Blakely's Birth Story

So here is Blakely's birth story!
Oh and by the way....I love her so much :)


I was unable to sleep the night before my induction, of course.  I slept from about 1am to about 230 am.  I was anxious but also uncomfortable.  I was having contractions.  I didn't really time them well since I knew I was about to be headed to the hospital anyway.  They were approximately 8 minutes apart, give or take.  I very well may have been in early labor but we will never know!  At about 4 am my husband and I started getting ready to go to the hospital.  I was starting to get a little nervous at this point just because I was ready to go.  

Before we left the house

Last belly pic

We arrived at the hospital at 530 am.  I got changed into my gown and peed.  The night nurse got me all hooked up, took my blood, and started my IV.  I have to make a note here that I have super awesome veins...like bulging all the time.  Be jealous.  Well this nurse went through my vein.  Yeah, that hurts.  So on the second try she got it.  I was very uncomfortable laying in the bed.  I was laying on my back, semi-reclined.  I kept trying to prop myself up on my side but then the monitor would  mess up.  I told my husband at this point that I totally understand why people want to give birth at home now...and I wasn't even having painful contractions.  After a few minutes I needed to go to the bathroom.  A little too much info here but I had been having issues going to the bathroom for like 3 days.  I think it was my body trying to clean itself out :) 


So at 610 they started the pitocin.  I was already having contractions 3 minutes apart before they even started it.  So I really think I was going to have her that day even if I wasn't induced.

Before things got intense :)

At this point my lab had come back and my platelets were low.  Platelets are what helps your blood to clot. So, yeah, you don't want them to be low when you are about to have a baby!  I believe they were 99,000.  I think normal level is above 155,000.  They were concerned about this because of my high blood pressure.  They were afraid I was developing HELPP syndrome.  You can read a little about that here but basically it is Hemolytic anemia, Elevated Liver enzymes, and Low platelet count.  So they decided to check my liver enzymes and recheck the platelets.  Liver enzymes were normal but platelets had dropped to 88,000...in about an hour!  This was all foreign to me but my husband seemed concerned.  If he's concerned about something medical then I KNOW I should be.  I didn't know this at the time but if your platelets are too low then you can't have an epidural because of the risk of bleeding.  Ummmm.....I think I might have had a panic attack if I had known that.  The only cure for this is delivery so it was all meant to be for her to be born that day.


Around this time it was shift change and the nurse that would labor me came in.  Her name was Susie and she was so wonderful.  I mean, seriously.  She made me feel like I was doing a good job the whole time and she really tried to make me as comfortable as possible.  I was much better after she came on.  


At 711 I was 2 cm dilated and they broke my water.  This was a weird feeling but it didn't hurt.  What did hurt is when they pressed on my belly to get more of the fluid out.  The contractions started coming pretty strong almost immediately.  They were not unbearable but I did have to concentrate on breathing though them.


Since we knew that I was going to get an epidural they decided to go ahead and get the catheter in.  That way when I was dilated more and ready for it they would just have to put the medicine in.  


The epidural was in at 755.  They give you what is called a loading dose to make sure it is in the right spot and will work.  Well when they gave me this I really only went "numb" from the knees down.  Usually you get results pretty quick with the loading does of lidocaine.  It took a long time for the dose to travel up to my abdomen.  I have to make a note here about my anesthesiologist.  She was absolutely amazing and I really don't think I could have done it without her.  She was so patient with me and stayed with us for a long time to make sure I was comfortable.  While we were waiting for the medicine to start working (travel up to make my belly "numb") my contractions started getting stronger and stronger.  My epidural was effective at 840.  I was quite thankful because I was getting worried that it just wasn't going to work.  I didn't realize this but epidurals are different for everyone.  I  just thought you get one and you go numb and that was that.  Not the case.  Again, my anesthesiologist was awesome.  She could have just gotten frustrated with me and said that was all that she could do.  But she didn't.  She worked with me until we were both satisfied.  I love her and I think I told her that!  They checked me again at 915 and I was 4 cm dilated.  


At 1030 I was 5 cm dilated and I was feeling some pain on my right lower abdomen.  It was fine but it kept getting worse and was not going away when a contraction would go away.  They put a foley in and my bladder had been very full...this made the pain subside.  


Also, even with the epidural I could feel the top of my uterus so I could feel when I was having a contraction.  It wasn't painful but I could feel it.  Sometime in here I started having pain under my left rib cage.  It wasn't terrible but it was making me uncomfortable so I wanted to lay on my left side.  With help from Lonnie and Susie we got me somewhat rolled over and I was much better.  


About 10 minutes after I rolled over I started having pretty bad pain with the contractions in my left lower abdomen around into my back.  Lonnie helped me roll back onto my back because I thought this would help.  This was about 1130.  I was very uncomfortable and no position seemed to help.  They told me that they could give me more lidocaine in my epidural but that I could only have a certain amount and if I used it then I might not have it for when I was fully dilated and ready to push.  Apparently the lidocaine worked better on me than the other medicine they put in the epidural..I can't remember the name of it...I really feel like it didn't work on me at all but maybe it did a little..I will never know.  But there is only so much lidocaine you can have.  I decided to not get it just yet.  So from like 1040 to 1150 I was in a lot of pain.  I was trying to be really strong and just deal with the pain.  I really wanted to wait to get the lidocaine towards the end.   

 After things got intense :)

At 1135 they checked me and I was 9 cm dilated.  I told Susie when she came in to check me that if I was still only 5 cm I was going to cry.  She told me I was still only 5 and I was shocked!  She said just kidding!  YOU ARE A 9!!  WOO HOO!  I was pretty pumped about this and surprised.  I went from a 5 to a 9 in an hour...OUCH...


