On Wednesday, we left Tarboro around 3 in the afternoon to make our trip to Chapel Hill. We got checked into the Ronald McDonald house, had supper and then made our way to the Hopsital. After playing around and taking the last pictures of my pregnant tummy, the nursing staff had me lay down and hooked me up to all of the monitors. The doctor's never ended up starting me on Pitocin, which encourages contractions because I was having a few contractions on my own, and Laura Katherine wasn't responding as she should. Each contraction would result in her heart rate dropping down in the 60s and almost every time, it would take me having to reposition myself to bring it back up.
After a couple of hourse of the same scenario, the doctors chose to break my water (which proved that there was very little amniotic fluid around the baby) and place a fetal scalp heart monitor directly onto her head so that they could better read her heart rate. What this showed was no different than what was known earlier; her heart rate would drop every contraction and it would be a struggle to get it back to an acceptable rate. By this time the doctor's had already mentioned to us the possibility of an emergency c-section and an epidural was started. Several other doctor's were brought into the situation and one decided that he would try to add fluid around the baby with last hopes that it would relieve some of Laura Katherine's distress. However, during the time that we were having this conversation, Laura Katherine's heart rate dropped again, and for about 2-3 minutes, I was put in several different positions with no change in her heart rate so I was swept off to an emergency c-section before I even had time to really register what was going on.
The doctor's were hoping that my epidural could be used during the procedure, however after several failed attempts to numb my right side, there was no extra time left because Laura Katherine's heart rate was continuing to drop. Eric, at this point, was all suited up, but not allowed in the room because I was very quickly put to sleep. I don't remember anything at all when it comes to her birth! All I remember was waking up in the recovery room, with my mom by my side. I was told that I was taken back at 8:22 a.m. and Laura Katherine was born at 8:37a.m. weighing 5lbs 6oz, 19in long. I have never seen so many people in one room, during an emergency situation, that ran so smoothly! Kudos to all the teams at UNC-Chapel Hill who were involved in her birth! You guys (& ladies) are amazing to see in action! (Even though, I only remember about 5 minutes of the entire process!
"Wow! Check out all of my hair! I'm sure glad Mommy registered for 101 bows!" In this picture you can see that the doctors have covered her bowel in wet gauze to keep the organs moist.
After protecting the bowel with gauze, Laura Katherine was put in a clear bag all the way up to her arm pits to provide a sterile environment for her organs.
