My Birth Story

Oh my goodness! It’s BABY DAY! I cannot believe this day is finally here! My birth story did not go without its stressful moments. Especially at the end. With that being said… here is my BIRTH STORY!

My alarm went off at 5:30am to call the hospital to check if there were any delays for a room. I was told to call that morning Sunday night when I called to ask the same question. To my absolute surprise there were no delays to speak of! I was so happy and a little shocked but ready all the same. I let Brandon know and we set another alarm for 6:15am. I am grateful that my nerves allowed me to sleep for at least a good 4 hours before severe acid reflux jolted me awake at 3am and was unable to fall back asleep. After the second alarm I got up to shower, brush my hair and teeth, and pack up my last minute toiletrie items. I even tried folding the last load of baby laundry but ran out of time before we had to head out the door for the HOSPITAL. I ate Logans rolls on the way there lol and we sat straight down with registration to sign consent forms and get baby in the system. We then headed up to Labor and Delivery where I was put into my room 206. From there I met my first nurse who aloud me to get situated before filling out some questionare paperwork. The hospital gown was definitely huge and not the comfiest. But I settled in bed so she could hook me up to the transducers that would keep track of baby’s heart rate and my contractions. She put an IV in and drew some blood. I was started on some fluids and I met my 2nd nurse. Both ladies were the absolute sweetest and apparentlyI had been contracting ever since I was hooked up to the monitors when I first came in. I was shocked, but grateful my body was already in the process of getting labor going when I wasn’t really feeling it. The night prior I actually thought I may be having a real contraction because it lasted for a good minute, radiated to my back, and I was breathing through it. But I had only gotten the one so I new it was still false, but also new that my body was probably going to go into labor soon if I wasn't getting induced. The first nurse was in training and she did my first cervical check and then my Doctor had actually just gotten on the floor so she was able to come in and do another cervical check to make sure what the first nurse noticed was the same. At that point I was still only 1cm. Dilated and 50% effaced so the talk of going ahead and breaking my water changed. The doc said she could definitely feel baby’s head pushing up against the sack, but my cervix was still pretty long so she decided to wait and give me Cytotec first. A small white pill I let dissolve under my tongue that helped ripen and thin my cervix the rest of the way. All of this was done by 9am and I was shocked at how fast it had gone by. I decided to finish up some things on my phone and a few family members visited before things got real. Just as I was finally about to take a much needed nap the nurse came in to check my sugar and lunch was served. I was unfortunately put on an all clear diet so chicken broth, nasty jello, and a lemon icee had to do. I sat up and drank half the broth and took a few bites out of the icee. Around 1pm. the nurse came in to give me my second round of Cytotec and I was given another cervical check. I was still pretty thick and had only dilated one more cm. The nurse definitely opened me up a bit. She stretched my cervix and that hurt pretty bad. I laid down to finally get some rest and the meds were starting to work and I was crampy, but it wasn’t bad at all and I was able to get about 20 minutes of sleep.

