Motherhood

Lucy’s Birth Story - July 29,2018

Allie was 41 weeks pregnant (plus one day) and felt very physically uncomfortable. Mentally, each day post due date was agony for Allison. Rob & Allie went on a date every day she was overdue The last date we went on, Allie put on a red dress &make up and went to Able Brewery to celebrate Andy & Andrea’s engagement. Saturday Allison woke up with an abundance of energy feeling the urge to walk. With Finn in tow, we drove over to Lake Harriet and walked around the lake before 7 am. We walked three miles in an hour and half on a gorgeous sunny day. After the walk, we headed home and relaxed for an hour before joining Bob, Kathi and Kristie at the Mill City Farmers Market and newly minted Trader Joe’s

In total we walked 5 miles that day. At Trader Joe’s we picked up an entire fresh pineapple, following the advice of a random old wives’ tale (after spicy food, curb walking, and squats failed to produce results). Rob cut up the entire pineapple and Allie went to town. Allie stayed up late till around 11 and hit the hay. Rob, anxious and unable to sleep, found himself watching the USS Indianapolis on Netflix when Allie awoke with a start to use the restroom. Upon using the toilet, Allie noticed that she had lost her mucus plug – a telltale sign of early labor. This mucus plus loss was accompanied by regular contractions which led the pair to believe this was the real deal. We kept our cool, gathered some food together, cleaned the kitchen, and said goodbye to Finny before heading to the hospital at 4 AM. Upon arrival at 4:30, we were directed to a triage room where they took initial measurements on Allie & Baby T. During the 20 minute test, we were able to see the change in contractions on the scope and saw that Allie’s cervix had dilated to 3 cm with 75% effacement. The nurse, a student intern, wanted to send us home after we failed to make meaningful progress in the two hours we were in triage. Despite this lack of observable progress, Allison knew that she was moving towards delivery with each contractions. During this time, Pat and Kelley provided reinforcements in the form of Starbucks coffee and breakfast sandwiches, and Pat’s loud timbre. Pat chose to wear the Kelley green shirt that we got for him as a gift on our mini moon to Pebble Beach. The nurses gave us two options: head home and come back when the contractions are stronger/closer together, or Allison receive an IV of Pitocin to be induced. Allie could feel the contractions increasing in intensity and felt that leaving the hospital was not an option. She was disappointed that the only way she could stay was to leverage Pitocin, but eventually agreed to get the IV to stay at the hospital. Luckily, the nurse shift changed during this difficult decision which allowed more time for Allie’s body to progress. Upon a check by the new nurse, her cervix had progressed to 4 cm dilated and 85% effaced which showed that Baby T was on the way

Following this update, the nurses formerly checked us into and moved us into the room in which Allie would labor and deliver. In fact, this was the very same room that we had toured many months prior full of natural light on this beautiful sunny July Sunday

At this point, we met our new nurse Kelly who would ultimately help us deliver our beautiful, bouncing baby girl. Kelly, in a previous career, had worked as an administrator in the same department as Kathi at Augsburg College – what a small world!

Kelly was nice, amiable, and welcoming to the entire family by honoring our birth plan and coaching Allie through each stage of labor with a subtle touch. Allie’s contractions were extremely painful at this point forcing her to labor in many positions around the room: in bed, in the chair, on the toilet, standing up. After a few hours of this brand of contractions, the nurse said she was going to give us 15 minutes to cool down. Allie went to the bathroom and found a large gush of blood and a fully dilated cervix, indicating that we were ready to push Baby T out! Also at this point, the nurse speculated that Baby T had meconium based on some discharge in Allie’s vaginal cavity. Allie returned to bed around 12 noon, and readied herself for the marathonian task ahead. Shortly after starting to push during her contractions, brother Pat & Carrie poked their heads into the room to wish Allie good luck. Upon seeing the scene set before them, both young lawyers were left slack jawed with eyes before backpedaling out of the room slowly. Needless to say, things had reached a fever pitch by this point. Allie pushed in this manner for an hour and a half before we were able to see Lucy’s full head of hair during contractions. At this point, nurse Kelly rolled in a massive mirror to allow Allie to witness her progress and what was to come: Baby T. The nurse asked Rob & Kelley to hold Allie’s legs as she pushed which was difficult and very involved at the same time. Ten minutes later, the nurse called in Doctor Hallman to supervise the rest of the delivery. Small world, Dr. Hallman went to St Thomas Academy and Allie’s family goes way back with the Hallman clan. Mr. O’Neill spent more than 15 minutes telling war stories with the Dr. in the hallway prior to his entrance on the scene. The Dr. was cool, calm, and collected and brought an air of confident command to the otherwise hectic room. At this point, Kelley’s leg holding duties were relieved by nurse Kelly as Dr. Hallman stepped into the catching position between Allie’s legs. Dr. Hallman tried to coach Allie into delivering little Lucy on her own, asking her to push hard three times. Ultimately, Dr. Hallman manually manipulated the skin around Lucy’s head to allow her to come into the world. As a result, Allie sustained a minor tear which Dr. Hallman stitched up while they took Lucy to the NICU team standing by. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, and she had meconium which made it difficult for her to breathe. With the quick action of the NICU team, however, Lucy was crying up a storm which was music to our ears. Lucy went skin to skin with Allie and then Rob to begin the connection. We shared our beautiful baby girl with Rob’s family & Allie’s family.