Katelyn's story has a crazy twist, but this was also written for journaling purposes. If you don't want to read the whole long story, feel free to skip to the end to get to the good stuff.
Me at 38 weeks (Thursday the 18th)
Katelyn’s
Birth Story
Tuesday,
July 23rd started out like most mornings of late, too early. I was
tired and not in a good mood. But the boys were up and so must I be. Throughout
the day I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions like crazy. I have had them
consistently for most of my third trimester, so I wasn’t troubled by having so
many; I attributed it to being extra tired. I was thankfully able to take a nap
or two during the day while the boys played quietly, or watched a movie, or played
computer.
Because of
my mood, I asked Robby if we could PLEASE get out of the house that evening.
After Robby got back from cub scouts we went to Home Depot to return some stuff
and look around a bit. Getting up and out and walking around definitely helped
me mentally, but those Braxton-Hicks were still coming on in full force.
When we got
home, I laid down on Spencer’s bed while Robby got the boys’ teeth brushed and
pajamas on (around 8:00pm). As this was happening, my contractions started
getting crampy. I watched the clock on and off while I helped with the boys’
bed time routine. They were only 15-25 seconds long and 5-10 min apart; nothing
too concerning. I thought they would probably go away once I went to bed.
After the
boys were in bed, I puttered around a bit until Robby said I should probably go
lie down and rest. Since the cramping contractions were still coming, I got a
little notebook ready for Robby to use for timing contractions (we did not want
another Spencer incident). So I went to bed and tried to get in a good and
comfy relaxing position. It took a while, but I was finally able to feel
comfortable. Well, comfortable enough to work on my relaxing during a contraction.
They were getting longer and stronger.
I finally
asked Robby to actually time the contractions so we could get a better idea of
where I was at. I was still fully able to carry on a conversation in between
contractions, but did have to focus and breathe through them. They steadily
grew in intensity and pretty soon they were 60 sec. long and 3-4 minutes apart
(what we knew was about when we should get ready to go to the hospital). We
called the doctor just to double check they now was a good time to go and were
told to start heading there.
I called my
visiting teacher, who had offered to come day or night to watch the boys when I
was in labor. As soon as she picked up she said, “Carlie, are you in labor?” “I’m
pretty sure I am!” was my reply. While we waited for her, I asked Robby to give
me blessing. So as I lay on the bed and relaxed through a contraction; Robby
gave me a priesthood blessing. I was blessed to feel relaxed and that
everything would go well. There was more that I don’t remember, but it beautiful
and simple and reassuring. My VT got there in a few minutes ready to bed down for
the night. Robby got everything ready and in the truck. (Originally he had it
all in the van, but I told him to move it to the truck because I thought I
would want to lay down on the way there… bad idea. The truck is pretty bouncy
and I didn’t end up lying down… those contractions on the way to the hospital
were not pleasant.) Part of our “If she comes early back-up plan” was to have
my sister-in-law and/or nephew (who is the boys babysitter) come be with them
because they know him better than my visiting teacher, so on the way Robby
called them to let them know and then after giving each other’s phone numbers,
we left it up to them to figure out how they wanted to work it out. (my VT
stayed the night and Matt came in the morning to watch the boys. Worked out
perfectly)
Ok, back to
it. We got up to “Labor and Delivery” around 11:00pm. As soon as they let us
in, I said, “I have to pee. I promise it is only pee, I won’t have the baby in
there” when they were hesitant. Robby signed all the paperwork, they got me a wheelchair
and soon enough I was in a room and changing into a lovely gown. Finally I was
able to lay down and try to relax through some contractions while they asked
all the questions. As soon as the nurse asked if I wanted unmedicated, and I
replied yes, she was so supportive and I didn’t have to fight for it. She was
also very encouraging through my contractions. I got hooked up the monitors.
Baby sounded good, but they didn’t see as much up and down as they like so when
they put in the heplock they put me on some fluid just to see if they could get
baby where they wanted her. They checked me and I was at a 5 dilation. I was
happy with that. They called my doctor, and after determining that yes, I do go
pretty quickly, she was on her way in. After a little while on the IV, they
decided that they could unhook it because baby was showing more activity. The
contraction monitor was not registering well (surprise, surprise), but I was
obviously showing them that my contractions were lasting longer and coming
closer. I just tried to relax through them. Robby was really supportive,
answered as many of the nurses questions as he could, and tried to comfort me
as much as I would let him.
When my
doctor got there she checked me and I was still at a 5. (it was probably around
12:00 at this point). They also made it known that my water was still intact
(or if it had broken, it was high up and was still full down at bottom). They
asked if I wanted them to break my water to make things go faster. I didn’t
really know, or think that I wanted that, but was too busy working through a
contraction to make a decision. They said if they broke it, labor would
probably be another ½ hr. if not, probably 1-2. I asked to think about it for a
while because I wasn’t sure if I was mentally ready for labor to pick up and
intensify that quickly yet. They came back 15 minutes later and asked again. I
hadn’t decided and asked for another 5 minutes to think. They said they would
come back in 15 minutes. Right after they left my contractions got really
intense. I was pretty sure I was in transition. After a few of those hard hard
contractions I told Robby that I thought that was transition. He reassured me
and gave me more ice. (I wish I could convey better how much Robby helped me
through this…) The doctor came back in right then and at the end of a really
hard one I felt a huge pop and GUSH. It felt like SO MUCH. But because I was
covered they didn’t notice and I had to tell them that my water broke. I even
said, “didn’t you hear the pop?” (I guess that answered their question about
breaking my water!). The next contraction brought on the urge to push. I was
still on my side and was unsure how I wanted to do this. As I was trying to
relax and concentrate and push, and get turned how I wanted (it was all very
crazy), they saw some baby.
I was encouraged to keep pushing, and then I
heard, “Is that poop? OH, that’s a BUM! This baby is breech.” I yelled, “WHAT?”
then as I finished getting on my back, into a squat I asked, “So what do I do?”
I was told very encouragingly to keep pushing. (All the while the nurses and
doctor are making their back-up plan, to call so and so doctor and get the baby
team ready, etc. They were very quiet and non-frantic about it which helped) I
just kept pushing as my body told me too. I did however need help from Robby
and the doctor to refocus and breathe right in order to push. After a push or
two, the legs were out with the bum (talk about relief of pressure) and a few more
pushes (Literally 3 minutes from water breaking) our baby girl was born…
BREECH.
They baby
team rushed to get here checked out and lungs sucked out (there was a lot of
meconium) while I finished with the placenta.
After a few minutes they brought
her to me for skin to skin time (they didn’t even weigh her first). I was able
to hold her and admire her for 15 minutes while I was stitched (miracle: I only
had two small 1st degree tears and needed only 4 small stitches) and
then got to “nurse” her for bit.
Then they weighed/measured her and Robby held
her.
I got her back for another 30 minutes to “nurse” and cuddle before I gave
her back to Robby so I could get cleaned up.(That time to just hold her against
me for as long as I wanted was so precious)
Then we all went down to
Mother/Baby together and got her into the nursery. I was taken to my room and checked
in, but after determining that I looked good and my bleeding was down, I got to
go back to the nursery and watch her first “bath”. Such a neat experience.
I am so
blessed to have had such a neat and unique experience. And SO BLESSED that everything
went as well as it did. She is our little Pioneer.
