The Birth Story of Heidi Kay

For my first Mother's Day, part of my present was a priceless gift...Ben wrote up the birth story of Heidi. He had started it not long after she was born so he was able to include a lot of the detail. I included some of my thoughts/comments in parentheses and italics.

We arrived at IU Health Hospital – North at approximately 6:30 P.M. on Sunday, June 16, 2013 (Father’s Day) and you were admitted. Our first nurse was Rochelle from Logansport, IN – 3 boys, husband is a Fireman. They gave you Cytotec starting at 8:00 P.M. (with two more doses later in the night at 12:00 A.M. and 4:00 A.M). At 8:00 P.M., you were dilated approximately 2 cm and your cervix was thinned out to approximately 85%, the same as it had been for the last two weeks. This was week 41 and 6 days, which lead to medical intervention. Our little Baby was just too comfortable in your womb. The Grandparents showed up to the hospital Sunday night at approximately 9 P.M. (Doug, Kay, Dan and Becky). We prayed for you and the Baby. I specifically prayed for the delivery to be as quick and painless as God could make it (Genesis 3:16).

The next morning at 7:15 A.M. (Monday, June 17, 2013), Dr. Jennifer Priddy broke your water and noticed a tint of color in the amniotic fluid, which was meconium. Dr. Priddy was not concerned and stated that it was most likely a result of the extended pregnancy. Dr. Priddy told us that with the slight amount of meconium in the fluid, they would need to call in the NICU during the birth. It was not a concern, just a hospital policy.
A little background on Jennifer Priddy: She delivered at least 500 babies during her residency and we estimated that she had delivered over 1,000 babies in her career and she is only 36 years old. She drove a Volkswagen CC and has never been pulled over when speeding to the hospital for a delivery.

By this time there was a shift change and our new nurse was Cynthia who lived in Zionsville and grew up in a house on Hawthorne Street. The same street where we lived over the past 11 months at 450 W. Hawthorne Street. Dr. Priddy had office hours on the east side of Indianapolis that day (approximately 30 minutes away) so Cynthia would be giving her updates on the progress of the labor throughout the day. Cynthia was a self-proclaimed labor-junkie and was going to be a great help as you wanted a natural delivery. (I had read about the benefits of a natural delivery, without painkillers. I really wanted to do it. We took a Bradley method class to help understand the birthing process and how to deal with the pain of contractions. Our instructor, NAME, was a trip, but it really helped along with the pre-natal yoga class. And seriously, who wants to be stuck with a huge needle in their spine, during a contraction!)

Once your water was broke, there was a change and you started having contractions every 5 minutes that were a 3 on a pain scale of 1 to 10. You handled the contractions very well, mostly by standing and leaning over the bed that was raised approximately 4 feet off the ground. I rubbed your back during this period. At 9:00 A.M., you were dilated 3 cm.

You had remote sensors strapped to your stomach to monitor the Baby’s heartbeat and the contractions. This was a requirement since they had administered Cytotec, which can affect the Baby’s heart rate. Because you had to be monitored, we couldn’t leave the room. The sensor lost signal in the hallways, but the room was big (30’ x 40’) so it didn’t seem to be a problem.

At 10:00 A.M., you sat down in a glider chair to conserve energy and worked through 2 or 3 contractions. Soon after you sat down, Cynthia came into the room with a bag of Pitocin. Cynthia had noticed from the sensors that the contractions were coupling which made the contractions less effective. Cynthia wanted to start Pitocin to help create a regular pattern with the contractions and since they broke your water they wanted the labor to progress to help prevent any infection. You had a brief discussion with Cynthia expressing your desire not to use Pitocin and Cynthia compromised by giving you an extra 30 minutes to see if the coupling contractions continued. Since the coupling contractions seemed to start when you sat down, we decided to change positions with you standing. The contraction pattern became more regular soon after and there was a change in the intensity of the contractions with you rating the pain at a 6. I also noticed a change with you needing me to rub the sides of your hips during the contractions instead of your back. (During contractions I would sway back and forth, shifting weight from one foot to another. I would also do some mini squats. I don’t know how much of what I did to deal with the pain was learned from our classes versus natural instinct. Most I think was instinct.)

Cynthia checked for dilation around 11:00 A.M. and you were dilated 4.5 to 5 cm. Cynthia relied this to Dr. Priddy and she was happy with the progress. During this time, I was trying to get a CD playing through the hospital’s DVD/TV. The CD had “relaxing” sounds and music (given to me by my yoga instructor, Tammy) to “set the mood” in the room. I could not get the CD to play even with the help of technical support from the hospital that Cynthia had called. So, the TV ended up on the “Fish channel” (as Dr. Priddy later described it), which played smooth jazz and streamed a live video of a fish tank from another hospital in Indianapolis. Also during this time and in-between contractions, I filled a large labor tub with warm water. I had suggested the tub a couple of times previously to you but you were not interested because you didn’t want to get wet. (I remember being excited that the hospital had a labor tub. I thought once you got in it would provide some type of magical relief of the pain associated with contractions. I had conjured up a mental picture of a very relaxing/romantic type of laboring in the tub. But when the time came to consider getting in, I just wasn’t into it.)

