Birth Story

This is long but it's my journal of the day's events for future reference
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The day before my doc appointment was a pretty busy one. I had a hair appointment at 1:00 and decided to get my toes done after that. I figured I had been through enough so I should spend the day getting pretty for Brody. I had been in pain all week with contractions and I just didn’t think I was going to make it til Monday. It actually turned out to be a great day. That morning I had a lot of contractions that were getting pretty strong but I decided to go on in for my hair appointment. I can remember saying to myself “please don’t go into labor while in the middle of my hair appointment” and of course as soon as I got there my contractions pretty much went away. So after that I went to get my toes done and this turned out to be so relaxing. The sweet lady had asked when I was due and I told her Monday but hopefully before and she said she would make the baby come tonight. She rubbed on my feet for probably 45 minutes and it felt great! I got home and was craving Luby’s, so Brandon took me to eat and we came home and hung out. We had been putting off installing the car seat but I asked B to do so tonight just in case. I think this was the trigger  I was doing laundry and getting the house picked up when I noticed that I my face felt pretty flushed. It wasn’t hot in our house so I just figured it was from me being up and about. I took my blood pressure and it was 139/99 which is high and I usually run a normal low. So I got into the bed and decided to call it a night before I over did it. I took my blood pressure again and it was still high but not as bad and over the course of an hour had gone back down.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Thursday was one of the most exciting, longest days ever. It started with my doctor’s appointment at 10:50. Brandon took the day off to come with me to the doctor and I’m so thankful he did. I woke up early and did my usually getting ready routine. I also made sure the house was completely picked up and in place just in case I wasn’t returning. I was still feeling flushed and while in the shower I was seeing stars (something I had started to see for a few days) but I’ve seen these before when I get up too fast so I chalked it up to that. I took my blood pressure before we left and it was still up there, 134/89.

We went to the doctor’s office and they were extremely busy. We had our usually ultrasound and the tech was very pleased with the amount of growth Brody had done over the past 3 days. My fluids were good and I thought for sure that I was going to have to wait until Monday to be induced. We then went over to the Non-stress test and like always he was ticking away in there and I was contracting every 5-6 minutes. So Dr. B comes in to check my cervix and I had not changed since Monday but I had mentioned my blood pressures. When I got the office it was pretty good so she wasn’t too concerned. She said that my blood pressures have been great all along and that there wasn’t anything to worry about. She said let me check you one last time before you go and then we will go set up your induction for Monday. Well she took my blood pressure and it was 128/95 so she said you know what girlfriend I’m tired of messing with you lets go have a baby today! If you could have seen Brandon’s face, it was priceless. His eyes got so big and his jaw dropped to the ground. Dr. B and I started laughing and off we went to the hospital.

When we got there it moved pretty quickly and we were in a room right away. I had a great nurse that started my IV but unfortunately blew the vein in my arm…you talk about pain, ouch! My other arm wasn’t any good so she had to go in the hand which again hurt like a big dog. She said my veins kept rolling on her so she had to root around to catch it…OUCHIE! Our parents showed up shortly after as well as B’s sister. They had to get some blood work going to check my clotting levels as well as keep an eye on my blood pressures which were still high. They were talking about putting me on the Magnesium Sulfate to prevent seizures because my pressures were high but luckily the nurse told me to lay on my side and this caused my blood pressure to go down. About 4:30 pm my blood pressure was stable enough for them to start the pitocin and get the show on the road. I was so excited!
Proud parents waiting on their son!

Last belly shot:

Dr. B came in around 6:30(times got a little fuzzy) to break my water and things went crazy from there. I was 2 cm and 80% effaced still but Brody was moving further down. I started contracting every 1-2 minutes so they had to completely take me off the pitocin. The contractions were a lot stronger after breaking my water and I started to feel the pain. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the contractions weren’t right on top of one another. It seemed like as soon as I would relax and breathe through one contraction the next one would start up again. Brandon is the only reason I got through this part of labor. He would coach my breathing and whatever he was doing would help so much. I don’t know where he learned it or what but man it saved me. So about 2 hours after breaking my water I had had enough and wanted the epidural. During those two hours, I was having contractions every 1-2 minutes so this part really wore me out. I don’t know how to explain the pain. It’s hard to remember at this point, so many women have said this before and it’s really true. All I know is the contraction takes over your whole body. I felt it in my stomach and back but they are so strong that your whole body goes through it. At this point the nurse decided to put an internal monitor on Brody’s head to get better measurements of his heart rate and my contractions since he kept having dips. I just prayed we wouldn’t have to have a c-section!

They were pretty busy when I asked for the epidural so I had to wait about 25 minutes and then the best thing in the world happened….the epidural is amazing. It doesn’t hurt at all. I had several contractions through mine and the only hard part was getting into the position to receive it, you have to scrunch up and with a baby inside that’s not so easy! 15 minutes later I was asking the nurse if I was still having contractions. I couldn’t feel a thing.

Dr. B checked me around 10pm and I was 3 cm and 90% effaced. Dr. B thought that I would deliver around 6 am so she wanted me to get so sleep and relax. My mom and Brandon stayed the night and everyone went on home to catch some sleep. At some point Brody’s heart rate was going down with each contraction so they had me lay on my side again. When I would lay on my left side it would dip really low so they kept me on my right side pretty much the whole night. This is funny because they always say to sleep on your left to get better blood flow but I never did because I couldn’t get comfortable, apparently neither could Brody because he hated it. While on my left side my right side started to feel the contractions and this was extremely painful. She said that an epidural can get “heavy” on one side which means it takes more on one side and not the other. She gave me some more meds and it went away. This caused my left side to be extremely numb and heavy. I couldn’t even move it but my right side wasn’t that numb and I could feel more on that side. The epidural makes you feel like you are a big bag of sand and it’s very weird trying to move.
Before epidural:

After epidural with my parents:


I also had to be put on anti-embolism stockings with PTL(I think that’s what it was called) cuffs to prevent blood clots in my legs. It basically felt like a blood pressure cuff on both legs that would fill up with air and then release every 10 seconds or so. Yes, I delivered with these on.


Friday, February 20th
At 12:45 Dr. B came in and checked me again and said I was 4-5 cm and 95% effaced. She said she would come to check me at 2:45 and expected me to be about 6-7 cm.

During these next two hours I labored with my mom while B tried to sleep. My mom read a book, I tried to rest or we would be talking with our nurse that stayed in our room monitoring the baby’s heart rate. I kept telling the nurse that I felt pressure and she said it was the baby moving down. The whole time I felt like the pressure was building up and I needed to push. Right before Dr. B came in I told my mom I felt like I needed to push and that they needed to check me. Luckily Dr. B walked in right after that and checked my cervix. She said ok so who do you need to get up here because you are ready to start pushing!! So I went from 4 cm to 10 cm ready to push in 2 hours!

I really was feeling the pressure and wanted to push while they were getting everything ready. About 5 minutes later we started to push and right away Brody’s heart rate was going down. The first time, I pushed 3 times during 1 contraction and he didn’t like it at all but she said she could already see hair. They immediately flipped me on my side and put oxygen on. It was very weird not being able to feel your lower body and literally being flipped on your side by your doctor. We had to wait through the next couple of contractions to let his heart rate recover. At this point, I started to get a little nervous as Dr. B was telling me she might have to use forceps to get him out if he didn’t recover quickly enough. I so did not want forceps! So the next couple of contractions we tried only pushing twice and letting him recover. During the contraction I didn’t know what was going on but after I could hear his heart beating very slow on the monitor and as I took deep breaths his heart rate would come back up. Dr. B even had to massage his head and my stomach to get him to recover better. I kept looking at B to try and figure out how low his heart rate was but I don’t think he even knew it was low and couldn’t see the monitor to check for me. I asked Dr. B if he was doing ok and she reassured me all was well as long as we didn’t push too much during each contraction.

So with each contraction I would push one or two times at the most and after 30 minutes and 8 pushes Brody entered this world and I was instantly wrapped around his little finger!

He came out holding his umbilical cord with both hands and screaming his head off. It was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had; watching your child enter this world. Hearing your child cry for the very first time is something that I will never forget. I don’t even know how to put that feeling into words. It’s even more amazing when you speak to your child for the first time and he looks up into your eyes, recognizing your voice. God is truly amazing and has blessed us with the biggest gift I’ve ever received.

Brody was born at 3:26 am on February 20th, 2009 weighing 6 lbs 4 oz. and measured 18 1/2 inches.
Meeting Dad & Mom for the 1st time:


Immediately after birth I started shaking, ran a fever and threw up. I’m not sure why this was. There are several reasons the nurse said but after a few hours I felt a lot better and my fever broke.

I told Brandon several times during this pregnancy that I didn’t think I’d want to get pregnant again. It was so emotionally and physically draining. I think 10 minutes after delivery both B and I said we would do it all over again. He’s so worth everything that we went through. The shots, pills, doctors appointments, ultrasounds, non-stress test, bed rest, late nights at the hospital, it was nothing compared to the joy we have received from this little bundle.



Recovery has been great. I’m still having to wear the stockings and I was on the Lovenox shots for 3 days after I left the hospital as well as Warfin(pill form of blood thinner). Let’s just say my blood is as thin as water right now  Now I’m just on the Warfin. I have to go into the doctor once a week for 6 weeks to get my blood levels checked to make sure I’m not too thin or thick. Other than that I feel like my old self again minus the few extra pounds I have. I must say I find it amazing how quickly your body heals. My stomach has flattened out so much it’s sad. I look down and it feels so empty, I sure miss those kicks and twinges.

Brody, you are the most amazing child and perfect in every way. You have blessed your daddy and me in a way that you will never know. I am forever changed because of you. We love you sweet boy and cannot wait to show you what the world has to offer.
Love,
Mom