Taylor Gang: My miracle baby

Today wasn't the typical Sunday routine. Matt took care of Brielle in the morning, I fed her a snack and then put her down for a nap. She didn't fall asleep until 12:20 and took almost a 3 hour nap, which meant I missed church. However, it was a very relaxing calm day and I sat around the house most the day.
That night I crawled into bed and right before I drifted away I felt this weird sensation coming down and then my garments were slightly wet. I laid there for a moment and thought, "Well that was weird" thinking maybe it was just more discharge (I've had a ton this pregnancy). I then reached down and discovered I needed to get up and change my underwear. Sitting on the toilet the thought came to me, "Did my water just break?" So I sat there a little longer and nothing else came. Just in case, I tried to call Matt to grab me new underwear but he was fast asleep. I finally got up and as I was opening up the drawer Matt wakes up. I told him "Perfect timing!" and crawled back into bed. I didn't really say much because I was so confused on what just happened. I thought I better look at the clock to see what time it is, just in case that really was my water that broke. