Our Birth Story!

Disclaimer:  Details the details of our delivery! 

We arrived in Gainesville at 5:30pm on 10/7 thinking we would have two weeks to get settled into the apartment.  However, Makenna had her own plans and at 9:00pm on 10/8 my water broke.  We weren’t sure if my water had really broken or not and I didn’t have any other signs of labor, but we headed to the hospital anyway.  When we got there they confirmed my water did brake and admitted me.  By this time it was 11:30 and we were both terrified that Dr. Kays (the pediatric surgeon) wouldn’t be able to make it if I delivered during the night or that he would have prior commitments that would keep him from being there.  Thankfully they were able to reach him and come up with a plan of action.  Since I wasn't showing signs of labor, they decided to hold off the induction until the next day. 

14 hours later I still didn’t have contractions and was dilated to barely a 1.  They gave me a pill to begin the induction and that kicked started the contractions.  The contractions came quickly and were quite strong.  After 5 hours of serious pain, I was still only “almost” 2cm and it was nearing 5pm.  My doctors talked with Dr. Kays team and they created yet another plan of action.  They decided to give me a mild epidural to eliminate some pain, stop the induction, and have me wait until morning to deliver.  

But again Makenna had her own ideas and when they checked me at again at 9:30pm, I was at 10cm and it was time to have our baby!  Rex and I began worrying again---this wasn’t “the plan,” what if Dr. Kays couldn’t get to the hospital in time!?  Also the pain was rapidly intensifying because my epidural had been wearing off for a few hours and there wasn’t time to have the anesthesiologist stop by.  On the bright side, the hospital has a strict 1 person in the operating room policy, but I asked if my mom could go as well and I guess due to the unique situation, they said yes!

They called Dr. Kays and he headed to the hospital, in the meantime the nurse wanted to take me to the operating room to begin pushing.  Of course there was no way I was going to begin pushing until he was in the hospital!  So we waited in the L&D room until he arrived.

At 10:20 Dr. Kays was spotted and we headed to the operating room.  They needed me to deliver in the operating room because of the large number of people that needed to be in the room (14 doctors, nurses, surgeons, etc.) and if Makenna began to show distress this would allow us to be in the room already set up for a c-section.

As time went on we began to wonder, would she be born on 10/9 or 10/10?  I personally thought 10/10 was a better birthday, but given the pain of childbirth with an epidural that had pretty much worn off completely, I wanted her out --- fast!  Either way, I knew it was Makenna who would make the ultimate decision, not me. 

At 12:01am on 10/10 our little miracle came out sideways and made her way into the world.  She was immediately snatched up, Rex cut the cord, and she was taken to the back corner to the NICU team.  We heard a very faint and forced little cry, I tried to watch the NICU team work, but there were so many people I couldn't see Makenna.

Right about this time they realized I was also at risk.  I was bleeding heavily and they couldn’t get it to stop.  I could literally hear my blood hitting the floor as if someone was pouring out a bottle of water.  Everyone kept telling me everything was okay and not to worry, but I knew it wasn’t good.  A few minutes later they called for a surgeon and a blood transfusion.  Although before the surgeon arrived the doctor was able to finally get my uterus to clamp down and it stopped.  Thankfully I didn't need the transfusion and they were able to begin stitching me up right about the time Makenna was stable enough to bring to the NICU III.  As they wheeled her out, they held her up briefly and I got my first real glance of her.  It only lasted a second---but she was beautiful!  Then they were gone.   

 

At 1:30am I was taken back to recovery.  Eventually Dr. Kays came in with an update,  but unfortunately he said she was much more sick than they initially thought.  I spent the rest of the night in the recovery room.  They said my blood count went from 11 to 8 so they needed to monitor me closely.  I don't remember being faint or feeling any physical pain, I just remember being worried about my baby girl and sad that I couldn't see her.

Finally at 4:30am, Rex was able to go visit Makenna for the first time.  Despite the fact she looked like a very fragile baby and was covered in plastic, he came back beaming.  He was such a proud daddy and I could see the deep love he already had for her!