Sydney Marie has arrived!

We checked in to the hospital Sunday evening at 5pm, but there was a scheduling glitch and they weren't expecting us till 8. So, we left and had a nice dinner with my Mom at a nearby Mimi's cafe. When we got back they started Shannon on medicine to soften the cervix. At 7am the following morning they started the labor inducing medicine (pitocin). Her water broke on its own around 8:45am. Shortly after, Shannon really started feeling the contractions, so she received an epidural around 10:30am. We started to watch the monitor that tracked baby's heart rate and the contractions. I noticed that the baby's heart rate seemed to be dipping a bit around the contractions. The nurse had noticed too and started having Shannon turn over at various times to try and change the baby's position. The thinking being that the contracting uterus may be causing the baby to pinch down on the umbilical cord during the contractions...or causing some other stress to the baby. As a precaution, a Dr (not our delivery Dr) came in and inserted an internal heart rate monitor (that attaches to baby's scalp) and an internal contraction monitor that more accurately measures the strength of the contractions. There was no change, so they stopped the pitocin around 11:30ish and waited for our Dr to arrive to arrive (she had already performed 2 c-sections at that point and would have done at least 4 by days end). Around 12:15pm the Dr explained that she would only start the pitocin one more time to see if the baby reacted better to the contractions, because it wouldn't be good for mom/baby to put their bodies under that kind of stress long term. Shannon was only dilated to a 3 at this point, but 90% effaced. So, over the next 4 hours or so we watched the monitors and waited. Shannon continued to have contractions, but was feeling no pain from the epidural earlier. The baby's heart rate was clearly still dipping around the contractions. So, as a last ditch effort, the nurses started pumping fluid back in to try and provide a cushion to baby in hopes she would be less stressed, or slide off of the cord if that's what was happening. That didn't seem to work and the nurse came in a said she was going to turn off the pitocin for a bit. We knew it was over at that point. Our Dr came in and recommended a c-section...there were some tears from momma, but the Dr was very reassuring and emphasized "healthy baby, healthy mommy". I asked, "when?", and she said "here in a few minutes". In less than 10 minutes Shannon was being wheeled down the hall to the operating room. I was able to go as well. It was a bit chaotic and pretty scary watching everyone scurry to get setup for an unscheduled surgery. Shannon was shivering on the table as they setup (a combination of being cold, scared, and from effects of the medicine) , but she remained strong and did what she needed to do in order to deliver Sydney as safely as possible. Sydney Marie All was born at 5:13pm, weighing 7.56 lbs, 19 inches long.. She's beautiful. It was a long day, but in the end we have a healthy baby and healthy momma.