Weston Weis Albright
Born April 20, 2010 at 6:02pm
9 pounds 5.7 ounces
21” long
Our third pregnancy was a planned surprise as we were trying but we did not know I was pregnant for two cycles as I had been having some really irregular bleeding and we actually thought this might be due to my age and that a baby would be harder to conceive this time around. Turns out, it worked on the first try (again!). God is so good.
The pregnancy was good regardless of the chronic heartburn I was having and varicose veins that had sprung up. Mine and baby’s vitals were always well and we were on track with our desired plan of another natural, drug-free vaginal birth. I felt that since this was my third baby, it would come early or on time, but this little one had other plans for us. The only other issue we had was my positive status for Group B Strep at 35 weeks that I never had with my other two pregnancies. After consideration of benefits versus risks, we decided this would mean I would need to come into the hospital in early labor to get the antibiotics started.
Our first vaginal exam at 40 weeks, showed no dilation, no effacement and the head could not be assessed at all. The exam at 41 weeks revealed the same thing. We also were measuring big (extra fluid one week) so the doc had us do a weekly biophysical which always showed all was well with baby but it indicated a large sized baby (10+ pounds, but we know ultrasound can err as much as a pound). We even got to see the baby doing its practice breathing – that was amazing!
At each week of going overdue, doc discussed with us her opinion that baby was not engaging due to size (at 38 weeks, the head was engaged but it backed out the next week). She stated she would never do a cesarean section on someone for a “threat” of a big baby, especially a multigravida with a proven pelvis, but she did guess that labor would not likely start on its own and we should consider induction by 42 weeks (her cut off as statistics support more risk to declining baby’s health) to at least give labor and a vaginal birth a try. She reminded us to be open minded if a situation presented itself during labor (stalled dilation) or pushing (no progress could indicate another shoulder dystocia baby, like our first) that would mean altering our vaginal birth plan to safely get baby out before any emergency could arise. We appreciated her candor but still remained hopeful that baby would engage and that the Lord would watch over both of us.
With this pregnancy, I had Braxton-Hicks contractions every day, about 3 of 4 an hour for the last month or so whereas I never experienced them with my first two pregnancies. At about 10 days overdue, they had even spaced as close as 6 minutes and 60 seconds long but they never intensified and I showed no emotional signs of being in labor and after going to bed, they diminished.
Monday, April 19th, 2010
Our 42 week check up appointment. Everything looked good with baby’s heartbeat and my vitals. We were still measuring large again. The vaginal exam again showed no dilation, effacement and no head could be assessed. Doc and I had the talk about the situation again and her concerns of big baby and statistics of baby’s health after the 42 week mark. Also, we discussed again the Bishop’s scale (we scored a 3 out of 10) and the implications it had for a successful induction. Doc understood our desire to still try to have a phase of labor even if baby size or position meant we would have to change the plan midstream. We still decided to try the induction the following evening of Cervadil at night and then if nothing started on its own, Pitocin would follow. Doc then had us do a non-stress test and a biophysical. Other than it still showing a 10.5+ pound baby, this is when we found out that baby had moved to transverse lie (baby is horizontal in the uterus and cannot be delivered vaginally this way).
I teared up immediately but my education and knowledge knew that turning a “big” baby this late in the game was more risk than benefit and our only option was a c-section. We discussed at length with our doc any last minute options we have to avoid this route but any changes would all be up to The Lord. It’s all in His hands so we were confident that we would get the birth we needed for healthy mom and healthy baby and that is all that mattered. We scheduled the c-section for Thursday. It was hard to hear being so clear cut and I was emotional but I was okay for the most part. Of course, I reflected on everything that happened up to date but I don’t regret any decisions we made in following the natural course of things and putting off earlier interventions as there were no indications to do anything else.
I, of course, then went home to filter through any information I had to become more comfortable with the situation. We had gone through a lot with these different scenarios the last few days that we really needed some time to digest and I needed to try to relax to help baby come. I still had some contractions off and on at 10 minute intervals. That night, I felt a very large movement and even said to my husband, maybe baby moved back vertex. After all, it had turned to transverse from the last week’s vertex position, so why couldn’t it move back again?
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
Sometime late morning I realized that I had not felt any movements from the baby. I know it can be normal in term or late babies to feel decreased movements and intensity but this baby had been rocking and a rolling all pregnancy long so I was a bit concerned. After eating lunch and getting the kids to their naps, I drank some orange juice and cold water and laid on my left side for awhile and even on my back to see if I could notice any movements. After a while of not feeling sure of things, I called my husband and had him come home as well as my OB. Doc stressed that I should come in to the hospital right away with our other two children and not wait for Aaron to get to the house. She said that could be a lot of time to lose which then made it hit home what could be happening. My mother in law met me at the hospital to take the older kids and Aaron was at my side just as we were ready to get hooked up to the monitor.
