The Charles Family: Kamryn Emily Charles

I was scheduled for an induction Wed, June 16. My Dr said L&D would call me sometime Tuesday night to give me a time. Well, I couldn't wait for them to call me, so I called around 4pm. The nurse said they were behind on inductions this week, and that someone would call me when a bed/room became available. I got sleep that night, and I even fell asleep for my nap on Wednesday (something that hasn't happened in awhile - I just lay there never falling asleep). I decided to call L&D around 6:10pm to see how things were looking (the nurse Tuesday night said I could feel free to call anytime). The nurse who answered said they were on shift change, and that the lead nurse coming in would give me a call back. I get a call at 6:30pm from the lead nurse. She asks when I can come in. I was in shock! I was NOT expecting to get in Wednesday, let alone Thursday and maybe even Friday. I told her we could be there in about an hour. We put the boys' dinner, that they weren't eating, in a container to take to Chris's parents' house, packed their suitcase, and Chris packed his stuff (I had packed mine that morning). We drop the boys off at Chris's parents' house and head for the hospital.

We arrived at about 7:30pm. I got into my room, in my gown and into bed. The nurse did her routine stuff. It took her 3 times shoving the IV in my wrist (she didn't have to take it out and try again, she just had to keep "advancing," as she said - putting it in farther). When she went to start the saline and pitocin it burned like hell! I told her I don't remember it burning like that with my other two, and that it really hurt. Not a minute later I could see my wrist getting fatter. I could press on my arm and feel and hear the fluids swooshing around. It was so gross! She kept apologizing while she was taking it out. She put a new line in my other wrist, and it worked perfectly. Pitocin was finally started at 8:55pm (June 16th). She told me the Dr would come see me in a bit. He came in a few minutes later and told me that once my contractions got to a good rhythm (every 3 minutes, or so), that he would come in and break my water. After that the nurse upped the pitocin twice (once every 30 minutes). By that time the Dr came back in to break my water. He broke it at 10:40pm. He said there was a tiny bit of meconium, but nothing to worry about - it was very light. He let my water out slowly (that felt weird).

Around 11:45pm my contractions were about a minute apart and lasting about a minute - so pretty much back to back. I still wasn't wanting to scream in pain, so I held out on the epidural. When the first bag of saline was all gone (I had the nurse speed the drip up) I just went ahead and had her call the anesthesiologist, so I could get my epidural. Everything went great until he stuck the catheter in. It didn't want to work! He took it out, got another one, did the test dose, and the second one worked. By the time I got turned back the correct way to lay back down in bed, my left leg was sooooo numb. Turns out that after I got my epidural my contractions got farther apart. My nurse hadn't upped my pitocin since 9pm, so I asked her about it. She said the Dr wanted to see how things were going for a little bit longer.

After about 30 minutes the Dr comes in and puts 2 internal monitors inside of me (I had already gotten my catheter in...down there). Well, guess what? The power cord didn't work on them, lol, so the nurse went to find another. She finally upped my pitocin after awhile, because my contractions still weren't progressing.

So, at 2am I got my epidural, and I was only at 3-4cm. Got put on oxygen at 4:15am, because Kamryn's heart rate was dipping rather low. I thought maybe she had the cord around her neck just like Carson did. That's pretty much what everyone else thought, too. I got checked at 6:35am - new nurse - and I was only at 6cm. This was going slower than Carson. Baby's heart rate was doing much better, so I got to be off the oxygen for about 20 minutes.

The nurse came back in around 7am to check me, because Kamryn's heart rate was dipping again. She moved me to my left side, back to my right side, then finally stopped on my back, because baby was finally happy there. I was still 6cm. She checked me again around 7:15am, and I was 7cm. She then thought the rest was going to go by fast. She figured Kamryn was telling us something was up, and it was finally time for her to come out. She checked me again about 7:30, and I was still at 7cm. She checked me again at 7:40am, and I was 8cm. She checked me again at 7:50am, and I was 9cm. She checked me again at 8am, and she told me to push. She called the Dr, and he came in, got all dressed, and did his thing. My epidural had worn off around 6:30am, so I had pressed the button to get more - twice - before I started pushing. I felt EVERYTHING, and I didn't like it one bit! I didn't want to push, because everything hurt so bad. Dr said I was doing great, though.

8:08am (8 minutes after my first push), June 17, 2010, Kamryn Emily was born! She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 19.5 inches long. They had asked me if I wanted baby on my chest when she came out, and I said yes. Well, when she came out they found out why she was in a little distress and not wanting to come down. Her cord was SUPER short! It might have been 12 inches. Chris cut the cord, and Kamryn was put on my belly for wiping off. Dr then asked if I had ever seen a placenta. I told him no. He made me look, lol. He explained what part was where, and he also showed me my bag of waters that had been ruptured. That was so weird!

Kamryn is doing great! She has a weird latch, so we're going to have to work on that. She also is VERY hard to wake up to get to eat...just like Carson was.