I gave birth to a grumpy old man….or….The most prayed for baby in the world!

**For the sake of privacy we decided to continue using "Piccadilly" in the public sector**
A couple hours old.


Our birth story.
Mom's Story
I will start where I left off in the last post. Technically I labored with irritable uterus contractions for 6 months but the 9 days leading up to delivery were the hardest of all the contractions as I was in the early and active phases of labor. As previously stated, I declined two attempts of inducement to see if baby would come on her own. So the day after my last post, Wednesday November 3rd, my hubby and I walked for five miles. I thought with baby being at zero station (meaning she couldn’t be any lower without actually starting to come out) dilated to a 4, and nearly completely effaced, that walking all day would do the trick. I had a doctor’s appointment for the next day (Thurs) and was excited to see where all that work had gotten me. They checked my cervix and guess what…..we were exactly where we had left off. I mean NOTHING had budged. You can only imagine my shock and horror!
(Something I forgot to mention in the last post was that baby was sunny side up so I had been back laboring the whole time….hence the extra pain and virtually NO sleep for 9 days). So there I sat in the docs office realizing what I had suspected all along and that was that my uterus did not have what it took to get this kid out. I accepted their third offer of inducement and we checked into labor and delivery on the morning of Thursday November 4th at 10:00am. They put me back on the Pitocin and I back labored for a few hours and still NO change in my cervix. Because of the way baby was oriented my cervix was really posterior facing and that was prohibiting progression. We tried everything to get her to flip around without success. Finally I gave in and said, “O.K. I am ready for you to break my water.” Before doing so, I made my nurses promise to let me labor in as many positions as could be allowed. I was determined not to lie laboring on my back in the bed like so many women end up doing.
We prepared the birthing room with a nice scented candle, low lights and a mix of music I had compiled weeks beforehand. All who entered the room commented on how nice and peaceful it was.
I was informed that induced contractions are exponentially harder than natural contractions and that I might want to change my mind about not wanting an epidural. I said that I understood and would keep an epidural in mind but that I wanted to go as far as possible without one. Once my water broke the contractions kicked into high gear. I was allowed to labor on a birthing ball which was nice…then when they started getting more painful I tried laboring on all fours. That seemed to be the most comfortable (and I laugh at the word “comfortable”) position to be in for my intense back pain. I also tried standing and squatting, and even one lying on my back (super bad idea)…but in the end, I decided that ”all fours” was the most manageable. Hubby was such a trooper with encouraging me and massaging my back and holding my hand.
My contractions never did establish a regular pattern. I would have three strong and long contractions right in a row with no rest in between and then 8 minutes of nothing then another strong contraction with one minute of rest then a contraction that would last 5 full minutes and so on.
If you are a women who has experienced this, I do not even have to begin to describe the pain…so I won’t. But I will just say that when I felt another one coming on I said, “Oh dear God, not again!” and then hubby would say, “You can do it…..just one more.” I never did scream (although I wanted to) but I just got into a pattern of breathing and moaning and crying and wishing I were dead already!
The pain got to the point where I requested an analgesic and they started one right away. When the first one had no effect they tried another one. I could feel the medicine making me a little woozy but it did nothing to even take the edge off the pain, so I finally said, “O.k. I have had enough!!! Give me an epidural NOW!!!!”
And God bless the person who invented the epidural and the man who administered it to me. It took a while to take effect as I had to suffer through several more contractions. Apparently, one of the analgesic drugs they gave me was counter effective to the epidural, and so they had to do some weird jiggity jogging to get things working right. Anyway, I was one tired but happy camper when it finally took effect. Once I was able to relax, my cervix was checked again and I was dilated to an 8-ish. I was so happy to hear that as I felt like I had just been ripped apart and loosely put back together again… I wanted to know that it was for something rather than nothing.
Since I held out so long without the epidural, when it finally set in, it was already time to push. This is when things really got interesting. One of the first things I noticed was how freaking huge my legs had become. They were retaining all the fluid from the I.V.’s that were being administered. So when I was told to hold my legs and push I didn’t recognize my own legs and since I couldn’t feel them it added another dimension to the surrealism of the experience. I felt detached from the lower half of my body.
As soon as I started pushing, I started feeling nauseous. Shortly after, baby’s heart rate dropped and they called in the “Big Daddy” doctors (that is what I call my fetal med docs). I was put on oxygen and started praying that this would not end in C-section. In between pushes I was vomiting, and the oxygen mask made everything even more awkward. A mirror was brought in so that I could see what was happening and it was meant to be encouragement to not give up. I was not really interested in all that though, since I was so intensely trying to focus on pushing effectively and not vomiting. This went on for a while but baby made progress. She seemed to be stuck right at the end and there was talk of getting the vacuum to help her out. My doc said I only had a few more good pushes so I gave it my very best and she finally arrived at 7:01pm. The doctors let me hold her for a second while daddy cut the umbilical cord and then she was whisked away and put on oxygen herself. I was so relieved when I heard her cry her first cry. Daddy spent time overseeing baby while I was getting stitched up. My perineum tore pretty badly (because my baby has such a fat head) and it took about 40 minutes to get stitched up.
While that was going on I was trying to catch glimpses of the creature that gave me such a hard time for 10 months. Daddy and I decided that she was grounded for the first week of life for all the trouble she caused. We placed a small wager on how much she would weigh; Daddy guessed 7 and ½ pounds and I was like “no way possible” since I only gained 13 pounds overall. My guess was 6 pounds something. Daddy was closest; she weighed 7lb5oz. Wow!!! I looked at her in wonderment….how on earth did I push that thing out??
We spent 3 days and 2 nights in the hospital and got zero sleep. I was already running a sleep deficit since I had labored for the previous nine days. But now that I’ve been home for a couple of days, with daddy’s help, I have been able to catch a few Zzzz’s here and there.
Today is Piccadilly’s 5th day of life outside the womb and she is thriving! We are breastfeeding and that is going well. I still have not heard her cry like she did when she first came out. She is a sweet healthy baby and I am ever so grateful. She is a miracle and an answer to all the prayers that were sent up for her around the world. I cry tears of joy every time I think about that. Seriously, it is so humbling to know how many people were pulling for us….and I am so happy to share such a wonderful outcome.
I am still in a fair amount of pain. I can’t sit, laugh, cough or sneeze but I am healing daily and I always have a smile on my face. We fell in love with little miss at first sight and we are enjoying all the funny faces and cooing sounds she makes. My love for my husband has grown so much. He is such a wonderful dad and is always talking about the fun adventures he is going to have with his daughter. I was worried how I would feel towards my pets after becoming a mom to a human but I am happy to report that I don’t love my pets any less than I did before, I just love my daughter more. So Yay for that!
36 weeks of vomiting, Irritable Uterus syndrome, Migraines, Acne, Heartburn from Hades, hyperthyroidism, insufficient cervix, Single Umbilical artery, 3 months of bed rest/light duty, preterm labor, 6 hospital admissions (none of which were self-admitted) and more stress than I have ever undergone in my entire life all equal the most precious thing I have ever laid my eyes on. Now it is our goal and duty to raise a responsible, compassionate, and contributing human being.
And lastly……Hallelujah for not being pregnant anymore!!!!!

