Claire Austin Duty

Well she has arrived! Claire Austin Duty made her debut Wednesday October 19, 2011. I know there are some of you that want the whole birth story and then there are those that just want the important details and lots of pictures. I will try and satisfy both.

Name: Claire Austin Duty
Weight: 7 lbs 8 oz
Length: 18 inches
Date of Birth: October 19, 2011
Time: 11:02 pm

The Whole Story:
For a few weeks before Claire came at my doctors appointments I was already dilated to 2.5cm and was 80% effaced. I would make gradual progress but nothing substantial enough to send me to the hospital. Needless to say I was getting impatient knowing how close I was but still so far away. My biggest concern was having my water break while I was at school... luckily that didn't happen. 

Wednesday morning came and Zach was scheduled to be in Enterprise (about and hour away) to start an internship for one of his classes. He and one other student that is in his class met at the school and were on their way. I was a little worried about him going because he was not going to have cell phone service. I did have a phone number I could call where someone could get in touch with him but I was still worried. After he left I started to try and get some things done around the house before I left for school. I started to have some contractions but they were not any worse than ones I had been feeling in the past. The only difference was that they were pretty consistent, about 10 minutes apart. I tried not to get my hopes up and just pay attention to the timing and still get some things done. About and hour later I was getting ready to shower and noticed some spotting. I was not concerned because I was already 39 weeks so if I had to go to the hospital they would just keep me there and induce me if anything was wrong. Just to be safe though I called my OB office and explained what was going on and that I was still having contractions. They told me to head over to the hospital to get checked.

I checked into the hospital around 8:30am and waited for about 30 minutes before a nurse came in to check on me. When she did she told me that I had dilated more! I was at a 3+. She asked if I was still having contractions and I told her that I was. She informed me that I would need to stay at the hospital for an hour to be monitored, especially because my contractions were coming closer together. So I waited at the hospital. The whole time I was thinking how horrible it would be if I had my baby and no one was there with me. I had tried calling Zach and left him several messages to let him know what was going on but he had not called me back. The hour passed and I was checked again and I was almost dilated to a 4. My nurse gave me two options. 1. I could wait at the hospital and once I got to 4cm they would give me an epidural and we could get things started or 2. Go home for and hour and clean/walk around and try to get myself to dilate on my own and come back and then head back to the hospital. I opted for #2. I needed to go home and clean, let my dog out and try to get a hold of Zach. When I did get home I called the office number that I had and told the receptionist that she needed to tell Zach I was in labor and that he needed to come home right away. She immediately handed the phone to Zach. His first question was "Is this for real?" While I waited for him to come home I cleaned the house, let max out and found someone to watch him for the day while we were gone and until my parents got in town. When Zach finally got home my contractions were about 5min apart and I was starting to feel more pressure. I checked back in to the hospital and they hooked my up to all the monitors and I was checked yet again and I was almost dilated to 5cm.

They informed the anesthesiologist and he came in gave me my epidural. My doctor came in and told me that he wanted to just check me every hour to see if I would still dilate on my own. Well, I did. Almost every hour after that I had progressed at least a centimeter if not more. My water still had not broken on its own yet so he did that for me and we waited some more. I loved watching the monitor because my contractions were off the chart and about 1-2 minutes apart... I didn't feel anything! It was great. Around 9:30 pm I was to 9.5cm and had stalled a little bit. We waited another 30 minutes and my doctor wanted me to start pushing with the nurse to see if we could get things moving. At this point I could feel my feet a little bit better and was feeling the pressure of the contractions but not the pain. Apparently this was the perfect time to start pushing. I pushed for 30 minutes with the nurse and made some progress. Another nurse came in to check my vitals and I had a slight fever which was causing Claires heart rate to increase. They only way to get it to go back down was for me to deliver her.

My OB doctor came in and I pushed for for 30 minutes with him. I was doing really well and got the hang of how I needed to push. At one point my doctor told me that if he snipped me a little bit that on my next push she would most likely be born. I agreed immediately! And he was right my next push she was born! I was so excited and she was so perfect. There are no words to describe a mothers love. You just live it.

 Zach was incredible the entire time. I was a lot calmer with him there. He helped keep me entertained through all the contractions, epidural, and all the check ups. He helped me push and watched everything. He even cut the umbilical cord. It was a wonderful experience. I didn't think I could ever be more grateful for my husband but I am and I am grateful that he is such a wonderful father to Claire. 

Claire had aspirated some fluid and because I had a slight fever they needed to treat her with antibiotics just to be safe that she didn't have any infections. So I held her for and hour and then she was taken to the nursery. She had some problems with her oxygen levels because of the the fluid she aspirated. But after a few good throw ups she was back on track. She was suppose to stay in the nursery while they were giving her antibiotics because she was on an IV. I was allowed to be in there as much as I wanted but she couldn't be in my room. I was actually ok with this. I was able to get some sleep those few nights. After a few days of lab tests to make sure everything was normal we were finally able to go home Saturday morning. I love my Claire! She is so perfect! :) Pictures: