Riah Skye Cale
arrived November 21st, 2011
7 lbs 9 oz.
We are so glad to finally have our daughter with us and healthy!
Riah is named after the book of Zechariah, which means YHWH has remembered. Skye is after Grace's best friend in South Africa, and also goes along with the meaning of her first name (YHWH has remembered in the Heavens).
The Birth:
Wow! I am sure glad that part is over. :) For those of you who are interested in how the labor process went...here you go.
Towards the end of my pregnancy we found out that my placenta had moved out of the way of the cervix, so all your prayers concerning that were answered! I was so happy to be able to have a natural birth (natural as in no c-section NOT as in no medication! lol). Due to the fact that I had gestational diabetes my doctors thought it would be best to induce me one week before my due date, because the health risks at the end of a gestational diabetes pregnancy are a lot greater. Sunday November 20th Alton and I arrived to "check into" the hospital at 5 p.m. to begin the process. They planned to insert cervidil that night around 7 in order to ripen my cervix, and then start me on pitocin at 6 A.M. the next morning. It was very surreal checking into the hospital knowing that when we leave we would be parents to a little girl.
After the long checking in process, and getting all hooked up and poked and prodded for a couple of hours it was time to begin. The doctor came in at 7 p.m. and inserted the cervidil, which had to stay in for 12 hours (at this point I was already dilated 1 c.m.). Often times this alone can kick start labor...and that's exactly what happened. After taking some sleeping pills around 9 p.m., I was nice and groggy and ready for a good night of sleep, so that I would be ready for the big task ahead the next morning. Like that was gonna happen!!! lol. ;) At 9:30 p.m. the contractions started. Yikes! The pain was so sharp and mostly in my back. Back labor = NO FUN.
Here is how the rest of the night went:
@ 11 P.M. contractions were 2-3 minutes apart
@ 12 A.M. I was checked and was dilated 3 c.m.
@ 12:30 A.M. I was given Demerol to help with the pain
@ 2 A.M. I was given a second dose of Demerol
@ 5:30 A.M. I was checked and was still only dilated 3 c.m. :( Bummer! Cervidil was removed and contractions slowed to 3-7 minutes apart.
@ 5:30 I was able to get up and shower before they started the pitocin (the medicine that would bring on contractions and labor).
@ 6:30 pitocin drip was started, and I was dilated to 4 c.m.
@7:30 I got the epidural! Hallelujah!!!! What a relief.
The rest of the day was much much better! After a whole night of no sleep and terrible back and stomach contractions I was able to rest. I started to dilate relatively fast for someone having their first baby. By 3 o clock I was dilated to 9 c.m.! One more to go. At this point Alton and I made bets as to when she would be born. I optimistically said she would be born at 4 p.m.. Oh boy was I wrong! I was, however, able to start pushing at 4. After an hour of pushing the nurse said that the baby had not come down at all. :( What a disappointment. I was EXHAUSTED!!! The doctor decided to let me "labor down" for a while...which means rest and just let the contractions bring the baby down the birth canal some more. At this point I was given a top off on my epidural because it's effects were wearing off. At 7:00 they finally decided it was time for me to start pushing again! I was so ready for it all to be over. I remember praying "Lord, please let this be quick!". Alton and I made bets again, and I bet that she would be born at 8:00, Alton said 8:16. Much to my utter delight and relief Riah Skye was born at 8:01 p.m.
The plan was for the doctor to place her right onto my stomach, and Alton would cut the cord. The policy at this hospital is that they would leave the baby on your chest for the first hour of it's life, and then they would take it to be weighed and cleaned off (and by take it I mean take it to the station that was set up right in the room with me. This hospital never takes the baby out of the room with the mother. Unless the mother requests it...they don't even take it to the nursery. EVERYTHING is done in the room with the mother). Sadly, during the final pushes, Riah's shoulders got stuck, and then when she came out she was in shock. They had Alton cut the cord quickly and then took her immediately to the station in the room to be checked. After what seemed like forever I finally heard her cry. She was ok! I told them to go ahead and weigh her, and clean her off. While that was all going on, the doctor was working hard to try and stop my bleeding. I was hemorrhaging bad! The nurse and the doctor were getting worried that they wouldn't be able to stop the bleeding. Just when I thought the painful part was over (and by this time my epidural was not working very well), the most painful part of the whole process was yet to come. In order to stop the bleeding there were two nurses and the doctor that were pushing as hard as they could on my abdomen. They were pushing on the clots in my stomach to try and stop the bleeding. This was the first time (since I got the epidural) that I cried from pain. It took approximately an hour for them to finally get the bleeding to stop. Yes, it was an hour before I finally got to hold my little girl. But the wait was WELL worth it! She was a beauty.
