Thomas Richard Ihle--A Long Awaited Arrival: My Speedy Arrival

Sunday November 29 was a very busy and special day for our family. Mommy didn't sleep much at all the night before in anticipation of my arrival. So Mommy and Daddy woke up at 5:00 am to get everything loaded up for the hospital and get on the road. Nana came over to stay with Amelia, and we made the drive up.

At 7:00 am we arrived at the hospital to check in and went on up to the labor and maternity ward. They got Mommy all checked in and started her IV so that they could get the Pitocin drip pumping. A little while later, our midwife Kim stopped by to check in and let us know she was there. She checked Mommy to see what her progress was and found that we had made a little bit of progress from the previous day. She said we needed to keep the Pitocin going for awhile to get me dropped down in place before we could break the water. Her concern was that if she broke it while I was still up in there too far, that I would come down on the cord and end up in an emergency situation.

Mommy and Daddy walked around the halls for awhile, trying to keep her contractions productive. Mommy also rolled around on the birthing ball for awhile to try and coax me down into the proper position. That seemed to work pretty well, because not much after that, Kim came back to check on us again and said that I had finally come down into a great position and we were ready to break the water. So at noon, after a few hours of very mild and totally comfortable contractions, Kim broke Mommy's water and that's when the fun got started.

Almost immediately Mommy's contractions started to pick up in intensity and speed. They made her stay in bed for about an hour to keep a close eye on her blood pressure and my heart rate. She did her deep breathing and did really well with getting through each contraction. They had to turn down the Pitocin a few times to slow the contractions down a little. At around 1:00 they allowed Mommy to get out of bed and the filled up the whirlpool bathtub for Mommy to sit in and relax away some of the contraction pain.

The bathtub helped Mommy's pain a lot and she continued to relax in the tub for about an hour. Right before 2:00 Mommy told Kim that the pain was changing and she was pretty sure it was time to get out of the tub and back into the bed. She rested after one final contraction and then tried to get up. As soon as she stood up in the tub, the next contraction started and Mommy was immediately sure that standing up had been a mistake. She knelt back down in the tub and Kim told her to stay right there while she went to round up some gloves, because she thought Mommy might have me right there in the tub. When the contraction finally passed, Kim told Daddy to grab Mommy's other arm and they were going to rush me back to the bed. They threw a blanket around Mommy and rushed her as fast as they could across the room. Good thing they did because as soon as she got back into the bed the next contraction started. Kim told Daddy to go ahead and put some gloves on because she was going to let him do a little more than just cutting the cord, but about that time she went to check Mommy and see how dilated she was and found instead that I was already on my way out. She told Daddy to push the orange button to get the nurses in the room and they immediately rushed in. On the next contraction Kim told Mommy she could push slowly, so she pushed and then rested until the next round. Then came the final contraction and Mommy pushed me completely out on that last one push. They found a slightly scary surprise in that the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck twice. This was a huge surprise because my heart rate had been perfect throughout the entire day, so they didn't even suspect that this could be a possiblity. But they got the cord moved and put me on my mommy's belly and she was so happy to see me for the first time.