Cannon Hal- A Birth Story

Cannon Hal: A Birth Story On Friday, December 22, 2023, I had my 37 week appointment with Dr. LeBlanc. She checked me and I was 1 cm. dilated. At this point, I wasn’t feeling any contractions so I was surprised and hopeful that I would go into labor on my own. I was scheduled to be induced at 38 weeks due to the blood thinner injections I was taking and I did not want to be induced. All I had known was 2 very good, spontaneous labors and was really wanting to duplicate that success. She also told me that I was only 50% effaced so she might have me come in the night before my scheduled induction to start medication for that. We scheduled another check 2 days prior to the induction just to make sure. On Wednesday, December 27, I went in again and was still at a 1 cm. and only 70% effaced. I was really hoping there would be progress because I had been feeling mild cramps and thinking things were happening. She hooked me up to the monitor and while there were small measurements on the paper compared to the normal none, she said I wasn’t contracting. She told me to go ahead and plan on coming to the hospital Thursday night to start the induction. We went home a little bummed because we were hoping we were going to be told to go across the street to the hospital because I was in labor! Thursday morning we went to the hospital with all 3 kids in tow for my pre-op appointment. We signed consents and they told us to be back at 6 pm, but also to call around 5 pm if we hadn’t gotten a confirmation call just to make sure they had a bed available. Apparently it was a very busy time in L&D. We left around 3 pm and went to lunch at Mod Pizza for the last time as a family of 5. After that, I stayed home to rest and Crockett met his mom to drop off the kids. When he got back to me it was after 5. We had both thought there was no way they would actually have a bed for us at 6 because we had waiting almost an hour for our pre-op appointment and the hospital hadn’t called us to confirm availability. I took a shower and then finally called them around 5:30. Of course, they told us to be there at 6 and make sure I ate before getting there. We hurried up and packed and stopped for fries and a smoothie on our way. We got into our room at 7 pm and just hung out while the nurses had shift change. My sister came to visit and we played games for a while. Around 9 pm I finally had an IV and they started the medicine to soften my cervix. At 1 am, I was still a 1, but they said I was softer. They started Pitocin hoping to speed up contractions. I slept through the night as much as I could with the nurses coming in to increase my Pitocin and move my monitor. Every few hours Cannon would move and they couldn’t record his heart rate. At 7am I was almost a 2 and maxed out on Pitocin. Within 20 minutes my doctor came in and broke my water. There was so much fluid! (My high-risk doctor, Dr. Rowe, would have been very upset with me.) They also began to prep me for an epidural. I wasn’t in too much pain yet, but the hope was that breaking my water would set things in motion soon. Luckily, my sister works at this hospital in the OR and she was able to get the best anesthesiologist to leave the OR and come do my epidural. He was amazing! I had so much anxiety about this as last time I was in labor this is where my only hiccup came in. The pain was minimal, and he was very quick. The only problem was that my nurses immediately had me lay on my left side and I remember thinking this is not good for making sure the meds get to both legs. I was right. I fell asleep almost immediately and within an hour I woke up in major pain. I could feel the contractions, but especially in the right side. I begged the nurse for meds. She called the anesthesiologist to come give me another dose and as we were waiting, I was feeling the urge to push. The nurse didn’t quite believe me but checked me anyway was I was complete! They called for my doctor, and I was panicking because at this point I was still in excruciating pain and feeling the contractions. My doctor was prepping, and I finally got another dose in my epidural, but I was in position to push and still didn’t feel relief. At some point after the first few pushes the pain subsided and I was able to focus on the right movements. At 10:59 am, Cannon Hal was born with the cord pretty tight around his neck, but thankfully healthy. He was 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 inches long. We were only in the hospital with him one night before being sent home. His bilirubin levels were normal and his PKU test came back normal a week later; a first for our boys! I recovered really well and pretty quickly again. Within a few days I felt normal again. Breastfeeding was a challenge the first few days, but we finally have figured it out and gotten into a rhythm. He is sleeping very well during the day and not so well at night. We were shocked by this surprise pregnancy and so very grateful for a healthy quadruple rainbow baby.