Total hours in labor = 23 1/2
Thanks to everyone who prayed for her and I during this time!
Wow! I am sure glad that part is over. :) For those of you who are interested in how the labor process went...here you go.
Towards the end of my pregnancy we found out that my placenta had moved out of the way of the cervix, so all your prayers concerning that were answered! I was so happy to be able to have a natural birth (natural as in no c-section NOT as in no medication! lol). Due to the fact that I had gestational diabetes my doctors thought it would be best to induce me one week before my due date, because the health risks at the end of a gestational diabetes pregnancy are a lot greater. Sunday November 20th Alton and I arrived to "check into" the hospital at 5 p.m. to begin the process. They planned to insert cervidil that night around 7 in order to ripen my cervix, and then start me on pitocin at 6 A.M. the next morning. It was very surreal checking into the hospital knowing that when we leave we would be parents to a little girl.
After the long checking in process, and getting all hooked up and poked and prodded for a couple of hours it was time to begin. The doctor came in at 7 p.m. and inserted the cervidil, which had to stay in for 12 hours (at this point I was already dilated 1 c.m.). Often times this alone can kick start labor...and that's exactly what happened. After taking some sleeping pills around 9 p.m., I was nice and groggy and ready for a good night of sleep, so that I would be ready for the big task ahead the next morning. Like that was gonna happen!!! lol. ;) At 9:30 p.m. the contractions started. Yikes! The pain was so sharp and mostly in my back. Back labor = NO FUN.
Here is how the rest of the night went:
@ 11 P.M. contractions were 2-3 minutes apart
@ 12 A.M. I was checked and was dilated 3 c.m.
@ 12:30 A.M. I was given Demerol to help with the pain
@ 2 A.M. I was given a second dose of Demerol
@ 5:30 A.M. I was checked and was still only dilated 3 c.m. :( Bummer! Cervidil was removed and contractions slowed to 3-7 minutes apart.
@ 5:30 I was able to get up and shower before they started the pitocin (the medicine that would bring on contractions and labor).
@ 6:30 pitocin drip was started, and I was dilated to 4 c.m.
@7:30 I got the epidural! Hallelujah!!!! What a relief.
The rest of the day was much much better! After a whole night of no sleep and terrible back and stomach contractions I was able to rest. I started to dilate relatively fast for someone having their first baby. By 3 o clock I was dilated to 9 c.m.! One more to go. At this point Alton and I made bets as to when she would be born. I optimistically said she would be born at 4 p.m.. Oh boy was I wrong! I was, however, able to start pushing at 4. After an hour of pushing the nurse said that the baby had not come down at all. :( What a disappointment. I was EXHAUSTED!!! The doctor decided to let me "labor down" for a while...which means rest and just let the contractions bring the baby down the birth canal some more. At this point I was given a top off on my epidural because it's effects were wearing off. At 7:00 they finally decided it was time for me to start pushing again! I was so ready for it all to be over. I remember praying "Lord, please let this be quick!". Alton and I made bets again, and I bet that she would be born at 8:00, Alton said 8:16. Much to my utter delight and relief Riah Skye was born at 8:01 p.m.
The plan was for the doctor to place her right onto my stomach, and Alton would cut the cord. The policy at this hospital is that they would leave the baby on your chest for the first hour of it's life, and then they would take it to be weighed and cleaned off (and by take it I mean take it to the station that was set up right in the room with me. This hospital never takes the baby out of the room with the mother. Unless the mother requests it...they don't even take it to the nursery. EVERYTHING is done in the room with the mother). Sadly, during the final pushes, Riah's shoulders got stuck, and then when she came out she was in shock. They had Alton cut the cord quickly and then took her immediately to the station in the room to be checked. After what seemed like forever I finally heard her cry. She was ok! I told them to go ahead and weigh her, and clean her off. While that was all going on, the doctor was working hard to try and stop my bleeding. I was hemorrhaging bad! The nurse and the doctor were getting worried that they wouldn't be able to stop the bleeding. Just when I thought the painful part was over (and by this time my epidural was not working very well), the most painful part of the whole process was yet to come. In order to stop the bleeding there were two nurses and the doctor that were pushing as hard as they could on my abdomen. They were pushing on the clots in my stomach to try and stop the bleeding. This was the first time (since I got the epidural) that I cried from pain. It took approximately an hour for them to finally get the bleeding to stop. Yes, it was an hour before I finally got to hold my little girl. But the wait was WELL worth it! She was a beauty.
Total hours in labor = 23 1/2
Thanks to everyone who prayed for her and I during this time!
I HATED when they pushed on your stomach (and I didn't even have hemorrhaging!) to check for bleeding. Seriously I was so strong through the whole labor process and did it without meds fairly easily, but when they would come in to push on my stomach I would get tense and upset haha.
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