Kirby's Birth Story

Kirby has finally arrived!

Kirby Winston Miller
Born: October 27, 2009 at 4:36pm
Stats: 9 lbs 1 oz, 21" long, and 14.5" head

I was scheduled to be induced at 8pm on Monday, Oct 26. That day definitely went by SLOWLY! We mostly watched TV and played a little Rock Band until family started arriving around 3:30pm. Dinner for me was rather light - broth soup and jello - b/c they didn't want anything heavy in my stomach in case emergency surgery was needed.

We all drove to Duke Hospital around 7:30 and I was set up in the birthing room (it was actually the room that we stayed in the entire 3 days). We waited around a bit while the hospital staff set everything up, and the pitocin drip was started around 9:45pm. I think I was 3 cm dilated at that time.

Here I am, hooked up and waiting for the labor to progress. You can see that it's early on b/c I'm still smiling.



It wasn't easy for me to move around since I was hooked up to a lot of wires: pitocin drip through an IV, baby's heart rate monitor around my waist, contraction monitor around my waist, blood pressure cuff and heart rate monitor for me. I didn't really get out of bed much b/c of the wires and it was definitely difficult to go to the bathroom since everything (except the pitocin) had to be unhooked. And let me tell you..... a 9 month pregnant lady always has to go to the bathroom!



I had a false sense of how long it would take since Gary's sister was induced 2 times and both labors lasted less than 5 hours, but apparently, that's not how it's done at Duke Hospital. They prefer that labor happens slowly so that it's less likely that a c-section will be needed. The nurse said that moving around would help the labor progress more quickly, but as I mentioned above, it was difficult to move around much. At some point, I was tired of sitting in bed the whole time (especially since I couldn't sleep) so I just stood a bit next to the bed and sometimes used the birthing ball.

That was a LONG night! It was difficult to get any sleep b/c people kept coming in to check on my progress and frankly, I was too uncomfortable to sleep. Gary also didn't get much sleep b/c of the interruptions, so at least he was around to keep me company and help out when I needed to go to the bathroom.

At some point, things progressed enough for me to get the epidural. I was TERRIFIED of getting a needle in the spine, but it really wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. The hardest part of the procedure was when I tried to scoot up high enough on the bed so I could bend over a pillow to give them maximum view of my spine. I was nervous b/c I have scoliosis in the exact spot that they wanted to poke me, but I had previously scheduled a consultation with an anesthesiologist to make sure that everything would be ok. The person I met with suggested that I request someone with more experience (ie: not a resident) and I made sure to tell them as soon as they came in to discuss my options during the induction.

Throughout the next day (Tuesday) labor continued to progress slowly. Gary & I slept a little off and on and just waited. After lunch, I felt like I had been drugged and couldn't keep my eyes open - even after people came in to check my vitals. Later in the day, I realized that I started feeling the contractions. At first, I just noticed them more but it wasn't painful, but after a while they started to hurt. I ended up getting another epidural, but I'm not sure why the first one stopped working. My legs were still numb from the first epidural, but I felt everything from the waist up. I felt full on contractions while they were putting in the second epidural and HOLY CRAP they hurt! I don't see how people can go through labor with no pain meds!

Around 2:30-3:00 I began feeling the urge to have a bowel movement (which is actually the urge to push). I called the nurse, but she was on break. The "sub" nurse said that she'd let my nurse know once she was back from lunch. As soon as the "sub" walked out of the door, my water broke. The dr came in and had to break the sac again (he said they sometimes close) and thankfully that didn't hurt. At that time, I was dilated "10 cm with a lip" so he said that it would be just a while longer before I needed to push.

There was a bet amongst the staff about Kirby's weight. The midwife guessed 7.5-8 and others guessed around 7.5. Boy, were they wrong!

A female dr came in a while later and asked if I wanted to practice pushing so that I would know what to do when it came time. During this time, I had a dr, a dr in training, a midwife and a nurse helping. After 5 practice pushes, I asked if that was enough for practice and the dr said that I was in active labor and that I should keep going! Everyone was really great about being encouraging - apparently, I'm a rock star at pushing. :) Pushing was definitely the hardest part of the whole process! I tried several positions (all while on the bed since my legs were completely numb) and after 1 hour and 15 minutes I finally pushed him out! Even though I had an epidural I still felt him crowning and coming out and it wasn't pleasant. Again, I couldn't imagine anyone going through it without pain meds!

