| Aly's Arrival |
| It was week thrity eight and after a long and extremely difficult pregnancy I was more than ready to welcome Alyson to our family. Jeff and I were watching the closing ceremony of the Olympics in Athens when I began mildly contracting. The contractions were regular at fifteen minutes apart and some spotting began. Because of my previous fast labor history I was told to phone the doctor if any regular contracting or spotting began to happen and decided I would give a call. The doctor said to time the contractions and see what happened and to call back when they got to seven minutes apart. I started walking around to help things but the contractions never became stronger, though they progressivly got closer together. As we were timing them I realized I hadn't felt Aly kick or move in a couple hours and after all the medicine I was given during the last couple weeks of pregnancy, some pretty dangerous stuff, I called the doctor. The oncall doctor asked about my contractions and I informed her that while they did get to seven to ten minutes apart they weren't any stronger and I didn't feel like I was in labor. With my previous three labors there was no question as the contractions came on fast and hard. She advised us to come in to labor and delivery and get some fetal tones on Alyson and monitor the contractions just in case. Jeff and I called family to come stay with the kids and left for the hospital shortly after. We got to the hospital by 11pm August 29th. I was hooked up and checked for dilation. We were surprised to see the contractions still coming regularly and that I was 100% effaced and dilated to 3, a small change from my last doctor's appointment on the 25th. I stayed on the monitor for another hour to see if any other changes would take place, watch Aly's heartrate which was a little on the high side at 180 beats per minute and monitor the contractions. The nurse came in after the hour and checked for further dilation and my water broke during that exam. That was it, we were absolutely in spontaneous labor! We phoned Jeff's sister and close family friend to come and witness Alyson's birth. The contractions did get stronger without the cussion of the amniotic fluid but they never got any closer than five to seven minutes apart. After a few hours of laboring I began to feel pain in my right kidney, the kidney that gave me all the problems during pregnancy and asked for an epidural. Before all the kidney troubles and surgeries I did have plans for a medication free labor and delivery but it was late in my pregnancy when I allowed myself to say I'd been through enough pain in my kidneys it was okay to ask for an epidural if labor did irritate an already sensative area. The anesthesiologist came in a few minutes after I requested the epidural. She did an excellent job and the epidural couldn't have worked any better, it was textbook. I felt no pain but was in control enough to feel all the contractions and, when the time came, the urge to push. The labor and delivery nurse also did a phenomenal job and completely respected our privacy. She made herself available to us but for the most part left us alone. I felt the urge to push after a stressfree perfect labor. Jeff went and asked the nurse to come in and check Aly's progress as I felt I needed to push. Sure enough I was complete and ready to go. The doctor came in and gave me the green light to begin pushing with the next contraction if I felt ready. I was still only contracting at a rate of five to seven minutes and really didn't want to wait a whole five minutes as I just had a contraction. I just began to push and after only one push Alyson's head was delivered. One more gentle little half push and I was holding our fourth child. Alyson was perfect. She weighed 6 pounds and 14 ounces. Our labor and delivery couldn't have gone any smoother and couldn't have been any easier. Everything worked just as it should and the nurse was excellent anticipating our need for privacy. The delivery was made even more special because my sister-in-law and a very good friend were able to be there. |