It was Thursday October 27th and it was a more busy day. At noon I had my work Halloween Party, which was really us meeting at the office to have lunch and dress up. Since I knew I was having a baby so close to Halloween I didn't really have a costume ready since I didn't really know what I'd be doing at the end of October (well other than potentially being overdue or with my new baby girl). I ended up wearing a shirt kind of like this one...
After the party I headed back home all the while feeling the contractions I had been having for a week. I got home at about 2 pm and since the internet wasn't cooperating I decided to just relax and watch TV. Around 3 pm my contractions became stronger and so I tried all I could to relax and take a nap so they would stop (because they always did). At about 4:30 Jared called and it became apparent that my contractions were not going away, mostly because I could no longer talk through them. Jared said I should head up to the hospital since my contractions were bad and I couldn't talk through them. So I grabbed my hospital bag and my mom drove me up to LDS Hospital in downtown SLC. It's a good thing we were heading into downtown instead of out of it at 5 pm because it was rush hour, though once we got off the free way I was swearing up a storm yelling at people who were being stupid. But hey I was in labor so I think it's totally understandable. My mom dropped me at the curb and I headed up to Labor & Delivery on the 4th floor while she parked the car. As soon as I go to the desk at L&D a nurse asked if I was contracting, I said "Yeah" but to be honest was thinking "Ya think." I had to sign a few papers so they could treat me and decided to not try to be tough and said yes to the wheelchair and then we went off to the room.
I got changed and shortly after that they got me hooked up to all the monitors. They also checked my cervix and thankfully I had progressed, though barely, since my appointment on Tuesday. They decided to monitor me for an hour to see if I would continue to progress. So we called Jared who was still back home to put him on notice that he may need to start driving. Once he was ready he decided to make his way up to Blanding and wait to hear from us. So for an hour they monitored my contractions, baby girl's heart rate, and my blood pressure. At some point during this hour they decided they needed a urine sample from me (I would learn later it was due to my higher blood pressure). I waited an hour all the while having painful contraction that would leave me crying, which is saying something since I never cry when I'm in pain. All I could think during that hour is that I needed my husband, mostly because he could help me stay calm and help me work through these contractions better than anyone else. After this 1 hour period they came to check me again, but nothing major had happened. I mentioned to the nurses that Dr Steele was concerned that I would have a hard time having a vaginal birth due to my more narrow pelvis. So she checked again paying more attention and agreed that my pelvis is more narrow. They decided to keep me so we called Jared and told him to finish driving up, safely but quickly.
Then came time to make some decisions (decisions should never have to be made by a woman in labor by the way). I could go ahead with a C-Section and have Dr Steele (you know the doctor I had been driving 6 hours to see over the past 9 months) do it right away (which was a very tempting offer as I was in pain from these contractions and was SO ready to be done) or wait it out for Jared to get there knowing my chances of getting my doctor would be slim to none. Seriously one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make, but told the nurses to let Dr Steele know that I would wait until Jared got there to have a C-Section. Dr Steele called my room and talked to my mom while they were hooking me up to an IV and doing a few other things. The nurses seemed shocked that he called my room directly to talk to my mom. He wanted to make sure that I knew he wasn't deserting me and that he had full trust in Dr Daniels and Dr Cannon who were there that night. He also said that he'd be willing to come in the middle of the morning and do my C-Section if that's what was needed. Now if that isn't one of the most caring and dedicated doctors I don't know what is. You see now why I drove 6 hours every month just to see this guy. So at this point the plan was to wait for Jared to get there then take me back to OR for a C-Section, that is unless by some miracle I progressed super fast and a vaginal birth became a possibility.
It was about 8:30 when the anesthesiologist came in to administer my epidural (thank heavens). As he was getting ready he joked that many women name their babies after him because of the miracles he can do (seriously it's pretty amazing). So we asked what his name was... and guess what... his name is Robert Hall!!! My mom and I had a good laugh since that is my dad's name. We let him know that that is my dad's name and that we do plan on using the name Robert when we have a boy. Anyway, getting the epidural was a pretty cool experience (what can I say I am a science/medical nerd). He had me sit with my back to him with my legs crossed. He then helped me get into the correct position so he could work his magic. It was actually pretty nerve wracking but that's because I knew exactly what he was doing. Plus trying to stay still while having a contraction is hard to do. But once he was done and the epidural was doing its job I could no longer feel any contractions. YAY!!! I can't imagine going through labor without an epidural, and plan on getting one for each labor I have.
