The Voorhies Family: The Birth Story (The WHOLE story)

Whew - it has been a whirlwind month!

Jon and I went to my 37 week sonogram and appointment along with our neighbor's 3 month old sweet baby girl that I am watching. We got lots of strange looks with people trying to figure out how I could be pregnant and still have a 3 month old - you could see them trying to do the math in their heads. It was pretty hilarious! Baby V was measuring small on the sono, so they referred me to the perinatologist to follow up with another sono and measurements. We went straight there and he was measuring in the 5th percentile (5lbs. 4oz.) which puts him in the range for IUGR (intra-uterine growth restriction). Basically, he wasn't able to grow as well as they would have hoped inside, so they decided it was time for Baby V to continue his growth outside the womb. We were shocked to learn we were going to be induced that day. Instead of being admitted directly to the hospital, they were kind enough to allow me to go home first to drop off the baby girl with another caregiver and pack up a few last-minute items. Due to it being chaotic year-end close in the finance world, Jon rushed back to work (probably quite flustered being told he was going to be a daddy 3 weeks sooner than expected) to finish up some entries that could not wait. We picked up an antibiotic prescription for Jon (who was starting to feel a little congested) and stopped to say a quick "hi" to our friend, Nathan, before we headed to the hospital.
We were admitted and began the Cervidil that evening. We were instructed that it was only going to soften my cervix to get ready for the induction with Pitocin in the morning and to make sure we got our rest that night. They offered me something to help me sleep, but I refused wanting to do as much without any drugs as possible. Jon promptly got comfortable and began snoring. I began experiencing intense painful contractions, which I thought was just my cervix softening and began feeling like a wuss because this part wasn't supposed to be painful. I spent 6 hours working through the contractions (coming every 2 minutes). I was trying to be as quiet as possible, so as to not wake Jon up. Finally, I asked the nurse if I could have that medicine to help me sleep after all, because I wasn't sure how much more I could take even though it was just the beginning. They gave me the medicine, but after an hour and a half I was still quite awake and in pain. The nurse was confused as to how that was possible, so they decided to go ahead and check my progress. They were shocked to discover I was already 6 centimeters dilated. They immediately removed the Cervidil to keep me from progressing too quickly and offered me the Epidural. I had wanted to experience labor naturally for as long as I could tolerate, and after 8 hours of intense contractions and knowing that I had a long day ahead of me in the morning, I opted to get the Epidural. Ahhh - I could finally get the rest I needed.
They administered the Pitocin in the morning, which kicked in with extremely strong contractions. My epidural developed what is called a "hot spot" which meant that it wasn't working properly, and I could feel everything on my left side. That eventually spread all the way across where I could now feel it all. The anesthesiologist saved the day by putting a shot directly into the line. A couple of hours after the Pitocin was administered they checked and were surprised that I was fully dilated and ready to push.

We started with some "practice" pushing with the nurse first, but after just a couple of contractions she said, "Stop, stop, stop! We need to call the doctor!". We waited for the doctor and a few short pushes later, Baby V literally fell out into the world. It had happened so quickly the doctor had to catch him to keep him from falling onto the floor. Due to it progressing so quickly, I also sustained 3rd degree (one of the worst) tearing which has been a challenging recovery. I have to add that Jon was a champ through all of this. He had to help hold one of my legs because it was dead weight from the Epidural. He was amazing the whole time !

They immediately set Baby V on my tummy where he proceeded to "make his mark" by urinating all over the place. Proud daddy Jon got to cut the cord. They had the NICU team ready to check the baby and take him to the NICU if needed because of the IUGR and problems we had during the pregnancy. The checked him over and said "He's perfect!" which was music to my ears (I think I just heard, "Your baby is too handsome to take to the NICU!". Just to show-off how healthy he was, he gave the exam table and NICU nurses another dousing of urine. The teacher in me is proud to announce that he got a rare perfect 10 out of 10 on his APGAR test after birth (I made him study for the last 8 months though, so that's to be expected). They wrapped him up and we were able to spend our first moments as a family. What a miracle!