Length of Labor: 7.5 hours

 

The Labor

February 12, 2002

At midnight, I made changes to our web site.  This is what I wrote:

 

Baby facts:

2/12/03: The baby is due in 1 week!  The baby is now considered to be full-term. They say that 85% of babies are born within 2 weeks of their due date, so hopefully I'll be giving birth sometime in the next 3 weeks!

 

Little did I know how soon it would be!

 

The labor starts:

At 3:55am I woke up with really sharp pains right above my pubic bone.  I’m not sure how long it lasted for, maybe until 4am, but I felt intense pain again at 4:10am.  I had not felt any Braxton Hicks (false labor) contractions so I thought that maybe this was it.  I went to the office to document the times so I had a record of how long they were and how often.  The pains came irregularly but often ranging from 2-6 minutes apart.  I didn’t want to bother the midwife on call.  I had borrowed a relaxation tape to view about how to relax during contractions so I thought now would be a good time to watch it, but I was in no mood.  At 4:30am I called the center and Melanie, the midwife on call called me back.  She listened as I explained the pains and during one of them I started crying because it hurt so much.  Bob was on call at Newark.  At 5am Melanie told me that I should have Bob come home to be with me.  I told her that he was off at 6:30am so I wanted to wait until then because he’d be done for the whole day and if it were false labor, then he wouldn’t have to miss the rest of the week.  She told me to get into the tub and to call him and at least let him know what was going on.  I called him and told him that if he got called out on a trip, not to go because I didn’t know what was going on with me.  As I was talking to him, the pains got worse.  These were definitely some type of contractions.  I kept reaching to see if my water broke by feeling for hot water.  Bob started getting his stuff ready so at 6:30 he could leave right away.  After an hour, Bob told me he was going to call Melanie back and tell her I had been having contractions for an hour every 2 minutes.  While he was talking to me, at 6:15am, Bob got a call that he was being sent out on a trip to Buffalo.  He told them that I was in labor so he had to call in sick.  They were very happy for him and released him.  He told me he was coming home and we were going to the hospital.  I could not get ready, I was in a lot of pain and it lasted quite a while each time.  I felt a gush come out and looked on the bed.  It was bloody.  I don’t think it was my bag of water but I suppose it could have been.  When Bob got home, he helped dress me but I would walk from the bedroom to the bathroom and collapse in a contraction, then was able to walk downstairs and collapse again.  Bob told me that the sooner we could get into the car, the sooner we cold get going so I forced myself out the door.  I sat in the front seat and had to sit sideways because of the pain.  Melanie had taught me how to breathe through the contractions.  I needed to let my body do its work and make the contractions effective and if I screamed in pain, I would tense up my body.

 

The car ride:

Bob was afraid that at 7:30am we would be stuck in rush hour traffic.  What guy hasn’t fantasized about being pulled over by a cop while speeding and explaining that your wife was in labor?  Bob didn’t want to go too fast until we got to the Garden State Parkway because they might have escorted us to a nearby local hospital, as opposed to the one our midwife was meeting us at.  The traffic turned out to be great.   I was suffering through many contractions and grabbing the hand bars each time as I breathed.  At 8:30am we got to the hospital, and the pain was so bad.  Bob opened the door for me and I told him to have them get me a wheelchair.  It took him a while and I had 2 contractions while he was away.  He came back and I had to walk into the lobby. 

 

At the hospital: 

As I walked into the hospital I collapsed in pain and they put me in the worst wheelchair in the world!  Ok, maybe not the worst, but very wobbly so I was being bumped while having my contractions.  I collapsed on the hospital bed and Bob had to help me put the hospital gown on.  I didn’t know how long I would have to be in this incredibly intense pain.  If it would be for hours, I would have to have help and told them that. They checked my cervix.  The cervix needs to dilate to 10 centimeters in order to deliver.  I was at 9.5 centimeters!  I could have sworn that I heard them tell me that I would have a baby any minute now.  They told me that this was the worst of it, and once I started pushing which would be very soon, it wouldn’t hurt as much.  I was wondering where Lonnie, the midwife on call (Melanie got off at 8am), was because Melanie told she would let her and the hospital know I was on my way.  Before she came, I felt the urge to push.  It was very interesting.  The nurses told me not to and I asked why?  If my body wanted to push the baby, I was going to do it.  Bob called his mother and sister (Janet) and told them that they said the baby would come out anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours.  Lonnie came at about 8:45am.  She held me and told me something about understanding the pain.  That was nice.  She checked my cervix and told me that if she removed the “rim”, the baby would start coming out.  She tried but it hurt so much that she said it was better to let nature take its course.  She sat down and was doing some beading, which after a while annoyed me because I felt like she wasn’t paying attention to me.  Every once in a while I would hear her say “you’re so strong, you’re doing so well” from her chair but it seemed more like a speech than a real response.  After a while I asked her if she was going to check my cervix again.  All this time, I had been pushing through the contractions.  She checked again at about 9:30am and she said the baby was ready to come out.  It turns out that when I pushed, even though they could start seeing the head, it would go back in a little.  Lonnie was massaging my perinea so it would stretch.  It burned.  The baby’s heartbeat started getting low, in the 80’s I think.  Lonnie wasn’t concerned.  They gave me oxygen to breathe to help the baby.   Every time I pushed, I thought that maybe this time it would be it and it would be over.  No such luck.  One time someone mentioned to reach down and feel the baby’s head so I did.  It was small! 

