Kami's mother flew in last Friday (July 6). My dad flew in on Monday, when we had our doctor's appointment where we figured Inducing was an option. If you recall, our air-conditioner went out during the heat wave, and we had not yet fixed it. So on Tuesday morning, the day before the scheduled inducing, my dad and I dropped our car at the dealership, went to lunch - where we talked about impending fatherhood - went to the vet to get pills for Gunther, and went to the library. Gunther woke me up at 4:30am. Kami had been having stronger-than-normal contractions that morning, but since she had the Uterus That Cried Wolf, we didn't think much of it.
We got back to our place, and were talking, and my dad wanted to go get a nap, get some dinner, and go to bed early, since we had to be at the hospital about 6:45am on Wednesday. He, of course, rented a car at the airport, so we talked about when he was going to pick us up to go to the hospital (since Kami's mom had to take her rental car back that morning). It was determined that we should keep his rental car overnight. We could pick him up in the morning and then go to the hospital, but he wasn't comfortable with us not having a car within 18 hours of being induced.
That turned out to be a pretty good call.
As I was on my way back from dropping him at his hotel, I got a call from Kami's mom that said, "Kami's water broke-" And she may have said something else. I don't know, because I hung up on her (probably the only time that it's perfectly acceptable to hang up on your mother-in-law). Kami was getting ready to take a nap, laid down on the bed, felt a Pop, and when she went to the bathroom, the water started.
We packed up the car and drove off to the hospital. I called my dad twice, left voicemails, texted a couple of times, to no avail. In true Yasko fashion, he was indisposed due to a bathroom necessity. So we sped off to the hospital, bags in the trunk, Kami in the passenger seat, Kim in the back.
Had the rental car been a DeLorean, we would have been transported on I-40, because I looked down and was, indeed, hitting 88mph.
I had called Baptist to let them know we were on our way, and we arrived a little before 3pm. Kami was taken into a delivery room with the contraction monitor on her, and we waited. Our first nurse had trouble getting the computer to work, which was frustrating, because...for every reason, actually.
So we waited. Kami had been dilated to 3cm on Monday, and by Tuesday afternoon, she was about 3.5cm dilated. We waited, and it was slow going.
Kami had a plan to go all-natural: local anesthetic, no epidural. Around midnight, after what had essentially been 16 hours of labor, and progressing to 5cm, that plan had to be abandoned. The pain from the contractions was so bad, Kami was shaking and sweating. A wrinkle on which we had not planned was Kami's scar tissue from her surgery in December 2008 was burning with each and every contraction - or every three minutes for about seven hours. It was untenable.
In the meantime, we settled in for what was going to be a long night. Kami was far more comfortable after the epidural, and she was able to doze off from time to time. I just watched her.
Around 2am, Kami still hadn't progressed very far, and the nurse said that she would be checking with the doctor (oh yes, the Good Doctor was not going to be delivering Emsley, unless she waited until after 7am - which wasn't a very thrilling possibility.
Around 4:30am, Kami finally made it to 9cm and 100% effaced. So we're thinking, "Hey, we'll be done with this here pretty soon." It so happened that was not to be. However, when the shift change happened, our new nurse came on, and the Good Doctor was, in fact, on duty.
Okay, about 9am, Kami still was not progressing, and every ten minutes there was a differing opinion on whether or not Kami could deliver Emsley on her own, or would need a C-Section. They had been pushing pitocin to help the contractions along. For about an hour there was second opinions and 3rd opinions on getting her through the birth canal. Dr. Smallwood came in, checked her out, advised Kami to try to push, and see how things worked out. Two hours later, she was still pushing, and - oh yeah - the epidural was wearing off. Rather than re-upping on the pain meds, the Good Doctor said that, another half-hour, and she just might be able to have the baby. She kept pushing.
He came back 30 minutes later (this would be about 12:15pm on Wednesday) and said, "Well I guess we're ready," to which Kami replied, "C-Section?" to which he replied, "No, you're about to have a baby."
I'll save you some of the details, but that day was the most magical thing I've ever seen. In the seconds after she was born, everyone in the room - nurses included - was crying. Kami was a rock star, pushing through the possibility of a C-Section (just because she didn't want to. She sort of does what she wants, and get what she wants.)
Emsley Bryn Yasko was born at 12:46pm, 22 hours after we arrived at the hospital, and was 9lbs 7ozs, and 21.25" long. Yeah, she's a big 'un. And she's absolutely gorgeous. When they put her on Kami's chest, we all just fell apart. I was able to hold her while Kami slept a little...and, yeah, I'm toast.
We ended up going to sleep about 10pm on Wednesday night, which means that we were up for about 40 of 41 hours - which I'm sure won't be the last time, but it was totally worth it.
I realize that was a very detailed, emotion-less account of the events of July 10/11, but this just needed to get on record. There will be more to come in the next few days: thoughts, reactions, delusions, things of that nature. Just for now, though, Emsley: We're so glad you're here, and I would be happy to go through all of that again, just to kiss your sweet face.
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