Sunday, February 22, 2009

Kaisley's Birth Story

Kaisley Reese entered this world on February 21st at 11:46pm. Weighing 7lbs 12.5oz and 20.5in. I had an almost natural VBAC!!!!! (epi after 1hr 30 mins into pushing! I'm so jealous of those 3 push wonders!!!!) I'm so proud of myself and so in love with my baby girl!

Here's how it happened:
On Feb 21st we went to a Mardi Gras parade and we had a LONG LONG walk back to the car around 2:30pm. I had a couple contractions, first in my LIFE and I commented to my Richard that wow, I think I had a real contraction!!!! But, no biggy, I was 37 weeks, 4 days, just thinking my body was behaving by doing a little something.

Around 4:30pm I notice a few more real contractions, so around 4:45, I decided to time them...for fun. With myself timing, I counted it at 4 minutes apart, but only lasting 30 seconds. Around 6pm, I called my doula. She seemed to think 30 seconds was a bit short, so maybe I was dehydrated from the parade and walking. She suggested a bath and ignoring the clock for a couple hours and to call her back around 9 or 10pm. Looking back, maybe the 30 seconds was only the most intense part, but not the whole contraction...how was I to know!!?!?!

So, I drank tons of water, took a bath, layed on the bed...and these contractions were not going away. Around 8pm, I started to time again, 3 minutes apart and lasting a minute!!!! I told Richard that this was getting too intense to be fake, let's call the doctor!!! I was ready and needed to go to the hospital to get settled in and start focusing for the long haul. The on call doc told me to go ahead and come in to be checked. (I told Richard that I was gonna be so mad if they turned me away as false labor..lol)

We also called my Brother in law, as he was coming to get Brookston. At 8:45pm we were standing in the living room making sure everything was packed and ready and "POP" my water broke!!! At that point I realized, THIS IS FOR REAL!!!!!!!! Yes, it took THIS to make me realize I was really in labor.

I arrived at the hospital at 9pm, and checked into the assessment center, I was between 5-6cm. I went straight up to labor and delivery and was already 7cm. By 9:30pm I was 10cm and ready to push! Holy cow that was fast!!!! And intense!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe I did almost ALL of my labor at home...and fast...me!?!?!?! No way!!!!!!

My instinct was totally kicking in and I just did what felt right and natural. Richard was an amazing birth coach. And my doula there to encourage me and support me was priceless. We did a lot of pushing and it was a lot of pain, but it was so empowering to feel it all and know my body was doing it's thing.

I pushed for about an hour and 30 minutes and my baby girl's head just would not come down (just like Brookston, she was sideways and not interested in making the rest of the turn down) and I was starting to get discouraged.

At this point, my OB gave me a suggestion, he said he could turn her head, but that he would really suggest an epi as it was literally him reaching up there and turning her!! He seemed confident that it would work. And the only reason I really wanted a natural birth was because it increased my chances for a VBAC...but she wasn't coming down and turning her gave me the change at my vbac...so I signed up, give me the epi...I want my baby!!!

So, I got an epi, and continued to push for 30-45 more minutes. In the end I got an episiotomy, agreed to forceps, and 2 nurses applying fundal pressure like crazy.....and out she came!!!! Phew! That was crazy intervention for a baby with a small head!!!!!

I GOT MY VBAC and that's all that mattered to me! I did not regret a thing and while and episiotomy is not fun, I birthed a baby and I did not get cut OPEN!!!!!

My baby girl is here, I'm so in love and I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!

The medical afterwards, short version, written Feb 26th (poss trigs):
She scored an 8 and 9 on apgars, but as Richard was holding her in his arms afterwards, he noticed her breathing wasn't right. This landed her with 5 hours of monitoring in the nursery. Which I was bummed about. After she joined us in our room, just 5 more hours later, I was going to nurse her and I noticed she was very unresponsive. I watched for her chest to rise and fall and when I didn't see movement I freaked as I saw blue lips!!!!! I ran out to the nurses station screaming help me, she's not breathing!!!! A nurse grabbed her and ran her down to the nursery with a code blue over the whole hospital intercom. I have never been so scared in my life!!!!! That was my baby they were talking about!!!!! Richard was down stairs at the time and his daddy instict must have known because he knew when he saw it was ME calling his cell phone, that code blue was his baby girl.

Luckily she started breathing on arrival to the nursery, but this gave her a minimum 48 hours stay in the NICU as they needed to monitor her. Luckily as of today, it hasn't happened again! She was found to have an infection, luckily a spinal tap (I was so not excited about this for my baby!!!!) showed it was not menengitis...thank GOD! But she was required to stay for 7 days in the NICU, both to be monitored and to allow for 7 days of antibiotics.

