Square Peg in a Round World: Babies, the Final Frontier.

So here's the story: Two weeks ago, the Dr. had us go through another ultrasound to check on the amniotic fluid levels. We were at the very bottom end of safe, and the Dr. had amber commit to periodic bed rest throughout the day, and plenty of fluids. For two weeks, we tried this and had to go through ultrasounds twice a week. This last Tuesday we went in for another test and we were even lower on fluids. The Dr. said come back on Thursday and if things aren't better we'll talk about inducing you. Things were not better.

So at 12:00 PM Thursday September 10, Amber was admitted and began taking a drug called Cervadil. The purpose of the drug was to "ripen" Amber's Cervix in anticipation of the delivery. 12 hours later, they started us on Pitocen (the labor inducing drug). Amber and I slept through most of the night. Around 7:00 AM they checked her dilation, and she was only at a 2. So they bumped up the Pitocen a little bit, and we had to start the waiting game.

Around 11:00 AM the Dr. broke Amber's water, and she received her epidural shortly thereafter. Within the hour, Amber's contractions started getting really strong, and Baby Ru started reacting poorly to them. Her heart rate would plummet from 130 bpm, to 60 bpm during each contraction. That required some quick action on the part of the nurses but they got everything stabilized and we had to slow down the dilation so that it wouldn't stress Ruby out too much.

By 4:00 PM she was dilated to a 10, but the Dr. wanted her to "rest and descend." That's a fancy way of saying let nature take its course and get as far as possible without actively pushing. By 5:10, they wanted to start pushing. Amber was a real champ and never once cried or stopped pushing before they told her to. She pushed and pushed for all she was worth. The tip of Ruby's head was visible almost from the beginning of the pushing but we couldn't get her any farther, so after an hour and change the Dr. came in and proposed using forceps. I have to confess he didn't seem to be very gentle, and watching him pull her out was bizarre. After 4 contractions Ruby's head was out, and the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice! When he turned her over, her poor little face was so blue it looked purple. I freaked out at that. The Dr. slipped the cord off and started pumping and in less than 20 seconds she was breathing and crying. Shortly thereafter, the Dr. handed me a pair of scissors. (I had no idea what he was getting at until he explained it to me) So in the end I cut the umbilical cord, it felt like I was cutting through a mushy ruber hose. (not romantic but that was what I thought. Sue me) The pictures show you what happened after that.