Welcome Miles Jeffery Pierce

Miles Jeffery Pierce

March 29, 2010, 2:42 PM

7 lb 14 oz

20 1/2 inches long.

The birth story:

I went into the hospital at 6:45 AM on the 29th to be induced. I was already contracting on my own, with contractions about 3 minutes apart but not strong enough to cause my cervix to change. My doctor showed up at 9 AM to break my water and start Pitocin. I didn't need much at all. My water breaking pretty much did the trick. With a low dose of Pitocin going, the contractions started to get more intense and much closer together. At that point I decided I wanted an epidural.

I have problems with the medication they use for an epidural. My BP drops and they have to monitor it closely so I don't black out. They decided to start with a low dose, and, as expected my BP dropped. The anesthesiologist was wonderful. He stuck around to help bring everything back to normal. Only problem was, it took on my belly and my arms but nothing below. Things were numb but I could still feel pain. That all started around noon, then at about one, I had progressed to about a 7. Things were moving quickly. I was still in pain but was resting pretty comfortably.

Then at 2, I was told I was at a 9 and with another contraction or so I'd be complete. They went to call the doctor. That's when things got terrifying. About 6 -7 nurses came rushing in my room. They grabbed my legs and started rotating me from side to side. I could feel everything! One nurse started calling out for the doctor, and even though he was on his way, she said it wasn't fast enough and to get the on call doctor ASAP.

Within seconds my doctor walked in the door followed by the NICU. Brad and I were scared and confused. All we knew is we couldn't hear the beeping of the baby's heart beat any more and it had been a few minutes. My Doctor grabbed the forceps and told me I had to push. It was horrible. I was terrified, I kept asking the nurses what was wrong with the baby and what was happening. I had one nurse that looked me in the eye and said the baby was in distress and they had to get him out immediately. She also knew how much pain I was in and told the doctor the epidural didn't take. So, I pushed with everything in me to get the baby out. It was the worst kind of pain I've ever felt. As I was pushing, the doctor was yanking the baby out with the forceps. He was able to turn the baby and get the cord to loosen up around his neck and we could hear the heart beat slowly increase. I pushed maybe 5 times. It felt like the doctor had literally yanked the baby out of my body. Then he put him on my belly. He wasn't moving at all. No cry, no movement. I thought he was gone. So I just grabbed him and pulled him to my chest. He jerked and suddenly started to cry a bit. The nurses took him away and started working on him. A few minutes later, he'd pinked up and was fully alert. The NICU stayed for a few minutes then were told they weren't needed.

He was okay. Better than okay, he was beautiful. He instantly started nursing and Brad and I were both relieved and overjoyed. I let the doctor do all the repairs to me as needed w/o medication. At that point, I didn't see the point, I had already experienced the worst. I was so attached to the little guy I didn't even want to let Brad hold him.

We later talked to the doctor to find out exactly what had happened. Turns out that Miles descended into the birth canal too fast. When he did that, the cord wrapped around his neck and along the side, I had a contraction at the same time that put him in prolonged Decel (6 minutes exactly). The contraction wouldn't let up to allow the cord to become loosened. When my doctor turned the baby, we slowly started to hear the heart beats go up again. But the worst could have happened. If it weren't for my doctor and the staff at St. Marks, we could have lost Miles. It was truly terrifying. Poor Brad was shoved to a corner I kept reaching for his hand and all he could do is touch me. Afterwards, he told me he couldn't even bear to watch what was happening, and he'd never heard me scream that way. Wow, Brad was great to to sit there and tell me it was all going to be okay when even he didn't know what was going on. But Miles is perfect!

Now... the baby is doing great! My healing... taking longer than I wanted it to do to the rough way Miles came out. But I'm enjoying my pain medication and resting feeling blessed to have my littlest boy.

Lukas is adjusting well. He wants to help all the time. Sometimes when we feel overwhelmed we have to remember that he's only 3, and a 3 year old that's adjusting faster than his parents are. He's amazing. More pictures to follow.