An account of Desmond’s birth. Note: lots of labor and medical discussion…

10/12
Anne had a regular OB visit Tuesday that I was unable to attend. At 4:50PM I received a text from Anne that they wanted to admit her for observation. While Anne’s high blood pressure started three weeks prior, previous tests confirmed there were no further complications or preeclampsia. During this visit though, she had a +3 protein, a sign of significant preeclampsia. As Bill Cosby put it, “I did 104 from the garage to the front door.” While she was 38 weeks, she was only barely dilated at 1cm with some noticeable thinning.

When I arrived, we were taken up to a high-risk labor room (2201) to begin a 24hr UA/observation. There was a mild feeling of not knowing really what was going on, but we were generally calm. Initial blood work came back pretty quickly, confirmed no kidney or liver issues. So were to wait for a day to for the UA to return. I went home around 7pm to get the rest of the bags, prep Max and the rest of the house. On the drive back, I remember feeling good about remembering everything on our “go list.”

10/13
Long, boring day with nothing to do but wait around. I went home again in the morning for a bit to take a shower, got Tums and Runza shakes. Anne had worst heartburn of her pregnancy. Throughout the day, Anne and I talked about how we’d handle the presumed recommendation to induce vs managing the symptoms at home if results were borderline.

At 5PM, the UA was over, but it took several hours for someone to share the results with us. Around 8:30PM, Gernhardt called and told us that protein levels were 1900mg. We immediately understood severity of the matter and how it meant induction. Dr Carlson came by to talk about the induction process with Cervidil. We were moved to labor room 2217 and the first pill was administered by 11pm. She was also started on magnesium sulfate, which she came to hate (“I felt like a heated car seat”) over the next two days. We were given our parent bands. I recall looking down and remembering what my mom’s band looked like when I was a kid. I felt generations connect. Anne and I both began our second night ever in a hospital together.

10/14
Anne had a second pill administered sometime overnight. But at 6am she was being checked for a third dose when they found she had dilated to 3-4cm. Another OBGYN came in and decided she should break the water (no discussion with us), called Gernhardt and she approved. At 6:30am Anne entered labor and contractions began a little more regularly, but with plenty of room to rest in between. I quickly ran out to the car to change shirts and as I walked in, being dark out still, the large cluster of trees between the hospital and clinics were abuzz with the overwhelming sound of birds. I felt calm about entering the day my son was to be born. Over the next hour Anne dilated to 4cm, but stayed there until late morning. She tried sitting on the birth ball at one point, but quickly became dizzy and went back to the bed. Magnesium sulfate once again hampered the process. We also knew that at 12:30pm, Gernhardt would want to start pitocin.

By late morning, Anne and I began discussing the impending interventions with induction. Anne also knew the contractions were going to get even stronger with the pitocin. She had labored five hours naturally, wonderful breathing, low lights. I had told Megan that I was going to encourage Anne to try the pitocin before requesting an epidermal, since Anne’s original request was to take everything one step at a time, even if we had to change our original birth plan. Megan and Marie stepped out and Anne and I talked about doing two things at once, but having already spent so much energy laboring earlier, compounded with the magnesium sulfate side effects, she was concerned she wouldn’t have the energy to continue labor naturally on pit and still labor. Even though it was taking two steps at once, again, we felt it was the right decision. Gernhardt came in, and while visibly emotional, shared with us how much she had wished for everything to go as originally hoped, but reassured Anne we were making the right decision. They sent for blood lab work to confirm Anne was ready for an epi, then Dr. Miller came in and quickly administered the anesthesia. By 12:30pm, she had the epi and was resting well. I went downstairs for a fish sandwich with Mike and Megan.

By 2pm, she was dilated to 6cm. After that it was hourly checks, a lot of rotating from side to side with one leg up in the stirrups. Contractions were occasionally every two minutes, but would often relax into the 3-6min range. Several promising checks at 9 and 9.5cm, but each time lots of cervix remaining. By 6:15pm, Gerhardt was down to check in person and Anne began pushing. It was an incredible experience as Megan, Marie and myself were all assisting with the pushing. Megan remained on the far leg, while I rotated with Marie from leg to head. After 15min, Gernhardt left the room and called another perinatal OBGYN (one of Hammil’s partners) to confirm baby was in the right position, face down. They felt that he was in a good position to continue pushing. Anne did amazing, pushing all through the 10-counts, even when the nurses were drawing out the count to get some extra pushing. As Anne passed the first hour, she was struggling with energy, so the staff placed a mirror to monitor progress. As I shifted back from the head to back to the legs, I could see his hair at some points. Dark hair! It was of course challenging to see the pushing make progress then slightly recede, but that was just the process. At one point I misspoke when encouraging her, “You’re doing so well, and we’re even fairly sure what his birthday is going to be!” Blank stares, gaping mouths and crickets. Before we knew it, he was making good progress…