At 2pm. the cramping began to get intense so I decided to get up and bounce on the labor ball. The contractions were painful enough that I was not able to sleep. My family came and visited with me one last time before I was in so much pain that I wasn’t able to. The contractions were pretty close together, but I was able to breathe through them just fine. At this time we also started to notice that my blood pressure was spiking. We assumed it was because of the pain, but throughout my labor my blood pressure continued to fluctuate and stayed elevated. It wasn’t too concerning at the time though. I started to get really shaky and contractions were about 1 -2 minutes apart, definitely knew things were picking up. My mom braided my hair for me while I was bouncing on the ball and the nurse put a cover over my stomach to help hold the transducers in place while bouncing. I drank some apple juice and ate a popsicle because my blood sugar was low and I felt better for maybe 5 minutes because you know labor. When 4pm. came I was struggling to catch my breath through the contractions. I compared it to when I had my bowel obstruction and getting a deep breath was a struggle. I became very uncomfortable on the yoga ball because I couldn’t hold myself up, but really wanted to sway back and forth or side to side because it was helping my pain. Eventually after not finding an alternative I decided to get back into bed where the contractions became worse and even closer together. I stay like this for an hour when the nurse came in to check me again and I had only progressed one more cm. Being only at a 3, with the amount of intense back to back contractions I was getting with little to no break in-between was killing me. I was able to handle the pain just fine, it was discouraging that I hadn’t progressed much when given the intensity and frequency of contractions I figured I would be much farther along. Because of this I asked for pain meds and I was given a dose of morphine to take the edge off of the contractions and so I could get some rest. The morphine had me completely out of it. I was sitting straight up in bed gripping the side railing, breathing and rolling my neck through the contractions. I was barely conscious and I think I was able to sleep sitting straight up inbetween the lesser contractions, but had to work through the big ones. To be completely honest I have know idea what was going on during this time. Before I knew it 2 hours had past and the morphine was beginning to where off so I started to be aware of my surroundings again, but could also feel the intensity of the contractions again. It was 7pm. and my doctor came in to check me and I was still the same. I unfortunately had not progressed at all and I was very upset, but decided to get another dose of morphine instead of the epidural. In all honesty I was kind of scared of ever getting one. Not being mobile and having to have a catheter put in was very unappealing to me. She also broke my water at this time in hopes of speeding up the process. It felt like a big gush, but I can barely remember because I was coming off of morphine and in alot of pain. I also met my new nurse at this time whom I absolutely loved and will truly be grateful for her forever. I dont remember much at first other than saying, “Hi, sorry I am so out of it.”

I spent the next two hours in the same state and position I had for the two hours prior. Breathing through the contractions with my eyes closed and hand clenched around the bed rail. I still don’t know if I slept at all inbetween the bigger contractions, but they were still on top of each other and becoming more intense. I remember hearing my Mom and Brandon’s voices and some part of their conversations and wanting to say something in return, but not able to because of the meds and pain. One specific conversation I remember over hearing is them speaking about my blood pressure still being elevated and the babies heartrate began to have decels. My heartrate was also elevated. I would say around 9pm. Is when I started to come too and able to speak and I decided against morphine and finally get the epidural since I seemingly was not progressing even though my contractions were constant and myself and my daughter were borderline distress. I later learned that morphine actually was not a great option for pain meds, they had even offered fyntenal, which was a hard pass, but I knew of morphine so I was comfortable with it. I obviously was in too much pain to make an informed decision before choosing this medication.

Around 9:30pm. an amazing man came in to place my epidural. I had a few contractions through it, but I was able to handle them again with breathing. Any pain or pressure that I was told I would feel during the process, I did not. Other than the pain of labor, nothing fazed me, and even that pain I focused on getting through. During this time I got to know my amazing nurse and she was excited that I was actually talking because I had barely said two words since shift change for obvious reasons. From 5pm. until this point, time had been flying by and we were waiting on the epidural to fully take effect. My right side was pretty numb, but my left was taking forever. We tried the catheter but it still burned a tad so she stopped and asked that I lay on my left side to see if we could get the meds to work it’s way around seeing as it is gravitational. I was still crampy on my left side, but didn’t really feel much pain. On my next contractions I felt a ton of pressure and felt as if I was going to poo on myself. I said this out loud and Brandon who was walking to the bathroom turned around immediately and him and the nurse made eye contact.

“I am going to check you!” the nurse

“You just said the magic words.” Brandon

“Girl! Girl! You are not going to belive this!”

“What? What I do?”

“Girl you did it! Your at a 10!”

“It’s time to push?!”

