Kane Dalton Schneider

Kane’s Stats

At 4:49 am, on Friday, May 21, 2021, Kane Dalton Schneider came into the world. He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and measured 22 inches long. He was born six days past his due date and it definitely was not our Plan A, but he is healthy and happy now a week later.

A Little Background

As my pregnancy progressed, my OB started checking me weekly for cervix dilation and checking Kane’s position. At my 39 week appointment, I was less than 1 cm dilated and Kane was not dropping into my pelvis to create any pressure. My OB advised that some babies wait to drop until mom is in active labor, but she would go ahead and schedule and induction for the week after my due date just in case. She scheduled the induction for the evening of May 19th.

Michael and I were both hoping that Kane would come around his due date, May 15th. We spent the day of May 15th walking around and eating spicy food to try to entice Kane to come into the world on his own, but he made us wait.

Wednesday: Heading to the Hospital

There was a sense of excitement in the house on Wednesday, May 19th. Both of us were more than ready to meet our baby boy and we spent the day working from home and double checking that everything was packed for the hospital. My older sister, Jacquie, came to stay at the house with the animals and Michael and I headed to hospital.

Once at the hospital, they got me admitted and into a Labor & Delivery room. The nurse explained to Michael and I how the induction would work. They would put in Cervidil to soften my cervix, which was still only 1 cm dilated. It would stay in for 12 hours and then in the morning I would be able to shower and eat breakfast before they started Pitocin in my IV. At that point, my contractions should start to be progress labor and we would hopefully have a baby before long. The nurse strapped the fetal and contraction monitors onto my stomach and remarked that I was already contracting about 5 minutes apart. I had yet to feel anything. She then put in the Cervidil. I started to feel the contractions after that, but they more just uncomfortable than really painful. Michael and I both settled in for the night thinking this would be our last chance for some good sleep before my labor really started.

Thursday: Labor

Around 1 am on Thursday, the nurse came in to pull the Cervidil. She explained that Kane was not tolerating it well and his heartbeat was dropping so the plan was to just start me on the Pitocin and let the contractions push Kane down so his head would put pressure on my cervix and cause it to dilate. At 3 am, the Pitocin was connected to my IV and I quickly learned I would not be getting much sleep as my contractions started to intensify.

Around 9 am, my OB came in with the nurse and gave us a bit of an overview of what was going on. Kane was having what they called “lates.” His heartrate would drop after some of the contractions. It wasn’t each time, but it was enough to cause some caution. They would up my dosage of Pitocin only to have to halve it again because of the lates. The morning continued with me breathing through contractions and nurses coming in and out to switch my position around to find one that would help Kane tolerate the labor better.

Around 12:30 pm, my OB came and checked on me again. My labor was not progressing well. Every time the nurses were able to up my dosage of Pitocin, Kane would have lates again meaning they had to half the dosage. My OB talked to Michael and I about breaking my water to help labor progress. She was hesitant about it because he still was pretty high up. She was worried that if she broke my water with him so high up it could lead to cord prolapse and an emergency C Section. She advised that I think about getting an epidural, so if we had to do a C Section I would not have to have general anesthesia. Michael and I discussed it and decided the epidural was probably the way to go.

By 4 pm, the epidural had been put in and I was able to take a much needed nap as I was no longer feeling the contractions. The nurse had spoken with my OB and I was told that if I had not made good cervical change by 7, we would go for a C Section. I started to get very nervous. I felt like I had already changed my plan with the epidural and I really wanted to avoid a C Section if possible. I just prayed and trusted that God had a plan and it was better than my plan.

Kane seemed to get idea at this point and started to drop and really put pressure on my cervix. I started to dilate more and Kane was tolerating the labor well. By 6:30 pm, labor was progressing well enough that a 7 pm C Section was off the table and we turned on the Canadiens playoff game while we waited for further progression. By 8:30 pm, Kane had dropped enough that my OB felt comfortable having the on call OB break my water and place an internal contraction monitor.

I still wasn’t able to get much sleep as my OB and nurses wanted me to really labor down to hopefully decrease pushing time. This meant that nurses were constantly coming into my room and switching my position and my peanut ball to help encourage Kane into position.

