Dylan is Home!!!!

Hello All,

Well it finally happened, baby Dylan is home. I guess I should start on Wednesday November 15th, when Lisa went to see Dr. Miller (she is Lisa's OB/GYN).

Wednesday afternoon, Lisa and I went to see Dr. Miller. She examined Lisa and said that she was concerned about her blood pressure. She said that it was a little too high. She suggested thinking about inducing. We told her that we would think about it. Inducing would cause the uterus to contract and speed up the birthing process.

That next morning Lisa had some very strong contractions. Lisa was sure that these contractions were much stronger than the ones last week ( we went to the hospital last week with contractions and they sent us home). She still wanted to wait untill they were closer together before we went. That same day she had an appointment for a non-stress test (I think I told you about them in a previous blog). Lisa said that we would go and take the non- stress test and then see where we were at. Again her blood pressure was high. She went through the test and her nurse who was administering it said that she would give the results to Dr. Miller, who was there that day. Dr. Miller made an appointment for Lisa to go to the Birthing Center in Turlock, CA that afternoon to be examined to see whether to induce or just wait it out.

The appointment was for 3:00pm, so Lisa and I went home, checked Brittnee and Samantha out of school and then went to the hospital. We parked in the back of the hospital and went through the emergency entrance. After all of the paperwork was filled out in the triage area, we were escorted to the birthing center with Lisa in a wheelchair and Brittnee, Samantha and I following. They put us in Labor room #2 to do some preliminary tests. They wanted to check her blood pressure, Dylan's heartbeat and Lisa's vitals. Our admitting nurse, Amanda, was extremely nice and helpful. she made sure we were all comfy and that Lisa had everything that she needed. We were supposed to be there 1 hour. If everything was good then we would go home. Anything wrong she would stay.

The girls went with there sister Kaylah for awhile and when Brittnee and Samantha returned they had said they were hungry. Lisa was still being checked out, waiting for answers, so I told her that I would take the girls to get something to eat. We went to In-N-Out burger. When we returned, we went into room #2 and Lisa was gone. I asked where she was and Amanda pointed us to Labor Room #5.

This room was much bigger than the previous room. It was a single room with a television, a couch that pulled out into a bed (I didn't find this out until half way through the night), a rocking chair and a warming bed for baby.

I asked Lisa why they changed rooms and Lisa said that they were worried about Dylan's heart rate and so they decided to induce. Happy and scared were the first 2 emotions that I had. I was happy that we were going to finally start labor and scared about knowing it was starting a little earlier than we had planned.

With some effort Cindy, one of the other nurses, put an IV into the top of Lisa's left hand. She had fluids and some antibiotics hooked up to it. They started off with some pharmaceuticals to open the cervix. You see, Dylan's head was very low into the pelvis but, the cervix was what they called "posterior". Which means that the cervix was to the back of the pelvis and not at the bottom ( Google it if that explaination was confusing, I did). The nurse told us that once the cervix is effaced (again Google it) Dylan would take no time in coming out.

My Mom, Carmen, my brother, David, and my sister Julie showed up around 7:00pm (my brother did show up first. Yes david, you won again!). I would love to thank them because they took some of the pressure off both Lisa and me by making it light and fun, if I can use fun for this situation. Kaylah and Cole (Kaylah's boyfriend) made it at around 8:00pm. Coleman left after an hour.

Mom and Julie stayed until 2:00am that morning and David stayed until 2:30am (again, well done David). This would be about 11 hours in to this wonderful process.

19 hours into it, Doctor Doan (pronounced doe-on) came in and said that she was finally going to start the Pitocin. This is the good stuff. This will start her contractions, making them move faster (Google). She started with a low dose of 6 ml. The contractions came but not as fast as they wanted so, they upped the dose to 12 ml. Once again, the contractions were not coming as fast as the doctor wanted so, up goes the dose. Finally, Lisa suggested that they just break her "bag of waters". So they did and that is when the "fireworks" started. It is probably 11:00pm now.

