Day Nine

The last ten hours have been busy but I think we are turning a corner. Fife-Myers is moving down the birth canal and after 40 hours of Pitocin, she’s reached at least 2 cm of dilation. More on what that means later, but it indicates that the treatment is working and everyone is moving in the right direction.

Lara is a little more fatigued, sleeping more today, letting her body figure out what to do. I’m being Randall. Her cramp pain is relatively low and manageable. The baby is responding well and continues to move boxes in his uterus universe.

Last Night / Early Morning

At around 8:00p last night, Lara resumed her Pitocin IV. Our new nurse, Jessica spoke with us at length about her career, her family, and the approaches we could take during this process. Jessica advised Lara on what the speed at which an epidural could be delivered and the monitoring options for increased use of Pitocin past 20 ml. Very quickly, she gave us a sense of familiarly, which continued to put Lara at ease with the direction of her labor.

About 4 hours into the resumption of the induction, Lara was examined by another midwife, Jenny. She conducted a speculum examination to measure dilation of the cervix. The midwife determined that Lara was a 2 centimeters.

Throughout the night, the Jenny and Jessica monitored Lara and the baby. I was virtually useless but added support when I wasn’t snoring. There was a brief dip in baby responsiveness / heart beat but that was fine. They upped the Pitocin dose to 20ml and Lara handled it well, although her discomfort also increased. Another nurse, Frances, also helped with tracking kiddo’s whereabouts as he spent a lot of time eluding monitoring.

This Morning

This morning, we backed her dosage down and removed her from the IV and monitors so that she could eat and get herself together. The video below shows a typical morning here at the hospital.

I have time on my hands.

After Lara did her eating and stretching, she sent a text to her private army of medical professionals. I listed part of that conversation below and bold terms that may need additional explanation.

I’m still only 2 cm, 80% effaced, zero station. They did 20 of pit most of the night and it didn’t put me into active labor. There’s talk of going up to 30 and using an internal monitor.

Okay, this sounds like Greek.

Parents has a great layman’s explanation of what’s likely happening in Lara’s belly and what a cervical dilation of 2cm means. The chart below shows that at 2 cm, the opening for baby Fife-Myers is about the size of a grape. The baby is small, not that small.

Ideally, Lara needs to dilate or rupture to 10 cm for the baby to be born. Basically this means that while Lara is making progress, she is still in the early stages of labor an has yet to reach the active stages, the part were all the magic happens.

“80% Effaced”. Effacement is a measure of the thickness of the cervix. At 100 percent, the baby is close to being born because the barrier to the outside universe is thin. The image below illustrates approximately where Lara is regarding dilation and effacement.

Lara is closer to the third box. As a seven seasons graduate of the Australian situation dramaty/ medical show, Offspring, I presume I’m an expert.

“Zero Station“. Fetal positioning is an indicator to where the baby is in relation to the mother’s pelvis. The scale can vary, but the image below gives you a reference.

Lara is at zero station, which is a great position and shows that the baby is engaged and is about to say, hasta la vista.

“Going up to 30 and using an internal monitor“. As Lara has already gone up the Pitocin latter to 20ml twice, she may need to up this dose. To safely increase the dosage past 20ml, Lara will need an internal monitor to measure its affects as there are potential risks. The monitor is like a catheter and may make urination uncomfortable adds to her monitoring device load.

Lara has contractions, but they continue to present as general pain, centered around her lower back. This pain appears to be increasing but she feels that she can cope. She’s been using a peanut to help expand her hips and aid in lengthening the cervix.

Thanks again.