The Birth Story

Papa Wood writing to you, and Chelsey and I both wanted to get her birth story written before we forgot parts of it.  My short-term memory is shot from being sleep deprived this past week and I know it will take quite a bit of collaboration to get all of this right.  I will start by highlighting the weeks leading up to the arrival of our little one because it helps provide a little context and I should apologize for length but I didn’t want to miss anything…

On April 2^nd we went in for Chelsey’s doctor’s appointment and we found out that she was not dilated but was about 70% effaced, very excited the week before because this sounded like tremendous progress.  The doctor told us that he didn’t think it would happen that week, so we were kind of expecting something to happen this week. 

Enter the April 10^th doctor’s appointment…

Before giving us the update this week the doctor asked what he told us last week and we told him and he proceeded to tell us that Chelsey was maybe 75% effaced and possibly a half a centimeter.  Essentially, the doctor was just throwing us a bone because her progress was essentially non-existent.  I came to work that Tuesday and felt bad because I could tell Chels was upset and I was disappointed as well.   I thought about trying to get her to take the afternoon off.  I then realized that for the weeks leading up to this doctor’s appointment I had been telling Chelsey to take time off for her mental health and she always refused.   

I knew Thursday was going to be rough because we were already emotional that the doctor’s appointment didn’t show much progress and the coming Thursday, April 12, was the original due date.   I coordinated with Chelsey’s coworkers to kick her out of the office Thursday afternoon.  I found out the local triple A team, the I-Cubs, had a home game that started just after noon that I could use as a distraction.  The plan was set…

Every Thursday Chelsey and I would take the morning chalkboard pictures and send out updates to our family and friends.  It was the perfect storm.  Thursday morning came and Chelsey didn’t want to be there for the picture as we both foolishly expected her to go early.  As we had the past 32 weeks, Chelsey got in front of the chalkboard and posed like a champion.  I think we were both a little upset that nothing had happened.  Chelsey got really upset and of course I just felt helpless and shared in her frustration and wanted to tell her about my plans for our afternoon.  I was able to bite my tongue and surprise her for a great afternoon away from work watching baseball, walking around Grey’s Lake, and then relaxing that evening. 

Thursday was a good refresher for both of us, but Chelsey knew that she wanted to schedule an appointment with a masseuse that specializes in pregnant massage the next day.  The masseuse’s waiting room wall is covered with birth announcements because he uses acupressure to help induce labor.  Chelsey was able to essentially nap for an hour while getting a massage, another great refresher.  That night, we went out for a nice dinner with my mom and her boyfriend and then went to Chelsey’s mom’s to see her sister and future brother in law.  Chelsey’s sister was in town because her dad arrived earlier in the week because he wanted to be here for the birth of Lennon.  It was the perfect weekend for labor to start, because we had a lot of family in town.  However, we were missing my brother and sister and our doctor told us in the weeks leading up that this Saturday was the only day that he would be out of town.  Of course…

Chelsey started experiencing contractions around 2am that were relatively mild (I am hesitant to ever say contractions are mild because I feel like Chelsey or any other woman that has labored would kill me).  Over the next 4 or 5 hours the contractions progressed to about every 7 minutes.  For some reason the doctor’s office gives you a sheet that tells you to call the office when the contractions are between 5 and 10 minutes.  I’m no accountant… oh wait… but 7 minutes sounds like it is right in between 5 and 10 minutes.  I don’t know why they give you that sheet when they really want you to call until 3 to 5 minutes between contractions… more on that later.

Chelsey and I had the bag that we had planned to bring to hospital pretty much packed for some time.  We had a list of items, mostly my clothes, our toiletries, and our pillows with a few other essentials that we couldn’t pack until the very last minute that were frantically thrown into a bag around 6am on Saturday. 