The next contraction that Lisa had was so strong that here eyes grew big and she said "Richard, I can't do this!". I lovingly looked into her eyes and said that it will be okay "just breathe". She pulled me forcefully close to her and said, " No Richard, I can't do this!". At this point all the Lamaze classes went out the window. I was on survival mode. Immediately we called the nurse and asked if we could have a half dose of Stadol. This drug just takes the edge off of the contractions so that she would be able to relax a little more. The stuff worked great and Lisa was able to sleep for an hour and a half. I also took advantage and slept.

After 1 1/2 hours the stadol was wearing off and lisa was again feeling the pain. The nurse came in and checked Lisa to see how dilated she was. The nurse at this point was Stacey. Stacey said that Lisa was 5 cm dilated. Lisa was not happy about this. We were both thinking that we would be farther along.

After the nurse finished with the check up she gave Lisa another 1/2 dose of Stadol. This dose although helpful, didn't cut the pain like the first dose did. After another hour, again, the stadol was wearing off. Now Lisa was really in pain. She was feeling it all in her back. She would have to sit straight up through the contractions while I rubbed her back. Dr. Doan came in and told both Lisa and me that it would be better if Lisa layed back and puffed short breaths like she was "blowing out a candle". So Lisa being very compliant did what the doctor told her to do. Once the doctor left, Lisa said, "I am going to sit up and breathe how I want!". Who do you think I listened to.


Dr. Doan came in and said that she had to leave and that Dr. Norman was going to take over. The doctor introduced herself and then she left. Another half hour past and the contractions were coming very hard now but still not consistent. Lisa talked to the nurse and told her that she was really in a lot of pain. They asked Lisa if she was ready for an epidural. She said, "anything to take the pain away!". The nurse said that she had to check and see how far along Lisa was. To check Lisa, she asked her to bear down a little to see exactly where dylans head was. She said that his head was very low and that Lisa was at 8 cm. Stacey said that she was going to get everything ready for delivery. She went to the ticker tape that was printing all of Lisa and dylans' vital statistics and wrote down "8cm" on the page, then she went out of the room to get all of the supplies for the "Big Event".


While Stacey was preparing for dylan's entrance, Lisa said to me, "I feel like pushing". I immediately called Stacey and informed her of what Lisa was feeling. She told me to have her breathe short and shallow to prevent any more pushing. I asked Lisa to breathe "short and shallow" and she said "I SAID I NEED TO PUSH!". She said that she could feel the head coming down and then Samantha, who was , by the way, helping her mother by letting Lisa hold on to her arms while I rubbed her back said "I SEE THE HEAD!". Sure enough, there was dylans' whole head, not just the crown. Stacey came running in and immediately ran to the bed. She said "okay Lisa, now I need you to push. Now, mind you, there were no stirrups, the table wasn't dropped, Stacey didn't even have time to wash and sanitize her hands. She just jumped right in and one good push later, out he popped!

The great rush of emotions were almost too much. I was crying and telling Lisa that she did great all the while looking at one of Gods true miracles. The thought that one single embryo can produce a small human being is a wonder to behold. Lisa and I read something very early on in the pregnancy, that read "How often do you get the chance to help God with a miracle".

The girls were crying and smiling. I think it traumatized Samantha though, but, I also think that this was a great experience for the girls to witness. It shows them that it really isn't like the movies where you slide into the hospital and within an hour and you come out with a baby and a makeover.



They checked dylan and took some blood. They came back and said that his blood sugar levels were low so they wanted to monitor him for awhile. They said that when Lisa starts to feed him his sugars should go up. And they were right. They did keep Lisa and dylan at the hospital until Sunday and then we all came home.

Okay, sleep deprivation is hard (Lisa is really being hit with it), but it is all worth it. We have been blessed with a wonderful baby and a great family. This may be the end of this chapter but, this is just chapter1 and there are more chapters to be written. I am looking forward to each and every one. I will end here and update you all later.

God Bless,

Richard