What a huge relief it was to see a good strong heartbeat! We were monitored on the non-stress test for a good 30 minutes and another biophysical was ordered. I was having contractions again at about every 10 minutes. A vaginal exam yielded the same as before – no dilation, no effacement and no head in pelvis. However, the first thing the biophysical revealed was that baby moved back to vertex. The rest of the test seemed to take forever. They had me rotating and turning and I knew they weren’t getting what they wanted. The “practice” breathing we had seen at the few late term ultrasounds was not present now (which we later learned was sort of a good thing since he had his fist bowel movement in utero). As the tech was finishing up the test, they wanted to give me some IV fluids to try and peak baby up. As they were starting my drip, a nurse and an anesthesiologist came to my room and he introduced himself and started asking me about allergies. Not much other discussion was had before the talk of the spinal was started when finally another nurse came in and said “she hasn’t been told of the results of the biophysical and non-stress test yet”. This is how we learned we were going to have an emergency c-section.
My doc soon came into the room and explained we only scored 4 out of 8 on the biophysical and the non-stress test showed decelerations in the baby’s heartbeat after a contraction (which can indicate an oxygen compromise for baby). I heard things like possible placental abruption but I was sort of in denial even though we had been prepared for the possibility of a cesarean section. I even said, “but baby turned vertex”, somehow thinking I could still try vaginally. My doc was very gentle with me and said, “baby cannot tolerate an induction and it is ready to come out now”. She was controlled, yet hurried and never left my side for the remainder of the process. She even had me squeeze her hands as they did the spinal. She kept asking how I was doing and saying “I know it’s not what you want but baby is ready, baby needs to come out”. It made me feel safe enough not to panic or worry more for the situation. Aaron was gowning up to join me and even had the sense enough to call a nearby cousin to bring their camera to the hospital since we didn’t have anything with us.
I don’t know the exact timeline but I do remember from incision to baby was under 10 minutes. My doc even remembered our previous discussion that if this birth ended in a c-section that I wanted to announce the gender if possible. Well, it was a good indication that all was well when baby wasn’t immediately whisked away and Aaron was asked to cut the cord. It was a few more minutes though before our pediatrician actually turned the baby to my direction and through the tears of relief I was already having, I said “it’s a boy”. Yes, our pediatrician was actually at the surgery. See, he our OB’s husband and she knew we’d want him there and she called him to come. Later we heard he was seen running from his office to the OR. It was a great comfort too for me to see him prepping and I even witnessed a wonderful exchange of a pat on the back from my doctor to her husband, our pediatrician as things were getting ready to start.
Reflecting back, it was interesting to listen to the dialogue of the surgery. When the head was out and baby was being suctioned, the assistant doctor said it looks like a big baby and my doc said “yes, we are expecting a large one”. Once the baby was fully out, you could hear nurses and the assistant say, “yep, it’s a big one”. When the pediatrician announced a weight of 9 pounds, 6 ounces, my doc said with a grin, “hmmm, I’m a little disappointed, this little guy was supposed to be bigger – I’ll have to have a talk with my tech”. Too funny, since she knows that we never bought into the size issue as we are aware of the discrepancy of ultrasound. Other things that were heard were about Weston’s dimple(s) and that he was smacking his mouth and lips in hunger already.
It was only about 45 minutes later and I was in recovery and nursing my precious baby boy. My doc came in and sang happy birthday to the baby (as she did previously with our other two babies) and I asked her if everything went well with me (she knows our desire to be able to have a VBAC if we want more children). She said all went great and this is when we learned in fact, that the placenta had begun to tear from the uterine wall and also, baby had a bowel movement in the womb (thankfully though, he did not ingest the meconium) both issues could be the probable reasoning for the low scoring tests that day.
They got me sitting up within 6 hours of the cesarean and the catheter stayed in until morning. I had fluids and pitocin on drip for 24 hours and then I was allowed to shower and be more mobile. I had staples that needed to remain until 1 week. Most of my recovery pain was due to the trapped gases in my shoulders. Our stay at the hospital was about 48 hours and Weston’s leaving weight was 8 pounds 12.7 ounces. However, we did have to return the following day for another night due to high bilirubin numbers in Weston (he was 13.9 when we left, but the next day it climbed to 17.9). Treatment with the lights still had numbers upwards of 18.3 but after a day and a half the test finally dipped to a reasonable number. He nursed round the clock and even with the heat of the lights sometimes causing dehydration, he nursed like a champ, had lots of wet and dirty diapers and even gained half a pound in weight (now up to 9 pounds 3 ounces). Home again on Saturday meant bonding time as a family of five and lots of rest and recuperation. At Weston’s one week check up, he was 10 pounds 2 ounces and 22” long (107th percentile).
We are so grateful to God for watching over us and helping us in making the right decisions for our birth. I feel I’ve had it pretty good in finding an OB and hospital conducive of our birth plans for all three of our children and I am thankful that every one has ended in a healthy mom and healthy baby, no matter how much the path may have detoured that got us there.