Dad's Story
This has been the greatest experience of my life so far! I’m soooo impressed with my wife and couldn’t be happier with my daughter.
This was a very stressful pregnancy due to nausea, heart burn, and preterm labor. We were told by the doctors to expect a very early delivery. After 36 weeks of pregnancy, we walked MILES so baby would show up. Going in and out of the hospital with no baby was frustrating.
On Thursday 4 Nov 2010 I was really excited because I knew we had an appointment and would do anything to leave the hospital with our Piccadilly in the world. The videos we watched in birthing class showed women rocking gently and breathing deeply during labor but our experience was far more painful. I wanted to help Sherry more due to her extreme pain but all I could do was rub her back and encourage her. After the epidural she was more comfortable so the last two hours seemed better. I will never forget the crowning and actual delivery. Baby was gray on arrival and covered with vernix and blood. After her head and one shoulder were free, she popped out with such force the doctor had to catch her. She cried and the nurses suctioned the extra fluid out of her lungs then let mommy hold her. The doctor let me cut the umbilical cord. Finally, they cleaned baby and let me hold her.
We’ve had her at home for a few days now and I’m so proud of mom and baby. They have bonded beautifully and my love for them continues to grow. I can see Piccadilly becoming more alert and getting bigger every day. Her little baby smile melts my heart. I’m so glad we decided to try parenthood and hope Sherry and I will do a great job. I pray Piccadilly lives a long, healthy, and blessed life.
Daddy