The Gottlieb Family » hospital

Epidural In

david — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:58:00 +0000

After 5 hours of 60 sec. contractions at 1 minute a part, Lindsey has dilated to 3 cm. and has had her epidural put in. I have never wanted to hug another man so bad in my life. It was like an angel had walked into the room when the anestheseologist came in. He put the epidural in and in about 10 minutes, Lindsey was feeling nothing. No contractions, no kicking, no nothing.

I have never been through something like this. It is definitely something I’ll never forget. Probably the most humbling terrifying experience I have ever been through. I cannot even put into words everything that we’ve been through thus far.

As I was typing this, the nurse came in and checked Lindsey. She is now at 4 cm. and station -1 which means the baby has moved even further down. She also explained that textbook-wise, she will dilate 1 cm. per hour which would put us at having the baby at 6:00PM tonight. Now I’m really excited.

So, that’s where we’re at right now. I’ll be posting as things progress.

Morning 1 – No Turning Back

david — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:48:00 +0000

Last night wasn’t too bad. Lindsey got a little bit of sleep. Not as much as she would have liked but she did get some. The Dr. Hudson came in at about 5:45 AM and broke her water. It was interesting. They checked her afterward and she was at 1 1/2 cm. which was great! They put a catheter into her uterus to be able to better track her contractions.

After that they started her on Patocin which got the contractions going pretty strong. They are now very consistent and God bless her, painful. After a good bit of pain, they gave her a dose of Nubane which is a pain reliever. I don’t think I’ve seen Lindsey so happy and relieved after receiving that dose. The pain completely went away and she is doing much better.
They can give her the Nubane every hour for 3 hours. After that we are hoping and PRAYING that she will have dilated to 4 cm. so that she can then receive the epidural.

To sum it up, everything is going well. Lindsey is resting as much as she can and I am hanging in there. I really don’t have much else to say at this point other than today is the day. Drew is on his way. This will probably be the most rewarding and happiest day of our lives.

We Are Here and Settled In

david — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:53:00 +0000

We left the house to head to the hospital around 5:45. I dropped Lindsey off at Top Nails so that she could get a pedicure and I dropped Allie off at the vet for boarding. I came back, picked Lindsey up and grabbed dinner at Moe’s before we headed off to St. Vincents.

We got here at about 7:40 PM or so. We got here a little early so we had to wait a little bit for the nurse to get our room ready. No problem. We got Lindsey settled in, got her hooked up to the monitors and got her IV in and running. She’s doing great.

The plan is this: They have given her some medicine to help her cervix ripen a bit more to prepare it for labor at about 9:00 PM. I’m looking at the monitor right now and she is having some contractions but nothing major yet. They are going to come in at 1:00 AM to check her to see if she has progressed any. If she has, great, we’re on schedule. If not, they will give her another dose to see if it helps her progress a little further.

Tomorrow morning at around 7:00 AM, Dr. Charles Hudson will come in and attempt to break her water assuming that she has dilated enough for him to do so. After that, they will start her on a patocin drip which will give the contractions a kick start to make them more productive.

That’s the plan as of now. I’ll report back tomorrow assuming that nothing happens tonight to let you know where we stand. Everything looks great at this point.

Checking In The Hospital Tonight at 8:00 PM

david — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:59:00 +0000

We went to the doctor this morning for yet another realization that Lindsey just isn’t progressing well. Drew is position right on her sciatic nerve which is a nerve that runs from the small of your back down the back of your leg. This is causing her so much pain that she often feels paralyzed. It’s been pretty frustrating because there is nothing I can do and there isn’t much she can do either but just sit there and tough it out. So we went in today pretty upset and on edge. They checked her and yes, she hasn’t progressed much at all. Maybe a finger tip of dilation. Thinking that we weren’t going to end up going in until next week, the doctor came in and told us to come in tonight to start Lindsey on a medicine that will help ripen her cervix. Then, tomorrow morning they will start her on patocin to begin the contractions. If all goes well, they may break her water tomorrow morning and hopefully have him tomorrow afternoon. We weren’t expecting her to tell us this at all so it hit like a brick wall. It’s exciting but at the same time, scary as hell.

I have come back to work to make sure everything is wrapped up here so I’m not leaving anything undone.
Lindsey is officially on leave now and is at home resting preparing for what is to come in the next day or two. So the time has come. We are finally here. I’ll post again tonight to let you know what’s going on. Wish us luck and if you would, add us to your prayer list.