They tell you that you should make a point to eat before going to the hospital because once you are admitted they will not allow you to eat anything.  We took the advice of everyone else and ate a quick breakfast and called the hospital and were on our way at 7:30am.  I cannot begin to describe how excited I was and how much my heart overflowed with love for my wife and arriving son.  I figured, since labor started around 2am, we would be able to meet our little man before dinner.  Oh did he have other plans…

Chelsey and I arrived at the hospital in high spirits.  We wen through the check-in process and the obligatory “on a scale of 1 to 10, tell us where your pain is” test and it felt like it was only a matter of time.  We were put in triage as we expected and were waiting for the nurse to come in and provide the official check.   The nurse came in and told us that she was only dilated to 1 centimeter.  Major bummer.

I should have mentioned our first nurse, Chris, was so awesome!  She is about our age and was so incredibly sweet; trying to keep everything light hearted and was great to us.  Chris kept Chelsey hooked up to the machine to monitor Lennon’s heartbeat and keep an eye on her contractions.  The contractions were pretty irregular and they were not intensifying.  Chris suggested we start walking around the maternity floor to see how Chelsey progressed.  Chelsey and I only took about 10 steps out of triage into the hallway and ran into one of her coworkers that had a c-section two days prior.  It was great to run into her and her husband and their new little one in the hallway, as it really provided both of us with a distraction and a breath of fresh air.  It was almost as if we were able to clearly see what we were there for.

Chelsey and I continued our walking for the next almost four hours, it really only felt like it was maybe thirty minutes or so of walking.  I think part of the reason it went by so quickly is the nurse was hooking Chelsey up to the machines about every 30 minutes or so to monitor Lennon’s heartbeat, and it felt like it was every 5 minutes.  The other reason it went by quickly was because every few minutes I was covertly sneaking saltine crackers for Chelsey and helping her snack, as I mentioned you are not supposed to eat once you arrive.  By 11:30am, after four hours of walking Chelsey had progressed to 2 centimeters and there was change.  This change was important because Chris told us that it meant we could stay in triage and continue walking or we could leave. 

Chelsey and I decided since she was already somewhat hungry and it was only a matter of time before the operation of sneaking crackers was busted, we should head out for a bit, get some food, walk around our neighborhood, tend to our dogs, and see how long we could last at home.  I asked what the determining factor should be for us to come back in.  The nurse told us that she really wanted Chelsey’s contractions to be between 3 and 5 minutes.  Then why does the office give us a sheet that says to call when contractions are between 5 and 10 minutes?!

So we headed off to Panera, calling all the grandparents on our way home to update them with our morning festivities, and headed home with some lunch.  As we were heading home I could tell Chelsey’s contractions were intensifying.  Our dogs were very excited to have us home for a bit and after lunch we took them for a walk around the block.  We were stopping about every couple hundred feet for Chelsey to deal with contractions, it was a slow walk and I felt so bad for Chels.  We got home from the walk and Chelsey’s contractions were fairly regular at around just over 5 minutes apart.  I want to take a second to tell you how amazing my wife is, as her contractions progressed they were getting so painful for me to even watch, I cannot fathom how difficult they were to go through.   You would never know she was going through incredible pain in between contractions, Chelsey was joking around, cleaning our house, doing laundry, and cleaning our bedroom for people to stay with our dogs while we were in the hospital.  This is after 12 hours of labor!  My wife is a freaking champion!

We were still home, and the contractions were varying between just over 3 minutes and just under 5 minutes apart.  I was using the stopwatch on my iPhone and using the lap timer for the start of each contraction, it was pretty obvious the contractions were averaging just under 4 minutes apart.  I was trying to make the most of the distractions at home and said we should try to wait until 4:30 to call again, around 4 the contractions were so pants-wetting intense and awful to watch we decided to call.  We knew that Chelsey’s doctor was out of town on Saturday but he told us he would be back in the evening so we called him on our way back into the hospital.  He said he was still in Iowa City (about 2 hours away), but he would check in when he got back to town. 

