Saturday October 20 was just a
regular day. Travis and I slept in, knowing this would be one of the last times
we ever got to do so, and spent an enjoyable day together. In the evening we
ran some errands and ended up at Outback for dinner. We had gone out to eat
three previous times during the week calling each one our “last date” before
the baby arrived. Since the due date had passed with no signs of baby we
carried on and even thought to ourselves “maybe she will just never come.”
After all, we had tried going on long walks,
running up and down stairs, massage and reflexology but nothing brought
on labor. So, we enjoyed our meal at Outback stuffing ourselves beyond belief.
At the end of the meal I decided to snatch one of their throw-away cardboard
coasters as a momento of our forth “last date.” We kind of laughed to ourselves
thinking we’d have another date still as we had the three previous times. As we
normally do on the weekends, we made a trip to Wal-mart for some essentials. On
my way to the bathroom in the store some teenage girl commented “wow you look
ready to pop!” and went on to tell me about her 21 cousins and how some of them
are pregnant. I’m just trying to close myself in a stall at this point
thinking, “Girl, I feel ready to pop! I wish there was something I could do
about it!”
That evening we were home watching
Kitchen Nightmares on TV. Around 11:30 I started feeling contractions. I was
timing them and they were fairly regular but not too strong. They started
getting uncomfortable but I grew tired
so around 1:00 am Travis and I went to bed. At 3:30am I woke up with much
stronger contractions. They were unlike any sensation I’d ever felt before. I lay
in bed for a while before waking up Travis, mostly because I wanted someone to
talk to. He woke up quickly asking if it was time to go to the hospital. All through
the pregnancy I had shared my biggest fear ith those who asked- not knowing
when it was time. How would I know when to go to the hospital? I have a fairly
high pain tolerance so I figured what might have been very strong contractions
for someone else may have been manageable for me. People’s response was always
“Oh, you’ll know.” Well I didn’t know. I just kept thinking is this me knowing
or is this me not knowing?! We laid in bed a while knowing that whatever was
going on was different than contractions I had before. We debated going to the
hospital and I kept putting it off not wanting to get ourselves excited over
what might turn out to be nothing plus the embarrassment of being turned away
at the hospital deterred me from going. The pain grew stronger and Travis offered
to give me a Priesthood blessing. There, in our bedroom, in the middle of the
night, he blessed me with strength and comfort. I don’t remember all of his
exact words but I know that his blessing from Heavenly Father eased my mind. I
knew that he would be by my side as well as the Lord throughout whatever was to
come next.
Since I wasn’t ready to go the
hospital I told Travis he could go on back to sleep. I was going to take a bath
and would let him know if anything exciting happened. So, I sat in a hot bath
for a while allowing the heat to ease my muscles. I thought for a while it
might be enough to stop the pain until the contractions were too strong for
even the bath to ease. I tried laying on either side in the tub but eventually
it was too much. I got out and woke Travis back up. At this point the
contractions were so much that while they were going on I found it necessary to
grab hold of something (the side of the bed, the sink, the wall) to keep myself
upright. Although I still wasn’t totally sure we needed to, Travis and I
decided we may as well just go to the hospital. He was very comforting and
assured me that if they sent us home it would be ok but since I was in so much
pain it would be best to get checked out anyway. We set all systems to go and
got to packing. Travis took our dog, Ranger, outside to use the bathroom and I
tossed in the last few necessary items into my overnight bag for the hospital.
In a matter of minutes we were up and ready to go. On the short ride to the
hospital Trav asked if I wanted to listen to some music. I wasn’t in the mood
to listen to much of anything but I let him play the hym “I Need Thee Every
Hour” for the brief drive.
We pulled into the Emergency Room
parking lot around 5:40am and made the slow walk through the to the doors
joking to each other that we’d be back in the car in just a few minutes when
they would send us home. We walked through the automatic doors to where a desk
attendant and a security guard were sitting. The guard asked if he could help
and I responded “I think I am in labor.” He said, “Oh… wow” before getting up
and getting me a wheelchair. It was like they were caught off guard to have someone
walk in the ER doors actually needing attention. They radioed up to the OB
floor and let them know I was coming. Before heading up we stopped into a tiny
office where a lady checked my information and put me into “the system.” She
strapped wristbands on us and then a nurse named Anna came to wheel us to the
correct floor. All during the trip I was feeling contractions strong and much
more regular than every 5 minutes. (It is advised to go to the hospital if
contractions are closer than 5 minutes apart for longer than an hour.)