I was in complete shock! I went from 3cm. to 10cm. when we thought baby girl wouldn’t make her debut until the next day. It all happened super fast, I guess breaking my water really did the trick. Everyone was super shocked, staff, family, and myself. My inlaws had literally just left to go home and then Brandon is texting them I am about to push. It was 10:15 and nurses start bringing in the sterile table and preparing for my last stage of Labor. I wasn’t in any pain, just felt a lot of pressure like I needed to brace myself to release the biggest bowl movementof my life. I was then introduced to another doctor who ended up delivering Emory and not my OB because she had just gotten home and was too tired and unabel to get back to the hospital in time. I asked a lot of questions at first and may have sounded panicky, but that was only because I was overwhelmed, in shock, and everything was moving so fast. Twenty minutes later my nurse is asking me what position I want to start pushing in. We decided on side lying because it is one of the easiest and most effective according to my nurse. I once again laid on my left side with one leg in the stirrup and my nurse instructing me on what I need to do. On my next contraction at 10:39 I began pushing. I pushed as hard as I could against the bed railing with both hands while my mom held my leg up off the stirrup and Brandon stood behind me rubbing my back. I remember making a joke that of all times I get good back tickles is now! It was a lot easier to push this way than I anticipated. I barely pushed down there at first, I only applied pressure to the bed railing by pushing it forward and I guess this pushed her down more into my birth canal. I was wide open, but wasn’t physical pushing in my nether region. Probably 10:50 I was moved to my back to push in the most common position with both legs in stirrups while positioning. This is where the pushing became intense and I was pushing more with my abdomen than with my arms baring down. She was super low and ready. I felt the top of her head and definitely the ring of fire. The next two pushes were the hardest. I could feel a burning sensation that was highly intense and like a log was stuck and you couldn’t get it out. This is probably because I was trying to catch my breath. Having to hold my breath and push was a sucky part because I couldn't breathe through it. I gave two little grunt screams for the last two pushes and at 10:58 pm Emory Rebecca was born. I felt the biggest relief and was panting catching my breath. I was looking down in awe trying to see my little girl, but they had to move the blankets and towels down and had her laying on my stomach and not on my chest. I was confused at first and in shock. My mind was blank. Come to find out she barely had an umbilical cord. It would only reach as far as my stomach. I guess we found out why she was growth restricted. They were instructing Brandon on where to cut the cord while clamping because she had a short cord when I gained some of my mind and asked,

“Why isn’t she crying?”

They began bulb suction and the entire time I really couldn’t see her. I couldn’t see her face or half her body other than her limbs that she occasionally flayed as they were working on her. She still wasn’t crying and a little pale and blue. Brandon later told me that she was blue blue, but I honestly couldn’t tell mainly because I never got a good look at her. They took her off of my stomach as soon as Brandon and the nurses had finished up and I immediately said,

“I don’t get skin to skin…”

“We just need to get her breathing momma, she’s not doing good on breathing.”

My heart sank, but I was still kind of in shock. I immediately looked at Brandon and then back to the nurses working on her at the baby station. I couldn’t see anything because their bodies were covering her and I had yet to actually see what she looked like at birth. She was breathing when she came out she just wasn’t breathing enough.

“She may just be a little stunned.” One of the nurses said.

I continued to watch the nurses work on Em while the doctor worked on me.

“Did I tear?” I asked

“I’m going to look once the after birth is complete. Maybe a small one when the head came to create some space.”

I go back to looking at the nurses with my daughter.

“What’s the heartrate?” One of them asked.

“60”

“Come on Em.” I say just as I here her first small cry. It was more like a whimper than anything but at least she was making noise. I felt like I could finally breathe, which made me feel how dry my throat was. I drank some water and Em started making more whining noises. The doctor began rubbing on my belly to get my placenta to come out and my favorite nurse cut the transducers off of me.

“Does she have a lot of guck?” I asked

“I’m not sure momma.” As one of the nurses working on Em asked for the suction bulb.

At that moment my placenta came out and I felt another huge relief just as the dings from the baby monitor continued to go off because Emorys heartrate was to low. They had a breathing mask on her and stickers to help her breathe and get her heartrate. All I could see was the tube, wires, and the little bit of her appendages that she would flop around. The doctor continued to rub on my belly which I did not even notice and then informed me that I had what they call a “skid mark” tear which is a really tiny tear on either side of my vagina. She waited to see if they would stop bleeding on there own, but they did not so I got a couple of stitches. They continued to work on Em. I don’t remember for how long when they informed me that they had to take her to the NICU for four hours to keep an eye on her since her heartrate continued to drop. I looked at Brandon immediately as they were saying

“dad can come with us.”

“Yes, yes go with her.”

