A little different than we planned...

A few of my friends wanted "the story" when I felt up to it, so I'll start with that. For those that just want to see the baby, go ahead and scroll on down...
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5:30 am: signed the usual paperwork, got the ol' I.V. started, etc., etc.
7:30 am: Dr. Barton broke my water and we started pacing the hallway shortly afterwards. Dilated to 4 cm.
10:00 am: Virtually NOTHING was happening other than wearing out our walking path in the carpet. A few contractions that were stronger than I had had at home, but nothing significant. Dr. Barton decided to start me on a low dose of pitocin, which means I was kind of confined to the bed because baby had to be constantly monitored at that point.
11:00 am: Nothing happening. Turned up the pitocin slightly.
12:00 pm: Nothing happening. Turned up the pictocin slightly more.
12:15 pm: Everything was happening. My contractions became instantly too strong and one would start before the previous one had ended. Had lots of pain between contractions. I never had an epidural when I had Logan. Granted, labor was not "comfortable", but it WAS bearable. Tiring, but I never felt like I wasn't going to survive. THIS was very different. Dilated to 3 cm.
A minute or two later, our friend and nurse, Rena, took the monitor strip to Dr. Barton because she had to talk to him about being unable to really track a pattern on my uterine activity.
12:26 pm: Dr. Barton quickly came into the room and very clearly stated he did not like what he was seeing. The baby had had a previous deceleration (slowing of heartrate) lasting about 4 minutes, now baby's heartrate was decelerating with the contractions I was having, my uterus was painful but not behaving productively and he was pretty concerned about the pain level I was having. He very clearly stated he was not comfortable proceeding with labor and had Ryan sign the consent forms for the c-section (I was a little preoccuppied). He tried to lighten the mood by saying "We gave it the ol' college try..." but his face was pretty serious.
12:41 pm: Our baby was born. Fortunately, I was allowed to stay awake for it and Ryan was allowed to be in the operating room. Our nurse said that doesn't always happen with urgent c-sections. In the previous 15 minutes, I was prepped for surgery, Dr. Barton scrubbed up and a surgical team was assembled. It's actually impressive how quickly they got everything done (though our nurse said the fastest c-section she witnessed was an 8-minute prep time).
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For those that haven't had a c-section, this was quite different that the planned c-section we had with Carter. With Carter, we came in about 2 hours beforehand, they ran some saline, took blood, etc. Eventually, they wheeled me into the operating room, prepped my back and did the spinal block, put in a catheter, etc. I lie back for a bit while they get the belly ready and in comes doctor...about 30 minutes or so. I could feel lots of pressure, pulling and tugging when they took Carter out, but certainly no pain.
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With this one, I could NOT feel actual cutting, but did have quite a bit of pain. In fact, as soon as I mentioned "that hurts," the anesthesiologist asked Dr. Barton if we could wait another minute. Barton said "No. We're there already." But, before I had time to think about the urgency in his voice, we heard a gurgly cry (from the baby, not Dr. Barton).
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Now because this was an "urgent" c-section, we didn't have time for the small talk with the surgical team beforehand like we had with Carter. Baby cried a little and seemed to be doing well. No one looked concerned.
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And then the "talk" started...and Ryan was just standing there rather than taking pictures. After a minute or two, our nurse friend, Rena, made her way over to the baby. She turns to me and says "The baby's a girl, Trish. You had a GIRL." (This is the same friend that threw our baby boy shower a little over a month ago). THEN the chatter in the OR picked up. "Ooh, Dr. Barton...did YOU miss that?" (silence from Dr. Barton). Then I spoke up and told them it was Dr. Richey's office that told us we were having a boy. THEN Dr. Barton (and the two other docs) spoke up "Oooooh, the EXPERT did this!" Now people were catching on that we had been expecting a boy.
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So Ryan, the nurse and baby headed back to the room while I was being closed up. They got back to the room and started to laugh because she had prepared the room with all of the blue blankets, blue hats, blue shirts, etc. "Well this isn't right," she said and proceeded to break out the pink stuff!!
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Ironic how this is the only time we found out what we were having ahead of time. It's also the only time we managed to have our baby shower before the baby arrived. That'll teach us to stick to the surprise method if we ever have another (NO, I'm not saying we're having another).
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So, we don't really know what exactly was going wrong with the attempted labor. The risks of a VBAC are actually less than a scheduled c-section (IF you're a good candidate for a VBAC, which I was...not everyone is, of course). There aren't any real accurate predictors for when/if a uterus will rupture (the very small, but very serious risk of a VBAC), but a uterus that keeps contracting without a pattern and without progression of labor as well as abnormal pain levels CAN be indicators. That, combined with baby not responding well, were the reasons for Dr. Barton's call of intuition in cancelling the labor attempt and moving onto surgery. In surgery, baby was found to have the cord around her neck, but loosely so. It's possible the decelerations (especially that long one) were due to her pinching the cord. There's no way to know. Everything looked good when I was opened up (I had my first normal-appearing placenta!).
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I do wonder if my body would have responded better if I had gone into labor on my own, but I have NO REGRETS. I had Dr. Barton and his expertise here, making the decisions and I don't question his decision. I'm maybe a little disappointed, but not really. I wanted the opportunity and that's what I was given. We both knew we could still end up with a c-section. Our first priority was a healthy baby, our second priority was a successful VBAC.
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Right now, we're still practicing saying "she", "her", "daughter" and "sister" without hesitation.
I almost giggle every time I see Ryan pacing across the room, holding a bundle wrapped in a pink blanket and pink hat.
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My recovery this time is lots harder than it was with Carter. I'm not sure if I'm more of a wimp now...or if it's because I'm older...or what. I've been told that the recovery is more difficult when a trial of labor occurs first because the uterus gets all worked up and then gets cut into. I have some bruising due to the urgency of which the surgery was performed. With Carter, I think I took one dose of pain medication total. With this one, I'm on it every 4 hours. Kind of a bummer. I don't like pills. It hurts to snuggle a baby. But, I felt pretty good after a week with Carter, so I'm hoping for the same this time.
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And so, the day unfolded very differently than we planned...in so many ways...and we are feeling very blessed because of it!
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So here SHE is: Sadie Reagan Magee, born 11-13-09 at 12:41 p.m. SHE weighed 6 lbs, 14 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. She looks like Carter, but has the same dimples Logan had. She loves to snuggle with Mommy or Daddy. And even though I don't have any milk for her yet, she loves to nurse...for an hour or more at a time. Her hair is pretty light brown. She doesn't have a whole lot of hair on top or in the front, but has quite a bit in the back. I'm thinking she'll turn blonde.

Bright-eyed baby

Snuggle time with Mommy.

Are YOU my mother?


Sweet baby sleeping.

Very alert.

Logan was more interested in how my catheter worked than really checking out his baby sister.

The whole glamorous family.