Two of my good friends here in Dallas had babies in the last week (one of them had her second, a little boy today!). What is it about seeing other people you are close to having babies that just pulls at your heart strings and brings back all of the emotions of the day you gave birth? I almost found myself envious of that moment when you finally hold your little one after 10 months of waiting, praying, wishing and wondering! I loved that moment. I loved giving birth. I want to do it again!
I have never written Maddie’s birth story down… so I thought it would be a good idea since I have just been replaying it over and over in my head these last few days. So here it goes!
My pregnancy with Maddie was very textbook, much like she is! I was unusually tired a few days before my missed period, I was terribly nauseated from week 6 to 11ish, I finally felt like “myself” in the second trimester, I craved strange food that I never ate before I was preggo (Tuna fish, sunchips, diet lemonade from chick-fil-a), she moved at 15 weeks, measured exactly for her due date the whole pregnancy, I had crazy creepy dreams throughout my pregnancy, I peed every 3 hours at night in the last trimester, I was swollen, huge and exhausted at the end… and like most first pregnancies, my due date came and went with no Maddie! Maddie was due on August 11th 2010 and boy did I wish she would come then! My twin sister and her husband were driving through Dallas for two days from the 9th to the 11th on their way to start their new lives in Cali… Vicky had school on Monday and both she and I wanted her to be there to see her niece enter the world. We had our 40 week appointment with Dr. Crochett at 3pm on the 11th. My mom, twin, little sister, brother-in-law and Mike all squeezed in the sonogram room to take a peek at MK. Maddie passed the Biophysical Profile Scan with flying colors (rats, we were hoping that maybe she was feeling a little lazy and not moving very much so we could get induced that night!). Dr. Crochett stripped my membranes during my exam (was 3cm and 50%) and said “If she doesn’t come tonight, I’ll see ya on Monday morning at 6am in L&D!” That afternoon we went on a 3 mile walk and ate Chuys (Mexican food!) to try to encourage MK to come out. I did start having contractions that night around 10pm, 5 minutes apart and lasting for a minute… but I was exhausted, so decided to try to sleep and they went away. I always wonder if we would have walked around for a little or gone to the hospital if she would have come that night.
That weekend we went to Waco to move Lissa into her new apartment for her senior year at Baylor, cleaned our house and re-packed our bags (they had been packed since 32 weeks…silly me!). Sunday night we went to Watermark’s 5:30 service and had our “last meal” at Texas Land & Cattle with my parents and Caroline. We had no idea how much our lives were going to change that next morning! Surprisingly I slept amazingly that night (keep in mind, amazing for a 40week and 5 day preggo is only getting up 2 times to pee!).
*Looking lovely at 5am on Aug 16th- did I mention that was Mike and I's 2 year anniversary?*
We got up at 4:30am on Monday the 16th. I was determined to get to the hospital by 5:30 because, being a nurse, I knew that if we showed up at 6 we wouldn’t get the show on the road. From 6-7 is when nurses usually start slowing down… come on, you’ve worked a 12 hour shift, there is an end in sight and you give us a new patient at 6am!!! Obviously the docs who schedule inductions have never asked the nurses opinions! We got checked in, filled out a TON of paperwork, got the final weigh in (gained 42lb…eek, thank you breastfeeding for taking that off plus a little more!) and got settled in our room on the fetal monitors. It was so strange for me to be a patient at the hospital I worked at… it grossed me out that I might be sitting on the same pad (cleaned obviously) that my patient with nasty diarrhea used last week…that’s just the nurse in me I guess! Our nurse was Tiffany, she was an adorable petite blonde from Texas Tech who was so sweet and supportive.
