Layne's Birth

Introducing:
Layne Davis Schneider

Born April 24, 2012

6lbs, 13oz

19.75 inches long

Our little man is finally here!! He has stolen our hearts and we are so totally in love. We've been spending most of our free time feeding, changing or staring at him, so I'm sorry if I haven't been able to get back to all of your overwhelming well wishes as of yet. I haven't even slept since about 2am on Tuesday morning yet, and it's now 6:00pm on Wednesday, but I'm on such a high that there's no way I could (not to mention...I'm in pain!).

The labor and birth process was surprisingly short and sweet, which I did not expect with an induction. Pitocin was started a little after 8am, and I had a baby in my arms by 3:32pm! I know we gave some updates as we went yesterday, but below is a recap of the entire labor process, which I wanted to document before I forget :)

Monday, 4/23
6:00pm: We had one "last supper" with our parents (except my mom, who will be here for a week starting this weekend)!

Getting ready to head to the hospital!

7:30pm: Arrived at the hospital for cervadil. Was still only dilated to 1cm, 50% effaced. Survived the I.V.

Tuesday, 4/24
2am: Started feeling some strong contractions that woke me up and kept me up the rest of the morning.

6am: Got up to move into our labor & delivery suite, shower, and eat breakfast. Contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart, and I had progressed to 3cm overnight!

8am: Pitocin was started to strengthen contractions, along with antibiotics to protect baby from any risk of strep. Dr. stripped my membranes. Contractions, which were already painful to begin with, started picking up right away at 4-5 minutes apart.

9:30am: Contractions had picked up to 2-3 minutes apart, dilated to 4cm. Still tolerating the pain pretty well at this point, but wasn't much in the mood for smiling...

10:30am: Contractions were now 2 minutes apart and very strong, however I was still dilated to a 4.

11:30am: Contractions were 1-2 minutes apart, and I was dilated to 4-5cms. I started muttering profanities from the pain at this point, so the nurse suggested I get the epidural while I can still sit still.

12:00pm: Epidural arrived. I anticipated being very nervous for this part, but at the time I was so distracted by the pain that I was excited for relief. I was given a shot of novocain before the big needle, so the big needle didn't hurt much at all. I just felt pressure and a zing similar to a funny bone.

1:45pm: The epidural seemed to help bring progress, as I was now dilated to a 6. I was on cloud 9 at this point, as I could no longer feel any pain. However, it was around this point that the doctor came in and told me that he was a little concerned with the baby's heartbeat, as it was dipping pretty low. They had me tilt onto my side and continued to monitor his heart, I became scared.

2:15pm: The baby's heartbeat was continuing to dip, and I was becoming more anxious. The doctor suspected that I was progressing quickly, which was causing the baby some distress. He was right - they checked me again and I had progressed to 7-8 cm! I was put on oxygen to help improve his heart rate, and they stopped the pitocin to give the poor little guy a break.

3:00pm: I started to feel some pressure, so the nurse checked me and found out that I was already 10cm dilated and the baby's head was sitting RIGHT THERE. It was time to push, and I could not believe how quickly we had come to this point, however I was so relieved as I was really concerned with his heart rate and just wanted him out safely. We ended up having to wait 15 minutes for the doctor to finish with another delivery, which were a LONG 15 minutes. I did a few practice pushes.

3:15pm: Dr. Wicker arrived in the room and immediately got to business. He told me straight up, "Your baby's heartrate is less than optimal, so I want to get him out fast. If he is not out in a couple of pushes, I will need to use the help of a vacuum." Whoa...talk about pressure!

3:25pm: After pushing through three contractions, the baby had moved down and was becoming visible with pushes. His heartrate had actually improved a little, so he seemed to tolerate pushing better than contractions. However, Dr. Wicker said that I still had about 30 minutes of pushing before the baby was born, and he didn't want to wait that long, so he pulled out the vacuum.

3:30pm: Another contraction started, Dr. Wicker got the vacuum in place and after one push the baby's head was completely out. I stared at his little purple head in disbelief, and asked, "Do I push again??" The Dr. replied with, "No," and then easily pulled the rest of the baby out. We also discovered why his heart rate had been dropping: his chord was wrapped loosely around his neck, so thankfully I had a doctor who did not play around and got him out quickly.

3:32pm: Layne Davis Schneider entered the world! I will never forget the feeling of love I had when they pulled him out and laid him on my stomach, and then looking up at my husband through tears on our anniversary and being amazed by the token of love that we had given each other exactly two years (almost to the minute) after we were married.

Meeting Daddy

Meeting Mommy

First Family Photo

Overall, it was an amazing experience, and I am so thankful that he is not only here and healthy as a horse (he scored a 9 on his APGAR!), but he blessed his mommy with a quick and relative stress-free delivery. I have been recovering well and feel better every hour. We are at the hospital until Thursday afternoon, and we can't wait to get home and get into a normal routine, but it has been nice to have the help of the doctors and nurses here and get nursing established (Layne is already a champ).

GOD IS GOOD!