At this point I was pretty much just stuck in bed and couldn't have anything to eat or to drink really, which was a huge bummer because I hadn't eaten since my work lunch party. Thankfully I had plenty of company to help pass the time. My sister ended up coming up to the hospital so she could take a few pictures and to be supportive, and my dad also came up around 11. It was really just a waiting game for me. They kept monitoring me and baby. At one point during all of this I could see the concern on my nurse Bailey's face as I would have contractions. Turns out baby girl did not like my contractions and her heart rate would drop when I would have contractions instead of going up. So they then had me put on an oxygen mask since it was likely that baby girl wasn't getting enough oxygen during my contractions due to my placenta being old (I mean I was 4 days past due). I absolutely hated having that mask on, I'd get claustrophobic and would get this awful taste in my mouth.
At about 1:00 am Jared finally got to the hospital (he may or may not do a post on his experience with the birth of our daughter). I was SO glad to see him. For the last several hours as we were monitoring baby girl I was worried that they would have to rush me into the OR and perform the C-Section without Jared there, not to mention he's the biggest part of my support system. This huge relief came over me seeing him, I knew that everything would be ok. Once they knew Jared had made it they started finishing making preparations for my C-Section. Turns out that Dr Daniels was already in surgery with another patient so as soon as they finished they would clean up the OR and get things ready for me. It was nice to have some time with Jared before they took us into OR. At about 1:30 Jared and my dad gave me a wonderful blessing. I can't remember what all was said, but I do remember that I was blessed to be able to make this transition to motherhood. The blessing gave me comfort and I knew that me and the baby would be ok. 2:00 am rolled around and they told Jared to get all suited up in the scrubs they had for him. Dr Daniels came in sometime after that and explained that I was having preeclamsia and that the best thing we could do to get rid of it was for me to have the baby. Looking back now I can see that I definitely was experiencing preeclampsia because of my blood pressure and the swelling in my body especially my feet. Dr Daniels explained that after I was out of surgery they would administer some magnesium sulfate to help me recover from the preeclampsia and also prevent me from seizing.
At about 2:30 am they finally took us back to OR and as they rolled me away I said goodbye to my parents and sister. I really don't think I could have made it through the night without them. Once we got into the OR they moved me over to the operating table. Of course they needed my help moving my body which was difficult to do since I was numb from the waist down. So weird to have your brain tell a part of your body to move and then not really be able to do it. They placed this sheet in front of my chest (basically right in front of my face) and placed the oxygen mask over my face. I laid there as they finished their preparations and tried to focus on my breathing since I was starting to have some difficulties. There was a lot going on so a lot of those first few minutes are kind of a blur. As things started happening I was glad to have Jared to my left and Dr Hall at my head. I told Jared to not tell me what was going on because my heart rate was high (or at least it felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest) and I was having a hard time breathing, but I asked him to take some pictures. (Once I get my camera hooked up to the computer I'll add them here.)
At 3:02 am our little girl was born. She let out this cry and my heart just soared and tears filled my eyes. They needed to take her to another room to get the gunk out of her and give her some shots and Jared took off with her. They eventually got her weight, 9.1 pounds!!! Once I heard that I knew that I made the right choice in having a C-Section. I would have had a VERY hard time with a vaginal delivery with how big she was. She was 22 inches long, guess she takes after her dad in the height department. Anyway, back to me. In the rush to get her in better shape I didn't get to see my baby, but I knew her dad was with her and that kept me from going out of my mind. Thankfully I still had Dr Hall right there if I needed anything. While they worked on stitching me back up they all kind of talked shop. Apparently the woman before me wasn't doing very well and was hemorrhaging. Dr Daniels talked about an issue he had with a nurse, who if I was hearing right was one my the nurses that took care of me when I first got there. Apparently he thought my preeclampsia should have been better taken care of right off the bat. Anyway I tried to ignore the shop talk and just think about breathing. I could feel tugs as they were sewing me back up, pretty cool actually.