Going home without my baby girl was hard!!!! But, I know it's what's best for her. I want her to be healthy! I don't want to have regrets about rushing her home and something going wrong, so I know this is what's right, but it doesn't make it easy! It's also exhausting as I'm going up there about 5 times a day...but so worth it to see her! And luckily my parents are in town, so it helps to have someone to watch Brookston and not worry what to do and when to go!

The doctors expect her to come home Sunday and don't really see any reason why she can't...so we're really keeping our fingers crossed. I can't wait to have her home and start our family of 4!


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Friday, February 20, 2009

Kaisley's Pregnancy Journal

February 16th
36 weeks, 6 days
Today was my 37 week appointment, which is officially FULL TERM!!!!
So now Kaisley can come anyday!!!! A preggo can only hope to have a baby at 37 weeks! haha!My stats, I'm now between 2.5 and 3cm, so a little change there.But still 70% effaced and -3 station (I found out station this time, which was same as last time apparently!) I was a little bummed with "station" as I was hoping engaged meant more than -3. That's all I ever did with Brookston. But my OB seemed pleased that when she poked her head, it didn't go back out of my pelvis! I'll update again next week, if she's still in there!

February 9th
35 weeks, 6 days
Today was my 36 week appointment and I'm totally pumped and excited! I know I need to bring myself back to reality...this is baby #2, so progress doesn't mean diddly...even with #1 I know it can mean nothing! BUT, I'm 35w6d today and 2cm dilated, 70% effaced and she's engaged. Holy moly, that's more than I was at 39 1/2 weeks when I was induced with Brookston! I'm so excited! On another note, I had a growth ultrasound today. And again, I need to remember that these can very much be off...But fluid levels looked perfect...she said they want between 10 and 15 and I was at 14. Her head was....SMALL (I think 40th %)! So that gives me a nice boost of confidence for a VBAC since Brookston's head was 90th at 33 weeks! BUT, she was measuring at 6 pounds 13 ounces already...yikes! So, I'm hoping the head size is right and the rest of the body is measuring bigger than she really is! But regardless...head matters the most right??I'll keep remembering that she has a smaller than average head..I like that!

February 3rd
35 weeks
Today my mom's group threw a baby shower for me and another girl, due just 5 days before me. It was held at a park so while the kids played, the mom's hung out...And we opened presents for our sweet baby girls!It was an awesome time and I really felt the love by all of our friends!!!And Kaisley sure did get some ADORABLE stuff!

February 1st
34 weeks, 5 days
Oh wow, I feel like all of a sudden I have a LOT to say! Okay, we'll start with physically...For the most part, I'm still feeling good. Sure I get tired quicker and I want to take an afternoon nap any day possible, Of course then nothing gets done and nothing is currently ready! eeek! But I think for almost 35 weeks, I feel pretty good.It seems that Kaisley decided that she needed to leave her pregnancy mark on mommy!!!With Brookston, I had a c-section. So he left his mark with a nice c-section scar. This time I am planning a VBAC (vaginal birth after ceserean), which means no additonal scar! However, Kaisley apparently felt the need to leave her mark somehow...So she chose these little red streaks on my lower belly and sides.Okay baby girl...NOT COOL!!!!!!!How did I make it 39 1/2 weeks without a single mark with Brookston??Now, 2nd pregnancy, 34 weeks and here they come! STINKER! The other biggest thing lately, like I mentioned, I'm planning a VBAC for this birth. This is nothing new, but I'm also planning to do it naturally! If I can!I know, I know, they don't give medals for this!I'm excited, I'm scared, but I'm trying to stay confident and educated!I've had a lot of time to reflect and I've come across things that I wish I would have known to do different. Brookston's head was not in an ideal position, but with a epidural, I couldn't move to try to reposition him. This time, I think movement with be the key! Therefore, a natural birth. I've done a lot of self education this time and I'm going into this very confident!Please pray for my strength to get through it. I feel like this is my best chance for success. A VBAC is very very important to me...and I'm praying that I will succeed and appreciate all of the support I can get!

January 10th
31 weeks, 4 days
Today was our 3D ultrasound...but baby girl sure was a stinker!!! She was facing my back and in my hip...but no biggy, laying on my side mostly fixed that.However, she had her hands covering part, most, or all of her face 99% of the time. We did get a 1-2 second peek of her 2-3 times!But...we're going back on Wednesday to try again! Hopefully she's be a little more cooperative! We'll see! :)Great news though....she's now named: Kaisley Reese!!!