Cynthia came into the room to let us know that she was going to lunch but would be back. Before she left, Cynthia suggested the labor tub so you decided to give it a shot. In retrospect, I should have trusted your initial rejection of the labor tub. Once you disrobed and slowly sunk into the luke-warm water, you hated it and it seemed to intensify the contractions. I tried to warm the water but instead of relaxing you, it was having the opposite effect. You gave it a solid try by enduring 2 to 3 contractions in the water, but I could tell you wanted nothing to do with the labor tub. (It was awful. Not relaxing in the least bit!) So, in-between contractions you carefully stepped out of the tub onto the slippery floor and got dried off and redressed. During this time, another nurse came in the room because they had lost the signals from the sensors. This was caused from the water in the tub which made the sensors slide up on your belly. The nurse gave you some dry straps and repositioned the sensors. I noticed that they had to move the sensors further down your belly to register a signal for the Baby’s heartbeat.

At this point, Cynthia was back from lunch and helped with positioning the sensors. Once the sensors were in place, you sat in the chair and rocked back and forth as you worked through the contractions. You liked to have the sides of her belly rubbed close to her hips during this point in labor. Cynthia also suggested lightly touching your legs in messaging motion to distract you from the pain of the contractions. You labored in the chair for approximately 1 hour (felt like minutes!) and you were able to stay the most relaxed in this position through the whole labor. It seemed as if you were asleep as you kept your eyes closed and remained completely relaxed as you worked through the contractions. I read relaxation passages that we received from our Bradley Method class. This seemed to help you stay focused on relaxing your body.

After 1 hour in the chair, I suggested that you should stand again to change positions. You stood up and leaned against the bed as you were doing before. You rated the pain at an 8 and things started to progress a lot more quickly. The pain during the contractions seemed to be a lot more intense at this point. (At one point I recalled what my yoga instructor told us to do in order help us balance and not fall out of "tree pose"...make sure we would breath. This reminded to breathe during contractions and helped ease the pain.)

It was about 1 P.M. or 1:30 P.M., I’m not sure, I lost track of time. I do remember Cynthia reminding me to eat something so I reached into a snack bag that Aunt Holly had prepared for you and I devoured a Cliff bar. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until the Cliff bar landed in my empty stomach. You had been eating too throughout the labor by lightly nibbling on some snacks and drinking water and some orange juice. But at this point, the pain was so intense at the peak of the contractions that you were having a hard time keeping the food in your stomach. (Cynthia said lay off the OJ.)

Cynthia asked if she could check on the progress of the labor, so you lay down in the bed. You were dilated to 7 cm and Cynthia said that the Baby’s head was really low. Things were moving along quickly.

From this point you worked through the rest of your contractions lying on your side in the bed. (Typically after she had checked me, I would get back up and continue walking. However, this time I just felt a lot more tired and the pain was a lot more intense. I just wanted to stay lying down in the bed.) Trying to keep you relaxed, I read the relaxation passages to you again, gave you sips of water and rubbed your hip/lower belly/side…I’m not sure…you just pointed and I rubbed it. (It was strange how where I wanted massaging changed through labor.)

After a few more contractions, you began to get really cold with shivering and goose bumps to really hot and needing a cool wash cloth on the back of your neck. Without saying a thing, we both realized that you were going through the transition stage of labor which meant we were going to meet the newest member of our family very soon. (I remember thinking, I really REALLY hope this is transition. They say it is the toughest part, but when you reach it, you are almost there.)

At this point, Cynthia stayed in the room. She must have recognized that you was going through the transition stage too because she told you, “If you feel the urge to push, let me know because Dr. Priddy is 30 minutes away.” Asking you later about this, your initially thought was “How will I know if I need to push? Do I need to push right now?” Well, after a couple more contractions at approximately 2 P.M., you gritted your teeth and squeezed out one strained word…”PUSH!” (Like Ben said, I was wondering how I would know when I needed to push. Like you are told, all of a sudden you know!) I quickly looked up at Cynthia with a panicked, wide eyed, what-do-we-do-now type of expression and said, “She said push, she said push!”, as if Cynthia didn’t hear you. Cynthia sprang into action by paging for Dr. Priddy and focusing on you all in the same motion. Cynthia quickly checked you and said that you were dilated 9 cm and your cervix was not fully effaced. Pushing right now could cause the cervix to swell and block the Baby from coming out. Cynthia instructed you to blow during the contractions like you were trying to blow out the candles on a birthday cake. Cynthia quickly explained that you could not push and blow at the same time so blowing out when you felt the urge to push would buy some time for you to fully dilate. The first couple of contractions went well. We encouraged you to blow and I would blow with you. In the beginning you closed your eyes as you blew out. Cynthia suggested that you should pick an object and focus on it as you blew out. This evolved into you staring into the eyes of Cynthia with a wide-eyed, how–long-do-I-have–to-do-this type of look. (I remember at one point thinking that I should be looking into Ben’s eyes…again, that romantic notion of labor. But I thought I couldn’t change one iota of what I was doing or I might lose it.) I also kept an eye on the monitor to let you know when you were on top of the contraction so that you would know when you were coming back down. (This was very helpful.) This lasted for 30 minutes with the urge to push beginning to over-power your ability to blow. (I would be blowing out my “candles” and then all of a sudden a push would sneak its way in. My body was just taking over, telling me…it’s time to push! Enough with the cake!)

