Thought I better record all this while it's fresh on my mind. It's long and perhaps more information than some would like, so consider yourself warned!
So, I had gone into the doctors on Tuesday morning (the 14th). I was growing more and more impatient that I was now past my due date (the 11th). I was really hoping that I would have progressed enough that we could schedule an induction. The week before--so just a few days before my due date--he had checked me and I was at a ZERO with an unfavorable cervix. So, when he checked me and I was at a 1.5, I was pretty happy! He said they could go ahead and set up a time for me to be induced. Yippee! I was so happy. He said he'd have his nurse call the hospital to set it up. She came in a few minutes later and told me that the hospital couldn't get me in for one week! I couldn't believe it would take so long. I would be about 10 days past my due date at that point! So, I left the doctor's office a little disappointed and now hoping more than ever that I'd just go into labor on my own very soon!
The next morning I woke up with some pretty strong contractions. Well, I wasn't having very many contractions, but the ones I was having were a little bit stronger and more painful than what I had been experiencing. I began to hope that I'd soon be in labor! I got the boys breakfast and did a few things. Then around 9:30 my doctor's office called. When I saw on my caller i.d. that it was my doctor's office, I got my hopes up that they were calling to say that the hospital could get me in sooner, but I figured that'd be too good to be true. Anyways, they asked if I could be induced today. Apparently my doctor had pulled some strings at the hospital to get me in that day because he was on call anyways so it was more convenient for him! I was so excited. I asked them what time I should show up at the hospital. They told me that the hospital would call me shortly with a time. So, I started to get ready. The boys still weren't dressed. I still had a few things to pack. I needed to get a hold of Jeff and my mom. I still needed to put on my makeup. Ah! I started to get ready thinking they'd probably tell me to come at noon or something. The hospital called a few minutes later and asked me when I could get there. I said that I live a half hour away and that I needed to make arrangements for my kids. They said they were worried that I could lose my spot so they told me to hurry and to call before I came to make sure it was still okay. So, there was NO way I was going to lose my spot--NO way! So, I began rushing. I couldn't get a hold of my husband (who had left his cell phone in a motor pool car at work and hadn't gotten it back yet) or my mom. So, I just hurried to get myself and the kids ready. I finally got a hold of everyone and my mom said she couldn't get to my place for an hour or so and Jeff and I made plans for him just to meet me at the hospital--he works right by our hospital. I was thinking I would try and call my neighbor, Emily, to see if she could watch the boys until my mom could get there. The day before she had invited them to come play so I figured she'd be available. Just as I was about to call her, I looked out the front window and she was walking towards my house. She had just headed up to get the boys to see if they could come play (we hadn't even discussed a time so the timing couldn't have been better). She took my boys to her place and was a huge lifesaver! Then I headed to the hospital. I was relieved that they were able to get me a room right away and get me checked in!
I had a great nurse that got right to work! All the nurses seem so amused that I had four boys and was finally getting a girl. Everytime a different nurse would come in they knew all about my boys and our baby girl that was almost here. So, I know the nurses were talking about this. The nurse took my blood and got my i.v. started right away. She put the monitors on. As she was discussing my medical history and past labor and delivery history with me, I told her that with all my babies we had had problems with them getting very stressed out during labor. We've always had scary drops in their heartrates. With Braeden I almost had to have an emergency c-section. With Carter we also had a few scares. Tanner's wasn't quite as bad, but Coleman's was pretty bad to where they had to hurry and give me a shot to make the contractions stop. So, I wanted to make sure she knew to really watch my baby's heartrate throughout my labor. She said she was already noticing the baby was struggling a little bit--this was with my natural contractions--I hadn't even started the pitocin yet. She'd assured me that she'd keep a very close eye on us. I felt good being in her care. She seemed so attentive.
So, they started the pitocin around 12:30. Even at the lowest level little Brynlee was struggling a bit. the nurse said she felt that she should warn me that there was a strong possibility that I would have to have c-section. She wanted to make sure I wasn't caught off guard if that ended up being the case. My doctor came and broke my water around 2:30. I was at about a 3, but the baby's head was up so high and the doctor was a bit worried about this. In fact, the nurse was worried that she might be breech because she couldn't feel her head--she did an ultrasound to confirm that she was head down. My doctor expressed his concern that she was so high up. He was also extremely concerned that she was struggling so much through labor--especially that she was struggling so much in the beginning stages of labor. We kept plugging away though. The nurse was continually watching us. I was on oxygen virtually the whole time. I was stuck on one side--whichever side she seemed to do better on. They would adjust the pitocin a lot turning it up and down depending on what she could tolerate. This little girl did not like labor!
My doctor came in when he was done seeing patients around 5:30 or 6:00. I was still only at a 3.5 or 4 at this point and she had not come down at all. He again expressed his concern and the reality that this would very likely end in a c-section. He said let's keep trying and see how it goes, but be prepared. So, we just continued on. They tried to put up my pitocin as much as she could handle it!
