Bea in the bassinet.
Grandma Lily and Bea in the delivery room.
Dr. Bason-Mitchell, who delivered Bea, with Dan and Bea (who looks giant in this photo).
Me and Bea.
One week past Bea’s due date Dan and I had lunch at Khana Peena, the Indian buffet, and at 5:35 pm on Saturday 2/9, after a nap on the couch, I began feeling contractions which were 7-10 minutes apart. While tracking contractions we watched War Games on cable - the contractions got closer and closer together. Dan slept from about 10-midnight and I tried to do the same but couldn't fall asleep. At midnight Dan made us peanut and butter sandwiches. Our doula, Felicia, came over around 4 a.m. when contractions were 5 minutes apart. Meanwhile the TV was on the Biography Channel, featuring Kelly Clarkson’s and J. Lo’s bios.
When Felicia asked if we were ready to head into the city at 5 a.m. I said "Yes." Dan and I had discussed putting the recycling out before we left, but by the time we left we’d forgotten about this. He'd already packed the car. I stuffed my purse full of things on the way out: mints, Jolly Ranchers, a book on breastfeeding, Kleenex, my cellphone. Felicia followed us in her car. The Bay Bridge was wide open. We only hit one red light the whole way to the hospital. I tried to call my mom to tell her that we were on our way to the hospital but my cell phone speaker had broken.
When we arrived at the hospital it was 6 a.m. At the OB 'Nolte' check-in the nurses performed an exam/took my blood pressure and I was 3-4 cm dilated at that point and 100% effaced. The contractions were manageable and we were so excited that the baby was on her way . Felicia estimated that we'd probably have the baby by that afternoon, the 10th. I undressed and a big stretchy ace bandage type fabric was put around my belly to hold the fetal monitor and the contraction tracker. I wore two hospital robes, one in front and one in the back, and the cotton was so soft.
We moved upstairs to labor and delivery, into a large room with wood floors and lots of windows. My mom met us there. The sun rose. I continued to labor with Felicia's, Dan's and my mom's support, plus the support of the nurses, Emilie, Pat, Lauren, and Emilie again when she came back on shift. Pat and Emilie were with us most of the time and they were so great. We walked the halls of the hospital and I gripped the handrails in the halls or put my arms around Dan when the contractions peaked. Felicia did the
hip squeeze. We passed by the nursery and saw the tiny babies through the window. There was a drink station with all-you-can-drink fruit juice in huge plastic cups with bendable straws. I enjoyed both cranberry juice and ice water and my liquid intake was monitored.
Around noon I reached 7 cm dilatation. Sunshine came streaming through the windows into the room. Close to 2 p.m. the OB and Felicia recommended having my bag of waters broken to move things along - this intensified the contractions. I labored in the shower, leaning over the back of the bed, and the contractions kept coming. Felicia's calming music soundtrack had moved onto Paul Simon's greatest hits and the song with Chevy Chase in the video came on. The contractions were so strong at that point that I remember thinking, "Next time I don't think I'll go the natural route. This is getting really intense." All the while I could see the baby's heartbeat and the contraction rate register on the monitors. When the contraction number got up to 127 (or was it 137?) it was incredible. The numbers would climb sometimes but not get up that high and I felt lucky, for a minute anyway, until the next contraction came on. The printout from the TOCO machine looked like an earthquake reading.
Once we reached 24 hours of labor and dilation stalled at 8 cm, all the while chanting "hee hoo" repeatedly, the words "epidural," "Fentanyl," and "drugs" were jumping around in my head. I started with Fentanyl because my friend Lara had just had a baby with this painkiller 2 weeks before. Our third nurse inserted the IV twice because the first attempt didn't work. I felt desperate for relief, and once the IV was in a calm cave over me instantly. But the Fentanyl lasted only about 20 minutes. The OB said "If you want an epidural, I'd recommend having one now because one of the world's best anesthesiologists is off at 6 pm." I asked for the epidural and received it in what seemed to be seconds: everyone stood in front of me except for the anesthesiologist, there were 2 small jolts of electricity to my left leg, and then the pain relief came on within a few minutes. I could feel the pressure of the contractions but not the pain. I relaxed and laid back on the bed.
A new doctor came on call and confirmed that Bea was still
occiput posterior. She turned her around inside me. Who knew you could do that? This was around 7 pm. Bea turned back (persistent posterior), and the doctor turned her again. Then she said she'd be back after birthing a baby next door. I developed a fever and received an antibiotic drip, and because the contractions had slowed to 5 minute intervals the nurse set up a pitocin drip. I was shaking but was told that was normal. At 7 pm the nurse turned off the lights in the room so I could rest. Dan and my mom fell asleep but I was awake listening to the baby's heartbeat, too excited to sleep. It did feel good to lay there, reading the TOCO meter and not feeling the intensity of the contractions even when they reached their peaks. My mom woke up and asked me if I wanted anything. I hadn't eaten since the peanut butter sandwich the night before so she gave me a Jolly Rancher. I had been advised not to take any food when I arrived.
The nurse said we'd begin pushing at 9 pm. I wore an oxygen mask during the pushing to give Bea some extra oxygen. I’d seen this on TV. The doctor returned around 10 p.m., did another exam, and told us that because of Bea being occiput posterior we'd need to use a vacuum extractor to try for a vaginal birth. She explained everything positively and let us know that if the vacuum didn't help bring Bea out we'd need to 'give mother nature some help' via C-section. We were so close to having Bea born I pushed with everything I could, though with the epidural it was difficult to tell exactly what I was doing. Bea came out on the 4th push with the vacuum (after a few hours of of pre-vacuum pushing) at 12:36 a.m. on the 11th. I touched her head when she crowned and my mom was cheering, saying she could see Bea's hair and her head. I saw Felicia go get her camera and knew that this was really happening, that we wouldn't be going into the operating room. When Bea came out screaming, the nurse remarked that she already had some head control and the doctor couldn't believe it when she weighed in at 9.5 lbs. She had meconium so the NICU team suctioned her in the delivery room and Dan went with her to have that done - I was watching. Then Dan brought Bea over to me and she began nursing.
Dan and Bea in Dr. Harvery Karp's classic swaddle.
August and Bea meet for the first time.
Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Gin came to meet Bea on their way into San Francisco for the annual Gin Association banquet at the New Asia restaurant. We look forward to taking Bea to the banquet next year - she was too tiny to go this time.
Uncle Matt is in town from Colorado and meets Bea. Bea slept so well in his arms.
