Here is Vale's story!
I was almost a week over due so the doctor had me doing stress tests 2 times a week to check to make sure the baby was ok. We had an appointment scheduled for 1:00pm on Thursday November 10th. I had started having pretty consistent contractions on the way to the appt. at around noon. (I had been having weak contractions for about 2 days every approximately 20 minutes or so). Anyway, so they are monitoring me and every 7 to 8 minutes I'd have a contraction and the baby's heart beat would drop down into the 60's or 70's. They had me reposition and check it again and it did the same thing. The nurse called my doctor who said that because of that, he wanted me to be induced at 5 o'clock that evening. This was all decided around 2:30pm.
There was no time for me to go home, with the traffic on the 405, and turn around and come back so we went down to the cafeteria to wait. My contractions started coming closer together so we started timing them and by 4:00 I had been having contractions, 4 minutes apart for over an hour. Because of this, we didn't wait until 5, we went and checked in to Labor and Delivery at around 4:15pm. They checked me and said that I was 6cm dilated, 90% effaced and station -2. YEAH!
I was put into a delivery room and I was standing and changing position for most of the next couple hours of labor. They allowed me to have intermittent monitoring so I labored for a while in the shower, which was nice, and walked around for the rest of the time. At 8:10pm they came in and checked me and I was 8cm, 90% effaced but still at station -2.
I labored with pretty hard contractions for the next two hours and was sure I was getting close to transition although I was unmonitored. My water had started leaking while I was in the shower but really 'broke' during this period.
The doctor came in at about 10:15 and checked me and I had not changed at all from the 2 hours before. That was very discouraging and I was pretty upset. They said I needed to be monitored to make sure my contractions were strong enough and were working. They put a catheter in my uterus to get a better read for the contractions.
The doctor came back in at 11:15 and checked me but I hadn't progressed at all. At this point I had been in labor for almost 11 hours and the doctor said that even if they got things going it was going to be at least another 2-4 hours. I realized I was exhausted and there was no way that, if I had another 4 hours of hard contractions, I was going to be able to push if needed. I asked the doctor what she thought my chances for a c-section were and she said 'better than average'. This was not good news.
Although I have a history of low blood pressure, it hadn't been as bad with this pregnancy as it was with the last (which is what was the main concern and reason for no epidural last delivery). I had told jimmy before, both with Connor and Vale, that if I'm in labor for over 12 hours I want to consider an epidural. So we prayed about it, and although jimmy felt uneasy for my health at first we decided to get the epidural.
So at around midnight they started that and decided to give me pitocin to try and move me past 8cm. My blood pressure did get pretty low but never dipped to dangerous which was a huge praise.
The doctor came in to check me at around 1 and the catheter was reading that my contractions weren't very strong which was odd because they were giving me pitocin. So the doctor checked more closely and found that although my water had broken, it was again (like with Connor) a high tear and this time there were TWO bags of water, called a forebag and a hindbag, the hindbag had broken earlier but the forebag was between the baby and the cervix, intact. The doctor popped the second bag and said that that should move things along and they would be 'waiting with gloves on'. The forebag was also keeping the catheter from reading my contractions properly which made me feel a little better that the contractions I was having previously were so painful yet registering as weak.
They checked me again at 3 and I was still 8cm, 90% and station 0. The heart rate of the baby at this point was starting to drop dangerously low with every contraction and the dips were lasting longer (into the 60s for 2-3 minutes at a time). The doctor came in and said 'At this point we have two options. We can either schedule you right now for a c-section or we can wait for about a half hour and see if you've progressed at all and then talk about a c-section.'
She said that right now, the baby is not being harmed or coming to any harm because he is recovering very well from the drops but it can't continue for long. They took me off the pitocin to stop the baby's heart rate from falling so much. The doctor was pretty sure that this baby is bigger than my last child and she wasn't sure that my hips would shift far enough to allow the baby to be born vaginally; perhaps he was caught on my hip or pelvic bones. This didn't sound right to me because of how I felt during contractions but I wasn't the medical expert. She wanted to know if we wanted a couple minutes to make our decision about a c-section and we said yes.
