Connor's Birth Story

Connor was due the 18th of December and we had two whole days of contractions that became very regular and then stopped completely...the 14th-15th and again the 24th-25th. My dr had told me that if I still had not delivered by my appt on the 27th that they would most likley have to schedule a cesarean, so in a bit of desperation, on Saturday the 26th, I tried the castor oil trick... 2 ounces mixed in a chocolate peanut butter milkshake (actually quite yummy). That was around noon. At 3:00 the contractions started and almost immediately were 7 minutes apart. They progressed to 5 minutes apart by 5pm when my water broke. I called my doula (Carey) to give her a heads up and took a shower while Chad started packing the car and the kids. Within 30 minutes they were only 2 minutes apart. I called Carey again and decided she would just meet us at the hospital since we had an hour drive to Greer. We left the house around 6 and arrived at the hospital around 7. I must say, Chad did great...only cursed at a few stop lights along the way! Meanwhile, the contractions were still about 2 minutes apart, but they were lasting longer and I was hardly having a break between them. Thankfully Carey beat us there and had the staff waiting on us at the door. They had even started filling out the paperwork and everything for us. We started in a room that we soon noticed had no tub, so we changed rooms and they hooked me up to the monitors. They were having some difficulty getting a good read on the baby's hearbeat, or so they thoght until after having me change positions several times, it was apparent that the heartrate of 70 that they were getting was baby's and not mine. (should have been like 120-140) Dr. Harris was called in and arrived within 10 minutes. In the meantime, I was given an IV and changed into a hospital gown. I was really in pain then and pretty much they had to dress me while i lay there with my eyes closed trying to take deep breaths to deal with the pain. Carey and Chad were stroking my arms and legs and talking me through each breath. They were awesome! Dr. Harris broke the news (the nurses hadn't told me yet what was going on) that baby was in severe distress and that his heartrate was dropping in half with every contraction. I was only dilated to a 3 and his head was not engaged in the birth canal so we needed an immediate cesarean. You all know that I was going in hoping for a VBAC...hence all the prep, classes, and doula. I cried. I remember looking at Chad and Carey with the 'is this really what we have to do' look, and they both nodded. And so we were off down the hall to the OR. Chad couldn't come since it was so urgent. I'm glad Carey was the to wait with him and reassure him that thing would be ok. They quickly draped and prepped while waiting for the anesthesiologist to arrive...at one point I heard he was in the parking lot and running...apparently Chad saw him running up the hall in jeans and trying frantically to swipe his ID at the OR doors and muttering some choice words...wish I could've seen that! The contractions were on top of each other. I was very relieved to know that I wouldn't be in pain soon. Finally they gassed me and I woke up in the recovery room. They kept me there until 10pm when I was wheeled back to the room with my waiting family and the baby! Connor Alexander LeGeyt was born at 8:12pm, just barely over an hour after arriving at the hospital. When they got him out, he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and torso, and with the lack of amniotic fluid, he was basically choking during every contraction. Thankgully, once he was out, he recovered very well most likely due to the speed in which everything happened. His Apgars were both 9s. He was 7 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long...I was shocked to have such a little baby after my 8lb 9oz and 9lb 4oz boys. In fact, I had to go out and buy newborn clothes because I had NOTHING that fit him! Everything was way too big! Anyways, he is beautiful and we are getting along great. I thought that I would be upset about having another cesarean, but this has been quite the opposite. I have been filled with gratitude for the skill of the hospital staff and my dr and the ability to get him out so quickly when it was so obviously neccessary. My recovery has been much smoother than my first cesarean and part of that I attribute to the peace I feel about this birth experience.