Back at 32 wks, my midwife noticed that I had been measuring large for the last couple of appts. Just a couple weeks larger than I actually was. So I was scheduled an ultrasound to see if baby boy was just going to be big or if there was extra fluid. I was 34 wks when the ultrasound was taken. Laurie, the midwife was busy looking at the results of the ultrasound while the resident with her was measuring me. The resident didn't know why I had gotten the ultrasound, and proceeded to measure me three times before finally asking why I was so large. I measured at 39 wks that week. Baby boy wasn't overly large and the fluid levels were fine, so why was I measuring large? He was breech. Apparently, if they don't flip, they take up more room. I wasn't too concern, there was still plenty of time for him to flip. Laurie tells me there are some positions that I can try to encourage him to move so I tried a few of them, but I never felt that major motion.As it got closer and closer to the date, and I was still measuring large, we started talking about possible scenarios for if he remained in a breech position. The first and foremost obvious solution is a C-section. I wanted to avoid this at all cost and Laurie was well aware of this. She had delivered all three of my children up until this point and we both wanted to continue to have her deliver this one. She would not have been able to do the C-section. She mentioned a procedure called ECV. They would take an ultrasound at 38 weeks and depending on his positioning, (things like if his foot was in the birth canal, or the cord was around his neck, mean C-section) they would at 39 weeks, give me an epidural and try to manually turn him from the outside with the guidance of an ultrasound. If they were successful, I would immediately get induced. If it wasn't successful, which they were only about 56% successful, C-section. With all of this, my hopes of going into labor naturally went out the window. Oh well, I could live with that. I know that some people would try to do a vaginal delivery of a breech baby, that is a risk I wasn't willing to take.
At my 37 wk appt., Laurie got called into delivery 10 minutes before I arrived, so I met with Dr. Cypher. I am not a big fan of him. He is extremely good at his job, but his bed side manner is rather cold. We talked about when, if a C-section was going to be schedule, it would happen. My ultrasound to determine everything was scheduled the day before Thanksgiving and I would hit 39 wks the Sat. afterwards. Ideally, they perform C-sections as soon as you hit 39 weeks, however it is a holiday weekend and a Saturday, so he said, maybe Friday or most likely, the following Monday. Ok, I have all the realistic scenarios going through my head and I am trying to plan around them. I had a prenatal massage schedule for the Monday before Thanksgiving, but that fell through, Dr. had an emergency and they had my old cell phone number and couldn't get a hold of me to let me know. I was very disappointed, but we were going to see if we could get me in the next two days.
Tuesday morning, 5:45, Ethan was "getting ready" for work, which usually consist of trying to sneak back into bed for a couple of minutes before leaving the house at the very last minute. I was awaken by him and trying to get him to head to work. I went to the bathroom while he was getting dressed and when I climbed back into bed, my hips creaked and groaned the way they had for the last 4 weeks, and as I laid down, my water broke. Let me remind you, my water broke with Mark and Lyssa (Ryan was induced). They were small trickles. This wasn't. I pretty much flooded my bed. I was horrified. I wasn't due for almost another 2 weeks. Ethan was ecstatic because he no longer had to go to work. Timing wise, it worked out well, because had he left I wouldn't have been able to get a hold of him for at least an hour and it would have taken him an hour to get back. Called the birthing suite and they were asking me all these questions, like how dilated or effaced was I, how was my last internal exam, all of these things I didn't have a clue about because I was supposed to find out the next day with the ultrasound. One thing though, I was sure I was going to get the C-section. Since my water broke, getting the ECV was out of the question since you need to fluid to help move the baby. I wasn't prepared at all. We didn't have the bassinet set up, I didn't have my hospital bag ready. I had only just brought down his clothes from the attic the day before to get washed. You get the picture.
The nurses when I called told me take my time and get a shower, eat something small and light, which I was a little surprised at with the C-section, I thought they wouldn't want me to eat at all beforehand. Ethan called Mom and had her come over for the kids and we left for the hospital at 7:30. I was not having any contractions. This was the same reaction as with Mark and Lyssa. Water breaks and contractions didn't start until a couple hours later. The nurses were hesitant to believe that my water had broken, so they did a test and because I had suspected a yeast infection the day before, the monistat messed with the test results. They ended up using a brown paper bag and just having me sit on it. I guess it is their old school method of doing it, the bag absorb water after an hour or something? I told the nurses we were concerned about him being breech so Dr. Cypher, who was already there doing a C-section came and did the ultrasound. He had flipped. I couldn't have been happier. I firmly believed that him flipping is what caused my water to break. Not only had he flipped, but lucky for me, it was Laurie's day for delivery. Everything I was wishing/hoping for was happening.
Laurie checked me about 9 am and I was only barely at 1 going on to 2 cm. Not at all effaced. I had literally started off at zero coming into the hospital. They got me on Pitocin and it was a long time before anything really happened. They measured me again at 1pm and I was at 3cm. I asked for the epidural then. I knew how long it could take for them to come up and I didn't want to be in too much pain while they were trying to administer it. Well the anesthesiologist apparently was already on the floor and came like two minutes later. She was this little islander lady and she was fast. I had a hard time understanding anything she was saying and she was done in like 5 minutes. The epidural didn't help much. It numbed my legs and the upper half of my abdomen numb, but left the lower part pretty much untouched. At 2pm, they checked me again, 4 cm, and decided to administer extra fluid to the baby, since his heart beat kept decreasing at each contraction. It was done with Ryan so I knew what to expect, doesn't make it feel any less weird. It was a very slow moving day in my opinion, but come 4pm, I finally started making the move in dilating and hit 5-6, and at 5:30 they were at 9. Laurie stayed with me for the delivery, even though she could have left since the actual pushing didn't start until after she was done, but she stayed for me. This is why I loved her. The actual pushing only took about 20 minutes and he was out at 6:05pm.
Emmett Levi Fike weight in at 7lbs 2 oz, and was 20 inches long. He has a very nicely shaped head, which Laurie said comes from his lack of being in the birth canal for long. He also had a full head of hair, and had been a very mellow baby. A little Jaundice, but nothing that has been a concern. As for his name, Ethan had asked if we could have another ELF in the family after I had suggested Emily Louise as a name if it had been a girl. So Emmett, was the only E boy name that we could agree upon that wasn't Ethan, I personally hate family names as first names. Ethan's initials spell out Elf. I could work within those parameters. Levi was after his favorite companion on his mission.
H greatly reminds me of Mark in looks, but he already surpasses all of the older kids in sleeping and mellow-ness. Took him a few days before he would take to nursing but he does well now
