The epic arrival of Ryan James

Gina was back to her usual three hours’ sleep when she woke up Monday morning. We went to our 9:00 OB appointment packed for the hospital and ready to be induced. What we didn’t realize was that our OB was on call all weekend and wouldn’t be available until Wednesday.

Gina was despondent and wished that we’d followed her instinct to get induced the day before. But then, around 3:00 pm, she started having contractions again. 

Having been through a entire night of false labor on Thursday, Gina wasn’t buying it. But I noticed that the contractions were not only steady and growing closer together, but also that Gina was focusing intensely between them, which wasn’t the case before. By 5:00 they were three minutes apart, which our OB told us was Go Time. But Gina didn’t want to go to the hospital only to suffer more disappointment. 

That was before I got her to her feet and her water broke.

By the time we drove the ten minutes to the hospital, Gina needed a wheelchair. She didn’t appreciate my steering when I banged her footrest into the back of the elevator, but I managed to get her up to the maternity ward in one piece.

By 6:00 pm Gina was in her gown in the delivery suite. The contractions were intensifying and her eyes were in the back of her head. With our regular OB off duty, we were going to have the baby delivered by her partner who was on-call. Gina told the doctor right out of the gate that she wanted an epidural, but was told she should get a narcotic drip first since it wasn’t as extreme a measure.

The delivery nurse got Gina into the whirlpool bath, which succeeded in dilating her from a 3 to a 7. Gina remained fixated on the allure of the epidural and refused to get out of the tub until she had one waiting for her. The ensuing negotiations resulted in her starting a narcotic drip. It helped take the edge off and make her woozy, but Gina was still writhing in bed and not handling the contractions well. She was changing positions constantly and making frequent trips to the bathroom, which meant that her narcotic drip had to be turned off each time she moved. I figure it was only on for about an hour out of the four she was dilating, and by 9:30 Gina was ready to throttle our nurse unless she got her epidural. 

At this point the nurse told Gina it was too late for an epidural, because she was going to begin to push shortly and they would have had to turn it off anyway. I tried to console my wife as she collapsed into tears.

WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE

The prospect of getting to the final stage brought Gina back around, and she received instructions in how to push from Nurse Epidural Denier. These turned out to be not very good, as the nurse was letting Gina take as many breaths between pushes as she wanted, which Dr. Stern said was only sucking the baby back in when she checked in on us an hour later. At this point Gina was running on fumes. But we were naive enough to think the baby’s head would be popping out shortly.

Ryan had other ideas. He had managed to turn himself “sunny side up,” meaning his back was to Gina’s, which makes it difficult for the head to clear the birth canal. Our nurses and Dr. Stern had Gina push from every position in order to turn the baby around. Gina was on her back and both her sides. Her hands and knees for an hour. She was pulling her hair. Her gown was soaked. She buried her face in her pillow.

I could never have asked my wife to go through what she did to deliver our son. It was nothing short of heroic, a complete loving sacrifice. I literally do not know where she got the strength, but Gina pushed for four hours straight, straining with every contraction. She told me halfway through it that she couldn’t feel her legs or see straight. But every few minutes, grasping for strength, she’d focus on her goal.

RYAN, AT LAST

By 2:00 in the morning Gina was beyond spent and asked Dr. Stern what her options were. She was told that either she had to push the baby close enough for the doctor to attempt to use suction to pull Ryan out, or Gina would have to have a C section.

“I want a C section,” Gina said. 

My brother Andy told me that the hardest part of labor was having to see your wife suffer. I was with Gina for every contraction, trying to help her push through it. I had seen her endure hours of punishment that were hers to bear alone. It wasn’t easy for me, but I was not going to let her sacrifice go in vain.

I stroked Gina’s hair and told her that I knew she was well beyond tired. I whispered an Our Father in her ear and told her our son was near. But mostly what I told my wife was what I knew about her all along, that she is the strongest person I know. I told her she could do it.

It was another 44 minutes before Ryan entered the world. With Dr. Stern using a plastic tool that cupped around the baby’s crown, Gina willed herself through three more contractions to push the baby’s head out. My first thought when I saw our son was to say to myself, thank God. I was so relieved for Gina and so proud. My next thought was, that’s a pretty big noggin. Then the rest of the baby came out.

WEIGHING IN

Once Ryan finally made his appearance, his body popping out in one push, the reason Gina had such a difficult labor was immediately clear. Our beautiful baby boy, our little Ryan James, proved an overachiever right out of the gate at 10 pounds, 12 ounces. At 22 1/2 inches, he was too tall for the scale he was weighed on. 

Gina and Ryan were immediately attended to. Gina, having weathered so much, was unable to nurse Ryan and barely able to hold him. She was stitched up and monitored overnight. Ryan had swallowed his first bowel movement, but the nurses aspirated him and declared him perfectly healthy. The conical shape of his skull from the suction-assisted delivery was gone by the morning, and I got to spend time with our beautiful boy before he was off to the nursery.

Gina rested as well as she could, having achieved a miracle. I eventually drifted off myself, in awe of my warrior wife.