Bradley's Birth Story

I started having contractions Sunday afternoon.  I'd been having false labor all weekend so we didn't get too excited.  They were about 5 minutes apart, but not very painful.  We timed them for a couple of hours while watching TV.  I told Kevin maybe we should clean up a little and do the dinner dishes, "just in case".  We were wanting to have him SO bad that weekend that we really didn't want to get our hopes up.  I was going to be 39 weeks on Monday, and my doctor had told me he could come any day.  The contractions started to get a little more intense,  and they were definitely noticeable at this point and still about 5 minutes apart.  By this time it was around 7 pm.  I called the nurses line at my hospital and told them I'd been having contractions for about 2 hours but I could talk through them and just felt a little crampy.  She said to take a warm bath and see if they stop.  So I get in the bath, and they kept on coming!  They actually started to get stronger once I got in.  Kevin went to get cat food out of the trunk and I told him to wipe the snow off the car again, "just in case".  He was starting to get super excited.

When the contractions started getting to 4 minutes, I started freaking out, and got out of the tub.  This is when they really started to hurt.  I told Kevin lets finish packing our bags, and go to the hospital to get checked.  The pain just started to be pretty constant at that point and I knew I had to be in labor.  Finally we were out the door and on our way to the hospital.  The roads were terrible, since it had been snowing all day.  The car ride was miserable, I started flashing back to that night I had kidney stones and was in so much pain.  I wasn't really timing contractions at this point but I guessed them to be around 3 minutes apart.  I panicked for a minute thinking we were going to be too late.  We should have left much sooner.

We got to the hospital around 8:30 pm and got checked in.  I was at about 4-5 cm dilated, and they decided right away to admit me and called my doctor.  I was in so much pain they decided to start me on an IV right away and called the anesthesiologist, who apparently lived about 30 minutes away (probably like an hour with the snow)  I did not think I could hold on for another minute, let alone an hour!  They were coming about 1-2 minutes apart now and were super strong.  They had a really hard time getting an IV started, and finally after about 20 minutes and four tries got me hooked up and gave me some Fentonol for the pain.  Luckily, a different anesthesiologist who lived a lot closer showed up and I got my epidural (yes!!) which was NOT as bad as I thought it would be, and started feeling much better.

About 15 minutes later my doctor arrived to break my water.  She checked me and I was at a 6.  Everything up until this point had gone pretty smoothly.  However when she broke my water, that's when it went downhill.  We found that there was meconium in my water, which meant the baby had a bowel movement while in my uterus.  Usually babies do this when they are stressed.  My doctor was pretty concerned, and said we would watch his heart rate to see if I'd be able to give birth vaginally, or if I'd have to have a c-section.  I was really overwhelmed with concern over my baby and couldn't believe that this was happening.  I started crying and praying that he'd be okay.  His heart rate continued to stay flat, but my doctor said if I got to 10 cm within an hour, we could possibly avoid a c-section.  After about 30 minutes though, we decided I wasn't progressing fast enough and the baby's heart rate wasn't strong enough and surgery was the best option.

They explained all the risks of surgery, and told us what was going to happen.  Kevin and his dad came in to give me a blessing.  Then they wheeled me into the operating room to get me prepped.  Kevin went out to let his parents know what was going on. My brother and my sister-in-law had driven up from Provo and had gotten there about 10  minutes before.  I just tried not to think about what was going on and just focused on the fact we were going to have a baby in the next few minutes.  It was still so hard to comprehend, that we were literally going to have a baby.  Kevin sat up by my head and held my hand during the surgery.  It was the weirdest feeling.  I was completely numb and didn't feel any pain, but I felt all the pulling and tugging from the doctors. Bradley was born at 11:23 pm. about 3 hours after we got to the hospital.  All of a sudden I heard this tiny cry.  My heart jumped and my eyes got super wide.  I have never felt anything like it.  It was a more intense feeling hearing that cry than even when they first put him in my arms.  I'll never forget it.

As soon as he came out they rushed him out and suctioned his lungs.  He had inhaled the meconium and they had to get it out as soon as possible. The first thing Kevin told me was that he had hair.  I was so happy! While they were finishing the surgery Kevin went to look at the baby, and they were putting him on oxygen to help him breathe.  He got a few pictures and came over and showed them to me.  They hadn't even let me look at him yet.  Finally after 20 minutes they brought him over to be all bundled up and with a beanie on.  I saw him for 2 seconds and touched his face, and then they took him away again.

They wheeled me back to the recovery room while they took care of the baby in the nursery.  I had to wait three hours before they brought him to me.  They had to make sure he was breathing alright.  I was able to feed him and cuddle him for a while and then Kevin helped the nurses give him a bath.  The immediate recovery was hard, and I couldn't stop shaking.  I shook so horribly for about three hours that my neck and back were sore after.  I got to hold the baby again for a couple hours while we video chatted with my mom and dad.  It was great!  I was so happy they were able to see him right after he was born.

The next morning we had a couple visitors and Bradley was able to be in our room.  He was feeding really well and looked really good.  That afternoon we decided to have him go to the nursery, because neither of us had slept in more than 24 hours. While in the nursery he started to have dips in oxygen, and he couldn't stabilize his breathing.  They ran a bunch of tests and decided to put him on NICU status.  They found fluid in his lungs and said he had a possible infection.  They started him on an IV and told us he'd be on antibiotics for 7 days.  Since he was on an IV, he had to stay in the nursery.  This was heartbreaking for us, first having a traumatic delivery, and now only being able to see our baby during feedings.  We were really concerned about him not being able to breathe and just felt so bad that he was having a hard time.  He had a little IV in his head, it was so sad :(  But Kevin and his dad were able to give him a really nice blessing.

The first couple days were stressful.  We were just concerned for his health and sometimes the communication between us and the nurses/doctors was a little strained.  He was only going 1-2 hours without needed oxygen and was hooked up to so many machines.  We only got to hold him during feedings, and we were allowed to take one person with us at a time (so either Kevin or I, my mom or I, or Kevin could take one person in with him) so we would take turns and after I fed him Kevin got to hold him, or sometimes my mom.  On Thursday the doctors told us all of his tests came back really good and there was no more fluid in his lungs.  On Saturday morning they took him off the oxygen monitor, since he hadn't needed it for a couple of days.

He is 6 days old today and is feeding super well, and everyone is very impressed with how well he is doing.  He still continues to have an IV in his arm so they can give him his antibiotics, so he has to stay in the nursery until we leave on Monday.  We are all really excited to finally go home in a couple of days!  Here are a few more pictures!