Lenore's Birth Story

When I left off on pregnancy updates, we were scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, 10/29 (40 weeks 5 days). Tuesday night, we packed our bags and went to bed, ready to wake up to call the hospital at 5am to check for bed availability. As long as there was a bed available, we were to check-in at 7am to start the induction.

Well, well, well...I woke up at 2:30am to pee, and, much to my surprise, as I stood up from bed and walked to the bathroom, my water broke!!!

I didn't know what to do at first--go back to bed? Walk around? I decided to call the hospital, and they instructed us to come on in since my water had broken. We took showers and finished packing our last-minute things and headed out. Check-in was smooth (we arrived a little after 3:30am), and we were put in lucky Labor & Delivery room 13.

The nurse was getting everything set up and ready for the induction--even though my water had broken, I wasn't in labor yet (labor is cervical change). I hadn't had any contractions, so they were going to start me on pitocin. The nurse checked me, and I was still just 1cm and the baby was still very high. She also seemed a bit unsure of what she was feeling when she checked me, head vs. butt, which of course made me anxious. She went and got the doctor, who did an ultrasound, and we instantly knew something was awry. 

Baby had flipped again, back to the transverse position. :( Head was up in my right ribs, and butt was pointing at my left hip, just as before. The doctor said that the baby would not be able to be born vaginally, due to its position. I asked about a version, if it was too late, and she said that was no longer an option--they have to have the waters intact to use as a cushion, and mine had already broken, counting me out. 

Before we knew it, anesthesia, baby nurses, etc. were all coming in to talk to us, and we quickly realized we needed to call the grandparents to get to the hospital asap. It was around 5:15am at this point, and the anesthesiologist told us we'd have a baby by 6am! (Our heads were spinning...)

We went into the operating room around 5:30, and baby was born at 6:06am. They let Kevin say what the gender was as they lifted her up over the drape--'It's a girl!' I think I said, 'WHAT? A girl?! WHAAAT?' (I think we both were convinced it was another boy.) We both started crying, and Kevin went over to watch her exam with the baby nurses. Her APGAR scores were 9 and 9, which is excellent. Meanwhile, I was still on the table getting sewed back together and trying to hear everything. And crying and smiling in disbelief.

After they finished with me, they moved us into an anesthesia recovery area. Kevin went out to the waiting room to tell his parents and my parents that it was a girl and her name and stats, and then Lewis came back into recovery to meet Lenore. I think we were in there around an hour, and then they moved us over to Mother/Baby.

In the course of that day morning, I went from being elated about going into labor on my own (or what I thought would be labor), to great disappointment in having to have a c-section. The pain is no joke, but hopefully it gets better soon. The whole day was so fast-moving and a blur, but we've all come out of it healthy and happy (and sleepy) on the other side.

Lenore Elaine Thompson

Born 10/29/14 at 6:06am

10 pounds, 1 ounce

21.25 inches