He's here! Introducing...
Henry Raymond Reitz
Born November 2, 2010
6:56 pm
9 lb 15 oz
22 3/4 inches long
About his birth:
We first went to the hospital around 11 am on Monday. I had been having fairly strong contractions and some spotting that morning, and Dr. Bridges told me to go to Sibley for observation. The hospital nurses confirmed that I was in early labor but not very far along and told us we could either stay at the hospital or go home for a few hours. We made the wise decision to go home and relax. By the time we had gone home, showered, made some food, and watched some bad TV, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and very intense.
We headed back to Sibley around 9 pm and checked in with plans to stay. The contractions were becoming quite painful and frequent. Unfortunately, I had not progressed much at all since our morning checkup and was still dilated only about 2 cm. The doctors thought I should not get an epidural yet because it can slow the progression of labor. Monday night was by far the worst part of the birth, with extremely painful contractions every few minutes -- so intense I couldn't stand up, and I have a pretty high tolerance for pain.
Dr. Bridges came on duty around 8 am. I had only dilated to 4 cm, even after 10 hours of contractions, so we decided he should break my water to move things along. He also found that the baby was "sunny side up," which partially explained why my contractions had been so painful overnight -- rather than having the soft plates of the baby's head against my back, the hard parts of his (huge) head were pressing on my tailbone. Dr. Bridges told the nurse to rotate me to my side every 15 minutes to try and get the baby to turn, but sounded skeptical that I could deliver a giant, backward-facing baby with so little progress, and laid the groundwork for a C-section. But he cleared me for an epidural, which was the sweetest most glorious thing modern medicine has ever invented.
I continued to labor until about 3 pm. Thanks to the epidural, I was able to sleep for much of the day and was largely pain-free. Karl would watch the contraction monitor and inform me the line was curving off the chart, while all I felt was a mild cramp. When the doctor checked me at 3:00, I had progressed to 8 cm and the baby had turned about halfway around, which was good enough to try to deliver him.
By 4:00 it was time to start pushing. Between each contraction, I laid on my right side to help the baby keep rotating. I pushed for nearly three hours, and for most of this time, it was just me, Karl, and the nurse in the room. Karl was heroically supportive, though he was a little caught off guard by his central role in the process. No perfunctory hand-holding for him. Dr. Bridges came in around 6:15 and suggested using the vacuum to move the baby along, since he was still pretty high after two hours of pushing. With the vacuum attached, I pushed through just three more contractions, and out Henry came! He was born at 6:56 pm after three hours of pushing.
The nurses and neonatologists immediately started exclaiming how big he was. The sonograms had indicated all along that he would be big, but we (especially the doctor) were surprised that he was he was THAT big -- just shy of the 10-lb mark. Thanks to the epidural, pushing out that 10-lb baby was practically painless, especially compared to the hours we spent in labor on Monday night.
Henry is chubby and pink and perfect, with lots of hair and his dad's giant hands and feet. I still can't quite believe I get to keep him.
Henry Raymond Reitz
Born November 2, 2010
6:56 pm
9 lb 15 oz
22 3/4 inches long
About his birth:
We first went to the hospital around 11 am on Monday. I had been having fairly strong contractions and some spotting that morning, and Dr. Bridges told me to go to Sibley for observation. The hospital nurses confirmed that I was in early labor but not very far along and told us we could either stay at the hospital or go home for a few hours. We made the wise decision to go home and relax. By the time we had gone home, showered, made some food, and watched some bad TV, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and very intense.
We headed back to Sibley around 9 pm and checked in with plans to stay. The contractions were becoming quite painful and frequent. Unfortunately, I had not progressed much at all since our morning checkup and was still dilated only about 2 cm. The doctors thought I should not get an epidural yet because it can slow the progression of labor. Monday night was by far the worst part of the birth, with extremely painful contractions every few minutes -- so intense I couldn't stand up, and I have a pretty high tolerance for pain.
Dr. Bridges came on duty around 8 am. I had only dilated to 4 cm, even after 10 hours of contractions, so we decided he should break my water to move things along. He also found that the baby was "sunny side up," which partially explained why my contractions had been so painful overnight -- rather than having the soft plates of the baby's head against my back, the hard parts of his (huge) head were pressing on my tailbone. Dr. Bridges told the nurse to rotate me to my side every 15 minutes to try and get the baby to turn, but sounded skeptical that I could deliver a giant, backward-facing baby with so little progress, and laid the groundwork for a C-section. But he cleared me for an epidural, which was the sweetest most glorious thing modern medicine has ever invented.
I continued to labor until about 3 pm. Thanks to the epidural, I was able to sleep for much of the day and was largely pain-free. Karl would watch the contraction monitor and inform me the line was curving off the chart, while all I felt was a mild cramp. When the doctor checked me at 3:00, I had progressed to 8 cm and the baby had turned about halfway around, which was good enough to try to deliver him.
By 4:00 it was time to start pushing. Between each contraction, I laid on my right side to help the baby keep rotating. I pushed for nearly three hours, and for most of this time, it was just me, Karl, and the nurse in the room. Karl was heroically supportive, though he was a little caught off guard by his central role in the process. No perfunctory hand-holding for him. Dr. Bridges came in around 6:15 and suggested using the vacuum to move the baby along, since he was still pretty high after two hours of pushing. With the vacuum attached, I pushed through just three more contractions, and out Henry came! He was born at 6:56 pm after three hours of pushing.
The nurses and neonatologists immediately started exclaiming how big he was. The sonograms had indicated all along that he would be big, but we (especially the doctor) were surprised that he was he was THAT big -- just shy of the 10-lb mark. Thanks to the epidural, pushing out that 10-lb baby was practically painless, especially compared to the hours we spent in labor on Monday night.
Henry is chubby and pink and perfect, with lots of hair and his dad's giant hands and feet. I still can't quite believe I get to keep him.
Oh girl, a whole night of pain med-free labor and three hours of pushing!? You are my hero!
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