Sami Part I

What a wild night of events. I will try and encompass everything that happened the night Sami was born in this one blog but I may forget some things and will need to add later. Stacey and I went to the hospital around 7:30 pm on Saturday January 26th. We arrived at the hospital around 8:00 pm and filled out some paperwork. Then, a nurse led us to room where Stacey would eventually have Samantha. Stacey was asked to strip and put on a hospital gown. For the life of us, we could not figure out how the gown went on. Amid laughs, I asked the nurse to give us a hand. After getting the gown on, Stacey was examined and given a 'mezo-pill' to aid in softening the cervix and possibly induce labor. Stacey was asked to get some rest and around 1:30 am she would get checked in. Stacey and I talked and read some books and tried to sleep, though sleep did not come easy. Around 1:45 am Stacey was checked again and found that she had dialated to a 3 and she did not need another 'mezo-pill.' The nurse told Stacey that within the next few hours she might need an epidural. So, Stacey and I were again told to get some rest until that time. Shortly after that, I heard Stacey groaning in pain as she was having hard contractions about 1 minute apart. I convinced her to get the epidural though she was reluctant because she didn't want to be on an epidural for 10 hours. The pain was too much and she called for the nurse to bring the epidural. Around 2:50 am, the anathesiologist arrived and administered the epidural, a process that took fully 15-20 minutes. Once everything was working fine, the nurse checked Stacey again and said that her bag of water was swollen and would break within the next couple of hours. The nurse left the room to let us rest yet once again. Within 10 minutes, Stacey blurts out, "My water broke." We call the nurse and she comes in and cleans Stacey up. She said that Stacey would eventually feel pressure like she has to push and when that time comes we were to call her again. Stacey and I once again lay down to rest and within 10 minutes Stacey is tell me that she has a pressure and feels like she has to push. We call the nurse again and she comes in to check Stacey. By now the time is close to 4 am. The nurse tells us that the baby is right there and she calls for the doctor. Within seconds, the room fills up with nurses who set up the room in anticipation of the baby. The doctor and resident arrive and tell Stacey to start pushing at the contractions. In the meantime, I am holding Stacey's legs and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the baby. Stacey begins pushing and in a short time the baby's head begins to approach the opening. The resident checks the head and I see hair on the baby's head. This is something new to me, since both our boys were virtually bald when they came out. Stacey does about 6 or 7 pushes and the head is ready to pop out. The nurse says to the doctor "72 doctor." I immediately look over to the heart rate monitor and see that it has dropped from then normal 142 bpm to 68 bpm. The doctor who has patiently been standing in the background comes forward and strongly encourages Stacey to push and get that baby out. Stacey does some good strong pushes and the head pops out. Immediate concern eminates in the room, as the cord is wrapped twice around Samantha's neck. The nurse lets me know that they need to cut the cord and are worried that I might feel bad because I don't get to do it. I hurriedly exclaim that they need to cut the cord and not to worry about me. They cut the cord and ask Stacey to push once again. The shoulders and body come flying out and Samantha is face down. She looked so lifeless as the doctor held her and there was no movement or color to her body. At this point, I am extremely nervous because of the things I have just witnessed - low heart rate and cord around her neck. I immediately think the worst. The doctor turns her over and cleans out her mouth and nose. Samantha takes a huge breath and begins to breath outside of the womb. Color slowly enters her body. The nurses take her to the warming tray and begins to examine her and clean her up. Once she is all clean, she is taken to the weight try where she weighs in at a whopping 5 lbs 7.6 ounces (she would eventually leave the hospital at 4.5 oz) and 18 1/2 inches long. By this point, we are so excited to have our little girl into the world and know that everything will be alright. Once Stacey is stitched up and cleaned up, Stacey and Samantha are moved to another room or the recovery room where Stacey would spend the next 30+ hours recovering. What a cute little girl we have added to our family! Everyone is so excited for this sweet little girl to come into our family.