Announcing the Newest Bigler...

Jacob Gregor Bigler was born May 15, 2010 at 11:15pm. He was 7 pounds 8 ounces and 19.5 inches long.

Labor began Friday evening around 6pm. Amber noticed her contractions getting a little bit more intense than the normal Braxton Hicks contractions she was used to. They were irregular, however, so she didn't pay too much attention. Later that night around 10pm, contractions started to become more consistent, but with the same intensity. After monitoring for a couple hours at 5 minutes apart, it was time to call the doctor. After assessing my situation, he said to go ahead and come to the hospital. At 1 am, Jake got everything ready to go, put Amber in the car and set off for the hospital. The nurses got us to a room, told Amber to change, and then came back to check her. She was barely dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced - which is what she was that morning at her pre-natal check-up.
One hour later, they came back to check again. The monitors indicated that contractions were now 3 to 4 minutes apart, and the baby's heartbeat was good. However, Amber was now dilated to barely over a 3 and still 80% effaced - not much progress. The nurses decided to wait another hour before making any decisions. After another hour, still just over a 3, and now 90% effaced. However, effacement does not allow admittance to the hospital. Amber and Jake now had to go home with the worry of when to go back to the hospital. (Below is Jake waiting during the hour in-between checks.)

Jake and Amber got home about 4:45am and immediately went to bed. The hospital had given Amber some pain medication that would also help her sleep. She slept for a couple hours before her contractions came back and were more noticeable - still at 3 to 4 minutes apart. However, they weren't any more intense than they had been before. She got up about 8am to walk around and clean up some of the house. About 9:30am, the contractions started becoming more intense and seeming to last a little longer than before. She went and took a bath, which seemed to help some, but there were still a few even the warm water couldn't take away. Then the lower back pain began to settle in with each contraction and would not go away in between. She got dressed, and the contractions became too much. At noon it was decided it was time to return to the hospital. The worse that would happen is she wouldn't progress, and they would send her home again, so why not?
They got to the hospital and checked in. The chief nurse came in to check, and Amber was dilated to a 4! Progress from before, but still borderline for staying. The nurse left and an hour later, Amber's regular nurse Erin came in to check. Amber was now at a 5 and was finally admitted! Erin immediately began to prep for the laboring process and notice the doctor and anesthesiologist since Amber had requested an epidural. Erin got the IV, but couldn't find a good vein to put it in. She tried on the back of the right hand, didn't work and gave Amber a bruise instead. :( Then she tried in the left arm, which didn't hurt as much, but it still didn't work. So Erin went and got another nurse. This other nurse tried in the right arm - didn't work. So they called in the anesthesiologist to do it, and hoorah, it worked. Then Amber was prepped for the epidural and found they're not as bad putting in as she's heard. In 10 minutes, her pain was gone, and she was a lot more calm and relaxed. She was checked again and dilated to a 6. The doctor came in and broke her water to help things along. He predicted the baby would be out around 6 or 7 that evening. The nurse came back in another hour and checked - Amber was at a 9.5! However, it took a bit longer to get that last 1/2 cm than expected, and another worry - the baby was not face down, but facing directly to Amber's left - hence the back pain. Amber was assured he would turn during the birth and with pushing.
The shift change occurred at 6pm, so Amber got a new nurse - Tiffany, who was amazing! Tiffany had Amber begin pushing at 6:15pm to crown the head. As soon as the head crowned, then she could call the doctor to finish the birth. Two hours later, Amber was still pushing and the head still had not crowned. The doctor poked his head in to check on things and told Amber that they don't normally let women push longer than 3 1/2 hours. If that was the case, then we were looking at a possible c-section. Amber tried her hardest with pushing for the next hour, but not much progress had been made. The doctor let her continue to push because the baby was not being stressed. By 9:30pm, there still was not much progress. Jake's parents arrived from Idaho, and Rick and Jake gave Amber a blessing. In the blessing, Amber was assured that the baby would be born the normal way. A new wave of hope settled in the room and Amber was able to continue pushing. They told the doctor they wanted to keep pushing until 10pm and he let them. Still not much progress. The doctor order the epidural be stopped completely (Amber was already not allowed to push the button for the last couple hours). By 10:30pm, a little more of the head was showing, but it wasn't enough. The doctor order petocin be given to Amber because Amber's contractions were beginning to slow down. The doctor stayed in the room at this time to help with the pushing and was prepping for a c-section as well. He allowed Amber to continue pushing for a bit longer. By this time, five people were around Amber to help, and Amber was told the entire nurse staff that evening were cheering for her. Finally at 11:15pm, enough of the head was showing, the doctor performed an episiotomy, and out came Amber's beautiful baby boy, crying and healthy. Amber immediately began bawling with relief and joy and couldn't see her baby through the tears. Jake cut the umbilical cord, and the nurses whisked him to the cleaning station while the doctor attended to Amber. It truly was a miracle!

Now Amber and Gregor are figuring out nursing while Amber's body recovers. It's been such a joy to have Gregor in our home! He's been such a good and content baby and is very patient with his parents.