As I write this on our last day in the hospital, Heather is standing over Allegra, soothing her with a lullaby. We’ve been parents now for nearly three days.
The story of Allegra’s birth begins on Thursday morning when Heather’s OB/GYN sent her to Labor and Delivery at Kaiser Sunset to induce labor. By Thursday, Allegra was four days over due.
They gave Heather an induction drug that helps the cervix dialate. She had two doses, and they wait twelve hours between each dose. She got her first dose at 4 pm on Thursday. By 4 am Friday morning, the drug hadn’t worked, so they gave her a second dose. By 4 pm on Friday, there was still no sign of labor. The doctors suggested a method to expand the cervix that uses a balloon, sort of like the balloon used to open arteries.
Less than an hour later, before they got a chance to use the balloon, Heather’s water broke, and real contractions started. They soon put Heather on Pitocin to continue inducing the labor.
Heather lasted eight ours in labor until she got a very bad contraction that pushed the baby against a nerve and she requested an epidural.
Her labor continued until about 10 am Saturday morning, when she was fully dialated and the doctors and nurses said it was time to start pushing. She pushed in the labor room for about an hour, and they moved her to the delivery room
In the delivery room, the baby was pressing against a nerve again, causing Heather excruciating pain (even with the epidural drip). She started taking swings at me and the doctors. The nurses, strangely, were not subject to her aggresive tendencies, and I, of course, bared the brunt of her pummelling.
The doctors were never quite sure what to make of this pain. It definitely WASN’T simple labor pains. Heather described it as her left hip joint being set on fire. It was so excruciating, that she was no longer able to push. Within a few contractions the baby have moved into a position to iritate the nerve without Heather pushing. At this point the doctors suggested an emergency C-section.
With a very concerned future dad sitting outside the operating room door, Heather was put under a general anesthetic, and Allegra was born at 12:57pm on Saturday, May 28th, 2005. Through the operating room door, the whole labor and delivery floor could hear the the first wailing of our beautiful baby girl. Then daddy cried like a baby, too.