A Birth Story

The best laid plans and months of preparation can be changed in one moment! It's Sunday night and we are checking into High Point Regional Hospital, seven days overdue. We got into our room and I was already having contractions. It was a restless night with nurses in and out constantly checking on the progress of Caroline and the baby. All night we could hear the heart monitor echoing his changing heart rate.

Monday morning at 7 we awoke to an unpleasant reality when the nurse informed us that Bradford's heart rate was decreasing with each contraction. She went on to tell us that we may have to have a C-section and to mentally prepare for this possible outcome. We didn't think much of it at the time, but then things began to change. Caroline's water broke about thirty minutes later at 730 and to our surprise it was green. GROSS!!! This meant he was under a great deal of stress and relieved himself in utero. The contractions were unmerciful due to a strong dose of petocin to encourage contractions and due to the fact that even head down Brady was facing my back causing extreme spinal pain.

Because the water broke and the fact that his heart rate was diminishing I was not aloud to move out of bed, which squashed my plan of dealing with labor naturally by moving about. When having contractions you are supposed to relax through them where all I could do was tense up more with each one. After five hours of petocin enriched labor we made the decision that an epidural was in order. The epidural helped with the pain but did not entirely relieve it. They also put an internal monitor on Brady's head to better keep track of how he was dealing with the stress of the situation. By this point it is noon and I am exhausted and dilated almost 6 centimeters. They tried flipping me into different positions to keep his heart rate down. Andrew took a break from the labor intensity to get lunch. While he was out and I slept, Brady's heart rate continuously plummeted with each contraction.

Andrew arrived back from lunch to a startling surprise. A nurse came in not 5 minutes after he was back and handed him scrubs telling him we were having an emergency c-section. They rushed to get me ready for surgery and ten minutes later I was laying in the operating room. At this time we still did not quite understand the gravity of the situation. They brought Andrew in and five minutes later our little miracle made his grand entrance! He was 7lbs and 15 oz and 20 inches long born at 1:30PM August 30, 2010!

After he was born we were told he would not have lasted another thirty minutes because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his shoulders and torso causing him stress which lowered his heart rate with each contraction. It was a long day on Monday but we are just thankful that he arrived safely and healthy. He is doing great and we are both recovering and hoping to go home Wednesday or Thursday. This new experience as parents has been nothing but joyful and exciting!

Thank you so much to everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers during this time!!!