Emery's Birth Story - 1 year ago today

On Thursday, May 22nd, I went for my 38 week appointment (I was actually 38w4d). Dr. Middleton checked me for the first time and I was 2cm dilated and about 20% effaced. He said if he had to guess, I would probably deliver not that weekend, but the next – which, go figure, was my due date. :p I wasn’t too disappointed, though, because I didn’t make it to 2cm with Taylor until I had already been in labor for HOURS, so I was excited to already have a little bit of a head start.

That week was spent doing lots of walking, drinking lots of red raspberry leaf tea, bouncing on the birthing ball, and complaining a lot. ;) I had a lot of very strong BH contractions and a few real contractions that had me hoping things were getting started, but nothing lasted more than 15min or so.

The next Friday, May 30th, Dr. Middleton checked me again and I was 3cm – more progress but not as much as I had hoped. He told me again that if he had to guess, it would probably be sometime that weekend. We made another appointment for the following Thursday but he reassured me he felt like he’d be seeing me in L&D before then.

Sunday was my due date. I begged Justin to let me stay home from church. I just wasn’t in the mood to see everyone again while still pregnant. We’d been ending every LifeGroup for weeks with “See you next time unless we’re having a baby!” and I was just so defeated feeling. Thankfully he took Taylor to church and let me stay home so I was able to sleep in a little, get a long shower, and pick up around the house some.

(40 weeks pregnant, before LifeGroup)

When they got home we cleaned the house more and prepared for our 1st LifeGroup meeting back at the house (after being on a 6mo break for PS33 groups). LG started around 5pm and we met all of the new couples and had a fellowship night just getting to know everyone. Lisa made Mexican lasagna and beans for dinner. Later that night I lamented to Justin about how perhaps a plate full of refried beans when 40w pregnant wasn’t the best idea. I went to bed around 10:30pm with an upset stomach.

Approximately 2:30am on Monday morning I felt a POP that woke me up. At first I wondered if my water broke, but there wasn’t any water, so I stayed lying down. But a few minutes later I felt a definite moisture so I headed to the bathroom to find that my water had not broken but that I was bleeding quite a bit. I began to panic, remembering a friend of a friend who lost her daughter suddenly at 40w due to a placental abruption. I called Dr. Middleton (who was on call over the weekend) and he said that it sounded like bloody show and if contractions weren’t strong we could hang out at home, but if we were worried to come in. I was having cramping but nothing unbearable, but I was really anxious about the amount of blood. I grabbed the Doppler and tried to find her heartbeat, but because I was so nervous, my heart was racing and I couldn’t distinguish whether the heartbeat I was hearing was hers or mine. And of course I couldn’t get her to move. So I went and woke up Justin and told him what was going on and that I was scared and we needed to head to the hospital. He called his parents and told them to head over and he got in the shower while I texted Jessica and let her know what was going on. I had planned on laboring at home as long as possible, and looking back I wish I had taken the time to tell Taylor goodbye and give her some last minute love, but I was just so worried I couldn’t concentrate on anything but getting to the hospital.

Around 3:30am his parents were finally there and we had loaded up the car and headed to the hospital. There was no traffic on the road at that hour, so we made great time. Thankfully on the drive there Emery began to move around some so I was able to calm down and know that she was ok. Contractions also started to pick up and become painful. By this point they were about 3min apart and lasting about 30 seconds.

We got to the hospital and got checked in. They put us in a room in eval and hooked me up to the monitors. The nurse checked me and said that all of the blood was indeed just bloody show (although she did say it was quite a lot) and that I was still at 3cm. We hung out in eval for a while waiting for Dr. Middleton to come by. At 5:30am I texted Jessica that contractions were getting more painful. Justin would watch the monitors while I closed my eyes and breathed through them, and he’d tell me afterwards “Yeah, that was a big one!”

(Watching contractions)

At 7am the nurses changed shifts and my friend Beth came on. She checked me again and I was still 3cm and about 80% effaced. She got us settled into a room and we got my hep lock started. Same as with Taylor, my poor veins put up a good fight. The nurses blew 2 veins on my right hand and one on my left and finally had to call a cancer nurse to come place it. She was able to get it on her first try with little pain. Once that was placed, our new L&D nurse, Andrea, came on and helped hook me up to the wireless monitor so I could get out of bed and move around some. I got up around 8am and headed over to the rocking chair, and after approximately 3min sitting there Dr. Phillips came in and told us that E was having a lot of heart decels and she wasn’t liking what she was seeing. She stayed and watched through a couple more contractions and then had me get back into bed and lay on my left side.

(I was in 4404 with Taylor!)

She thought perhaps the cord was wrapped or getting pinched, so they went ahead and started IV fluids to give her some more cushion in there. I labored in bed until 11am and was checked again. I had just barely gone from 3cm to 4cm since 5:30am, and because I wasn’t able to move or walk or do anything to counteract the pain of the contractions, I went ahead and asked for the epidural. It wasn’t what I planned on, but I knew it was for the best.