We were taken into a labor and
delivery room that looks exactly like the one we toured before. It was large
with wooden floors and an uncomfortable looking hospital bed in the middle. It
is a newly built building and is a very nice facility. I was told to undress
and put on nothing but a hospital robe and a nurse would be in to see me. When
they checked they told me that my cervix was either 50-75% effaced (thinned)
and I am dilated 2-3 cm. It isn’t enough to admit me right away but is enough
that they don’t send me home immediately. We were still expecting to be sent
home but I was feeling better knowing that at my appointment the Wednesday
before I was 25% effaced and only 1 cm. The nurse directs us to walk around the
hospital and meet back in our room after an hour. She says this will help move
things along. The last thing I want to do is walk around the hospital in pain
wearing a silly hospital gown but we do as we are told. We stay on the Labor
and Delivery floor making about a million laps through the area. Travis was by
my side the whole time allowing me to hold onto his arm and slowing to a near
crawl when contractions were at their height. We walked out of the L&D area
and meandered through the patient rooms on the other wing of the floor. It
seemed like geriatric patients by the look of the portable toilets outside the
rooms and the amount of wheelchairs and coughing. We didn’t like the feel of it
so we decided to stick to our wing. Throughout the hour we would stop by
various windows and watch the sun rise. There wasn’t too much to say to each other
at this point. We could either be having a baby within the day or they could
send us home still, we had no idea. We didn’t want to alarm our families by
telling them we were at the hospital in case it turned out to be nothing so we
walked around the corridor, mostly in silence hoping that our baby would make
her appearance soon.
When back in the delivery room I
continued to pace while Travis used the bathroom. While he was in there a metal
pot fell causing a loud clamor. That made the nurse at the desk outside my door
jump up to see if I was ok. I waved to her that all was well and I continued
pacing. A new nurse, Rachel, came in and checked to see if the walking had
caused me to progress any. It had, but barely. They were going to call Dr.
Aamodt, the doctor on call, and see what he would advise doing. By this point
my pain was less manageable. I had been hooked up to monitors checking the
baby’s heart rate and my contractions. I started to get very worried. I was in
a lot of pain, what was I going to do if they sent me home? How would I know
when to come back? How could I manage my pain by myself? Nurses continued to
come in and out checking my progress and asking me the questions necessary to
admit me. Hours had passed since we had first come to the hospital, our
families were, no doubt, at church and we were missing ours.
Finally, it was decided that we
could stay!! I got hooked up to an IV to pump me full of fluid and antibiotics.
Months prior I had tested positive for Group B Strep, a bacteria, that could
transmit to the baby at birth so they wanted to take all necessary precautions.
I was in and out of a light sleep since I had gotten next to none the night
before. With pain increasing and my sense of time diminishing it was decided
that I could sit in the Jacuzzi to help ease the pain. Travis and the nurse,
Rachel, helped me in the tub where I sat for what seemed like hours. The water
was hot and the bubbles helped me to relax. I propped my head into my IV’d hand
and dozed on and off. After a while, Rachel came to get me out. The doctor
wanted to check me and they were going to hook me back up to the monitors for
at least a half an hour. By this point I
lost all sense of time and coherence. I asked, at some point for pain
medication and the nurse changed from Rachel to Chasity. The pain meds were
through my IV. It was advised that I not have an epidural yet since it can slow
the labor process down and it was already taking a long time. I was told that
the pain meds may cause dizziness but it will remove some of the discomfort of
labor so I should try and get some sleep. No such luck! I have a weakness for
hospital grade pain medication and they always make me sick. I asked Travis to
hand me a bucket since I was feeling a little nauseous once the medication
kicked in. By now it was late morning/ early afternoon and I had not eaten
since Outback the night before. Needless to say, my stomach was empty. But,
that didn’t stop the nausea. I got sick four separate times during labor, each
time just as uncomfortable as the time before. Travis was great about it
though. He wasn’t grossed out and even cleaned out my bucket for me once or
twice. Eventually the IV pain medication was completely ineffective and I got an epidural. This being my first time giving birth I didn't know exactly what an epidural was to feel like. During the end of labor and the birth I was in excruciating pain. I felt every contraction and push to its fullest extent. Apparently that isn't what it's supposed to be like with an epidural. My right butt cheek sure was numb though, but that's it.
The nurses and doctors continued
to check on me as I laid in bed sleeping on and off as the pain would allow me.
All of a sudden it seemed the pressure was so intense I started to cry to
myself. Travis was so good to me and stayed close by my side. Chasity came in
at one point and asked if I was ok. Clearly I wasn’t so he let her know.