It was probably close to 4:00 when they finally finished up with me and Jared came in holding our precious daughter. They moved me off the table and back into my bed. They sat me up and it was then that I saw my baby girl for the first time. She already was sucking away on a pacifier. I was instantly in love with her. They cradled her in my arm (at the time I didn't really have control over my body so they made it so I could at least have her close to me). They wheeled us back to our room so they could continue to monitor me and get me on the magnesium as well as pitocin to help my uterus contract and start returning to its normal size. My mom, dad and sister were anxious to see us and meet this little girl...
(Isn't she beautiful! And look at all that RED hair!)
Not long after meeting baby girl my parents and sister decided to go home and get some sleep themselves. The next few hours were a blur as we were still in Labor & Delivery. We tried to do some breastfeeding, though my milk hadn't quite come in yet. I was totally exhausted so we all just slept. Sometime that morning (maybe 9:00 or something) Dr Steele came in. He apologized for not being there but expressed his total confidence in the doctors that did my surgery. He said that they'd have me on the magnesium for at least 12 hours, that he would check on how I was doing during the weekend, and that he'd see us again on Monday and then we could go home. It wasn't too long after seeing Dr Steele that they transferred us over to Maternity. As we were heading out they played a lullaby over the speakers in honor of our baby girl.
We got to our room (number 452) and met our nurse for the day, Lauren. The rest of that first day we worked on breastfeeding and kept monitoring me as I was on the magnesium. We met with a pediatrician and he checked out our girl. He said she looked just great. Later in the afternoon my dad came back to check on us, I have the best dad. In the afternoon I also tried to eat because I was STARVING. I thought I would be able to handle the baked potato soup, but I was wrong. SO not fair because it was so good. Later in the day my mom came to visit and brought a few things we needed with her. At 5:00 they decided to take me off the magnesium (YAY) and said I could have the catheter out an hour later. Once I got the catheter out I was able to get out of bed. It was so weird to get back on my feet, and I was extremely wobbly but considering I had been confined to a bed for 20 hours I think I did pretty good. Lauren helped get me out of bed and into the bathroom and helped me get set up in there with a squirt bottle and pads and such.
That night Jared and I decided that we should really focus and come up with a name for our daughter. The names at the top of our list all didn't quite seem right, so we went over a few other names. I mentioned the name Rachel and we both liked it a lot. We kept talking about other names but didn't like any others better. So we decided to "test drive" the name and knew that that was definitely her name. So the next day we announced the arrival of Miss Rachel to the world with this picture...
We very much enjoyed our time at LDS Hospital. We had a few visitors while there: my parents (who came every day), both of my brothers, my grandma, one of my aunts, and Jared's sister and her husband. It was nice to have visitors. The food was wonderful and I was able to order whatever I wanted and it was delivered to my room. Seriously I ate SO well while we were in the hospital. All the nurses were WONDERFUL and they all worked with me and baby girl to get breastfeeding working for us. They always made sure I had water and made sure I got my meds when I needed them. I felt so well cared for. Each night we sent Rachel off to the nursery so we would get more sleep, though they brought her back any time she needed to eat. Other than during the night Rachel stayed right there with us in our room. There was one night that she was running a bit of a temperature so they ran some tests just to be safe and thankfully everything came back good. I never worried about her while we were in the hospital. Each day we saw a pediatrician and an OB/GYN. Everything always checked out good. On Saturday Jared left us and went to my parents to see our dogs (who were SO excited to see him) and take a shower. Saturday was also my dad's birthday so Jared was able to have dinner (pizza from the Pi) with my family. On Sunday I was able to take a shower finally, and boy did it feel good. Monday came and we were all ready to head home (well to my parent's home). They sent me home with the same meds I had been on at the hospital as well as extra pads and stuff to help with the bleeding. They also sent us home with a gift bag with all sorts of goodies for Rachel to help us take care of her (the bag itself doubles as a backpack and we've already been putting it to use). It took a couple trips to get everything, but eventually we got everything including Rachel all in the car. We are SO grateful to all the people who took care of us at LDS Hospital, from our nurses and CNAs to the food service people to housekeeping to the doctors that were on duty that weekend. I couldn't have asked for better people to take care of me and my baby. Just to show how awesome they were, they sent us thank you card that all the nurses and CNAs that took care of us signed. I am so grateful that everything went well during labor and during the rest of our time at the hospital, and that I was able to give birth to the most beautiful, perfect, healthy baby girl.