The main thing I remember about his birth was that I saw him pee as soon as he came out. :) They suctioned everything out of his head holes and placed him on my chest (pre-clean up).



While I was holding him, the dr and the nurse were pushing on my stomach - trying to massage my uterus (to help the passing of the placenta). Almost as soon as they took Kirby away to clean him up, I started to feel odd. My vision was hazy and I felt like I needed to close my eyes. However, when I closed my eyes, I still didn't feel right, so I'd open them again. I did this a few times before I decided to just leave them closed. After about a minute, I opened my eyes and realized that there were more people in the room and there was an urgency in people's voices. The IV came out of my right hand and they had trouble getting another one in my left hand b/c my hands were clammy.

During this time, my mom was next to me wiping my brow. Once I realized something was wrong, I asked my mom to find out what was going on. No one really answered - I guess b/c they were busy. :P Shortly after, I started feeling them sewing me up (from tearing the perineum). Ugh - that was gross! I begged my mom to push on the button to give me an extra dose of epidural meds, but for some reason the button wasn't dispensing the meds. Mom kept pushing the button until it released a dose, but I felt the needle go in twice before I went numb again!

They finally got everything under control and I was able to rest a bit. I found out later that I had a uterine hemorrhage and that's why I felt like I wanted to pass out. All I could think afterward was how lucky I was that I had a hospital birth instead of being at home b/c I could have died from the loss of blood!

Kirby, thankfully, was perfect! :) Gary stayed with me for most of the time b/c it scared him to see me with the drs working frantically to stop the blood loss (he said that I looked yellow like a Simpson character and my dad said I was pale white which made my freckles stick out).

Duke doesn't keep the babies in the nursery so we had no option but to have him room with us at night. Looking back, I really wish that we were able to send him to the nursery b/c we were both so tired from not sleeping the night before and I was trying to recover from labor. However, we managed. Gary did most of the work b/c my legs were still numb so I wasn't moving much. When I finally got out of bed to go to the bathroom, I left a huge blood trail like someone was killed in that room! When I finished going to the bathroom, I had to be helped back to bed b/c I almost passed out again. My blood test came back and I had lost a LOT of blood - enough that the dr asked me multiple times if I wanted a blood transfusion. He said that even if I took 2 bags of blood, it would still only get me to 28 (the blood test said 21 and 38 is normal). Since I was feeling ok (I didn't get dizzy again after that first trip to the bathroom), I said no. Instead, I got a prescription for iron pills (which worked b/c I was back to normal after 6 weeks).

Now that I look back on it, I was really lucky with breastfeeding. I was able to produce milk quickly and Kirby picked up sucking like a pro. We didn't have a lot of the issues that a lot of mom's have in the beginning and I'm very thankful for that! It was hard enough for both of us to learn - I couldn't imagine having issues!

Those are pretty much the highlights! It wasn't easy in the hospital b/c we'd never had to deal with a newborn and I was in bed most of the time b/c of the recovery. Both sets of grandparents were there for Kirby's birth and thankfully, my mom stayed with us for the first 2 weeks to help us out at home. Kirby's lucky that he's so cute b/c it made the difficult times worth it. :)

Here's Kirby - getting ready for his first car ride home.

Due date is here!

Well, today is our baby's due date. No baby yet, but he's inching ever closer to being "with us" in the world. If he doesn't arrive of his own volition this weekend, he'll be induced on Monday.

It's an odd feeling knowing that we'll have a baby in our arms very soon. In some ways it seemed like it would never happen. We've been working toward this moment for so long (4 years!). I'm remarkably calm about the whole thing. We'll see if that holds true once it all begins. I'm sure Theresa has different anxieties and emotions than I do right now. :)

But, hopefully we'll have pictures to share here soon, and then we can transition this blog into documentary mode. Until then, keep thinking good thoughts for Kirby Winston Miller.

Time's flying

Well, it looks like about a month has passed since the last blog post. I'm not sure anyone is actually reading this, though. So, maybe it's just for us.

