I wanted to write up a blow-by-blow synopsis of what happened in the hospital leading up to Ethan's birth. I did a similar post for Audrey and found it really helped me remember the experience, though admittedly it may not make the most interesting reading to anybody else :) As things happened I jotted down notes in my palm pilot--I'm going to now try to reconstruct the events from those brief notes.
Amber was scheduled for a 6am induction on May 28th, 2010. We arrived on time, and because the labor and delivery wing was empty, Amber was able to skip the triage and antepartum rooms and go straight to a labor and delivery room. Things stayed slow the rest of the time we were at the hospital (only one other baby the next day), so we were thankfully able to stay in our labor and delivery room for our entire stay, rather than have to move to the less comfortable postpartum room after the birth.
The staff was great and Amber was able to start settling into the room while they asked the obligatory barrage of stupid questions, rather than being forced to answer them first and then get settled in. We arrived around 6am; by 6:19 we were admitted to the room and Amber was changed and in bed at 6:25. By contrast, the stupid questions lasted until almost 7am.
I mentioned the 'stupid questions' a bit in Audrey's birth story post, but let me elaborate here. This hospital staff is required to ask these questions by law, but they're frustrating because some of them are a bit outlandish (e.g. Do you have running water in your home? Do you have any prosthetic limbs?), and most hospitals want answers to these before they'll even look at you. Even if you preregister you can't answer these questions in advance. I'm sure the intention here is well-founded--i.e. trying to determine if the parents-to-be will need assistance to care for their new child--but *before* you're checked in hardly seems like the appropriate time to ask these questions. If I didn't bring a car seat with me, for example, then it's already too late to get one, and you've got ample time to figure that out during the subsequent two-day hospital stay. You don't need to be delaying my wife's pain medication (which happened at North Austin with Audrey) to determine it.
During our stay we usually had two nurses--one Labor & Delivery nurse for Amber and one nursery nurse for Ethan. At North Austin with Audrey we instead had only one nurse, and I think I prefer the 2-nurse arrangement. Perhaps it was due to simply having more staff available at Cedar Park Regional Medical Center (RMC). Regardless it was really nice and we always felt well taken care of.
The nursery nurse finished Amber's IV at 6:49. Some blood was sent off for lab work and fluids were started.
The pitocin was started at 7:02 after the fluids had been given a chance to start and the lab work came back okay. The dosage at this point was very small. About thirty minutes later Amber was still the same as when she'd come into the hospital--3cm dilated and about 70% effaced.
Doctor Meadows came by at 8:43 to break Amber's water and to recheck her for progress. She was now 4cm, 70% effaced and with a fetal station of -2. This was brisk but healthy progress. The best guess now was for a delivery around noon.
After her water was broken, Amber's contractions started to become painful. She didn't have any pain meds yet and had to manage the contractions herself for about an hour until the epidural was in. We had to wait on the epidural to make sure Amber had enough fluids pushed through her IV. This is standard practice intended to combat the drop in blood pressure that accompanies the epidural.
The epidural went in at 9:45 and Amber felt better immediately. The anesthesiologist noticed Amber's US Weekly magazine and immediately bonded with Amber over a shared love of trashy celebrity gossip. He also slammed Dr Oz, which I think won him some points with Amber.
After this things moved much faster. At 9:58 Amber was 5cm and 90% effaced. In the next hour she dilated 5cm more. Before we knew it Dr. Meadows was there and Amber was pushing already.
From here on out things really seemed to go like clockwork. It only took a few contractions (<5) APGAR scores, which seemed to impress the staff. There weren't any scares like with Audrey, so I was able to cut the cord. Amber had a few stitches but nothing out of the ordinary. After Audrey's scary birth it was really nice to not have any complications or concerns--what a different experience! Even today, when I look at Ethan, I think "Man, his head sure is round". Maybe I was just used to Audrey's hematomata :) He was an absolutely beautiful baby.
Of course, Aunt Naomi was there to capture most of this on film, which I sure most of you have already seen. She did a fabulous job and I'm sure we'll always treasure these pictures. I also really enjoyed just being able to "be" with my family, and not having to worry about taking pictures myself.
Overall we had a wonderful experience with Dr. Meadows and with Cedar Park RMC. We would confidently recommended both.
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