Friday: Birth & Recovery

Somewhere around 1 am on Friday, I started feeling very shaky and jittery. Michael called the nurse and she said this was normal during the transition phase of labor meaning it would be time to push soon. Sure enough in the next hour, I was feeling lots of pressure with the contractions and an urge to push. They called my OB and Kane’s pediatrician, while my nurse started coaching me through some pushes. I was fully dilated and Kane seemed within reach. Michael helped me push through some more of the contractions which quickly tired me out. My OB arrived around 3:30 am and checked me out before having me push for a couple more contractions. She determined that while my body was ready for delivery, Kane was not descended far enough to make the pushing effective and he was being stressed by it. Without knowing the reason for his lack of descent, she decided to proceed with a C Section rather than letting me continue to push.

The nurses came in and prepped Michael and I for the OR. By the time they rolled me into the OR, I was exhausted and fighting to keep my eyes open. Thankfully, Michael was with me and one of the anesthesiologists was great about explaining everything that was happening. At 4:49 am, our boy was born. I remember hearing his cry and the nurses calling Michael over shortly after. Within minutes, Michael brought Kane over to me so I could see our little guy. In that moment, it was all worth it. We did find out that Kane had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck one time. This was most likely the reason Kane was not descending or tolerating labor well.

Honestly, the rest of Friday is quite a blur for me. I remember being taken to a postpartum room and Kane being brought in to stay with us. Michael would bring Kane to me for nursing until the epidural wore off and they took out the catheter. Kane’s pediatrician also came by to see him. I slept most of the day except for when nurses came in to check me or Kane needed feeding. Kane had his first bath that day and in the evening I was told I could eat normal food. My mom had my favorite pizza (pepperoni & jalapeno) delivered for us.

Saturday: NICU

Saturday morning, a nurse woke me up to check my vitals as well as let me know they would be taking Kane for his newborn screening. I fell back asleep and when I woke up again, our pediatrician had brought Kane back and was waiting to talk to us. He let us know that Kane’s bilirubin numbers were high indicating jaundice and he had some rapid breathing patterns. He was concerned that this might indicate a infection and he felt the best course of action was to turn Kane’s care over to the NICU. Michael and I agreed. A nurse came in and took our little guy to the NICU. Shortly after, the pediatrician in charge of the NICU came in and introduced herself and gave us an overview of Kane’s treatment plan. They were using light therapy to bring down his bilirubin numbers and putting him on antibiotics for the possible infection. They had taken a blood culture and were waiting on the results.

A nurse came back a little while later and took us to see Kane in the NICU. We were allowed to visit him whenever we wanted. Kane had to be under blue lights all the time unless he was being nursed. He had to wear a little eye mask to protect his eyes from the lights. He had an IV in his little hand and a nasal cannula velcroed to his face. We decided to come visit Kane every three hours for his feedings.

At his 8 pm feeding, we were informed that Kane would be moved to the step down unit as his breathing had normalized. He was moved but had to remain under lights and on the IV antibiotics. We were informed that he had to be on antibiotics for 48 hours so he would not be able to be discharged until Monday at least. His discharge date would be decided once the blood cultures came back and they saw a decline in his bilirubin numbers.

Sunday: Obstacles

On Sunday, Michael and I heard from the NICU pediatrician again. She let us know that Kane’s bilirubin numbers were still pretty high, but he could be taken off the nasal cannula. We were worried that I would be discharged later that day and we would have to come visit Kane from the house for the remainder of the day and night. The OB on call came by to check on my incision and recovery later in the morning. She said I was recovering well, but she didn’t see a problem with keeping me until Monday in hopes we could all be discharged at the same time.

As the day went on, we worried a little bit about Kane because he was having wet diapers but no poop. In order for his number to come back down, he would need to be pooping. After consulting with the NICU nurses, we decided to supplement my breastmilk with formula for a few feedings.

Monday: Going Home

Apparently, the supplementing worked. When we went to see Kane at 5 am, the nurse let us know that we didn’t need to change him because she just had after he had a blow out. We spent the rest of the morning getting our bags ready and awaiting news from the NICU pediatrician. We saw the her at Kane’s 11 am feeding and she let us know that Kane’s numbers had in fact come down and his blood cultures were clean so we would get to take our little boy home that day.

My OB came and checked my incision around noon and confirmed I would also be able to be discharged that day. The final paperwork for discharge took some time, but by 5 pm we were headed out the door of the hospital as a little family of three.

Thank Yous

First, of course we are thankful to God for His perfect plan and peace when that plan did not align with what I had planned.

Second, we thank all the nurses and staff in the Labor & Delivery, Postpartum, NICU and Step Down Units at Methodist Richardson for all the help and care they provided. We would not have been as well informed or prepared without them.

Lastly, we thank all our family and friends who prayed and sent well wishes as we went through this.