More Pictures and the story of a long labor

Dave here again.

So we had a long and challenging four days at the hospital, but the end result was well worth the wait and even the pain! I realize that's easy for me to say, but Wendy agrees with me too.

In our first visit to the hospital, Wendy started off with a dose of cervadil, which created cramps and pain for 12 hours. This opened up her cervix only up to 1 cm. Lots of pain for little reward. Our midwife then suggested that we try some pitocin and a catheter with a balloon on the end to increase the dilation. The baby and cervix didn't respond to that eiter, so Wendy had extremely painful contractions for another 14 hours, was strapped to an IV, was unable to move very far, but the cervix didn't open up at all. The next morning, the hospital was overwhelmed with people in labor. Since we were inducing our labor, they recommended that we take some time at home and recover in a comfortable setting. We gladly accepted, although that was a bit difficult for Wendy, who had been poked and prodded for 36 hours and was now being sent home without a baby.

On Monday morning, we arrived at the hospital with a new strategy and a new midwife, Kelly who was really incredible throughout the process. She had Wendy take a dose of Miso, which gradually increased her contractions, but allowed her to leave the hospital unmonitored. We took advantage and had a nice walk around Capitol Hill to Volunteer Park with my parents and my sister, Meredith. This was already a much more positive experience, because Wendy didn't need to be strapped to an IV or a pole, and it felt much more like what we wanted. That said, although there were contractions, she didn't progress into full labor. Therefore, Kelly, our midwife suggested that we break our bag of water.

Breaking the bag of water sent Wendy into immediate contractions and heavy labor. It was incredibly painful and she had already labored for hours and was not prepared for the increased pain and intensity. Wendy, Angela and I worked hard on the breathing techniques for several hours. Our plan was to have a natural birth so we tried to fight through it. It was clear the baby was coming quickly, however the pain was so intense, that Wendy was actually preventing the movement by tensing up. After several very intense hours, where Angela and I were working to help her breathe, Wendy decided she couldn't do it anymore and asked for the epidural. Once the anesthesiologist injected her, her entire demeanor changed. She was calm, relaxed, amiable. Actually, through relaxing, her cervix began opening up for the first time. Within the span of three hours, she went from 5 centimeters dilated to 10 centimeters dilated.

We were all set to push, however the only problem was that there were two other people waiting to deliver at the same time. We had been pushing hard all day for a Memorial Day baby, and were very ready for that, so it was frustrating to have to wait, however Wendy didn't seem to mind. Her grandmother Doris was born on the 29th, so she didn't mind holding. The midwife arrived back in our room at 11:55 right as Wendy's urge to push started to become unbearable. I thought we would still get a Memorial Day baby, but thanks to the epidural, she slowed down enough to be able to avoid tearing too much. At 12:09, Anna Grace arrived. When she arrived, Anna came out and Wendy was the first person to catch her and she called out "It's a Girl!" I couldn't see, because Anna's back was to me so I said "Are you sure? How can you tell?" Eventually I came around and saw her and confirmed what Wendy called. I cut the cord, and into the world came Anna Grace Lendrum Fort.

I have attached a number of pictures of the adventure. Click on the title and see all of the pictures from the day's journey. They are a bit out of order because I alphabetized them by title, accidentally. That said, hopefully it will be easy to put the story together through the pictures.

Thanks so much for all of the phone calls, emails and support that we have received. Anna is making some gentle fussing sounds now, so I must go.