Friday, December 4, 2015

Navy's Birth Story... Better late than never!

Luckily, I did write everything down shortly after I got home from the hospital because I knew I would forget all the details. Justin actually wrote in his journal while we were at the hospital, which impressed me. As a side note, he also brought his journal to the temple when we were sealed, and left it in his locker so that he could write down the advice the sealer gave us while he waited for me to get ready. He's good with stuff like that. It's important to remember.

It was Friday, April 10th, and I was 7 long days over due. I was totally fed up with everyone at work asking me when I was going to have my baby already, and I decided even if I didn't have her that weekend, there was no way I was going back to work on Monday. I was determined for something to happen. I was extra impatient because two girls at work who were due AFTER me had already had their babies. Not fair. I was scared, and excited, and wanted to get it over with.

Thursday, the day before, I went to the hospital for a non stress test. I made Kami come with me (Justin was working), and all the nurses swooned over adorable Ruby. She was born at the same hospital only 10ish months earlier. They hooked me up, checked me and the baby out, and sent us on our way. Everything looked fine.

Saturday Morning we woke up and cleaned, and finished up some thing's in the nursery. I had another stress test scheduled for 1pm, and I had a feeling we would just be staying. So we packed our bags, and even though we were running really late I made Justin stop at Arby's on the way because I knew if they admitted me, I wouldn't be able to eat anything till after I had the baby.

We chose Lone Peak Hospital in Draper. Like I said, Kami had Ruby there the year before, and it was nice and new, and you labored, delivered, and recovered all in the same room. My doctor was Layne Smith. I really liked him because it wasn't like other places where you see a bunch of doctors, and which ever doctor is on call is the one that delivers you. Dr. Smith saw me at every appointment, and he would be the one to deliver my baby. Except, of course he was out of town that week on a cruise, and wouldn't be back until Sunday.... I met the other guy, Dr. Twede, and he was actually really great so I wasn't too worried about him delivering the baby if he had to.

The Hospital was really quiet that afternoon. If I remember right, there wasn't anyone else in labor or anything. They hooked me up, and did the ultrasound. My fluid was pretty low, so they called Dr. Twede. He told them to admit me, and get the ball rolling!


It was 3pm, I was only 1cm dilated. The nurse placed something to soften my cervix, and we waited... for 9 hours... I was starting to feel kind of uncomfortable. I was having small, sporadic contractions, but mostly it was an uneventful night. The nurse asked us what we were going to name the baby. We told her we were thinking about Navy, but we still weren't totally sure. She said she loved it, and wrote it on the white board. At midnight, they started giving me Pitocin. Justin slept, and I played on my phone, tried to read, and watched movies.  I definitely couldn't sleep. I was pretty nervous. I remember looking at the clock, and telling myself to just take it one hour at a time. That really helped.

My contractions started getting pretty bad around 7am. Justin and I walked around the halls until that became too painful. The nurse checked me around 8am, and I was only 2cm dilated. They gave me some pain medicine, and I felt awesome for like an hour, then it wore off, and I was ready for the epidural. I got it around 1pm. I was SO nervous! I just stared at Justin, and squeezed his hands really hard while they did it. They laid me flat on my back so the medicine could distribute, and I started to feel super sick. The epidural caused my blood pressure to drop rapidly, and I started throwing up. The anethesiologist came back in, gave me some medicine, and I felt fine. The epidural worked really well, and I was mostly pain free for the rest of the process.

At 4pm a doctor came to break my water. It wasn't Dr. Twede, I can't remember his name, but he was really nice. It took him like 5 minutes to break my water. He said I had a real leather Prada bag because he couldn't tear it! haha. Eventually, he did.

We waited some more, and at 7ish I was checked again. I was only 5cm dilated. I was tired, and getting frustrated. I had been telling my mom not to come to the hospital yet because nothing would be happening for a while. Justin was talking to his parents on the phone, and I was talking to my mom at the same time. Justin turned to me and said, "My parents are in the parking lot! They've been here for a few hours." I laughed, and told my mom that Mark and Kim were in the parking lot waiting, and my mom said, "Oh, where are they? I don't see their car." She had been there for hours too, just waiting! They came up to our room and we talked for a while.

The nurse checked me again around 9pm, and I was still at a 5. I was upset that things were progressing so slowly. Justin, and Mark ended up giving me a blessing. The nurse checked me at 10pm, shortly after the blessing, and I was 10cm dilated! Miracle!

I started pushing around midnight, but I was so tired, that my pushes weren't very productive. While I was pushing Dr. Smith's plane landed at the Salt lake airport! He called the hospital, and they told him I was pushing, and would be ready to deliver soon. He dropped his family off at home, and headed to the hospital. By the time he arrived I was spent... He told me she was too low to do a C section safely, and he wanted to try forceps. I said okay... and we got ready. We talked about his cruise, and he told us Flava Flave was on it. Random. He gave me an episiotomy, which was supposed to help me not tear too bad. My nurse during this was SO awesome. Her name was Megan, and I remember her telling me "one more push" like 10 times, but every time she said it I believed her. Finally, our girl was born at 3:28am. They put her on my chest just for a second, and Justin and I sobbed in relief. She had ingested meconium, and wasn't breathing, so they took her to the warmer thing and started working on her. One of the nurses said almost immediately, "She looks just like her dad!" I knew she would.


I had a third degree tear, and lost a lot of blood, so for 45 minutes after she was born Dr. Smith had to sew me up. They gave me a shot in my leg to help the bleeding stop, and that made me really sick. I also started shaking like CRAZY. I guess that is pretty common after delivery. Justin left me to be with the baby because she still wasn't breathing, and they had to take her to the nursery.
She stayed there for a little bit until they knew she was okay, then they brought her to us.



It was the best feeling to hold her for the first time. I just stared at her for hours. I knew I must be so tired, but I couldn't sleep! I was so elated, and just wanted to look at her, and talk to her, and kiss her little cheeks. I still ask Justin on a daily basis how we are so lucky to have such a perfect little angel in our lives.







1 comment:

  1. This post brought tears to my eyes. It's such a miracle to bring a child into this world. I didn't know the doctor made a comment about the Prada bag... that's hilarious.

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