A Different Kind Of Life

Chapter 86

May 3, 2017

10:00am

Columbia Presbyterian Hospital

New York City, NY

"Alright Rory, this is what is going to happen." Paris started as she sat down on the edge of her friend's bed, after getting her hooked up to all of the monitors, and doing a physical exam. "I am going to start you on a medication called Pitocin. It is a hormone that is used to induce labor, and strengthen contractions. It also helps to control the post child birth bleeding. You are currently only dilated to a three. As you have contractions, they will continue to intensify over time. For some women, this goes very fast, but for others it last for several hours. With first babies, labor is often slower and more intense, but there isn't any way to know how fast or slow it will go. My guess is that it will be at least a few hours. As your contractions progress and strengthen, you water should break on its own, but if it doesn't break within the next couple of hours, I will break it myself. Hopefully after that happens, you should have your baby within a couple of hours. However, it could still take a while. What I want you to do is just try to focus on breathing through each contraction, and let me know when the pain is starting to become too much, and I will get the anesthesiologist in here to give you your epidural. Prior to receiving the epidural, you will be able to move around as much as you want. You can stay in bed, walk around the room, walk the halls if you want to, there is a large birthing ball that you can try, or even a birthing tub if you decide that is what you want. Logan your Mom and I will do everything we can to keep you comfortable, alright?" Rory nodded as Paris explained everything. When I come to break your water, I will put a catheter in, that way you won't have to constantly get up to use the bathroom. I could do it right now, but I figured you might want some freedom. The catheter will stay in place until Ayribella is born, and the epidural wears off. Once you get the epidural, your will hopefully be completely numb from the waist down, so you will have to stay in bed until it completely wears off, which should be within no more than a couple of hours after birth. Is all of this ok with you?"

"You're the doctor, I trust your judgment." Rory told her.

"Logan, I swear to God, if you start using Doctor Google today, I will break your phone into a million tiny pieces." Paris said, looking to her friend at Rory's side.

"I know better than to do that around you. Plus, this is all stuff that I learned in medical school."

"Do you want to cut the cord after your daughter is born? You don't have to, but most Dads like to do it."

"Actually, can we wait on that?" Rory asked. I've done a lot of research, and I want to delay cord clamping for a while. Delayed clamping allows for more blood to transfer from the placenta to the baby. Some babies received around one third of their blood from delayed clamping, and it increases the baby's iron storage, which is vital for healthy brain development."

"We can definitely do that. I do recommend only waiting 5 minutes or so. Some mothers have waited longer, one patient waited up to an hour. But usually 5 minutes is sufficient, and the placenta is done pumping by then." Paris told her. "Once the baby takes her first breath, her lungs will inflate and her blood pressure increases and starts filter her blood flow into her lungs rather than through the placenta. The placenta acts as the baby's lungs and liver during utero, but that all changes at birth. I do agree that giving the baby the chance to benefit from the extra blood flow from the placenta is a good idea, but I honestly don't think that you even need to wait for the full 5 minutes for her the receive the maximum benefit of extra blood."