By this point I was using both my phone and Chelsey’s phone to send out mass text messages to update all our family and friends where her contractions were and that we were heading back to the hospital.  It took us what felt like an eternity to get from our car back to the maternity front desk to check in. We finally made it to the front desk and were able to check back in, I was hoping we would get our same nurse again.  They led us into the oh so glamorous triage room again and we met our new nurse, Laurel.  It took a little bit for Laurel to get the computer up and running, and by the time she was able to get all the instruments hooked back up she checked and Chelsey was dilated 3 centimeters and was 90% effaced.  I hoped it would be much more than 3 centimeters, but at least it was some progress.   

Our nurse helped Chelsey get into the shower to sooth her contractions and I ran to the car to get all of our bags.  I felt a little ridiculous brining in a gigantic bag of pillows, clothes, computers, and my camera bag.  It felt like we were moving in for a week but we ended up using pretty much everything.  As I got back to the room, Chelsey was feeling great and we found out that our doctor was probably 40 minutes away.  I spoke with Laurel about the whirlpool as she indicated that it would be a great source of relief for Chelsey but she didn’t think she would have time to fill it before the doctor arrived.  We decided that there would be just enough time for the whirlpool to fill and it was so great to see how relaxed Chelsey became.  I called the whirlpool a mini-epidural from then on. 

After getting out of the whirlpool and getting back in bed the contractions started to intensify.  Laurel was so great during these intense contractions, she was incredibly soothing and was just what Chelsey needed.  I also texted our family that if they wanted to head down to the hospital they were more than welcome to join us, but was very clear that during pushing they would all stay in the waiting room.  As the family started to trickle in Chelsey’s doctor arrived and found that she was about 4 or 5 centimeters dilated and decided that it was time to break her water.  The doctor indicated that if Chelsey was going to get an epidural she should start that process sooner than later. 

Chelsey and I were both very practical about the birth of Lennon, we didn’t really want a “birth plan,” we were going to roll with the punches and do what we felt was best for her and Lennon.  That means that if Chelsey could do without the epidural she wouldn’t take it, but if she felt she needed it she would ask for it.  After over 18 hours of labor it was clear that Chelsey needed the epidural.  If Chelsey did not take the epidural she would have been so exhausted by the time she dilated to 10 centimeters she wouldn’t have had the energy to push.  We found out that Chelsey needed a bag of fluids before they would administer the epidural.  While we were suffering through these last contractions we were watching the weather as the worst storm of the year was approaching Des Moines.  The timing ended up such that the anesthesiologist was having Chelsey lean forward to insert the epidural line into her spine and not move at the same time the worst of the storm was smashing into windows and Chelsey was having a contraction.  Laurel explained that if the tornado warnings went off she didn’t know what Chelsey would do but said she would at least take her into the bathroom.  Oh joy, just what you want to hear with a doctor slipping something into your spinal cord.  As the storm passed over Des Moines, Chelsey’s contractions were turning from agony to just feeling the pressure and the entire mood in our room shifted. 

There were so many benefits to the epidural, the greatest was that it allowed Chelsey to truly relax between contractions.  Additionally, Chelsey’s contractions were coupling for some time - one contraction would start and before it would be completely gone another one would pick back up - they were not doing this each time so it was difficult to gauge the real time between contractions.  The epidural allowed the doctors to hook Chelsey up to a Pitocin drip to help de-couple the contractions and start making them more regular to keep the progress going.  Had Chelsey not got the epidural she would have almost certainly needed a c-section. 

Chelsey’s doctor told her that she would need to have Lennon before 8:30am otherwise we were going to have to start the c-section process.  Neither of us were ready to even hear that, I remember my heart sinking into my stomach.  Not long after that our next nurse started her shift, yes that is right if you are counting at home, we went through three separate nurse shifts at the hospital before Lennon arrived… thankfully our new nurse, Mindy, would be our last.  Over the course of the next several hours Chelsey was able to relax so much that she got some rest.  The very brief snooze was imperative for Chelsey because without it she wouldn’t have had enough energy to push when it came time, which was rapidly approaching. 