I had never seen Brandon so calm. He was freaking out on the inside, but was keeping it together on the outside. At that point I remembered her heart flutter and let the nurses know that there was one recognized at the Maternal fetal Medicine doctor and that they had done an echo and there wasn’t anything concerning. Wasn’t sure if that had something to do with her heartrate dropping or not and they weren’t sure either but did say that it could be a factor. When she left the delivery room her heartrate was fine, but they needed to take her back there for monitoring. They did bring her to me for a few seconds so I could see her, touch her, and kiss her. I didn’t get to hold her. They just held her up to my face like they would at a C-section. That was the first time I was able to see her face and smell her and meet her. I remember my mom trying to take a picture of the two of us on my phone before they took her, but accidentally knocked it into “the bag” of stuff. It was funny later and we all laughed about it. I am not really sure of much else after this point as far as details go. I honestly don’t remember much of actually birthing her other than a few flash shots. I got most of the information I am sharing from my video I was recording, which you can check out on my BIRTH VLOG.

I couldn’t see her for two hours. I had to wait until I was recovered enough before I could move. Part of this was due to the epidural. The nurse informed me to try and move my legs around as much as possible to get the blood and feeling flowing. Brandon was sending me photos and updates of her in the NICU. She weighed 5 pounds and 6 ounces. I was still in complete shock and wasn’t really sure how to process my feelings. My Father-in-Law went down in the hospital kitchen and made me a burger and fries because everything was closed at that point. (It was almost 1am. & he is the chef at the Hospital) I started to become emotional at this point because I was coming down from the adrenaline rush and realizing that I never really got to meet or bond with my daughter. They went ahead and did her foot prints and all of her newborn checks and Brandon got to feed her. I was a little concerned because we want to breast feed, but she obviously needed to eat and I couldn’t be with her. They also checked her sugar because I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and it was at a 71 which is amazing. Brandon also informed me that her temperaturecontinued to frop. She was having a hard time maintaining it, but it wasn’t a sugar issue it was just because she was so small. At this point it was just a waiting game for them to roll me into recovery and be checked off by my postpartum nurse so I could go into the NICU and be with my daughter. My mom stayed with me for a little while after this but she had to leave soon after because visiting hours ended at 9pm but they allowed her to stay so she could be there for the birth.

Finally when my two hours were up my favorite nurse came in to help get me ready to move rooms. My leftside was a lot more mobile than my right. Like when they gave me the epidural it took effect on my right pretty well, but not my left. I tried to stand up and I couldn't. I was able to hop into the wheelchair, but my right leg just wasn’t corroborating. I was rolled into the bathroom where I was placed on the toilet and had to fill up a cup which was pretty easy and I was nervous it was going to burn but it actually wasn’t that bad. Apparently I was peeing into the bag the entire time I was pushing, but I couldn’t feel it and had know idea. The good thing is… I did not poo myself! I had some peppermint oil that I had drops put in the toilet to help open everything up and with the burn. The nurse helped me get into the popular Hospital mesh panties and put really large pads in them. I sprayed myself down with a perry bottle and then I was rolled along with a cart full of all our things to my postpartum room where I met my new nurse and had my vitals checked and answered a few questions.

Finally after what felt like an eternity I was rolled into the NICU where Brandon was just handed Emory to hold for the very first time. It was the sweetest thing ever. He told me that she was doing really well and that she was stubborn and just wanted the attention. Apparently everytime they talked about her doing great she would be like okay and her heartrate would drop again. But not by much. Brandon and I switched and I was able to hold my daughter for the very first time. I can’t really describe the feeling. I was still really out of it and the adrenile had wore off so I was completely exhausted. I held her for a few minutes looking into her cute face and then handed her back because my arm hurt and I was shaky, I didn’t want to hurt her. The nurse changed her diaper and then unhooked her from all her monitors and handed her over to me. We were finally being wheeled out of the NICU and into recovery only to come out and see them with my cart full of things and my Hospital bed in the hallway.

“We are going back to Labor and Delivery.”

“Did one of my labs come back bad?”

“Yes, all of them.”

They did not sugar coat it. The labs they struggled to take (because I was so swollen they couldn’t get a good vein) while I was waiting to go to postpartum had come back very bad. They took these to check for different things because of how high my blood pressure was during labor. I guess as a distraction from yet again being given bad news, the nurse rolled us over to the baby bell button. It definitely worked a little because it felt amazing to press that button with Brandon and announce the arrival of our little girl. Even if it was very stressful. We made it and Em made it.

I hope you enjoyed my Birth Story.

Stay tuned for my next BLOG: The first 48 hours after birth!