Addie and Piper both set the expectation that our babies were born at 39 weeks and 6 days. Turns out this one would decide to hang out a bit longer. My official due date was July 19th but I suspect that July 22nd was closer to accurate. But what is 3 days between friends, right? Well the 18th came and went. The 19th came and went. The 21st, 22nd and what seemed like many more days came and went without a baby. At some point I stopped getting up in the morning thinking “maybe today is the day!” It turns out that July 28th would be the day.
I had an appointment with the midwives that morning and was at 4cm, 80% effaced and still -1 station. I was certain we’d make our induction date of August 2nd since I had’t made any progress in the past week. During my appointment I had her strip my membranes with little hope that it would help but knowing it couldn’t hurt either. We also discussed the induction date and I asked if there was any possibility of moving it back a few days to better align with what I believe was 42 weeks (which is as far as they’ll “allow” you to go past your due date). She reminded me that I could refuse any treatment option I wasn’t comfortable with but that she wasn’t comfortable moving the date back. The decision was completely in our hands along with all its risks and benefits. I left the appointment in tears which made it really hard to answer Addie’s 1001 questions on the drive home. It would saved me a lot of trouble had I known then that I wouldn’t even get the opportunity to discuss the possibility with Adam.
When we got home the girls and I ate lunch, hung out for a while and then I put them down for nap/rest time. Since Adam was working from home I took advantage of the time to go put gas in the van and decided to actually fill the tires since my tire light had been on for over a week. Nothing like filling your tires at 41 weeks pregnant when it’s 100 degrees and humid out! Once I was done I stopped at Steak and Shake and got Adam and I shakes since we could eat them without getting caught by the girls. I got home and sat down at the table to finish my shake while Adam took his upstairs to continue working. As I was sitting there I felt the baby move and thought “oh, that’s uncomfortable!” then I heard a ‘pop’ and suddenly felt my water break. I was pretty surprised since my water hadn’t broken until the first push with Piper (and was broken by my OB with Addie) and because I wasn’t having any contractions.
Since Piper came so quickly I had been told by one of the midwives to come in as soon as my water broke even if I wasn’t having close or regular contractions. I walked upstairs, stuck my head in the computer room and said “I hate to interrupt what you’re working on but my water just broke…” Adam quickly finished up what he was doing and then came down and started putting our bags in the car and getting the last minute things together. Addie was already up watching a show and Piper woke up shortly after I went upstairs so we didn’t have to worry about waking her from her nap. While we were gathering our things I started having some mild contractions that were 6-7 minutes apart but they weren’t even remotely painful. I went ahead and called Stefanie, our amazing friend who would be watching the girls for us, and paged the midwife on call (who was also a Stephanie!). Once we had the car loaded we headed out hoping we’d have time to drop the girls off this time.
Stefanie lives about 35 minutes away and I did much better in the car this time than I did with Piper! I actually stayed sitting, with my seatbelt on, no screaming and I managed to answer most of Addie’s non-stop questions between contractions! By the time we got to Stef’s house contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart but still not really painful. Adam brought the girls in and then we were off to the hospital.
The hospital is about another 30 minutes from Stef’s house during that drive contractions stayed about 2 minutes apart but were slowly getting more painful. I was still composed enough to read Adam the directions to the hospital since we were taking the back roads not our normal route. When we got there we left the van with valet and walked in and up to labor and delivery. They asked us to wait while they checked another person in so I patiently waited calmly breathing through contractions in the hallway. Finally it was our turn and they needed my signature on some paperwork. I remember complaining to Adam during a contraction about why they have you fill out paperwork during labor! Still seems silly to me. Like you’re really going to read it and/or care what you’re signing! The midwife who was on call was sitting there at the desk and told them to just send us to a delivery room rather than triage since I had been dilated to 4cm the week prior.
Once we got into our room I got changed and Adam rubbed my back through contractions. After a few I started feeling pressure like I wanted to push so they checked me and I was 6cm, 100% effaced but baby was still at -1. Carry on contractions! The nurse was trying to take my blood during all this but never had long enough to do more than tie the tourniquet on my arm before the next contraction. No more than 10 minutes later I felt like I wanted to push again so the nurse checked and I was at 9cm. I complained that I still had 1 to go (and Adam and the nurse laughed given how fast things were going)!
After another 2 contractions it was time and with just a couple pushes she was crowning and then things got chaotic. Once she was out to about the bridge of her nose she got stuck. Turns out her shoulder was stuck on my pelvic bone (shoulder dystocia). They started calling in other people to help and wanted me to pull my knees back as far as possible which I simply couldn’t do. When the OB team got in there to assist they pulled me down flat onto my back and basically turned my legs into pretzels in order to get her out. According to Adam someone was pulling her out and I seem to remember someone pushing on my stomach trying to get her to move. It was incredibly painful and I think I screamed louder then than I had during any of my labors. A minute and 2 seconds after her head was delivered her body followed. They put her on my stomach and got her crying and then quickly brought her to the other side of the room where the NICU team was waiting to check on her. Phew! Things went so quickly and were so chaotic I didn’t know what the problem was at the time.
Her official birth time was 4:55pm on July 28th. Just 2 hours and 15 minutes after my water broke and less than 2 hours from the time contractions started.
During the NICUs evaluation they discovered she wasn’t moving her right arm. Apparently this is a common birth injury with shoulder dystocia. She doesn’t move her shoulder or elbow at all but does move her wrist and fingers. This is called Erb’s palsy and is caused by the nerves leaving the spine being severed, torn or stretched. At this point we don’t know the extent of the damage to the nerves but in most cases (90%) it resolves itself within 3-6 months. We saw the occupational therapist in the hospital and she gave us a couple exercises to do with her at home and scheduled a follow up appointment.
The following day, the 29th, when I was talking to the midwife making rounds I asked why the shoulder dystocia is such an emergency. Obviously baby couldn’t stay in there forever but the way everything happened it was clear that time was critical. Apparently once the baby is stuck the assumption is the umbilical cord is no longer providing oxygen because it is often pinched somewhere. If baby is stuck for too long they can have brain damage and it can also cause fatalities. Nobody is concerned about that with Mckinley since it was just over a minute that she was stuck but it is scary thinking how close it could have been. Had Adam not been working from home or had we not been told to leave for the hospital right away if my water broke she likely would have been born either at home or on the way to the hospital which normally wouldn’t be a problem but could have been devastating in our case.
But at the end of the day she is happy and healthy! Her big sisters ADORE her and want to hold her anytime she is around. They are always hugging her and kissing her and loving on her. So far she is pretty laid back, sleeps a lot, loves her baths and her swing. We feel very blessed to have her in our lives!
Full name: Mckinley Quinn
Birth date/time: July 28th 2011, 4:55pm
Weight: 9lbs 12 1/2 oz
Length: 21 1/4 inches
