smerkin

For reference: Libby's birth story; Cece's birth story

The Birth story of William Bryan

Sunday, December 2, throughout the day I noticed I was having a little bit of bloody discharge which can either indicate that labor is near or that it is still several days off. My due date was a week from the next day so I put Tim, my mom, and our babysitter on alert just in case. We decided to stay home from church and clean the house and see if anything would happen. We cleaned, did some laundry, and went on a long walk. I had some contractions but nothing too noticeable or traceable. We put the girls to bed that night and watched a little Monday Night Football. I texted with a few friends to plan a girls’ night out that week, but I had a feeling that our plans would not come to fruition.

We went to bed about 10:00 and I fell right to sleep. I thought about sleeping on a towel, just in case, but forgot at the last minute. Since my labor with Cecily started with my water breaking, I didn’t think there was any way it would start that way again. Right at 11:30 my eyes burst open and I felt a slight pop. I jumped out of bed and right then my water broke. I quickly woke Tim and then made my way to the bathroom. The first thing I saw was a large amount of blood. Tim came in and he was also concerned at what we saw. He got my phone for me and started packing up the last of our things. I texted my awesome friend, Amanda, and called my midwives office. My midwife called me back a few minutes later and the contractions already started. I spoke with her and let her know what was going on and since I said that I had been having some “bloody show” that day she thought the blood was from that. I told her that it was a lot more than what I had been seeing and so she said we needed to get to the hospital soon.

I had really wanted to get in the shower before we left but as I looked at my tub I knew that I would not be able to get out once I got in. Then I remembered a dream I had early in my pregnancy of delivering at home, in my tub, surrounded by firemen and I knew we needed to get to the hospital. The hospital was about 30 minutes away and we had picked it because it has a group of midwives who deliver there and it has an amazing NICU ‘just in case’.

Amanda arrived and helped Tim get our stuff in the car and talked me through some pretty intense contractions that started up. I then made the trip to the car and the even longer ride to the hospital. Every turn and bump was miserable but there was nothing Tim could do. He was trying to drive safely but also get there as quickly as possible. The blood had really scared him but he was trying to play it off for my sake, smart man.

We made it to the hospital and walking in I continued to have some pretty intense contractions. Our midwife walked in right after us and we got checked in and then made our way to our room. The nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitor and the baby was doing great. My midwife came in and checked my progress and I was so happy to hear I was already 7 cm dilated! Those intense contractions sure were working! My two previous labors had been very slow and deliberate so I was excited. But my midwife told us she was very concerned with all the blood and was going to carefully monitor the baby and if he wasn’t born shortly they would have to do a C-section. I was pretty sad but still had hope he could be born naturally. I had asked her if I could get in the shower but she said there was no way because she wanted to keep monitoring baby. That’s the first time I heard her say she was afraid it was a placental abruption and she told us she called the doctor on call and he was there monitoring the baby too.

I was still there lying on the bed trying to breathe through the most intense contractions I had ever felt. The nurse got an iv in my left arm for the antibiotics I had to take due to my positive GBS status. She then went to work on my right arm for a back-up IV in case of the c-section but she kept missing so finally she gave up and all I ended up with was a giant bruise on my arm.

Baby was still doing well but then they started having trouble picking up his heart beat. I was also in extreme amounts of pain in between the contractions. It felt like a hot iron was pressed up against the inside of my abdomen. William was also moving around a lot and because I had lost so much fluid I could feel his movements even greater. The nurses had me move side to side during all of this to try to get a better read on his heart rate and I could tell they were getting more nervous. The midwife then checked me again and I had progressed to almost an 8 but was not ready to push yet. She told us that he was not doing well and I was not advancing quickly enough. They were very worried about his oxygen supply being cut off if my placenta fully abrupted before he was delivered. She advised us to go ahead with the C-section. I remember being so upset and wanting to cry because I was so close and the last thing in the world I wanted to was a c-section. But it was not worth the risk to William for me to avoid the c-section. She consulted with the doctor and he agreed. The doctor stuck his head in the door and introduced himself. They started getting ready to take me to the OR and threw some scrubs at Tim. He went to change and said that when he got back we had already left and they were racing with me down the hallway. All I remember is still being in extreme pain and looking around for Tim, wondering where he was. All I could see were strange faces and suddenly they had moved me into a room with a lot of lights and transferred me to a cold metal platform (for lack of a better word). I grabbed someones hand and squeezed it and they held it and someone else put an oxygen mask over my face. And that must be when the anesthesia took over because the next thing I remember was slowly waking up to my mom and Tim's voices.