I decided to get the lidocaine in my epidural at this point since we would be pushing soon.  


At 1150 the lidocaine was in and I was pretty numb.  It was hard to explain.  I had been able to move my legs before but I couldn't feel anything when they touched me "down there".  After this bolus of lidocaine I couldn't move my legs at all.  I was very numb.  I could still feel the pain on my left side but it was much better now.  


At 1230 Dr. C came in and checked me and I was at a 10 and ready to push.  I was so numb that I didn't think I was going to be able to push.  I was really worried that I wasn't going to be able to push.  I remember telling Lonnie this multiple times.  We tried to do a little pushing at this point but it wasn't effective.  He decided to wait 30 minutes for it to wear off and he cut my epidural in half.  I was very stressed during this 30 minutes because I was scared I wasn't going to be able to push and I would have to have a C-section.  


At 100 we tried to push again and I did it a little better but still not very effective.  They decided since Blakely was doing so well to wait 30 more minutes and try again.  At this point the pain in my left side was really starting to hurt.  Like a 9 out of 10 on the pain scale.  


At 130 we started pushing for real.  It is the weirdest sensation.  I could tell when a contraction was coming on but it took me a while to figure out how to push.  My husband and Susie were the only ones in the room and they both made me feel so good.  They kept telling me what a good job I was doing and to keep it up and she would be here in no time.  I had no idea if I was making progress or not.  For some reason, during that time, I didn't believe them.  I remember thinking if I was doing so well then Dr. C would be in there ready for delivery.  I started to get really nauseous at some point and dry heaving in a bucket.  I really think the thing that kept me going besides meeting my girl was the excitement in my husbands voice.  The way he sounded when he was coaching me really made me feel loved.  


At some point Dr. C came in and they told me that I was really close.  I still didn't really believe them for some reason.  Then after a little bit they called the nursery nurse in to the room.  All signs pointed to the fact that I was about to have this baby!  


I had my eyes closed this entire time.  Like for the last three hours probably.  I would open them occasionally but for the most part I was trying to concentrate because I was in so much pain.  My left side was hurting so bad with the contractions.  At some point, a little before Dr. C came in, I figured out my own little way to push really hard.  I was having such severe pain on my left side but when I was pushing as hard as I could the pain would be much better.  So that is when things started moving right along.


Right before B was born and in between contractions the nurse asked my husband how to spell Blakely's name for the card that goes in her crib.  He said B-L-A-K-E-L-E-Y!!  I was like NOOO!!!  He was like oh no!  I mean B-L-A-K-E-L-E-Y.  I yelled no again and reached up, with my eyes closed, and swatted at him.  He knew exactly how to spell it because he is the one that decided to spell it that way.  He was just so nervous and excited that it was coming out wrong.  It was really cute and everyone got a major kick out of that.  It was a blur to me :)


Back to the story.  All of this was pretty blurry but I remember the excitement in my husbands voice on one of the pushes telling me that she was almost here and then the nursery nurse laid a blanket on my belly.  This is when I started believing them that she was actually about to be born.  I couldn't believe it.  I was determined to get her out for my husband...he just sounded so excited!  I pushed really hard and then they told me to stop pushing and just breathe.  I knew this meant her head was out but I still had my eyes closed.  Then one more big push and at 244 she was here!!!  I still had my eyes closed and they had to tell me to open them.  And there she was!  They laid her on my belly and I literally could not believe that I was looking at my daughter.  She looked up at me with these ginormous eyes and a look like what in the world just happened!  We both held her and cried while they were wiping her off.  They left her on my belly for about 3 minutes or so and then they took her to the warmer which was right beside my bed.  They cleaned her up while I was delivering the placenta (what a relief that was) and then they weighed her.  I always thought she would be about 8 1/2 pounds but no one believed me.  She weighed in at 8 pounds 7 ounces and 20 inches long.  They wrapped her up and gave her to me.  


Me and my husband just stared at her for the longest time...and cried.  Dr. C was sewing me up this whole time.  This seemed to take forever and I was worried about what happened but I was too scared to ask.  I was still feeling really nauseated so I just didn't want to think about it. I was focused on my little princess!  


My husband did video the birth and I am so so so so grateful that he did.  It was from my perspective though so no strait on money shots :)  I was in a lot of pain and just focused on getting through that.  I had to close my eyes to do that.  I was also so very nauseated that I didn't want to look...I just wanted to get her out.  Now I can watch it and be totally amazed.  I have watched it about 5 times and cried every single time...I highly recommend recording your birth.  


Also, there is no way I would have remembered all the details of this such as the times and how dilated I was, etc.  I had my husband write down all of the significant things that happened with the times.  I am so glad I did because my sense of time was so jumbled up!  I really recommend doing this as well.  


All in all I had a great experience.  Of course it was very painful at some points and I can't imagine doing it without any pain relief!  My husband was the BEST coach, I had the BEST nurse for me, the anesthesiologist was absolutely fantastic, and of course Dr. C was great too!    I really want to do something for all of these people but I can't really think of anything.  If y'all have any ideas please share!  


Ok I think I am going to stop here because this is really long.  I have so much more to say but I'll do it in other posts.  I want to tell y'all about all the things that happened right after she was born...placenta delivery, stitching me up, Lonnie telling our families, pain relief, and getting up for the first time.  So much to say!  But for now I will leave you with some picture of my sweet girl.


Oh and if you made it through this whole thing you are awesome!