The doctor came in a little after 9:00 and checked me. He said I was at a 5, but that that was stretching it. She still had not come down at all. He just sat there staring at the monitors for what felt like forever. I knew he was pondering what to do and his concern was evident. He told us to talk about it, but that he just didn't know how much longer the baby could handle the stress of labor. He said if I were getting closer or if she had dropped some, we could probably keep going because there'd be an end in sight. He was so baffled as to why she wouldn't drop. He was concerned that there was a reason for this--a complication of sorts. He just seemed stumped. So, he asked us what we would like to do. He said we could talk about it. I asked him if he thought it would be safe to keep trying for another hour or so. I wanted to make sure that wouldn't be putting the baby at risk. He said that should be fine. He left us to talk things over and make a decision on going forward with the c-section.
Now I know that many, many women have had to have c-sections. I knew that everything would be okay if that were what would happen. BUT...I just really didn't want to have a c-section if I didn't have to. I would of course, go forward with that if it was what was best for the baby, but I was a little scared of having to have surgery. I'm a wimp and am so scared of surgery! I also was nervous about the recovery with a c-section and 4 active boys and a newborn to care for. So, I came up with a plan. I asked Jeff to give me a blessing and then we'd give it a bit more time and if she didn't drop or make some serious progress, then that'd be our answer. So, Jeff gave me a blessing. Literally as he was giving me the blessing, I started to feel a lot of pressure. I thought gosh that'd weird, maybe it was just because my epidural was wearing off a bit. So, he finished the blessing and I felt a lot of comfort knowing that no matter what everything would be okay. He gave me the blessing about 10 minutes after the doctor left my room--probably around 9:30 or so. I started to feel more and more with my contractions so I thought I'd better tell the nurse that I wan't to push my epidural button for more relief (one time I had a nurse get upset with me that I didn't ask her first if I could push the button so I was a little timid). So, she came in and I told her I thought the epidural was wearing off and that I was feeling a bit of pressure. She kind of brushed off the whole pressure thing and pushed the glorious red button for more relief! Well, with each contraction, I kept feeling more and more intense pressure. I knew this feeling with it being my fifth kid and all. I was started to feel like I wanted to, needed to, push! So, I kept telling Jeff how confused I was. What could this be? There was no way I was complete yet--my doctor had just checked me, I had an unfavorable cervix, I was barely at a five, the baby was up way high! There was no way. So, Jeff was like oh just wait for the epidural to kick in and lets give it some time. After a few more difficult contractions, I said we need to call the nurse in. So, I explained what I was feeling. I knew she was skeptical (understandably), but she decided to check me anyways. She checked and seemed so shocked that I was complete! She also noted that the baby had dropped a bit--she was still up high (I was at a negative 1 station). I was shocked too. I couldn't believe that I had progressed so quickly.
The nurse then had another nurse let my doctor know that I was complete. My nurse had me start pushing. I figured I'd have to push for a really long time since the baby was still up so high. We had a lot of distance to cover so I prepared myself mentally for a long hour or so of pushing. After pushing through a few contractions with my nurse, the doctor came in. He seemed so shocked. He could not believe that I was complete. He could not believe that I felt like pushing and that this was happening. He kept saying how he just thought that there was no way we were going to avoid a c-section--even joking with me that he was reading up on how to do a c-section. As he kept marveling at how he could not believe that this was happening he kept questioning the whole situation, Jeff and I both later said that we thought about explaining to him that the only explanation was that I had received a Priesthood blessing (plus my parents and the boys were praying for us). So, the doctor came and had me push though a few contractions. He was again surprised as I didn't have to push very much before she was ready to come. He told me to stop pushing so they could prepare for her birth. Once they were ready (felt like a long time because I really needed to push at that point), she came out with a push or two. I was so relieved that I didn't have to push forever and ever--she came relatively quick as she was born at 10:06 p.m. after probably a total of 15 minutes of pushing.
It felt so good to hear her cry for the first time. I got to hold her right away and Jeff got to cut the cord! I began counting her fingers and toes and examining her! I immediately noticed that she had a little skin tag by her left ear. Braeden also had a skin tag which we had removed. I was excited to show Braeden her skin tag because he's always been a little fascinated by this and a little curious about what it looked like since he got to see it. He just has a little bump about the size of a small mosquito bite where his skin tag was. I was excited that she had hair--not a ton, but by far more than any of the boys. She has the most hair by her neck in the back. I also noted that it was darker than any of the boys hair. I couldn't believe how great she looked. There's always a greater chance that a baby who has struggled so much through labor will end up in the NICU, but she looked as healthy as can be! I couldn't wait for the boys to come and see her! Since it was so late at night, they were all sound asleep so I knew they wouldn't see her until the next day.