Since the last post we've done a few other things like tour Duke's labor and delivery area and went to a baby shower down in Atlanta that included nearly all of our immediate family. Things are cruising along nicely (although I'm sure Theresa would have something to say about that).

We've been working on the house a bunch, getting things ready and tackling projects we want to finish before he arrives. In truth, a lot of these tasks are things we should've done a year ago after we moved into this house!

I suppose the "biggest" piece of information that's new since the last post is that our little guy actually has a full name now: Kirby Winston Miller

Supreme Court Justice K. Winston Miller

Paparazzi favorite KWin

But, he's just Kirby to us. :)

And we'll get to meet him pretty soon!

Taking classes and more

We're about 9 and 1/2 weeks away from Kirby's due date, and we've started taking classes. Last week it was a class focused on pain relief options and epidural... mostly epidural (since it was delivered by the anesthesiologist from Duke). I'm pretty sure Theresa nearly passed out from the thought of having the epidural. But, I think that's the route she wants to go (since she's got a low pain tolerance).

Last night we took an infant CPR and safety class. The CPR baby "simulates" are pretty freaky -- the face comes off. Of course, that's how they sanitize them, so it's good that they come off. Still pretty freaky, though. Theresa still wouldn't put her mouth on the fake baby, though.

Mid-way through showing us the CPR techniques, the instructor says something like, "Everyone understand? Good, because nearly everyone will have to use this at some point," and then she moved on. But, before she could launch into her next topic, one of the class participants said, "wait a minute. Did you just say that nearly everyone will have to use this at some point?" Apparently she that concept freaked him out.

What I thought was interesting is that in all the examples she gave while we were practicing, she never had us assume it was *our* baby who was choking. The scenarios were always something like, "okay, so your neighbor's baby is choking..." I suppose they think that telling newly expecting parents that *their* baby is choking is too much to handle.

Anyway, we've got several more classes coming -- breastfeeding, maternity ward tour, "prepared childbirth." Between getting the nursery together, taking classes, and simply feeling that little bugger jump around in there, there is no denying that our lives are about to be overhauled!

gestational diabetes test

I took the gestational diabetes test yesterday. I know that people said not to alter my diet leading up to the test since it wouldn't make a difference, but I had stopped eating extra sugar (no sweet tea, no sodas, no desserts, no granola bars, no yogurt, etc) since Friday. For breakfast that morning, I only ate 4 slices of 40 calorie toast with butter and water was the only thing I drank.

When I got to the dr office, they took my usually stats - BP was 105/70 and my weight was 193.5 - which was great b/c I had only gained 2 pounds last month! I'm glad b/c I haven't worked out as much over the last month with all the pains. Then I had to drink some weird super sugary orange stuff - all in 2 minutes. I was worried b/c my stomach was upset and I was afraid that I'd throw up, but thankfully, the orange drink wasn't nasty like most people said it was. I had to wait exactly an hour then have my blood drawn for them to test.

In the meantime, I met with a midwife for my monthly visit and everything is still progressing like normal. My stomach measures the correct size and Kirby's heartbeat is strong. He's still moving around a lot in there - she had a hard time at first getting him to stay still long enough to read his heartbeat. :) My main questions for her were about how to manage the pain. The lower back pain has made things really difficult, and I'm really scared about what's going to happen for the next 3 months if I'm hurting this much already. Hopefully, I'm able to find ways to manage the pain without taking too many meds (I haven't taken any yet). I have a maternity belt that I wear sometimes (it's not comfortable for me to wear all the time b/c it cuts into my pre-pregnancy fat rolls :P ) and I have the pool on the back deck, which feels wonderful while I'm in it. She also suggested a heating pad for my back and cushier shoes (I mostly wear ballet flats to work, but I wear cushy tennis shoes on the weekends).