December 20th
28 weeks, 4 days
Time is REALLY flying and mommy is realizing how much there is to do! I believe by this point we were plain old ready for Brookston...I don't feel so ready this time.Emotionally, yes...I can't wait to have my baby girl in my arms.Although she needs to bake a good 10 more weeks! But the house...NOT READY!So far I'm still feeling great...and this week's doctor's appointment...I passed the gestational diabetes screening...yeah!Oh...and she still is NOT named!!! :(

November 30th
25 weeks, 5 days
All is going great so far!Mommy is still feeling good. And baby girl is behaving herself. She's just active enough to keep mommy confident and happy, but not in pain! Although I know there's still 15 more weeks, so anything can happen.Baby girl still has no name! ARG! We're working on it, I promise.All mommy can think about is at 25 weeks, Brookston was named!The pressure isn't helping! :)

October 25th
20 weeks, 4 days
Daddy finally felt his baby girl! YEAH!!!!! Daddy felt his baby girl kick..and kick...and kick!!Mommy has been feeling her for weeks now, but finally daddy got to feel the magic!

October 20th
19 weeks, 6 days
Another ultrasound! This was "the big ultrasound", normally when you would also find out the sex. Well, she's still a "she" and she's perfectly healthy! YEAH!!!!!! I love to hear those kind of words! We're currently working on a name...we'll let you know!

September 22th
15 weeks, 6 days
IT'S A GIRL! And the hemorrhage is gone! What a great day! First things first, we found out the hemorrhage is gone. What a HUGE RELIEF! It feels great to know that and at this point,we can basically consider it a thing of the past! And, it appears that we have a stubborn, little leg crossing, baby girl! WOW! Time to think pink! That seems to strange and we need to get used to saying, "SHE"!! No name yet...we have time to think on that one! Wow, a girl...it will be hard to imagine...what do we do!!?!?!! :) I'm sure we'll figure it out!

September 20th
15 weeks, 4 days
Okay, that's movement! Today, I decided that yes, indeed, that's movement! I've been feeling flutters for about a week. But with Brookston, my first feeling was more of tiny kicks. But I know now..these are flutters, mixed with a kick or 2! YEAH!!!!

September 8th
13 weeks, 6 days
Another OB appointment...which got a bit delayed thanks to hurricane Gustav. It was fairly uneventful, but in 2 more weeks I'll have another ulrasound to check on that bleed....and HOPEFULLY find out the sex! I'm in shock, I never in a million years thought we'd be finding out the sex at 16 weeks! With Brookston it was 20 weeks and that's what's normal. But, we have a medically necessary ultrasound and by 16 weeks, we can probably see the goods!!!

August 26th
12 weeks
I had to wait a few days due to a virus that had me throwing up every hour on the hour! Luckily I went in for my ultrasound and saw a beautiful baby, heart rate of 164bpm. And we found the reason for the bleeding...it's called a "Subchorionic hemorrhage". Don't look it up on the internet...it's not fun. But we're praying that everything will be alright!

August 23rd
11 weeks, 4 days
A scary, scary day. I ended up having gushing blood, which landed us in preggo ER. Luckily I was seen by my practice's on call OB, which was great compared to a regular ER. We got to hear the heartbeat after what seemed like a forever long wait...And an appointment will be scheduled for next week to see what is going on.

August 18th
10 weeks, 6 days
I received my home doppler, busted it out and ahhhh, that beautiful sound of a heartbeat!!!

August 9th
9 weeks, 4 days
A visit to Nana & Papa allowed Brookston to shared that he will be a big brother!!!!

August 6th
9 weeks, 1 day - 1st appointment
My OB is so amazing! I cannot even describe how thankful I am to have switched doctors. She takes her time, she talks, she listens...I hade no idea such compassion existed. I even had a quick freebie ultrasound!!!!

July 31st
8 weeks, 2 days - 2nd ultrasound
Heart rate was 174bpm. Measuring 8 weeks, 1 day (perfectly fine)
Met with the doctor just to chat afterwards..she's wonderful!!!!

July 17th
6 weeks, 2 days - First ulrasound
Measuring 6 weeks, 2 days (mama already knew that!!!)
Official Due Date: March 10, 2009
Heart rate: 115bpm

July 3rd
4 weeks, 2 days
HCG - 150 (needs to double in 48 hours, it was only 44 hours later & more than double)Progetserone 18.9 (feeling better about that!!)

July 1st
4 weeks - Positive pregnancy test!!!!
HCG 63, Progesterone 13.9
HCG was fine, but progesterone made me nervous, they like over 20!