We were scheduled for a c-section Friday morning, April 17 at 10am. Francie was a breech baby so after 14 Bradley "natural childbirth classes" last time around I ended up with a c-section to deliver Francie. I didn't mind the surgery and recovery wasn't bad but we were hoping to be able to experience labor and a "VBAC" if we could this time. I had to switch doctors and clinics a few times to find a doctor who would agree to try a VBAC- it's risky enough no one wants to take on a new patient these days. My dad had worked with Dr. Maurice Druzin, the Cheif of Maternal Fetal Medicine and High Risk Births at Stanford Hospital, before and he agreed to let me try the VBAC under his care at the high risk clinic. Things fell into place during the pregnancy but this little baby just didn't want to come out! We clicked off the days thinking for sure I would go a little early or right around my due date... I had contractions on and off but they never stuck around long enough. Dr. Druzin gave me 8 days over my due date before they would have to do a c-section. As we got closer I tried everything under the sun to go into labor- raspberry leaf tea, primrose oil, pineapple, spicy foods, walking and walking, curb walking and even acupuncture daily in the last week (that I think actually worked to 'drop the baby'!) I finally gave in on Thursday night and changed gears to expect surgery the next morning- just happy we would finally meet our baby. I unpacked our "labor and delivery" bag and tried to get a good night's sleep :)

Leaving for the hospital- a family of three!

Francie says "Baby in Mommy's belly" and... "Baby in Sansie's belly too!"

We dropped Francie off for a leisurely day at Jannie and Grandpa's to play! Emmy came over too (hence the adorable photos:) My dad took the day off work again to await the arrival- he took the day off for Francie's birthday and my mom said he never even did that for any of his kids to be born! Thanks Dad :) and thanks Jannie for taking such good care of our Little Doo while we were in the hospital! She loved her "slumba pa-ties"

(*Warning there could be TMI in this post and a little boring- I banned pictures until the baby was born!)

Heff and I arrived at the hospital at 8:30am for pre-op and within the hour we were ready to be wheeled in to surgery for a c-section. The anesthesiologist was getting ready when Dr. Druzin's resident, Inna, came in and introduced herself. She said she spoke with Druzin about my hopes for a VBAC and was willing to check me one last time to make sure we were making the right choice to do surgery. Inna said I was 1cm dilated and having a few contractions and that she would be willing to let me wait a few hours and see what they could do to get me into labor. 1cm didn't sound very promising, but we also knew Dr. Druzin was only available to do my c-section if we had been bumped to the afternoon schedule so we figured we might as well try and at the very least it would buy us some time to have Dr. Druzin do the surgery. So they moved us to an L&D room and we set up camp.

Since I had a recent c-section scar, most of the induction methods commonly used were out the window for me - no drugs to start labor could be used but they suggested a relatively new method to induce using a Foley Catheter to help dilate (I'll spare too many details;) Heff sent our parents and Francie, waiting patiently in the outdoor garden area, off to get lunch. We were kind of excited we got to see what a "real labor & delivery" room was like and thought at least we'd get to experience a little of this! They told us to expect to "try" things for three hours and then decide to continue if it worked or just go in for surgery.

Things kicked into high gear pretty fast! The contractions started quickly and in ernest. We tried to remember our Bradley methods and Heff kept his thumbs on an ankle pressure point every contraction (thanks acupuncture ;) We had fantastic nurses and doctors encouraging us and keeping a very close eye on things to make sure we weren't pressing the envelope. Three hours passed and things were moving SLOWLY but surely. Dr. Druzin arrived and was pleased with the forward momentum and let us keep going. Three hours turned into nine hours of contractions every 2-3 minutes apart and we decided it was time for that epidural :) It kicked in just as I was thinking I couldn't take another contraction! I think it was about 8:00pm and after that I was a happy camper and could feel the pressure of each contraction but no real pain. Ahhhh.

After the foley thing did it's job and got me to 5cm I was having regular contractions on my own but not enough to get me much past 5cm after four more hours. At 11pm they started a very small Pitocin drip (which can't be used to start labor in a VBAC but is ok once labor is progressing.) but after less than an hour of pitocin the baby's heart rate seemed to drop after each contraction so they quickly stopped the drip.

At 1am they broke my water- the last resort- and put a fetal monitor on the baby's head to more closely watch. Between 1-5am we had nurses (one of our favorites, Gina from Chico!) residents and attendings in and out of our room with different opinions of what to do next. It still wasn't time for a c-section but we had sort of run out of options.

Finally the attending decided the "drops" in baby's heart rate were not as worrisome as the resident thought and called back the Pitocin. They "titrated" different levels in small amounts until we seemed to find a place baby tolerated and that kept contractions strong and regular. This was at about 5:30am but I was STILL at 5cm.

They waited until 8:00am to check me again and the nurses and doctors cheered and danced around the room and said "You're at EIGHT CM!" Contractions got stronger and they said they would check me again at 10am. The doctor told me if I got to 10cm okay, to expect to push for 1-3 hours and that they would probably need to use forceps or vacuum for delivery and if those didn't work I'd still need a c-section. We were okay with this every step of the way since that is what we had expected the end result would be anyway- this "labor" thing seemed like a bonus we didn't think we'd even be able to experience.

By 9:45am I told Heff to get the doctor and by the time they checked I was a full 10cm! We were kind of in shock this somehow worked! They couldn't get the delivery supplies set up fast enough and after 15-20 minutes of pushing...

at 10:30am we heard "IT'S A GIRL"!!!!! It was such an incredible feeling!

Welcome to the world MaryMarjorie Sheehy Heffernan- you sure kept us in suspense getting here!

Tired but happy Mom (Heff was SO incredible the entire labor- thanks love:)

Oh bright lights little Maisie!

Getting her stats on the warming table - 7 pounds 1 oz (11 ounces smaller than Francie even though she was 'cooked' 2 weeks longer!) 19 inches. 9 on Apgar. We think she's perfect!