A few minutes after they placed the epidural, my blood pressure bottomed out. Apparently that’s normal, so they gave me some medicine to counteract that, but that made my heart rate skyrocket, and that is NOT normal. All of a sudden I had Dr. Phillips, my nurse Andrea, and the anesthesiologist crowded around my bed and monitors. The anesthesiologist asked me “Have you ever had any heart problems before?” and I remember thinking to myself at that point – Great. I’m going to have a heart attack and die now. It was an awful feeling. My body was just dead weight and all I could feel was my heart beating wildly in every inch of me. They hooked me up to oxygen, a heart monitor, an EKG, and bags and bags of fluids. (I remember Justin telling me afterwards that my heart rate was in the 180s (normal is around 80) and it stayed about 160-170 for my entire labor.)

(Hooked to the EKG)

They finally determined that although they weren’t sure what was happening, my heart looked ok and Emery was fine, so they just kept an eye on things. By 3pm things had calmed down and I was able to labor with the epidural pretty pain free. Kim stopped by and brought Justin some lunch since he hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before (neither had I, and although I brought snacks to eat during labor, my body just wasn’t up for food).

Around 5:30pm Jessica got there. I continued to labor and make slow progress. I was at about 6cm but still a -1 station and was able to sit up in the bed in hopes that she’d move down. Dr. Phillips kept coming to check me and hope my water would break, but Emery was so “floaty” that every time she’d check, her head would float back up and she was worried about a cord prolapse (especially after what happened to Chloe and Jessica).

(Jessica, aka, my crazy birth photographer)

By 8:30pm we were getting closer but my water just wouldn’t break. Jessica ran home to nurse Chloe and put the kids to bed. My mom and sister had come and everyone was just waiting. My stomach was upset from not eating all day, so I got some Zofran and was able to drink a little bit of apple juice. We started a little bit of Pitocin hoping that would strengthen the contractions and hopefully cause my water to break on its own.

At 10pm the Pitocin was in full force. I was at 8cm and due to sitting up all day and the epidural wearing off, I was in a lot of pain. Jessica was back and Dr. Phillips finally decided to take the chance to break my water. She broke it and was promptly SOAKED up to her collarbone! :P She told me afterwards that she had held her breath the whole time, making sure the cord didn’t prolapse. Thankfully all was well. I asked if there was meconium (there was with Taylor) and there wasn’t. A few minutes later, things began to really pick up. I took a minute to do my makeup and my sister re-braided my hair for me. 

(Gotta look cute!)

Jessica broke out the birth affirmations and scriptures to read through the contractions. I started off trying to HUMMMM and OOOHHHH through them, but that quickly turned to a lot of moaning and yelling. Justin did a great job and sat and held my hand and told me how great I was doing.

(Praying through a big contraction)

I entered transition and it took about 45min to move from 8cm to 10cm. Dr. Phillips stood watching in the corner of the room and came back to check me. She said she didn’t think I could be ready quite yet, but that all of my yelling told her differently. It was 11:45pm and it was time to push! (At that point, Justin took his place back on the corner of the couch, haha). I REALLY wanted her to be born on June 2 because my birthday is February 2 and Taylor’s is November 2 and we were hoping to continue the trend. So at that point, she had 15min to make her debut! I remember looking up and seeing Jessica and my sister standing on chairs on either side of the foot of the bed video recording and taking pictures! 

(Daddy praying from the sidelines, hah!)

Pushing was such a relief, finally, to be able to do something active to counter the pain. It was crazy to feel her descending with every push and contraction. Everyone kept encouraging me to relax between contractions but I was so afraid to relax because I didn’t want her to move back up. I pushed with every ounce of strength I had, and then more.

I felt the infamous “ring of fire” and just kept praying and pushing. Dr. Phillips said that the scar tissue from my first episiotomy with Taylor was just too tight and that was keeping her head from being able to crown. So she asked if she could cut me again and I consented. I heard the “snap” from the cut, and a couple pushes later her head was out. She had the cord wrapped around her neck once. I think it was probably 2 more pushes and her shoulders were out. At 12:46am (46min late!), after 22hrs of labor, I gave one more huge push and my entire body released as she slid out and they pulled her up to my chest.

I remember her looking gray and HUGE. I had no idea how big she was, but I knew she was big! It was such a surge of love and release all at once. I was able to breathe! And oh my goodness – she had HAIR! BLACK HAIR! She screamed, they suctioned her, and I wrapped her up on me and comforted her. We waited for the cord to stop pulsing and then Justin came and cut the cord, and hung out at the head of the bed as they stitched me up (at that point is when Dr. Phillips had the nerve to ask me, looking up from my poor mutilated lady bits, when we would be having our next child! I almost kicked her! lol) We looked her over and laughed about how big she was and how much she DIDN’T look like Taylor! She scored an 8 and a 10 on her apgars. They let us rub in all of the vernix (although there wasn’t much) and did all of her evaluations while she laid on my chest.

(DIMPLES!)

(Hi, Mom.)

Once the nurses were finished, I let her nurse and she latched perfectly. Jessica, my mom, and my sister left around 1:30am, and I was able to get a shower and get cleaned up while Justin took a few minutes to bond with his new daughter.

Emery Kate Poss
June 3, 2014 – 12:46am
8lbs 15oz, 20in

"Yet You brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you when I was a nursing infant. I was thrust upon you at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born." Psalm 22:9-10