There was one truly terrifying moment that occurred.  As Chelsey continued to progress, it got to the point where she could start to push a little bit to see how Lennon was doing.  In between checks and pushing Mindy was having Chelsey switch lying on her sides to make sure that the epidural didn’t saturate one side of her body.  After flipping from one side to the other, Lennon’s heart rate dropped from around 140 to 70.  They were having Chelsey flip back and forth to try to get it corrected.  They were unable to get his heart rate back up and forced Chels to get on all fours and start taking oxygen through a mask.  Eventually they got his heart rate back up to normal, but it was a very scary 5 minutes that felt like a lifetime.  After they got his heart rate sorted out and it was stable for some time, Mindy encouraged Chelsey to push a few times.  It was great to see our nurse’s reaction to the progress of each push and I could see the excitement in Chelsey’s face as she felt she could finally do something by pushing.

Chelsey’s doctor came back in after the nurse determined that she was ready to push again and wanted to see the progress.  The doctor came in and was able to determine that Lennon was posterior, meaning his head was down but he was facing up, not a good sign for Chelsey.  Her doctor began the long process of trying to flip Lennon while Chelsey was pushing.  It was early in the pushing process and Chelsey’s pushes weren’t very effective because of the epidural and the doctor was only able to get Lennon half flipped.  Her doctor said that the anesthesiologist would need to come back and cut the epidural in half.  That was a very scary thing to hear, because when you hear that they are going to cut your pain relief in half you would assume that means you are going to be in some pain again however that was not the case.  Reducing the epidural just meant that Chelsey would feel a little more pressure, at this time they reduced her Pitocin to almost nothing as well. 

Chelsey’s doctor said that it would probably be about an hour before the adjustment in her epidural would take effect.  We waited the hour and probably an extra 20 minutes or so before Chelsey began trying to push through her contractions again.  It was just what Chelsey needed, each time she pushed it was so much more productive than it was before.  Chelsey’s doctor came back in and he was able to see a significant improvement in her pushes.  During each push the doctor tried again to flip Lennon, he was able to get much more movement each time. 

Chelsey’s doctor said to the nurse that she should try to push a few more times and then let him know what type of progress she was making.  The doctor stepped out of the room and the next contraction started.  We saw the contraction starting on the machine as the nurse and I were helping Chelsey and the nurse started counting… 1… 2… and all the sudden she yelled Stop!  Chelsey and I were both a little confused and the nurse told us that she needed to get a lot more people in the room.  Our doctor wasn’t more than 30 feet from the door and got called back in and what felt like every nurse on the floor started trickling in.  After the labor nurse, pediatrics nurse, and the doctor’s assistant nurse came into the room Chelsey was given the go ahead to start pushing again.  Chels pushed through maybe two or three contractions and Lennon’s head was out!

One thing that I was not prepared for was seeing Lennon’s little head and not hearing any crying.  I knew the baby did not start crying until they were further out of the womb but it was a very surreal seeing his head and the room feeling so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.  Chelsey pushed through maybe one more contraction and he was out.  It was so incredible, he started wailing and they put him on Chelsey’s chest for some skin to skin contact.  It was official!  April 15, 2012 at 5:07am Lennon arrived weighing 7 pounds 10 ounces and measuring 21 inches long.  It is impossible to describe the love I had and still have for my wife and new son.  The nurses moved him over the little baby station where I was so overwhelmed it was difficult to focus and take pictures.  

Since Chelsey labored and delivered Lennon last weekend we have been on a nonstop emotional rollercoaster with all sorts of family visiting and just spending time as our new family of three.  It took a little bit for our dogs to get used to having him around.  Now, Wrigley is sometimes curious about Lennon but mostly apathetic and Kaya is always concerned about what he is doing.  Anytime Lennon gets passed from person to person, gets his diaper changed, or really makes any sound Kaya is on high alert and wants to make sure everything is okay.  It is really difficult to describe the love we feel for him, our affection has grown over the last nine months and now that he is finally here, it is almost as if it has crested and we feel these consistent and deep waves of adoration.