My IV was started at 7:30 (didn’t hurt thanks to them numbing my hand before hand! Why don’t they do that everytime?) and pitocin was going at 7:35. I was 4cm and 75% when pitocin started and just having occasional Braxton Hicks. Boy did that change, almost immediately I was having period like cramps every 5 minutes. At first, they were tolerable, but as soon as I was crying through them I knew it was time for the epidural. The anesthesiologist at BUMC was amazing. I asked for my epidural at 10 and literally within 10 minutes he was in my room setting up. The epidural was in and working in 15 minutes with very little pain. At 11 Dr. Crochett came in and checked me, I was only 5cm and 80% so she broke my water, clear fluid which was great news! She also informed me that she was glad I got my epidural when I did because if my contractions were hurting me before my water broke, I would be in a world of hurt afterwards! From 12 to 3 I napped, listened to music and talked to Mike, Caroline, Mom and Dad. I loved them just being in the room, keeping me company! I loved relaxing, letting my body (and the pitocin!) do the work and not feeling ANY pain…. My epidural was so good I couldn’t feel my feet, or move them… but I was totally fine with that! The peace and good feelings changed at 4, I suddenly felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse came in and checked me- I was at an 8 and in the transition period of labor, nausea and vomiting is very common in this stage. I got some nausea meds and got really nervous, transition phase is usually really fast… this was happening! At 4:30 I was feeling a lot of pressure (another good thing about an epidural, you still feel the urge to push!) and when the nurse checked me again, I was complete! It was time to tell Mom, Dad and Caroline to leave, it was time for Mike to get the camera ready, it was time to assume the position- I was about to push this baby out! I pushed for a little less than an hour before Dr. Crochett came in. Pushing was easy for me, I felt like I was making progress with each push and Tiffany even said I was a “pretty pusher!” When Dr. Crochett came in she told Mike to get his camera ready and she also said “You can always delete pictures, but can never take them again.” Boy did my husband take that literally… he took pictures of EVERYTHING! And do I mean everything, but I am so thankful that he did. I don’t think anyone will ever see those pics but the two of us, but they are a reminder of where Maddie came from and what my body can do! They are empowering! It just took a couple of pushes with Dr. C until Maddie made her entranc e to the Need to Breath CD that Mike had picked as our “pushing” music! She was born at 5:23pm. She cried immediately, was put right on my chest and Mike cut her cord. She was perfect, she was beautiful, she was my baby girl! I cried tears of joy. After Mike and I got to cuddle with her, Maddie’s nurse took her to the warmer to get her checked out, weighed, footprinted and injected with Vitamin K. Everyone was shocked that she was 8lb 13 oz (both Mike and I knew she was going to be big since Mike was 11lb at birth!)… Dr.C even said that day that she didn’t think MK was more that 7 ½ lb! While Maddie and Mike were bonding by the warmer, I was getting repaired (3rd degree lac) and I was also trying not to pass out, hyperventilate and throw up all at the same time. I was losing blood, and a lot of if. After lots of painful fundal massages, three shots of the “emergency medicine” and two bags of pitocin, I was still not slowing down. There were hushed voices mentioning “taking her back to the OR” “leave her epidural in just in case” and “let’s get some blood on hold in the blood bank.” I was freaked out, but trying to hold it together. Mike was a rock, he prayed out loud for me, Dr. C and the nurses. Finally, I was slowing down… my uterus was clamping down and cutting off those blood vessels that were once connected to Maddie’s placenta. Thank the Lord for his work in my body, or who knows what would have happened. Dr. Crochett was so calm and reassuring during the whole process. It was only a few weeks afterwards that my mom told me how worried Dr. C was about me and how critical she thought I was (she had talked to my mom in the hall after). I couldn’t sit up when my family and Mike’s family came in to see Maddie, I still felt like throwing up and passing out, and I certainly didn’t want to take any pictures (you can see how white I am!).
My heart was racing to try to pump whatever blood I had left and my blood pressure was dropping. I stayed in L&D for 5 hours to make sure I was done bleeding… and thankfully I was! I almost lost my cookies all over Maddie when they were wheeling us to the post-partum floor. I turns out that my hematocrit (which is normally around 30 in a healthy female) dropped to 17 during the next two days and I had to have a blood transfusion. I was freaking out. Getting blood means that you are sick in my book- they don’t even routinely give blood to heart surgery patients unless they are really sick! But the blood literally gave me life again… I could get out of bed without getting a massive headache and I finally had enough energy to enjoy my daughter and all of our visitors. I am so thankful for whoever donated those two units of A positive blood! We went home after two and a half days in the hospital and the rest is history!
Now, I have 9 month old daughter who is the (second) love of my life. She is the cutest baby I know (and I am biased!). She is such a joy. She makes me smile and laugh like no one else. I love, adore, cherish her and I would give my life for her in a second. I wish I could relive the day I met her everyday because that was the best day of my life (second only to my wedding day and the day I gave my life to Christ).
I love you Gooby girl!
