We arrived at the hospital at 11am on August 24, 2000. It was about 12:30 pm before I was hooked up and administered pitocin. When the resident cam in to check me, the nurse was asking him to break my water. I thought this odd because I hadn't had an initial internal exam since being admitted. Anyway, I was checked for progress around 2:30 pm and the resident doctor noted that I was only 3cm dialated and 50% effaced (the same "progress" that I was the day before).
At 5:30 pm, my doctor arrived and examined me. I had "progressed" to 3cm and 70% effacement. My doctor broke my water and then told me he had to run to his son's back to school night and that he'd be back in two hours. Well, no sooner than the doctor left than the contractions started coming fast and HURT like heck. Within a few contractions the baby's heartbeat went from 140 beats per minute all the way down to 30 beats per minute. With each contraction, Elizabeth's heardrate dropped. I told the nurse that this was not right. She tried to tell me that it wasn't that unusual and then tried to calm me down. After a few more contractions with Elizabeth's heartrate dropping, I literally lost it. I implored the nurse to pay more attention and to get my doctor there. All I could think was the worse. In my heart, I felt that I was about to relive what happened with Allison.
Anyway, after my melt down, I could no longer bear to hear the drop in heartrate, and so I turned the other way and asked that the monitors be turned down. I cannot describe the pain that I went through the following hour. Emotionally and physically, I was beat. At about 6:40pm, I received my epidural. I was dialated to 8cm and 90% effaced. At 6:45 pm, I felt immense pressure...my husband went out to get the nurse. The nurse raced in and called for more nurses. At that time, all I heard was another nurse say "doctor stat to room...fetal distress". That's all it took for me. The nurse said I could push when I felt like it. I didn't even wait for the next contractions. I pushed with such force that Elizabeth came sliding out of me almost to the edge of the bed. The nurse caught her and a minute later, a resident came in and cut her cord. Elizabeth cried. She crtied...music to my ears.
From that point on nothing really matters Elizabeth weighed in at 5 pounds 1 ounce and was 19 inches long. She was born at 6:50pm. She was small, as we had anticipated she would be, but she was/is alive. From the moment of hearing her until even today, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me. There's no real way to explain how I feel. I'm happy for Elizabeth, yet sad to have missed out on this with Allison. I can only imagine that the bittersweet feelins will linger.
Elizabeth Shutt
Born 6:50 PM
August 24, 2000
5 pounds 1 ounce
19 Inches long
