Emmett Henry
Birth Story
On 12-6-11 while at work I began to get a headache and my feet/ankles were very swollen, my stomach was also hurting. My blood pressure that day was 144/88 which was very high for me. At my OB appointment the next day on 12-7-11 my blood pressure was 162/99, the doctor put me on modified bed rest and immediately sent me for lab work and a fetal non-stress test, at this appointment he also stripped my membranes, hoping that I would go into labor on my own over the weekend, if not I would have to be induced the following week due to pre-eclampsia.
My abdomen felt crampy the entire evening on 12-7-11, which I was told was normal due to the membrane sweep. At 3:30 am on 12-8-11 I woke up with contractions that were lasting about 1 minute and coming every 5-7 minutes, I woke DH and told him what was going on; I went to the couch to try to relax and to time the contractions. At about 5:00am we called the hospital to tell them my contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasting at least a minute, they said since it was my first baby to wait until they were 2-3 minutes apart and painful enough that I couldn?t walk or talk during them, they instructed me to drink lots of water and try to take a hot shower or bath, so I took a shower and made sure to drink plenty of water. By the time I got out of the shower the contractions were much more painful and coming every 2-3 minutes, at this point I told DH to call the hospital and let them know we were on our way. DH had been packing the car while I was in the shower so we headed into the hospital about 6:30 am. The 20 ride seemed so long, the roads were icy so we couldn?t drive too fast.
We checked into labor and delivery department on 12-8-11 at 7:15 am, at this time I was 5-6 cm dilated. DH went to get breakfast and when he got back I was already 7-8 cm dilated, there was no time for pain medications or an epidural as I had planned. I was scared because of the pain. Dr. broke my water. Shortly after this I began to feel sick and vomit, at this time I was 9.5 cm dilated and about ready to push. Once I was a full 10 cm dilated which was only minutes later I began to push and 17 minutes later Emmett Henry was born. It was the most amazing day of my life; he cried immediately and also peed on the doctor. They put him on my chest right away, DH cut the umbilical cord, and Emmett peed on my neck when they sat him up so I could see his face. He was perfect and so beautiful. He weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz., 20.5 inches long and head circumference was 12.5 inches.
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