We immediately started to pray and ask for wisdom. We knew with a c-section there come a lot of other decisions that would have to be made. More children in the future would be a much bigger deal. Recovery would be much longer and more difficult. I wouldn't be able to lift Connor for 6 weeks, which means I can't travel home with 2 baby's for Christmas. All of those seemed like selfish inconveniences attached to my wants and I needed to give them up. We decided that we needed to focus on what was best for the baby right now that the Lord had given us and just get the c-section. I was crying and pretty upset but was confident that this was the decision that was the wisest in our circumstances.
The doctor came back in and we told her our decision. I think she felt bad for us because she knew how much we wanted the baby to be born traditionally. She said they would start the process for a c-section but she wanted to monitor for the next 30 minutes to see what we could do naturally. This was around 4am. She checked me again at that point and I was in a contraction. She realized that was dilating to 10 although still at station 0 when I contracted and she said she was going to go consult with another doctor to see if we could try pushing the baby out from where we were at.
While she was gone, we were all praying. My dad sent a message out to some people he knew would pray if they got the message and we were just thanking God for the things that He HAD given us and how grateful we were even though things weren't going our way that He was still good and always would be. Things could be so much worse and we were just concerned about the health of Vale.
Maybe motivated by my tears and fervent praying, but my contractions at this point started to spike off the charts. I was getting them about 1-2 minutes apart.
The doctor came back a couple minutes later and said we'll just try to see what we can do, it can't hurt at this point to try.
So I put me feet up with a nurse on one side and jimmy on the other holding my legs. She told me next time I feel a contraction to push as hard as I could. During that contraction I pushed 4 times for 10 seconds each. I don't think anything much happened but she started working the area down there, stretching it out to try and make it easier for the baby to get through. We waiting for the next contraction and did the same thing, holding my breath, hard pushing for 10 seconds, four times. This time there was a little bit of progress and she seemed encouraged and said we're doing it again. So at the next contraction I pushed as hard as I could and there was progress! All of a sudden, the doctor took her fleece jacket off, put on a scrub gown, put on longer gloves and said "call another nurse, I'm delivering this baby."
They put the stirrups up, took out both catheters, moved me down on the bed and pulled out a whole bunch of equipment. She said they were ready and to let her know when the next contraction was coming. I let her know and pushed as hard as I could again like before, 10 seconds at a time, 4 times. The baby was moving down the birth canal and I could feel it! I was so excited and energized! I did it again on the next contraction and Vale's head started to come out. He was half way out and we were waiting for the next contraction. The doctor realized that the cord was wrapped very tightly around Vale's neck and popped it off like a rubber band. As soon as she did that, he made a little baby squeak noise, which was music to my ears! My mom said his head was blue and purple when he came out.
They rushed him over to clean out his airways and revive some of his color and blood flow. He quickly recovered and had an APGAR score of 8.
The cord had been wrapped around his neck the whole labor and that is what was causing his heart rate to plummet and keeping him from advancing past station 0.
Turns out, the DOCTOR who was on the floor was not the doctor who was helping me out and dealing with me! It was a resident in her last year named Meredith Brower and she was amazing. There were apparently over 10 babies born in 12 hours the night/morning of the 10th/11th. If it had not been for Dr. Brower, I would have definitely gotten a c-section. If it was another, lazier doctor, I would have also gotten a c-section. I am VERY thankful and grateful for her tenacity, sensitivity and unwillingness to give up.
Come to find out, the whole staff knew about our situation and everyone was rooting for us! :) The nurses were having a little party in the hall when Vale was delivered! :) Multiple hospital staff came to see us in the subsequent hours telling us how happy they were things worked out and they'd heard all about our 'story'.
The whole thing was very emotional and trying! I learned things though about myself, my husband and my new little addition, Vale, though the whole event.
I think the Lord wanted me to give up my desire to have it go 'my way'.
I think my husband did a difficult job wonderfully and correctly in making decisions for our family.
I think prayer is so powerful and I take it for granted far too much.
I think we have a phenomenal and rare group of friends and family that love us deeply.
I think God has big plans for baby Vale!! He's been through a lot!
Vale passed his hearing and vision tests with flying colors! Because of the accident in July, we were concerned about his development in the womb. Praise the Lord that He protected out little one!
In his little outfit ready to go home from the hospital!
We had so many wonderful visitors in the hospital! Here is one proud grandma!
We love you Vale Carter Mahon!!!! :)