Tim told me later that he had chased after us to the OR but they wouldn't let him in at the last minute and literally two minutes later a nurse said, "congrats, you have a son." That was at 2:00 in the morning, just 2 1/2 hours after my water had broken.

Thankfully, my mom was ready to leave Houston when I called and arrived in record time to the hospital so she was there when I was waking up. I remember hearing her and Tim talking and everything felt very hazy and thick. I heard a baby crying so I thought it was my baby and asked to hold him. My mom got a sad look on her face and said, "oh that isn't your baby, sweetheart, yours is in the NICU". I started crying and they told me that when he was born he wasn't doing very well so they had to take him down to the NICU. They told me later that my placenta had torn off half way and that he only scored a 1 on his APGAR. This meant that he had a heartbeat but was blue and not breathing. Thankfully, they were ready and there were some NICU nurses and a pediatrician in the room. They were able to intubate him and get him oxygen right away and his scores improved drastically. But it was that initial 1 that got everyone scared and got him sent to the NICU.

They wheeled my bed to the NICU area so that I could see him and he looked so big in the plastic bed. Especially with all the tiny ones around him. It was scary seeing him with wires and tubes sticking out everywhere but I knew he was in good hands. They then took us to our room close to his and my post-partem nurse came in. She told me I needed to go to sleep (I think it was about 5am at this time) and that when I woke up we would talk about our plan. I gratefully pushed the pain medicine button and then drifted off to sleep knowing I needed my rest to recover.

A few hours later Tim and I woke up and the nurse came back with a game plan for the day. She wanted me to get moving right away and try to walk and move around as much as possible. I couldn't imagine being able to sit up much less walk to the bathroom or down the hallway to William's room, but with her and Tim's help thats what I did. It was great to get off the IV and be able to go to the bathroom alone and we went down to William's room several times in the next few hours. I had also asked immediately for a breast pump because I was determined that he start nursing as soon as possible and avoid formula. My biggest fear with the c-section was that I wouldn't be able to nurse William if we weren't allowed to start right away. I got some great advice from a nurse/lactation consultant friend as well as our former birthing coach in New York. It was also great to be able to text and hear encouragement from friends and family on facebook.

Everyone was amazing. My nurses were tough but kind and the NICU nurses went out of their way to make us feel comfortable whenever we visited William. They respectfully listened to our wishes and really understood and wanted to help us reach our goals. We were not able to hold him that first day because he had IV's in his umbilical stump and if those were torn out accidentally he could bleed out in a matter of minutes. They didn't give him any bottles and he only got a little IV fluid through those lines. He was still intubated and they were sucking blood and mucus out of his stomach and there was some in his lungs as well. There was concern that he could develop pneumonia so they kept those tubes in for the first 36 hours after his birth.

Finally, on Tuesday afternoon we were able to hold our baby! It was so exciting to get to snuggle him and feel his skin on mine, but they still wanted us to wait to nurse him. I kept going to his room and holding him and talking to the nurses and then when the pain got to be too much I would go back and lay down for a quick nap. Then on Tuesday evening when the nurses switched I talked to a veteran nurse who had breastfed two babies in difficult circumstances. She and I really connected and I was able to tell her how much I knew he needed to nurse and she agreed. That night she talked to the head nurse when she made her rounds and that nurse agreed. So about 40 hours after he was born I was finally able to start nursing and William was thrilled. He caught on immediately and acted like he was starving to death! What an answer to prayer! My biggest concern through this whole ordeal was that he and I wouldn't have a good nursing relationship but those fears were shattered immediately.

I kept trekking down to the NICU to nurse William and they moved us to a nice room even closer to him. We had a great view of Dallas and it was a great place for Tim and I to stay. I didn't mind my walk at all. There were some very tiny babies in the same room as William, one who survived a 25 week abruption! (who has since been able to go home!) I got a healthy dose of perspective every time I went in that room. My mom and sister took care of the girls that whole week and they thought they were on vacation. On Thursday they moved William into our room and started preparing us to be able to leave the following day. On Thursday night they did a billirubin test his count was a little elevated but they said to nurse a lot and hopefully it would be down in the morning. Unfortunately it was a lot higher so our plans were changed. They took him back to the NICU and immediately put him under some lights. I was discharged but they found us a little room in the antepartem area. We left our big, newly updated room and moved into the old outdated one that wasn't much bigger than a closet. We did get to have William back in the room with us though and he had a bili blanket that he laid on and a spot light to shine on his back.

