Rogan's Birth

I like to get the birth stories down before baby amnesia sets in and I can't remember a thing. So here is the story. I woke up on 10/20/2010 (love the date) and needed to go to the bathroom. While I was sitting doing my business I felt Rogan jerk really hard and I remember thinking, "wow, I can't believe that did not break my water." So I finish up and start to go back to bed and what do you know, my water breaks. I go back to the toilet and and sit there and drip for a while, then grab a towel and head back to bed to let Rich know the news.

I wake him up and tell him that my water broke and you know what he says to me, "Are we still going to work?" Really sensitive right? We think about what to do. I am not having any contractions yet so I don't see the need to go to the hospital quite yet. We decide to go ahead and go in since with Roxy my water broke and I did not have any contractions for about an hour, but once they started they went straight to a minute apart.

We let Rich's mom know we are going to the hospital, we both put in for subs for work and off we go. We get there about 1:30 and get a room. The contractions still have not been too strong and the monitor is not picking them up to well anyways. The monitor is also not getting Rogans heart rate since he is moving around too much. The nurse is in all the time rearranging the monitor. Not much is happening, but I am dialating like a champ. Rich decides to try and catch some sleep before the big show starts.

While Rich is sleeping the real contractions start and they HURT and are coming FAST. I immediately ask for the epidural and the nurse calls for the anesthesiologist and starts the fluids so that when he gets there he can put it in right away. The contractions are really killing me and some how Rich still sleeps through all the noise. The nurse notices that Rogan's heart rate is slowing during the contractions, but also that the monitor is having a hard time picking him up. They decide to put a monitor on his head so that they can get an accurate reading at all times.

Rich finally wakes up right before the anesthesiologist gets there and is really surprised by how much has happened since he fell asleep. The Dr asks Rich to leave before they enter the epidural. At some point we now have 4 nurses in the room and they are all very concerned about Rogan's HR. It is getting very slow during all the contractions. They begin having me roll over during every contraction to see find a position that Rogan likes. He does not like anything. His heart rate is getting for slow and nothing is working to keep it up. They give me a shot to stop my contractions and it DOES NOTHING. Contractions are still a minute apart. The nurses are sounding very worried. They give me another shot and still the contractions keep coming.

I am still feeling contractions since the epidural has not fully kicked in and they are rolling me over and I am not very aware of anything but the pain. Finally, the epidural starts to kick in and I open my eyes to see my lead nurse in surgery scrubs and I then realize how big the problem is with Rogan's heart. Rich still has not come back in the room from when they put in the epidural. This is when I ask them to please go and find my husband. When he comes back in, they hand him scrubs and tell him to prepare for a c-section.

At some point my Dr finally arrives and assesses the situation. She sees the babies HR and how strong the contractions are and that the Rogan is still pretty high. She is worried about the baby, but since I am already to ten and ready to deliver wants to see if I can just get the baby out really fast. She lets me try pushing for a few contractions and this kid is going no where, but his heart rate is still scary and she decides that we are going in for a c-section.

I can't really remember much between then and the surgical room. I remember just thinking, "holy crap, is this really happening?" Then I really remember when I think that they are cutting me open and Rich is still not in there and asking them to go and get him. I was worried that if he saw something he would faint. Rich gets to come in finally and he comes over to me and in minutes we hear Rogan crying.

When I had the other two, I never had that moment when you are so glad that the baby is there and you are so emotional that you just cry. With the others that moment happened once we were home. With Rogan I broke down. Between losing a pregnancy right before him and then having to have an emergency c-section, it was too much when I heard him cry. It was such a relief to know he was out and healthy.

Rich went over to see him, and once the nurses had cleaned him they brought him over to show me before they took him away. I did not get to hold him till almost 2 hours later. But he was here.

Rogan Clarence Hamm, 19 inches, 6 lbs 10 oz.