Hana's Birth Story

Hana Eleanor Geckeler
June 17th, 2009
6 lbs 5 oz
21.5 inches

(beware - gory details included!)

I had a prenatal appointment at 9:45 on Tuesday morning the 16th. Not a whole lot was happening, so I walked over to the acupuncturist office to make an appointment for later in the day to try to get labor started. Then at 10:50 I went to Alta Bates for a non-stress test because it was three days past the estimated day of delivery. Hana passed easily, but then I went on for an amniotic fluid check. At 11:30 the tech took one look at the sonogram and said, “It’s time for her to come out. You have only 2.5 cm of fluid around the baby and you need a minimum of 5.” Pete arrived straight from work and showed up right after that in the hallway. We went to the waiting room while the doctor looked things over. A nurse delivered the news that I would be admitted. We really hadn't expected that we were that close to meeting our daughter! It was a nice surprise.

I requested a Jacuzzi room and was assigned to room 23 at noon. I was hooked up with an i.v. and they began the pitocin drip at 1:30 pm (that’s the drug that induces labor). I needed constant monitoring due to the pitocin, which meant I could not go very far because my monitors were wireless and I had to stay close to the main unit. I walked around the hallway a bit close to my room. Pete went home to get our bags. Laila, my doula, arrived around 2:00. Labor started slowly and I thought “This isn’t so bad, I can do this.” (Ha!)

But each contraction over the next hour and a half was stronger than the previous one and they were getting closer together. By 3:30 I was in a fair amount of pain. (Pitocin contractions are known for being stronger than regular ones, and you don’t usually get that relaxation part in between contractions.) I sat on the birthing ball for awhile, then moved to leaning over the bed, then into the Jacuzzi from 4:30 to 5:00 pm. At that point the contractions were very, very close together so Alani, the nurse, turned down the pitocin. Dr. Huibonhoa (my own doc was available that day – yay!) arrived and checked me and my water had broken, and they could tell that Hana had released some meconium in utero, which can be a sign that the baby is in distress.

At 6:15 pm Dr. Huibonhua came back and examined me and I was not very far along at all, but I was in agony! That was it for me. Epidural time. The epidural was placed within 15 minutes and it totally took away the pain. I couldn’t even feel the pressure of the contractions at first. Pete was surprised that it worked so thoroughly. So I took advantage of it and got in a little nap.

Hana was not tolerating the contractions too well. Her heart rate repeatedly dipped low after every contraction so they put me on oxygen and that seemed to help. At some point, I also developed a fever and the doctor was worried about infection. At 8:25 p.m. I had barely progressed. Dr. Huibonhoa placed an internal monitor on Hana which involved attaching something to her skull to ensure that Hana was tolerating continued labor. No one said C section, but I could tell that if I didn’t get things moving that they would want to get her out because of the meconium and the heart rate dips. I was allowed to labor for two more hours and then we would make the next set of decisions. At 10:40 pm, I was checked again and I had moved much further along – whew! An hour later I felt it was time to push and we called the nurse (Sheena). She checked me and it was time. Unfortunately, the pain had broken through again in a big way and I was not sure I could push through it. Dr. Huibonhoa looked concerned because I think she knew I was going to have to have a C section if I couldn’t get through the pushing. So she called the anesthesiologist who gave me another loading dose of the epidural, which worked fast and was very effective. I still felt pressure enough to know when each contraction was happening, but was not in pain.

At 1:00 am on the 17th, I started pushing. The oxygen mask was really annoying me, so Pete would slip it off while I was pushing. Someone announced they were turning the baby warmer on. I was in la-la land, but that was when it became real to Pete. I was so close to getting her out, but her heart rate continued to decelerate with each contraction, so at 2:00 am Dr. Huibonhoa brought out the vacuum. One very slight pull with the vacuum and Hana came out! She was wide-eyed and staring up at me for several minutes. Pete was close by, touching her, and we both were amazed she was finally here!

At first she was doing well, but then she started to have a little trouble breathing once they took her to the warmer. (This can happen when babies swallow meconium in utero.) They hand bagged her with oxygen for awhile, then they switched to the machine, which was alarming. Her distress seemed to be beyond normal transition distress (although looking back, it seems the nurse may have overreacted). And at the same time, my placenta was not detaching and the doctor was worried. A decision was made to send Hana to the NICU and Pete went with her.

In the meantime, the doctor was trying to manually remove my placenta, and she kept saying, “Wow, it’s really stuck!” and she was dripping sweat. (NOT comforting.) This is rare complication and usually has risk factors, none of which I have. However, this same thing happened to my mom when I was born, so it must be something hereditary. My doc was unable to remove all the placenta. This was bad, because it’s a risk for hemorrhage and infection. She decided I needed to go to the OR and have it removed via D&C. I was worried about Hana and wondered what was going on and when I would get to see her again. As it turned out, by the time Hana got to the NICU she had improved and the doctor took a quick look and said, “She does not need to stay here, we can send her back down.” While she was there, she did get a bath, and it was apparent that she was fine and healthy. Before taking me to the OR, Dr. Huibonhoa called the NICU and got all the information, so I knew Hana was OK before they wheeled me away. As luck would have it, we crossed paths in the hallway when she was on her way back down and I got to see her and Pete and hold her for a few minutes. Pete and Hana went to the transitional nursery while I was in the OR. Pete got to sit with her in a chair with Hana in his arms for the first time, and she just stared up at him, so they got some good bonding time.

I was in the OR for about an hour. They kept my epidural going so I didn’t feel any pain. Another doctor helped out Dr. Huibonhoa – he watched the sonogram and directed her where to put the instruments to reach the remaining tissue. They kept getting right and left mixed up – my right vs. Dr. Huibonhoa’s right – which slowed things down a bit. They had a really hard time removing it all, but in the end they were pretty sure they had succeeded. I was exhausted already, but this last bit really wiped me out. I lost a lot of blood and was anemic for a few days. I was too weak and sore to walk by myself for a couple of days.

By 4:00 am all three of us – Pete, Hana, and I – were all back in room 23. Hana breastfed for the first time at 4:15 am (so I'm told, I don't even remember this part). My heart rate was elevated and had been for awhile. The staff were concerned, but this is typical for me when I’ve had surgery/procedures in the past, so I wasn’t worried. But they kept us in labor and delivery anyway for extra observation. We were finally transferred to our postpartum room at 7:00 am. We had a less than ideal postpartum experience because of all our complications and felt we were over-monitored and the nurses were very alarmist. Two days later, even though the docs were thinking maybe we should stay an extra day, we decided we wanted to go home. So we did, on Friday the 19th.