Progress Report

I'll do my best to update throughout the day... so here we go:

7:30 a.m. Dr broke her water and contractions starrted soon after!

9:10 a.m. Nurse is putting in the IV and T is less than happy. Thinking the next hours will be tough if the IV caused this kind of reaction. Uh oh! I'll be back later to update some more.

10:05 a.m. Nurse checked and she's still hanging out at 4 cm. Did I mention this baby WILL come today?!

11:45 a.m. Just finished taking several laps around the maternity floor. Really trying to avoid Pitocin, but think it may be a next step. Her husband and friend left for lunch; Paul and I are here with her just trying to find the balance of paying attention to her needs without hovering. Hard to do.

1:35 p.m. Paul and I ate in the hospital cafeteria and are back in the room. T is still ~ 4 cm and wants to start Pitocin after some more walking. She knows once it starts, she'll be tethered to the IV and just the idea of that irks her... but she also wants to do whatever is necessary to get Caleb moving faster :)

2:30 p.m. They just changed her IV because the first was giving her troubles. Pitocin is starting in 5 - 4 - 3 -2 - 1

3:35 p.m. The contractions have certainly stepped up a bit. There is a distinguishable pattern and each time one hits, T's face is overcome with concentration for the duration and then she's "back with us." They are checking on her every 30 minutes and administering more Pitocin. Everything seems quite calm right now... maybe this is the calm before the storm?? She's a champ - I can see how high the "contraction-o-meter" (as Paul and I call it) goes and she breathes and focuses right on through. We're dealing with a seasoned pro here.

4:40 p.m. Dr checked and she's at 4.5 cm now. Her contractions are ok but they're going to dial the Pit up just a little bit in about 5-10 minutes. That'll make her uterus get into a better rhythm and get ready for some good laboring :) I think we're still positioned for a regular birth -- no indication (or threats) of c-section at this point. T is texting, talking and watching tv in between contractions so those are all good signs. Paul and I are going strong on not-a-lot of sleep... we were pretty excited last night and didn't sleep well at all. The couch in the labor room is comfy. Good thing!!

5:15 p.m. More frequent contractions - the monitor sounds like a dang plane is taking off inside her. Apparently Caleb is moving around LOTS. That's great - hopefully he's getting uncomfortable inside and will want to come outside and play! T's now on a birthing ball (or exercise ball for the non-pregnant population in this world) and seems to be more comfortable on it - well - as comfortable as one can be while in labor, I suppose. Now in the room: two nurses, T, her husband, her friend, Paul, me, and T's middle daughter. Daughter's #1 and #3 and T's dad will be here soon. A full house for sure.

6:50 p.m. Contractions are consistently 2-3 minutes apart and by the look of things... more painful. No real change in dilation, but his head is planted fimly on the cervix now and the cervix is softer. Definitely the right direction. She's got quite an audience at this point, but as she explained to me prior to labor, she doesn't really care who's in the room because she's focused on doing her job. Excellent :)

9:00 p.m. They gave her some pain meds and both she and Caleb are feelin' better right now. For T, it took the edge off and allowed her to relax some - which allowed her to progress a bit. At this check, she's now 70% effaced and about 5 cm. They expect her to dilate more now that she's thinning out. After talking with the dr, the nurse said since she's showing progress, they'll let her continue on this course. They'll check her again in about an hour or so and if she's made more progress, they'll let 'er ride. They'll likely let her go until midnight and reassess at that point if needed. So I guess we're looking at a baby with a 2/21/11 birthday or 2/22/11 :)

10:15 p.m. She's at 7 cm now and the guess is that things will start to happen a bit faster.

The final update:

10:51 p.m. Caleb Ian was born!!!!!!! He was a whopping 9 pounds 10 ounces and 21 inches long. Here's a little teaser until we can get some real pics posted soon...

He is just perfect.