March 06, 2004

Dorothy Maia Nugent

She's here! I'll probably write up and post a more detailed birth story in the next few days, but here's the (longish) summary:

On Thursday, my platelet count went down, and the doctors decided that I needed to be induced. In the afternoon, I got two doses (spaced four and a half hours apart) of prostaglandin gel, trying to ripen my cervix. They helped a little bit, but not much. The doctors decide to let me get a good night's sleep, and then to induce me with Pitocin early Friday morning.

We ran the Pitocin pretty much all day Friday, and I had a lot of contractions, but I could scarcely feel them, even when they got the Pitocin up to 80% of the maximum they are allowed to use. My cervix softened a tiny bit during this, but not all that much. We decided to continue until 10:00 PM, and then to turn off the Pitocin and let me sleep before trying again the next day.

That plan went awry when my water broke at about 8:30 Friday evening. At that point, I was committed to staying in labor and delivery until I had a baby. They had to turn the Pitocin way down, as the contractions suddenly hurt a lot once the baby was not cushioned in amniotic fluid. I labored for several hours without pain medication, but eventually the contractions (which tend to be much stronger with Pitocin) got to be too much for me, and I asked for an epidural. That made me comfortable enough that Tom and I were able to nap for a few hours, even with the Pitocin on. When we woke up, they cranked up the Pitocin further, so I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes.

By late morning today (Saturday), I was dilated enough to start pushing. I pushed for about four and a half hours, but the baby was still getting stuck. The doctors decided that she was not coming out, and that I needed a Caesarian section. At 4:02 PM, Dorothy Maia Nugent was born. They showed her to me briefly, but the neonatal doctors had to take her to the warming table right away to check her, since she was premature. Tom followed the pediatricians and told me what was going on, in between cooing at her and telling her what a good baby she was. Once the pediatricians were done with her for a bit, he was able to bring her over to me so I could see her and give her a kiss. Then she had to go to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for antibiotics and to have her blood sugar tested. Tom went with her there, and my doula stayed with me. The baby is out of NICU now, and is staying in my postpartum room. Normally we'll probably keep her in here with us all the time, but she's going to stay in the nursery tonight, because we're both too tired to care for her properly, after 30+ hours of labor.

None of the pediatricians could believe that she was only 35 weeks old. The consensus was that she looks about 37 weeks. She was 7 pounds, 15 1/2 ounces, and about 19.5 inches long. She has black hair, about half an inch long, and a very cute round face. Tom has already taken about 50 pictures of her, but we don't have the equipment here to transfer them to my computer, so we'll have to post pictures later.

Both Dorothy and I are seeming very healthy. My blood pressure never got out of control during labor, so they didn't give me anticonvulsive medication. My incision is a bit sore, but not too bad yet. Dorothy was a bit blue right as they lifted her out, but she turned pink right away, and cried and moved immediately. (Her Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes were 8 and 9 out of 10, respectively). She's not fussy at all so far. Tom was completely smitten in the first five minutes, and is wonderful with her. All of us are very happy.

Posted by Elizabeth Nugent at March 6, 2004 11:04 PM
Comments

Congratulation, again, Mom and Dad! Sounds like she's a "keeper". Can hardly wait to see her in person. Everyone we've called sends love and kisses and shouts of joy and congratulations to all three of you. Rest well, you have tons of happy moments to look forward to.

Posted by: Grandma Chris at March 6, 2004 11:46 PM

YAY for babies (and for little Dorothy in particular)! Congratulations, you guys! Hopefully I'll get to meet her when I'm up there this summer...

Posted by: Adora at March 7, 2004 02:17 AM

WOW! And I thought child-bearing was easy (joe - just kidding).

LOL from the Werner house - oh, we new all along that Tom would melt under the pressure of another beautiful girl in his life.

We love you all - can't wait for photos.

Joe, Pat and Amanda

Posted by: Joe, Pat and Amanda Werner at March 7, 2004 08:59 AM

Congratulations, Elizabeth and Tom, from all of us here in Wisconsin.

Posted by: Brian at March 7, 2004 10:29 AM

Congrat! Can't wait to see the pictures.

I'm not sure how many cycles you have for your other "kids" but the rookies did well in smooth yesterday. Most of them did dance in both silver and bronze. Jonathan and Donna actually made the final in silver american V Waltz. I'll let them know the baby is here at the comp later today.

Posted by: Elizabeth Dew at March 7, 2004 10:41 AM

Huzzah!!!

I can certainly sympathise with what Elizabeth went through...I cut myself shaving yesterday! It hurt for like five minutes!!

I know...that earns me a big slap upside the head.

She is the cutest baby in the world.....and I am thrilled that mom and baby are both doing so well.

:-) Tom

Posted by: Tom at March 7, 2004 11:29 AM

congrats all around! i know this has been tough, but not the fun part begins... :-) take care. mjl

Posted by: Michael Laine at March 7, 2004 01:11 PM

YAY! Many congratulations to you both! We're so glad everything turned out well for Elizabeth and Dorothy. Hope you can all go home soon!

Much love,

Rob Calhoun and Elizabeth Wilmer

Posted by: Rob Calhoun at March 7, 2004 01:35 PM

What a journey to bring her into this world. So happy to here that her arrival was a safe (albeit a long) one.

How is your blood pressure doing now???? Did her delivery "cure" you????

Posted by: Karen at March 7, 2004 09:08 PM

Congrats Tom & Elizabeth! Glad to hear that Dory (I like the fish and I'm just as about forgetful, so that's what I'll use) is doing well and I hope you can all go home soon!

Tom, I'll talk with you soon, have fun with Dory; I wish I could be there. Playing with babies is fun!

Ok, enough out of me, get some rest you three, I think you all need it. ;)

Posted by: Seth Matheson at March 8, 2004 01:03 AM
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