At 1:00 AM, Jan. 24th, Mary Ann was having mild contractions. By 4:00 AM, her cervix was still only 2-3 centimeters dialated. The contractions were now a minute apart and much stronger so she asked for a muscle relaxer which helped a lot.
By 6:00 AM, the contractions were getting the best of Mary Ann so she asked for the epidural. The twenty minute procedure was done by 7:00 AM and Mary Ann had the lights off and was comfy cozy by 7:30 AM so I decided to get some breakfast.
When I returned ten minutes later the lights were on, Mary Ann had an oxygen mask on and four harried nurses and a doctor were up in arms trying to figure out why the baby's heartrate dropped from 150 to 60! Evidently, Chloe was pinching the cord so they rolled Mary Ann over and shook her around until the heart beat came back up! Whew!
Right afterwards about 8:00 AM, the new shift nurse came on and made us feel at ease again. Around 9:30 AM, the nurse did a cervix check and it was five centimeters! She said, "It's time to have this baby!" (See picture with nurse). She then asked us why we waited so long to have the epidural. We said we were waiting for the strong contractions to kick in. She said, "Oh that's too bad, if you hadn't waited, you probably would have delivered by now." Darn it! How did we not know this?! Little did we know Mary Ann had 2.5 hours of hard labor ahead of us. Note to first time moms to be - get the epidural as soon as possible if you want a pain free and short delivery! Don't put it off, unless of course you like pain!
Chloe was twisted inside and was having a tough time coming out so the doctor had to use a suction cup to pull on Chloe's head while Mary Ann pushed. If Mary Ann ran out of energy before Chloe came out, then a Cesarian delivery was next.
When Mary Ann screamed out on her last six contractions "I can't do it" with tears and agony on her face, I was scared yet determined to see this kid come out. When it seemed like Mary Ann was about to give up, the ten person medical team cheered her on, "PUSH !", and out popped Chloe! While I watched from Mary Ann's side I was shocked how big this baby was and thought how in the world did my amazing wife pass this huge baby out?
Chloe had ten fingers, ten toes and a beautiful face with open eyes. Mary Ann couldn't wait to eat a meal and wolfed down a burger and a fruit cup in seconds flat (see picture of happy wife). Me? I cried. I cried tears of joy over my beautiful daughter and my incredible wife. Can I mention Mary Ann is already asking me when I want to play golf? Some might wonder if she is still delirious from the epidural. I say I have the best wife in the whole world!