I was asked to be apart of another study while I was there. This one is to determine genetics and the environments effects on the baby. Since I was getting my blood drawn for the diabetes test (and also HIV, for some weird reason), they just took 2 extra vials of blood for the study. I answered some questions and the next time I go back for a dr appt I'm going to fill out a more detailed survey of my history and how I live. During labor, they want to take one more vial of blood and a small sample of the placenta and cord blood to compare to the blood taken yesterday for their study. I told the girl I didn't mind being a part of the study b/c I was already going to be poked for something else, but if it was something separate then she could forget it! In return for participation, I got a gift bag with notepads, a pen, and later I'll get $20. Certainly nothing worth the trouble, but I feel good helping out someone's study if it helps them stop illnesses in other children that are based on our surrounding environment. Hopefully, this study is better run than the last study (which I thought was a crock b/c the questions were written so poorly).

I ended up waiting 10 minutes past my 1 hour limit for getting my blood drawn b/c the lab tech was with someone for a *really* long time. At the time, I was getting nervous b/c the nurse drilled it into me that I needed to get my blood drawn after an hour. Once I was finally called in, I asked the tech and she said that it was ok for me to be 10 minutes later. Whew - b/c I didn't want to have to do that test again!

I called this morning for my test results and I PASSED! :) The nurse said my levels were 122 and that I was fine. I looked it up online, and I think they tend to send people over 140 on to the 3 hour test. I'm SO glad I don't have to do the 3 hour test b/c that would require fasting and 4 blood draws. Blech!

Our next appointment is August 4th - we'll have a regular dr appointment and we'll also have another ultrasound. They want to look at his head to see if the cysts are going away, but also to measure him and see if he's the right size. I'm also going to ask that they check for neural tube defects (like Spina Bifada) since the CVS test didn't test for those defects.

In other baby news, 2 nights ago was the second time that Gary was able to feel Kirby moving around in there. He was quite the kicker that night so there was no mistaking what was going on in there.:)

Feeling him kick

They say that the dad often feels "left out" during a pregnancy, since all the action is taking place in the mom's body. While I can see how a dad wouldn't feel nearly as connected as a mom, I must say that I don't feel "left out," per se. That said, it is awfully cool when I can feel the little guy kick.

It happened for the first time a little over a week ago. I put my palm across the bottom of the baby bump and felt... something. Was it a foot? Was it a hand? A head? Who knows. But, it was definite and real. But, then it was gone.

More than a week passed before I got to feel him again. Theresa thinks I'm going to have a calming influence on him after he's born, because every time I rush to put my palm on her belly, he stops kicking. But, not last night. Last night as we lie in bed, I was able to reach across and feel him doing what must have been some type of Bill Bojangles routine. I felt probably a half-dozen or more kicks in a short span before he settled into whatever new position he found himself.

It was only then that I realized how much more "connected" to him Theresa must be. She can feel the little bugger everyday. Of course, she has to suffer the negatives along with the positives. So, I'm not suggesting we switch places or anything. But, I do envy her just a touch. Hopefully I can attend another tap dance recital soon.

random baby stuff

We went to Wilmington for the 4th of July weekend, and here's the first pic of my baby belly at 24 weeks.



On the way, Gary stopped for gas, and the person at the counter was the first stranger to say something to me about being pregnant. Looks like I'm not able to hide it anymore. :)

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Sometimes, the strongest baby kicks that I feel are when I lay in bed on my left side. It feels like the baby is kicking super hard on my right side - I've even seen the pillow move when he kicks! Even though I think they're hard kicks, Gary still hasn't been able to feel the movement..... until recently! Every time BBM goes crazy, I grab Gary's hand, but it seems like Gary has a soothing effect on BBM b/c he tends to calm down. However, a few nights ago, Gary was finally able to feel a few kicks. :) I'm not sure what that feels like to the dad, but I'm so glad that he was finally able to feel it. I know - give it a few weeks and then Gary will be able to feel it all day if he wanted to. However, I think there's just something so exciting about feeling it the first time..... I dunno. You'd have to ask him. :)

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Not BBM related, but still one of our "children"...... we had Bingham boarded at the vet while we were in Wilmington. He's been having skin allergies and hot spots so we asked if they also did grooming. They only do a "summer shave" and I said go for it. During the trip we were nervous that we'd come home to a naked dog. I just though, so what, it's just hair, it'll all grow back. It's not like he'd know he looks weird. :P

We were pleasantly surprised to see that there was a bit of hair left, but not only that - he was adorable!! His face looks completely different. His ears are so short and cute - I just want to stare at him and love on him all day. :D