Peter is Here!

Here's the story of the day Peter Merle Bierma was born:
6:45 am - dropped Cora off at the Chandler's, a family from church who has adopted us as part of their family.
7:20 am - arrive at St. Mary's Hospital and chose room #7 because it is the nicest one and has it's own hot tub. The other rooms don't so you have to walk down the hall to a shared hot tub. Faye was our nurse and she put me on the monitors and began checking us in. I was having mild contractions very sporadically - they only felt like a tightening feeling, like Braxton-hicks. We discovered from watching the monitors that Peter was pushing into my ribs during contractions.
8:30 am - Dr. Batholomay arrived and checked me. I was dilated to 4 cm already and 60% effaced! She was very optimistic about starting the induction at this point and gave me the Cytotek. She didn't think I would need another dose since I was this far along. Faye encouraged me to order breakfast, which I did, then Brad and I started walking around the hospital while we waited for things to progress.
10:40 am - Contractions were coming about 4 minutes apart and I was feeling great. I was able to easily relax and focus during each contraction.
12:20 pm - Contractions were 1.5 -2 minutes apart now. I was listening to my relaxation cd's to stay focused and I told Brad it just felt like having a big blood pressure cuff around my stomach, squeezing and then releasing but I still felt very calm and comfortable. It was wonderful!
1:20 pm - Dr. Bartholomay came back to check on me. I was 5 cm dilated and 70% effaced, -1 station. Contractions were about 1-1.5 minutes apart. At this point she broke the bag of waters and told me to be sure to tell Faye if I started feeling anything different or like I needed to push. Brad started the water in the hot tub for me.
1:45 - I got into the hot tub for an hour. It was really important for me to stay focused all the time now. My relaxation cd's really helped me remain calm and relaxed and even though the contractions were very strong, long and close together I wouldn't say they were painful. It was very intense and not comfortable but it was not painful like what I experienced with my labor with Cora. Brad was awesome this whole time. He stayed by my side and made sure my cd player didn't fall in the water! He was prepared to do lots of different things to help me relax but at this point all I wanted was for him to be by my side and hold my hand. He offered to rub my back but as soon as he started I knew that wasn't what I wanted so he just held my hand. As the contractions intensified I started groaning or making a vocalized sigh with each one. It felt good, like I was able to release some of the energy that way. At first it felt funny to make such a uncontrolled sound but then i didn't care and just enjoyed it! Brad was trying to time the contractions in the hot tub but he said they were coming so quickly and lasting so long he had a hard time keeping track of it. He thinks they were coming about 30 seconds apart. I didn't feel like I got much of a break in between them, but I'm so glad Brad didn't tell me how fast they were coming or it would have made it harder to feel like I could do it. Towards the end of the hour in the hot tub I started feeling the typical "transition feelings" that I've heard about. The contractions were so powerful that it took all my energy and attention to stay relaxed. A few times I thought "I don't know how much longer I can do this" and I said to myself "if they check me the next time and I'm only at 6 cm I'm going to ask for an epidural." I was beginning to feel pressure that I didn't have before but I thought it was just from sitting on the hard floor of the hot tub, and not the baby moving down. I never imagined that the time to push Peter out was just around the corner. I told Brad to get Faye because I wasn't sure what I was feeling.
3:10 pm - Faye came and put me back on the monitors and a resident doctor came and checked my cervix. I was 9 cm dilated, 95% effaced and +1! He said to call Dr. Bartholomay right away. I was ecstatic because I knew I had just gone through transition, the hardest part and knew why I had felt those feelings, and we were going to meet our baby so soon. I was renewed with energy and hope. I think I stopped listening to my cd's at this point and just continued moaning with each contraction. I wondered if I sounded like an amazon woman, but I didn't care because it helped me so much and I couldn't really control it. I remember at this point I was lying on my side in the bed and Brad was right there giving me sips of water, telling me all sorts of wonderful things that encouraged me and wiped a cool wet washcloth on my face. That felt so good! Soon after the resident checked me the contractions changed. It was the most amazing thing to feel. Before they felt like the blood pressure squeeze. Now I could feel they were squeezing from the top of my uterus to the bottom, hugging Peter down and out. It was a little alarming to me because I wasn't prepared for this change and I said to Brad and whoever else was in the room "My body's pushing and I can't stop it!" Faye said that if I wanted to bear down a little with each contraction it was OK. That was a relief to hear. Once I started pushing a little bit everything changed.
3:25 pm - Dr. Bartholomay arrived and they had me roll to my back and start pushing. Pushing this baby out was hard work, but it felt so good to be actively doing something rather than focusing on relaxing. I was able to touch Peter's head and see him with a mirror as he was crowning. It was so gratifying to see how close he was. After his head had emerged Dr. Bartholomay told me to stop pushing and I learned later that the cord was wrapped around his neck very tightly. They clamped the cord and Brad cut it, then they said I could keep pushing. I was enough in a "zone" that I wasn't aware of what was going on. I remember being a little confused and frustrated because when Cora was born as soon as her head was out the rest of her slid right out. This time it was a lot more work to push his head out, but the work didn't finish there. Peter's shoulders were very broad and took a few more pushes to get out, then the rest of him slid right out at 3:55 pm.

The nurses put him on my chest first but whisked him away pretty quickly because he wasn't crying. The checked him all over and I finally heard him cry and knew he was ok. I couldn't see much but I heard everybody saying what a big boy he was. When they weighed and measured him, we were all shocked to find out he weighed 9 lbs 12.4 oz and was 22 inches long. I couldn't believe he was that big! Dr. Batholomay said she did not think he was going to be that big, and Faye said "Where did you hide him? I never would have guessed you had that big of a baby in you!" I laughed and said "Under my ribs!" I now knew why I was so much more uncomfortable the last while of this pregnancy than I was with Cora's pregnancy. They finally finished up checking Peter out and gave him to me to begin to nurse. He was fast asleep and would not wake up to eat so I just enjoyed cuddling him. Getting a good look at him I said that I thought he looked just like Cora when she was born, only almost 2 lbs bigger!

I had a few overwhelming feelings after Peter was born. One was that I was so grateful to have had the nurses, Dr. Bartholomay and Brad all around me, encouraging me and making sure that everything went well. I was so thankful for their training and knowledge and I just remember thanking everyone so much for being there and doing what they did.

I also felt so glad we had decided to induce. I was a little nervous about being induced but after learning that Peter was almost 10 lbs I was so glad we didn't wait any longer for him to come on his own. I was also so glad I didn't know before he was born that he was going to be that big or I would have been pretty intimidated!

Peter is one week old now! He has been asleep for 90 % of his life, I think, but we are totally enamored with him! We praise God for giving us this little boy and we're so thankful he is healthy and well. What a joy!

Click here to see a photo album from Facebook with lots more pictures of Peter and the rest of us.