Kaleigh McKenzie Ringo
Day 1
On February 2, 1998, I went into the hospital to be induced by pitocin. The nurse had problems getting my IV in, so they ended up calling the "IV team" to come and do it for them. (the nurses tried twice and blew one of the veins...ouch) The pitocin was officially turned on around 8:30am. I had a few contractions, but nothing that was doing any good for my cervix. We did have a funny incident though... Billy, Robin (our doula) and I were walking the halls with my IV pole. The pole was a little off balance because of the placement of the machine that regulates the drip, so Billy tried to move it to make it easier to push. Well, when he did that, it pulled the plug out of the pitocin bag and it started to gush out all over the floor. Robin and I laughed until we almost peed our pants. :) He did have the piece of mind to turn the bag upside down so that it would stop leaking until the nurse could get there to help us. It made that day a little easier to handle. Dr. Fleming showed up around 4pm and checked me. I was still 2 cm and 95% effaced, no change at all. We decided to call it a day at 6pm and restart the drip at 6am the next morning.
Day 2
I didn't get much sleep because my doctor told me that she planned to break my water this morning which meant that we'd definately be having Kaleigh today!! The drip was restarted at 6am and my doctor wasn't able to get to the hospital until 9am because of a record snow fall. (we ended up with 22 inches over 2 days!!) Having my water broken was one of the weirdest sensations I've ever felt. About a half hour after, the contractions started becoming more painful. We used music to help motivate me and also to relax me between the contractions. It was getting increasingly more difficult to talk through them and they would sometimes stop me in my tracks when I was walking. We walked and walked for what seemed like hours. I took many warm showers (they wouldn't let me take them too hot), which really helped me relax through the contractions. Billy helped me by rubbing my back and then guiding me through a half hour relaxation session. The contractions started getting really painful around 5pm and somewhere in there they gave me Stadol. Now I was able to sleep between the contractions, but I would wake up right at the peak of the next one. My doula suggested that I moan through the contractions and that really did help me get through them. I don't remember this, but according to Billy, they gave me Phenergan (sp?) after the Stadol wore off. During this time, Robin and Billy had me rotate which side I was laying on in order to help the baby move down into the birth canal. (the only reason I know this is because Billy video taped this part so that I could see what happened later) I think it was around 8pm when I got the first urge to push. My doctor was there waiting and came right in. We pushed for about 2 1/2 hours and then realized that Kaleigh wasn't going to make it under my pelvic bone. Dr. Fleming then told us that we had exhausted all of our options and it was time to do a c-section. This scared both Billy and I because we hadn't planned on this happening. We knew that it was a possibility because the ultrasound was showing Kaleigh to be big and inducing carried that risk also, but we never thought it would happen to us. After a few minutes of consoling each other, the nurses came in to prep me. The anesthesiologist came in and we decided on a spinal instead of an epidural because I have a 20 degree curvature at the base of my spine. They finished prepping me and wheeled me into the OR. In order to recieve the spinal, I had to lean forward as far as I could. (I ended up with a bruise from my chin on my chest because of it.) The anes. had to try in 2 different places because of my curvature to get the spinal to take. I laid there and waited for the medicine to start working. Unfortunately, the medicine didn't take fully on the right side and I felt the first incision. We waited a minute and the doctor tried again. I could still feel it. (Billy told me that he thought I was going to break his thumb because I was squeezing so hard the second time) They ended up have to "gas" me so that I wouldn't feel it anymore. The next thing I know, I'm waking up hearing Kaleigh cry. I knew that Billy and Robin were tag-teaming on who was going to be in the room with me and I looked up and saw Robin and assumed that Billy was already out of the room with Kaleigh. She had the digital camera and showed me a picture of her. :) I was surprised to see that Billy was still there and he showed me our daughter in person before he left for the nursery. Had I been more awake, I would have cried. The next thing I remember is being wheeled into the recovery room and that South Park was on the tv.
Kaleigh McKenzie Ringo was born on February 2, 1998 at 11:56pm weighing 7 lbs. 8 1/2 oz. and was 21 inches long.