Just as you were about ready to give up on the blowing technique and just push, Dr. Priddy causally walked into the room and the mood briefly relaxed. (It was a definite relief to see her! I was quickly wearing out and wanted to move to the next stage so that this whole process could be done and we could meet our baby.) Dr. Priddy greeted us as it happened to be in-between contractions. Lightly sitting on the end of the bed, Dr. Priddy checked you and gave the green light to push with the next contraction. That was good news to hear. Frankly, I think that you would have pushed with the next contraction no matter what Dr. Priddy would have said.

So, with the next contraction, you pushed and pushed with all your might. Dr. Priddy counted up to 10 and you kept pushing up to 15 (by my count) until Dr. Priddy told you to breath. Dr. Priddy made the comment, “Wow, you’re going to power this Baby out of you.” At the start of the pushing, I stood at 2nd base, making you the pitcher and Dr. Priddy the catcher. This put Cynthia at the short stop position.

You continued to push with each contraction and I fed you ice chips in-between contractions. (No recollection of the ice chips!) As things progressed, Dr. Priddy and Cynthia began to prepare the room for the delivery. For extra precaution and because it was hospital policy, Dr. Priddy told Cynthia to page the NICU for the birth due to the meconium observed when they broke your water. You continued to push with the contractions for the next 20 minutes. I could tell you wanted this to be over. You were pushing so hard that your head and neck turned a maroon color. (I recall looking at my enormous belly, willing it to move downward, hoping that I could see some type of progress.) In-between one of the “breaks” (contractions), Dr. Priddy stood up and pulled the end of the bed off to transform the bed into a more comfortable delivery position for you. Holding the end of the bed, Dr. Priddy turned to her right with no place to set it down but in the labor tub. As she set it down, she bumped the handle to the warm water and turned on the faucet to the tub. I ran over to help her turn it off and we both had a quick chuckle before I rushed back over to you. Shortly after, the crew from the NICU (three people) showed up and fumbled around in the back corner of the room. Dr. Priddy turned her head and spoke over her shoulder telling them that when the Baby comes out crying, their services wouldn’t be needed.

At this point, the head was starting to show. Cynthia asked you if you wanted to touch the Baby’s head. You declined by saying, “Not now!” Cynthia also asked if you wanted a mirror. I declined by saying, “No!”

From this point, I moved to the 1st base position and Cynthia moved to 3rd base. We held your legs and supported you heals during the pushing because the stirrups on the table were too short for your legs. At one point during this pushing sequence I stared a little too long at our Baby’s head poking out. Dr. Priddy looked at my flushed face and asked if I needed to sit down. I shook my head ‘yes’ and slowly sat in the chair that I had strategically placed behind me just for this occasion. After sitting down for a moment, I felt alright and helped with the next pushing sequence by holding your left leg again as Cynthia held your right leg.

You were doing great and soon the head emerged with a hand tucked up next to the Baby’s cheek, then the shoulder worked its way out, and soon after that our little Baby was born. We heard a healthy cry as Dr. Priddy turned our Baby over and at the same time Dr. Priddy and I said, “It’s a girl.” Well, mine was more like, “It’s a GIRL!” with a huge smile on my face. You were able to hold her right away and it was a beautiful sight. They asked us what her name was and you said Heidi. Heidi looked very comfortable in your arms.

(I remember once Heidi was born, I was so very relieved. The birthing process was over. I could finally relax while this beautiful, healthy baby girl was laid on my chest. It was an amazing experience!)

Heidi was officially born on Monday, June 17, 2013 at 3:01 P.M. She weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 20.5 inches long (and the often forgotten measurement, her head circumference was 14 3/8 inches.) The first thing I noticed were her long eye lashes.

That is the birth story of Heidi Kay Schutt and how you became a Mother.

Timing of June 17th:
7:15am – 2cm Water broke by Dr. Priddy
9:00am – 3cm Some discomfort with contractions
11:00am – 4.5 to 5cm Much focus required to work through contractions
1:30pm – 7 cm Had to lay in bed for contractions, soon in transition
2:00pm – 9cm Strong urge to push, Dr. Priddy paged
2:30pm – 10cm Dr. Priddy arrived, pushing begins
3:01pm Heidi Kay Schutt born
Total labor time – approximately 7hr 45min