A Baby Story (Part 2 of 3)

Before it began Amy (the midwife) said that 2 -3 hours was the longest they recommend pushing to lower the stress on both mother and baby. At first things seemed to be going well and that Carter would be born vaginally. As we progressed into the second hour the apparent progress had slowed but enough progress had been made to hope that it would still be successful. However, the further into the hour we went the more apparent it was becoming his downward movement had stopped. As we approached the third hour we started to discuss the next options.

Amy left at the beginning of the third hour to call the doctor to prepare for a possible cesarean section which gave Mindy a chance to rest. It turns out that Doctor Sabrina Collins was already headed to downtown Chattanooga to perform a c-section at Erlanger. About 30 minutes later Amy re-enter and Mindy decided to continue to push until the doctor made her way back to our hospital on the chance that he would become unstuck.

At the end of the third hour it was very apparent that he was not going to be born without help. Once Dr. Collins arrived the only option left on the table was a c-section and so the preparations began. They took her back into the delivery operating room while I waited in the hallway until they gave me the all clear to enter. Once in the room with her we were both waiting anxiously for him to be born. As the procedure progressed Mindy could definitely fell the pressure and a dull ache and so they started to administer additional sedatives.

Once Carter was born, at 11:07 pm, we heard “he’s a big boy” from the nurses and doctors in the room. Once they had him cleaned he weighted in at large 9 lbs 3 oz. They showed him to both Mindy and I and at that point Mindy’s memory of the night’s events are hazy at best as they put Mindy under deep sedation. They gave Carter to me to hold and for a few minutes we were all three together for the first time as a family. I then walked Carter to the nursery for his first exam.

After taking a few pictures of Carter, the concern then turned to Mindy and her recovery. It was taking longer than expected for her to emerge from the OR. It was then explained that they were having difficulty stopping the uterus from bleeding further and that she had lost around double the normal amount of blood during the procedure.

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