The next two days I kept the lights on him at all times, nursed him constantly, and almost always when I wasn't nursing I pumped to get extra fluid and to really get my supply going. He still had a feeding tube in his nose from when they were pumping fluid out of his stomach so we when he nursed we would give him the extra milk that I had pumped through that. The best way to get rid of the bilirubin in his blood was to keep fluids going through him and to keep the lights on him as much as possible. We stayed in that room all day Friday and Saturday and they tested his blood twice every day to see if he was improving. His levels finally started to go down but it was very gradual and they wanted us to stay Sunday night as well. I remember being so disappointed when they told us that. I was exhausted and ready to go home and be in my own bed and see my girls. We had seen them earlier in the week and they were doing great but I still missed them.

Then on Sunday morning they ran his blood-work again and it was finally at a good level. The ancient (and awesome!) NICU pediatrician came to see us and he checked William over and cleared us to leave! I cannot remember ever feeling so elated. We couldn't pack our stuff together quickly enough. Baylor had been great, the staff was amazing and it was the best care we could ask for but we were ready to leave! And so 12 hours shy of the one week anniversary of my water breaking, we were on our way home to start life as a family of five!

I am so grateful for everyone who prayed for us through this whole scary time, we felt them and though so much could have gone wrong, it didn't. We were protected and the Lord answered all of my prayers. William never had a bottle through the week at the hospital, he didn't develop any lung issues, and I didn't have to have a blood transfusion. In fact, the doctor commented that he was surprised I didn’t lose more blood. I told Tim later that I should’ve told him it was all the pregnancy tea I drank that strengthened my uterus. :) Nobody knows why my placenta gave out a week before my due date. It just happens sometimes. And because its an isolated incident, if we have any more children, I should be able to have a VBAC without and trouble. A c-section is not an easy thing to go through and I am definitely a proponent for natural labor whenever possible, but I am so grateful for the doctors and the surgery that made William's safe arrival possible.

I am sharing this story for myself to have a record on here, for my friends, and for other people to read and be encouraged. I want to let people know that they have a voice, even in seemingly powerless situations you can still let the professionals around you aware of your desires. I am so grateful that the doctors and nurses listened to me and worked with me but I don't know if they would have avoided feeding him a bottle had I not specifically told every person I saw that I didn't want him to have one. He was perfectly fine with a little IV fluid until I was able to nurse him. Breastfeeding is very awesome and you sometimes have to fight to make it work. But it is worth it in the end. Also, c-sections are not fun, easy, or pain-free. I've had two very long, all natural births and I would rather have another 30 hour labor (Thanks, Cecily) than deal with another c-section. It is major surgery and takes a lot to recover from so don't make that decision lightly. And don't be afraid to challenge your health care provider if they want you to have one, make sure there is a very good and strong argument for it. But if one is necessary and you have a rough start then don't worry! A great recovery is possible and very likely and you can still have a great breastfeeding relationship with your baby. In fact, William loves nursing so much that he won't take a bottle. :) But I am fine with that and cherish the time we have together.

Thanks for reading this! I know its really long and I didn't even publish some details because it could have been even longer.

Tim for another link up with the wonderful Miss Mustard Seed!
Well, I've been completing a lot of projects lately and I wanted to throw them all out there to "show off" as it were. ;) I'm having so much fun with this new hobby of mine that it doesn't seem like work at all! And plus it's fun getting a little bit of money to use however I want (which usually means buying presents for our house).
Enjoy! And please let me know what you think!

This cutie was painted with ASCP Napoleon Blue and then before it completely dried I wiped off some of it to create a different look. It originally had six drawer pulls so I filled in four of them and only kept the necessary two, which I think looks better. I also spray painted the hardware black and I like that better too. This is really a great piece because it's so versatile. It will be listed for sale.

This precious little dresser was a fun and easy project. I gave it two coats of ASCP French Blue and then sanded it with my palm sander to smooth out the finish and really distress it nicely. I finished it out with some new wax (which I love!) and just popped the original hardware back on to finish it out. This has been a really popular piece and is also for sale.

This little desk was a really fun project! I picked it up off of CL for a steal and then realized it was over 50 years old! I sanded and then stained the top with Dark Walnut and painted the base ASCP Antibes Green. It sold in less than a week but I was a little sad to see it go.

Well, my little urchins are awake and needing me so I must dash. Enjoy!