Amelia Miyae Song Has Arrived!

It's been over a month since my last entry! Sorry! We were busy socializing and preparing for the baby's arrival. I worked until Good Friday, April 14th and looked forward to having time to meet with friends and run errands, but Amelia had other ideas. Just a couple of day into my time off, I had to go to triage because I didn't make 10 fetal kick counts in an hour. Ken and I trekked to Swedish and arrived there at nearly 11 PM on April 19th. I was hooked up to the NST machine and Amelia's heartbeat looked good, but she wasn't really moving. I was told to load up on sugar to see if she would respond. As soon as I was told that, I felt like I was peeing on myself and it turned out that my water ruptured right there on the hospital bed in the triage center! Ken and I honestly thought we were going home after the NST!!!

Ken went home quickly to gather the rest of our things and to notify work and friends. The contractions started out as soon as my water broke. At first they were mild cramps, but they quickly worsened and came every 2-3 minutes. We were told to walk around the hospital for about 1-2 hours. We did that and checked into our labor and delivery room at nearly 2 AM. While we walked the contractions became intense. At the time, I didn't realized I was experiencing back labor due to Amelia's position. She had somehow turned on me. That might have been the reason I wasn't really feeling her anymore.

My initial hope was to go med free, ie natural. After being the jacuzzi tub and shower (had to wash my hair before labor), I was not feeling well at all. It turned out that I had a fever of 102. The pain was all in my back and coming at every 2-3 minutes. In between contractions, it still hurt. Finally I asked for an epidural and got it at 4:30 AM when I was only 4 cm dilated. After getting it I felt like such a wimp and had a hard time sleeping. I worried that the epidural would slow down dilation. Well, when 9 AM rolled around and I got checked by the OB, I was at 9 cm! Then I was fully dilated and ready to push at 10 AM.

We started pushing, but progress was slow. The nurse had me take a break while they waited for pitocin to kick in. The doctor thought it would make my contractions stronger and move the baby along. Around this time the epidural started to wear off. I was in incredible pain again. I don't say that lightly because I consider myself to have a very strong tolerance for pain as I very rarely take pain medications.

Sometime into the pushing some meconium came out with my amniotic fluid. The doctor wasn't too concerned b/c the baby still looked great and had an excellent heartbeat. At around 1:45, the doctor suggested vacuum extraction since the baby was not descending. I asked if it was really necessary and if I could push a bit longer. The doctor allowed it. In hindsight, I wish she has brought up the vacuum sooner. I had no idea that pushing longer than 2 hours is not the norm. Everything I had read, I had forgotten. Well, we tried another hour and finally at 2:45 we agreed to the vacuum. Amelia's head was just too big for my petite body. After several attempts with the vacuum, Amelia arrived at 2:54 PM PST on April 20th, 2006. She was a hefty baby for me--weighing 7 pounds and 8.7 ounces--and tall, 21 inches long.

There was a meconium team ready and they suctioned her as soon as she came out. It had to be quick so Ken did not get to cut the cord. The mec team wisked her off to check her, but all was well. Amelia's apgars were 8 and 9. She came out crying. Just a bit limp initially.

Once she made it to my chest she was alert and ready to nurse a bit. We were so happy when she arrived that we cried. Although I sustained major trauma (3rd degree tear into my anal sphincter), she is well worth it! We love her so much and can't believe how fast she is growing.