Second Ones are Easy

12:02p – One of the challenges of baby girl’s process is measuring her progress. As I understand, she and Lara are fine medically but consistent measurements of the baby’s rate and depth of contractions, heart rate and other vital signs have been inconsistent. For example, the birthing team can see contractions the intensity is not as strong as they should be.

This means that they are hesitant to apply a stronger dose of Pitocin or perform other acts to hasten delivery. To help remedy the situation, the providers switched vital sign machines from wired to wireless models. As of right now, they are unable to get things working consistently but are making progress.

In the image below – and again I don’t know what I’m talking about – we see the vital signs of mothers and babies in the ward. In the lower left of the image below, Lara’s contractions are shallow and short as seen in the lowest white line in her box. In other images, you can see a regular pattern of strong regular contractions.

The baby continues to move into position, dropping lower into the birth canal. Dilation of about 6 cm remains basically the same as overnight, and Lara’s cervix has not completely ripened. As this is stuff I don’t really understand, I once again consulted the web. According to the Mayo Clinic, there are 4 stages of cervical effacement and dilatation.

Dilation Stages

During the first stage of labor, the cervix opens (dilates) and thins out (effaces) to allow the baby to move into the birth canal. In figures A and B, the cervix is tightly closed. In figure C, the cervix is 60% effaced and 1 to 2 cm dilated. In figure D, the cervix is 90% effaced and 4 to 5 cm dilated. The cervix must be 100% effaced and 10 cm dilated before a vaginal delivery.

The birthing team is now more aggressively applying a cervical sweep to manually encourage stretching. While the process is slower, Lara and the baby are fine, although Lara is exhausted due partly to the relaxing effects of the epidural and – well – giving birth. She is experiencing some pain or discomfort, perhaps as a result of the epidural.