Jolynn Rochelle Moritz

Born 7/18/10, 7:17 am, 4 lb 11 oz, 18 inches

Our beautiful baby girl decided she needed to come out 4 weeks early. This is her story:

At 10am I was given a drug called Cytotec (a pill put next to my cervix that ripens it).
I slept until 2am and then was checked-1 cm-then given another dose of Cytotec. Because of having preeclampsia Dr. Hessel said she was surprised I was given a second dose of Cytotec; this drug is known to put you into labor.
Around 4am I was awaken by severe cramping and need to go #2. Very similar to most of my mornings when I was at home. Being new to pregnancy I did not know what contractions would feel like. Labor I knew was menstrual like cramps, but mine were accompanied by the need to go the bathroom, so I thought it was just that. Once I got in the bathroom I was stuck for a while because my "cramps" were so bad I couldn't get up. Once I got up we called my nurse (Jane). She said she had been watching my monitor for the past 2 hours and I was having some major contractions and then when I wasn't plugged in for a while she thought she better come check on me. She was absolutely right. It was breathing time. Jon was great. Jane checked my cervix and I was at 2 almost 3 cm. My pain was so bad she decided it was time to call for an epidural.
Epidural doctor showed up at 4:30. By 4:40 they were putting in a test dose. By 4:50 I was completely numb and feeling great. The other nurses were getting a little nervous because they were still watching my monitor. My contractions were not having a down time. I was given two shots to try and slow my contractions (which I was not feeling). I started to feel pressure in my groin and that turned into pain in my stomach. We called the epidural doc back to give me an extra dose. That dose helped me, but slowed Jolynn's heartrate. They put me on my side. That didn't work. They asked if I could get on all fours. Normally with an epidural you are not supposed to be able to move from the waist down. I somehow was still able to move, but didn't feel anything. So I got on all fours and then swayed my hips back and forth. They also put O2 on me. This all helped because Jolynn's heart rate came back up.
At this point I really don't know what time it was, but everything went VERY fast.
I started to feel pressure again in my pelvic bone area. The doctor checked my cervix and I was 5 cm. Around 7am she checked again and I was 9cm. There was not much time between the 5 and 9. Jon sent out a text message saying I was at 9cm. I told the doctor that it felt like she was coming out. She checked again and sure enough she told me to start pushing. Still having trouble with Jolynn's heart rate, they kept me on my side to push. I had 2 good pushes and then the doc said next push she was coming out. She wasn't kidding. At 7:17am, she shot out like a torpedo. Jon had wanted to catch her and then cut the umbilical cord. Unfortunately, she had the cord wrapped around her neck, so he wasn't able to. This was another reason her heart rate was so low. They wisked her to the NICU. I told Jon to go with her. He was fantastic. He knew everything going on and had the nurse report everything back to me.
Jolynn was doing great but because she was so small her sugar levels were low. She scored an 8 at the first minute after birth for the APGAR test and a 9 at five minutes (out of 10). Her blood sugar level was a 32 when she first got into the NICU she was put on an IV to get the sugar and a supplemental IV in her by 10:30 her level was at a 62 (normal is 50). As soon as I could I headed in there and tried to nurse. She was able to latch on! Now I just have to get something for her to drink.