Baby #1's Birth Story

Sunday, October 17, 2010

10:40 PM 

5 lbs 14 oz

18 inches long

On Saturday, October 16, I finally let myself believe that I might be having contractions. They weren't strong, or anything, so I really didn't know what to think. I felt uncomfortable, but I was 37.5 weeks pregnant so of course I was uncomfortable. By that point I had the feeling that Baby #1 would be coming into the world pretty soon. Mr. T didn't really believe that I was having contractions, and they weren't really getting stronger or any closer together so I didn't really think much would happen at that point.

On Sunday, I was still having some contractions, but we went to church at one. Mr. T was having fun poking Baby #1 during sacrament, and I was having oh so much fun on a pew with contractions. :) I kept having this thought that my water would break during relief society so I had Mr. T give me the keys before we split for the final hour. (I didn't want to have it break during relief society and then have to wait for him to come let me into the car!) During the last 10 minutes of relief society I really thought my water had broken. I told Mr. T after church but he thought I was crazy. He even leaned down and talked to Baby #1 and told her she wasn't coming out that day.

We were going to have a couple of friends over for dinner after church, so we came home and Mr. T started to straighten up a little before they arrived. I went in and packed my hospital bag. I mean got it COMPLETELY 100% ready to go. Makeup and things I use everyday included. Mr. T wanted me to help clean/cook, but I said this was more important since she was coming that day. We got dinner ready, ate it, and then I did the dishes so they'd be done when I got out of the hospital. Then, I asked my friend if she wanted to go on a field trip with me while Mr. T went home teaching since Josh thought I was crazy. She was due in December and was more than willing to see how it all works to get admitted at the end so she decided to drive me up to the hospital. Her car wouldn't start however, so we ended up taking our car. They all thought it was funny that I was driving myself up to the hospital, but it's what my sister did too so it all worked out. :)

We got to the hospital and I told them I thought my water had broken. They checked me and found that I was dilated to a 5, but it hadn't broken. The nurse said she couldn't feel a head though, and wasn't sure WHAT she was feeling and wanted to do an ultrasound. However, the ultrasound machine didn't work, so the nurse said I'd probably be sent home. She called the doctor, but he REALLY wanted us to have the ultrasound, so they called in a tech from another town. An hour later, we were getting an ultrasound. During the ultrasound they found out Baby #1 was breech. This was pretty crazy because she had been head down at my last appointment (about three days before). The nurse said once again that I'd probably be sent home since I wasn't in active labor, but that she would call the doctor to make sure. She said most likely they would try to manually turn her from the outside at my next appointment. Then she came back and said the doctor wanted to come in and talk to us. We figured it would be about the possibility of a c-section.

We waited about 40 minutes for the doctor. He came in and said that Baby #1 was in the worst breech position to be able to turn her, and that it rarely has success and can be dangerous. He said he would suggest either a c-section, or an epidural to turn her and be in the surgical room in case something went wrong and they needed to do an emergency c-section. He said it was against everything in his medical opinion to send us home at this point because my contractions were consistent, just far apart, and that Baby #1's cord could drop or something during labor and cause major problems. We asked him for his opinion on what to do and he said that a c-section would be the safest option. Needless to say, we decided to go for it so we could have a safe, and healthy baby girl.  Mr. T asked him when it would all be happening and he said within the hour.We listened to the whole talk about the risks involved and Mr. T didn't really like that there was a possibility that I could die. He kept telling me how much I meant and that he didn't want to lose me. It was probably the sweetest moment I'd ever had with him.

At that point we hadn't even really told our parents where we were because we didn't want to tell them about going to the hospital only to be sent home, so we had to hurry and contact everyone (this was ALL done while getting prepped for the c-section) and let them know I was going into surgery. Then I was taken to the surgical room where they gave me the spinal, and all that jazz. They were really concerned because they'd only gotten 1/4 of the fluids into me that they'd wanted and I'd eaten 4 hours earlier than they like for a c-section, but we had little choice.

Once I was all ready, they let Mr. T in and he stayed by my head to talk to me. He didn't want to watch anything because he's a pretty queasy guy. Although I was numb I knew the SECOND they took her out of me. It was a very strange feeling. I told Mr. T that she was out and he asked if I was sure. Just then she started crying. It was the most beautiful sound EVER. It made both of us cry. It's crazy how fast they can touch our lives! Then the next hour, they stitched me up and put everything back together. Mr. T went and watched Baby #1 get all her vitals checked through a window that led to the NICU. He came back to me when he was supposed to leave and I was feeling really sick by then because of all they were doing with my insides. He left, and I ended up getting really sick. The anesthesiologist was really surprised how well I'd done. They got me all stitched up and wheeled me into a recovery room where I was monitored. By this point I was frustrated because it'd been an hour and I hadn't seen my husband or my baby girl. I finally got to see them both over 2 hours after the surgery. I bawled when I saw Baby #1 for the first time. She was just so beautiful and I couldn't believe how blessed I was to be able to her mom.

The doctor told me that we were VERY lucky that we'd done a c-section. I had a few benign cysts on my fallopian tubes that he was able to take care of, AND the cord had been wrapped around her neck really tight THREE times. He had to put her back inside to get it off because it was so tight.We were SO blessed because of all his inspiration through the whole thing!

There's the story of our wonderful, little miracle!!