 

The arrival:

At 11:13am, Brandon Chen Tilp entered this world.  The cord was around his neck.  When I pushed the rest of his body out, I was so happy that the pain was now over!  When he came out, Lonnie put him on my stomach and Bob told me he was a boy.  I was so exhausted.  I was very happy.  I didn’t hear him crying, and they put him in the warmer and were doing some testing.  I found out that he had trouble breathing.  His APGAR at 1 minute was a low 3 out of 10.  The pediatrician took Brandon to the Special Care unit to check him out in case he needed some help.  Lonnie had given him chest compressions and oxygen.  His 5 minute APGAR was 9 and they said he was fine.  I still had to deliver the placenta and was told I’d still have contractions.  I couldn’t believe it!  More contractions?  I thought I was done!  After the placenta came out, Lonnie put one stitch in me because I tore a little. 

 

Meeting the baby:

I did not get to see Brandon again until around 2 hours later but I was fine with it since I was so exhausted.   They brought Brandon in and I held him.  Soon after I breastfed him and luckily he took to the breast.

 

Visitors:

Brandon’s first visitors were Mom and Janet who witnessed his birth.  When he was 8 hours old, he met his Great Aunt Michelle and her son Uncle Alex.  The next day Janet came again this time with her friend Sue along with Mom and Bob's younger sister, Sam.  Later that evening, Bob’s friend Steve visited.  And the day we checked out of the hospital, Brandon’s cousin Paul (Janet’s son) visited with his girlfriend Suzanne.

 

Hospital Stay:

Bob, Brandon and I  stayed in the hospital for 2 days.  It was so great that Bob stayed with me that whole time.  We also had Brandon with us in the room the whole time except for a short period the second night when Bob wanted me to sleep and was worried that Brandon would wake me up.  I was surprised that I was bleeding so much after the delivery, and it was so sore down in that area and I had so much trouble peeing!  It took forever the first time and it hurt so much going back to the bed that the next time I had the urge, I just stayed in that bathroom.  Lunch came and I ate right in there.  I even fed Brandon in there.  The first night Brandon was more interested in sleeping than eating.  I kept trying to wake him up during the night to feed him but it wasn’t going to happen so I had no sleep that night.  The second night he was crying very often to eat.  Bob brought him to the nursery, during one stretch of time he stopped feeding but came back shortly and saw that the lights were turned out bright and Brandon was crying.  He couldn’t stand it and took him back.  That night, the staff told me that if Brandon didn’t pee by Friday midnight, they would have to give him formula since he wasn’t peeing.  I was determined to get him to pee, and luckily, he did!  They also gave him a bath and I watched.  Brandon had no problem pooing the meconium that he accumulated prior to delivery. 

 

Check out:

We checked out of the hospital on Friday, February 14, 2003, Valentine’s day.  What a wonderful Valentine’s gift for Bob and me!  Of course Brandon wasn’t too happy that he had to be circumcised that morning.  Bob went with him and filmed it so I could see later what was done.  We also filmed the labor and I have yet to watch either event.  We then left for Grandma’s house!  Wendy got to take a nice nap while Grandma and Daddy kept Brandon company!  When we came home later that night, we introduced Brandon to his sister and brother, Alice and Ghost.

 

It still amazes me that Bob was so close to missing the delivery.  If I had gone into labor an hour or so later, or if Bob got the call to fly earlier, he would have missed it!'

 

 

Condensed version of labor and delivery:

 

I woke up at 3:50am on February 12, 2003, 1 week before the due date, with sharp pains above my pubic bone.  I had never felt Braxton Hicks (false labor) contractions before so I thought this might be it since the due date hadn't come and most first pregnancies are late.  The week before, I had been leaking fluid and on the 10th we tested it.  The strip said it was negative for amniotic fluid.  I had several contractions and documented the time and duration.  I finally called the midwife at 4:30am and told her what I was feeling.  She listened to my descriptions of the pain and at 5am told me I should have Bob home with me.  Bob was on call at Newark until 6:30am so I wanted to wait until he got off so he could come home and spend the day with me without being released from the rest of his schedule in case it was just false labor.  I got into the tub and called Bob.  After an hour he called the midwife and told her I was having contractions every 2 minutes for an hour.  They were getting more intense.  At 6:15am, 15 minutes before he was to be released, crew scheduling called Bob and told him he was being sent out on a trip to Buffalo.  He told them that I was in labor and couldn't go.  When Bob came home, I could not walk too far before I collapsed in another contraction.  He managed to get me into the car for an hour trip to the hospital.  Luckily, even though it was rush hour, we had didn't encounter any traffic. 

 

By the time we got to the hospital at 8am, the pain was so bad.  I didn't know how much longer I could take the pain since I had no idea how long I would have to suffer through it.  Since my cervix was 9.5 out of 10 centimeters dilated when they checked me, they said it was any moment that the baby could come.  Bob called his mother and sister Janet and they rushed to the hospital.  They were able to witness the birth of the 9th grandchild.

 

After much pushing, and a 7.5 hour labor, Brandon Chen Tilp finally came out at 11:13am.  The first thing Bob said was that it was a boy.  So much for breaking the Tilp tradition of having a first born boy.  And here I had the feeling during my pregnancy that it was girl.  Boy was I wrong!  Brandon had trouble breathing because he had the cord around his neck so they had to give him oxygen and took him away to check him out.  His 1 minute APGAR score was a low 3 out of 10, but the 5 minutes was a 9.  Bob and I are so thrilled to have him.  We had a vaginal delivery with no medication, and I had 1 stitching put in because I tore.  He is breastfeeding and sucking with no problem! 

 

Bob was so close to missing the delivery!  Thank goodness someone was watching out for us!