Our Minnesota Life: Lauren's Birth Story

Lauren Christine

1-14-2013

8lbs 11oz

20 1/2 inches

My Doctor called me on Friday, January 11th and said that she wanted me to be induced on Monday morning due to my blood pressure. She had thought about it since Thursday afternoon (the 10th) when I saw her for my 38wk appointment and decided that it was better to just have the Baby. Blood pressure can continue to elevate during the last couple of weeks of pregnancy and she wanted both Baby and I to be safe. As shocked as I was, I was ok with it. I wanted both Baby and I to be safe and would do whatever I needed to do to make sure that happened.

After calling our family and letting them know that the plans changed and we'd be having a baby sooner rather than later, we decided to enjoy the weekend ahead of us. That Friday night, we had dinner out with some friends in our townhome association. Every year we go to a local golf course clubhouse and have a nice dinner together. We enjoyed steak, salads and dessert. It was delicious! On Saturday and Sunday we made sure to relax, ran a few errands and went grocery shopping.

We had to be to the Hospital at 7am on Monday morning. We got there a few minutes late, but by 7:30am I was hooked up and ready! The Nurse started me on pitocin and I began feeling my contractions. They weren't terrible but I was definitely noticing them.

Because of my high blood pressure, I was restricted to bedrest while laboring. I was really bummed about this but decided that since I couldn't get up and walk around, I might as well get an epidural when the time came.

The on-call Doctor came in and broke my water at about 8:00am. They had a scalp monitor on Baby's head to monitor her heart rate since the external monitor wasn't picking it up all that well, especially when she or I would change positions.

My Mom, Dad and Sister got there at about 8:30am and Matt's Dad got there around 10am, with his Mom and Brother coming around 10:30am. I was glad to have our families there. It was a nice distraction for my nerves!

Around noon I asked for an epidural. Earlier in the morning the Nurse said to ask for it when I'm just starting to want it because the timing of it would depend on where the anesthesiologist was in the Hospital. I could have a 45 minute wait to get one! Luckily, the anesthesiologist was there within about 10 minutes. Sweet relief! I was having intense contractions while I was getting the epidural so sitting ever so gently, quietly and still on the side of the bed was difficult. The Nurses that I had (one was on orientation) were great in helping me breathe through the contractions so that I could keep still.

After the epidural, things pretty much tapered off. They kept monitoring Baby & I, I had to be on oxygen a few different times because the Baby needed a little boost. I tried to doze off and rest as much as I could. I knew that I needed to rest up because I wanted to have all my energy in order to be pushing later.

Around 2:30pm the nurse checked me and said that I was at a 6cm and was about 75% effaced. I started to get really nervous again because we were getting so much closer! Around this time, my Doctor had called in to talk with my Nurse and told her that she (the Doctor) would be in a bit later. She was coming from the other Hospital she delivers at.

When my Doctor got there, she checked me and I was still at a 6cm. She said that this was concerning because I hadn't made any progress since the last check and I should have been making about .5-1cm/hour progress. The doctor gave me until 5:30pm and then she was going to check again. She mentioned that we'll have to look at "the next step" if I didn't make any progress. I knew what she was talking about but I needed to hear it specifically. I asked her if the next step meant a c-section.

At that next check, as scared as I was for the physical pain of pushing/birthing a child, I prayed and prayed and prayed for some progress. Unfortunately, I was still at 6cm so she told us that we'd proceed with a c-section. She said that the Baby was getting tired and I could {hypothetically} stay there for the next twelve hours & try to make progress but if I hadn't made any progress in the last few hours, I wasn't going to make any going forward and it would just stress both the Baby and I out more than we already were. I was heartbroken. I was scared. I was terrified. I love, love, love my doctor. I had all the faith in the world in her, but I was still scared.

The Doctor and Nurse left the room and it was just Matt & I. We both started to cry. This wasn't what we planned for. We didn't educate ourselves on c-sections, they didn't talk about it much in the birth class, etc. Neither of us knew what to expect now. I'd never had major surgery before. Matt's never seen me through surgery.

Our families came in and we chatted with them. They comforted both of us, shed some of their own tears and wished us well. The Nurse came back in with consents and paperwork to sign. She was such a blessing. She was so thoughtful, she had such a kind voice, she answered all of our questions and reassured us that things would be ok.

It was about two hours from the time the Doctor said that we'd need a c-section to the time that I was wheeled into the OR. It felt like 10 minutes. So many people came in and out of the room to get me ready. The Anesthesiologist came back in with others from his team, the Nurse prepped me with IV fluids, took off the monitors that I had on, etc.

It was about 7:20pm when they wheeled me from my room to the OR. They told Matt that they'd come and get him once they had me all set up and ready. It seemed like they were going to start without him in there! I know that was just my perception though because soon he was there by my side.

Once they got started, I only felt pulling and pushing on my stomach. It was a weird experience to know what was going on, to imagine what it looked like (thank you, TV & movies) but to feel nothing. I was just waiting, waiting & waiting to hear my Baby's first cry.

My Doctor let me know when they were "in" (made the uterine incision). I knew from then that it would be a couple of minutes before she was born.

They pulled her out and let Matt go over to her almost right away. I was starting to get worried because she wasn't crying. I asked about it and someone told me "they're working on her." Talk about frightening! She was perfectly fine other than being a little bit blue, she just didn't want to cry. They gave her some puffs of oxygen and then she started crying. Tears rolled down my cheeks! My Baby was here!

The scale was in a position where I could see it so they brought her over there to weigh her so that I could see her. That was my first glimpse of her! Then, they wrapped her up in her blanket and her special name onesie and let Matt hold her and bring her over to me. I couldn't wait to see what she looked like.

Speaking of her onesie, it was so cute to hear the comments from the nurses who were caring for her in the OR. They had never seen someone make a special onesie for a name reveal and kept commenting on how cute it was. (We would hear many, many times over the next couple days how cute this onesie was.)

My Doctor finished up with me, our post-partum RN and Matt took Lauren to our post-partum room and I would join them when I was done in the OR.

Our families were able to stop in and meet Lauren real quick but then they were asked to leave so that it was just Matt, Lauren, the Nurse and I. The Nurse stayed in the room the whole time to make sure that I was doing ok after surgery, I got to breastfeed and she went over some things about recovery, about the Hospital etc. An hour quickly went by and then our families were able to come back in. Grandpa John was the very first person to hold Lauren! As Matt was leaving our room to go get them, he ran into Grandpa in the hallway so Grandpa scooted right into the room and scooped Lauren up. :) I didn't realize it until this time (nearly 10pm at night!) that all day, my Dad was wearing a "Worlds Greatest Grandpa" shirt. Awww ...

Our families stayed until about 11pm and then they all left. It was a long, tiring day for everyone! I'm so thankful that they were all there and I felt bad that it was such a long day for them. I don't think they minded as soon as they met our little Peanut! :)