Eventually she came back with the doctor and they checked me again. By this
point I was feeling the urge to push with the contractions (which I was feeling
with all strength thanks to my lack of a working epidural). They said I could
wait another two hours before having the baby. But that didn’t work for me.
That threw me into complete crazy-lady mode. I started crying and asking to go
home. They told me not to push that if it was too early it could cause my
cervix to swell and delay the process even more but I couldn’t help it. That’s
when they realized that I wasn’t waiting two more hours, I was having the baby
now. The nurses and doctor did what they do to get ready, pulled out the
stirrups and folded down the bottom of the bed. I regret now that I kept my
eyes closed most of the time because I don’t remember a lot of what happened.
But, the pain was so much and I was so exhausted that I couldn’t keep my eyes
open. Pushing a baby out was likely the hardest physical challenge of my life.
I had a lot of encouragement but my body was so tired.
After 17 hours of labor and twenty-five
painstaking minutes of pushing a little baby girl was born. Travis cut the
umbilical cord and then they placed her on my chest. I was in complete shock.
It didn’t seem real that the agony I had just been through had produced such a
wonderful outcome. People say that you forget what it is like to be pregnant or
in labor. I don’t think I’ll forget, I just think that (if there is a next
time) I will know how worth it all of it is. The first thing I said when I held
the baby is “I love her so much.” We just sat there looking at her while they
were stitching my episiotomy back up. Then, they took her to weigh and measure
her. She was born at 8:37 pm on Sunday October 21, 2012. She weighed 8 pounds
7.4 ounces and was 20 inches long.
Things settled down and Travis
and I sat together looking at our beautiful little girl before having Grandma
Susan, Grandma Lori, Todd, Sarah and Kim come in. They visited and held the
little baby for about thirty minutes before I was wheeled to a recovery room.
As soon as we got there I passed out for about three hours. When I woke up I
thought it was morning and felt wide awake. Travis was asleep on the pull out
couch and the baby was beside me in a bassinett. I held her and looked at her
for the longest time. A nurse checked on me a few times and tried to get me to
go to sleep but I was so excited, I just couldn’t!
Monday morning came and my mom
joined us back at the hospital. She had stayed at our house overnight. The rest
of the family had gone home the night before. We spent the day loving on our
little girl and feeling a complete sense of awe and gratitude. Lactation
consultants, nurses, and a photographer came in and out all day long checking
on me and the baby. We still didn’t have a name for her set in stone although
by the end of the day we had come close to deciding. It was the middle name
that was giving us trouble! Before the birth we had been sure that we would name
her Sierra but after we met her it just didn’t seem to fit. We had tossed
around Bailee earlier in the pregnancy and came back to it in the hospital. She
seemed like a Bailee to us J
We had to have the social security lady come back about three times since we
hadn’t settled on a middle name. I wanted something pretty that would accent
her first name. Travis wanted a Hawaiian family name. We just couldn’t agree.
Finally we settled on Meleana. It was Hawaiian, it was a family name (a long
distant cousin) and it was pretty. It means honey and translates to Melanie or
Marianne.
Tuesday we were allowed to go
home. We spent the morning being checked by nurses preparing us for discharge.
They told us Bailee was incredibly healthy. She lost 5 ounces since birth but
would gain it back quickly. We packed up our things in awe that they would
actually allow us to take home such a fragile infant. We dressed Bailee in her
first outfit and put her in her carseat. I was wheeled out to the front door
where Bailee and I waited for Travis to pull the car up. We loaded her in and I
sat in the back beside her. For the short drive home we were overcome with
gratitude and love for such a precious daughter of God. We realized how much we
had been blessed and what a great responsibility had been placed upon us to
care for this little girl. Overwhelmed with the spirit we rode home. All of the
waiting and anticipation was over. Our sweet little angel had arrived and it
was like she had always belonged. All of the clothes and baby items we had
prepared weren’t just for any baby, they were for Bailee.
Since the day we brought her home
she has been so sweet. She is eating a lot which is time consuming but I don’t mind.
All her doctors and nurses are happy with how she is growing. She was back up
to her birth weight by Thursday of her birth week. Now she is over 10 pounds
and has grown to over 22 inches in length. She is a happy, healthy, sweet
little girl and we can’t wait for what life has in store for us!
Wow--ten pounds already?? Awesome. So great that you wrote the birth story down right away since time has a tendency to soften and blur things. Can't wait to see more of Bailee.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing Anna.I have to admit, I can't wait to meet her.Having a child is a pretty amazing gift.
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