Riley’s Story

So here’s the story of Riley. It will likely be pretty long and detailed, mostly because Kenny and I want to remember how that day went!

I officially considered myself in labor when my doctor came by my room at 7:15 on Monday morning and broke my water. At that point, I was 3.5cm dilated. She then started me on Pitocin around 7:30am. Those first contractions felt very similar to my regular period cramps, so I was able to put up with them for a while. I asked for my epidural around 9:30am, and the drugs were on board by 10:15am. Ah, glorious relief!

A little before 11:00am I was dilated 4cm and 70% effaced. They also put in a catheter at this point. At 12:20pm my doc came back to check me, but I hadn’t made much progress: 4-5cm dilated and 85% effaced. She decided to put in a pressure catheter to determine if my contractions were strong enough, and they would adjust the amount of Pitocin based upon the results.

Around 1:30pm I was 6cm dilated and progressing nicely. I think this is when I started to feel some pressure down yonder. Not too bad, but things were definitely beginning. Just 45 minutes later at 2:15pm I was 8.5cm dilated. And only 25 minutes after that I was 9cm and feeling MAJOR pressure.

I think they maxed out the Pitocin amount and then cut it in half when my contractions got really bad so it wouldn’t start to impede my progress. And I believe they upped my epidural at some point, but I really can’t remember. I was just concentrating on getting through each contraction without pushing. That was tough. But I managed, and when I finally got to 10cm just before 3:30pm, things kicked into high gear. They got me into the delivery position and I started to push with two nurses and Kenny helping.

We were hoping to get Riley’s head a bit further down the birth canal before my doc came over to help me finish up the process. However, my body had other ideas. I pushed and pushed and made some progress, but his head was getting hung up on a band of tissue that just wouldn’t stretch enough to let him through.

My doc got there around 4:30pm and started her words of encouragement to me. I remember her coming in, but shortly after I had my eyes firmly closed through each contraction and also while I rested in between. I was getting very tired from the strain of pushing.

I still couldn’t get him past that band of tissue, so my doc ended up having to perform an episiotomy. After that, I think it only took a couple more rounds of contractions for me to finally push his head out. My doc realized that he was going to be a big baby and called for extra nurses. I think there were 6 or 7 nurses in the room at the time of delivery, but I certainly didn’t care!

Riley was twisted sideways, which also made it harder for me to push him out. One of the nurses that had been with me most of the day actually leaned her whole upper body and forearms onto my belly during the last 2 sets of contractions to help get him out. And while it was a little uncomfortable for me, it worked! Riley Scott was born at 5:03pm on Monday, August 30, 2010.

As a result of Riley coming out sideways, he actually broke his collarbone on his left side. (Our pediatrician later told us this was fairly common and not to worry. It will take 4-6 weeks to heal. He ordered an X-ray of the break and decided to immobilize Riley’s left arm somewhat by tucking it inside his shirt and pinning the sleeve across his chest. We’re still doing this today.) Riley also released some meconium while I was pushing, but my doc said it hadn’t adversely affected him. She suctioned his airways clear, and Kenny cut the umbilical cord.

Riley was placed on my chest for a bit right after he came out, and then he was whisked away to the other side of the room to be tended to by the nurses. He was cleaned, weighed, warmed, inked for footprints, and given ID bands. Kenny went with him and took lots of pictures.

As for me, I was going nowhere. My doc had to stitch me up on account of my experiencing third degree extension tearing, on top of my episiotomy. Super. I stayed on Pitocin after delivery to help my uterus contract and shrink but this time with no accompanying pressure. Thank God.

After I was all cleaned up, Kenny passed Riley off to me so I could feed him. I was still a little groggy from the epidural and also fairly weak but gave it a shot. Kenny went out to tell our families the good news and then came back to take Riley to the nursery for a more thorough assessment. He was in there for about two hours, and our relatives practically jumped through the glass window trying to get a look at him, Aunt Erin especially!

I was moved to my post-partum room while Riley was in the nursery, and we finally got to have him back around 8:30 Monday night. Both sets of our parents, Aunt Erin, and Uncle Jeff were so excited to see him up close and hold him.

What a day. I have to give enormous credit to the nursing staff at the hospital, both in the labor and delivery and post-partum departments. Carole, Barbara, and Valerie were great during my labor, and Ronda, Val, Paula, and Karen were incredibly helpful during my recovery days. The nursery staff were also wonderful, especially Jenna and her expert swaddling technique!

I also have to attribute my getting through this process wholeheartedly to my husband. He was so great the whole day, getting me what I needed, telling me when to breathe deep for a bad contraction (and letting me know when it was almost over), holding my hand when I needed him to (and not when I didn’t), bracing my leg during those last hard pushes, and, most importantly, announcing the arrival of our son into this world. He was my rock and I could not have done this without him. I love you so much, Baby!