my hands while Daniel stood next to me and rubbed my back.
A little after 2:00 p.m., I got in the shower to try to relax. Can you imagine how hard it is to get a sports bra and hospital gown off and back on while having contractions and with an IV in one arm!? As soon as a contraction would end, we had to work quickly before the next one hit! The warm water felt good on my back but by the time I got out of the shower and dressed again, I was exhausted. Around 2:30 p.m. I told Daniel that I wasn't sure how much more of this I could handle and that I needed some relief. We had two options: IV pain medicine that would take the edge off of the pain and make me pretty "out of it" for about two hours or an epidural which would take away all pain (hopefully!) but would require a catheter, a very large needle, and being confined to bed for the rest of labor and for a while afterwards as well. I opted for the IV meds (Demerol) which was started around 2:45 p.m.
I was in bed laying on my side while doped up on Demerol. I say "doped up" because it made me totally out of it between contractions. I got nauseous and heaved twice but didn't actually throw up. I didn't think the medicine helped at all with the pain, but that may have been because they had up-ed the Pitocin again! However, it did force me to relax between contractions and get some rest, but it was awful going from half-asleep to intense pain. This was the worst part of labor for Daniel because I asked him when they were going to give me the pain medicine after I had already been on it for a while! He was counting down the minutes until I could get an epidural (not until two hours after they gave me the Demerol).
At 5:00 p.m. I was coming out of the Demerol haze and requested an epidural. Dr. Rister came in to check me and told me that I was at 7-8 cm and 100% effaced and that it would only be another hour or two. Sondra said to give her 30 minutes. I agreed to hold off on the epidural because I knew that I was in "transition" - the shortest phase of labor. I tried sitting on the exercise ball and by 5:37 p.m. I was feeling pressure with the contractions and had the desire to push. By 6:05 p.m. I was back in bed and starting to push.
The contractions leading up to this point were extremely painful, but the pushing phase was a lot more work than I realized! I didn't just have to suffer through it; I had to exert a serious amount of energy to get this child out of me (not an easy task after staying up most of the night before, not eating since 7:30 that morning, and a LONG afternoon of contractions). Thankfully, my sister arrived in time to be with me during the pushing phase. I can remember her telling me how proud she was of me, which was a huge encouragement. They had me push to the count of 10 three times during each contraction, but I don't think I ever made it to the 10 on the 3rd set! I just didn't have the energy to hold my breath and push for that long. At 6:55 p.m. after 50 minutes of pushing (which felt more like HOURS), her head was crowning. The pain at the very end was excruciating, and I totally lost my focus until Sondra got in my face and said "Carolyn!! You have to push!" (I don't know what I would have done without her!) Finally, at 7:14 p.m. Emma Leigh Lehmkuhl was born! She cried briefly and then opened her eyes to check out her new surroundings. We knew her head would probably be cone shaped, but were surprised by how purple she was at first. Daniel got to cut the umbilical cord. Emma did great on the APGAR test - receiving scores of 9 out of 10 on both the 1 minute and 5 minute tests.
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| They placed her on my chest while they cleaned her up. |
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| Big girl! 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 21 inches |
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| First family photo |
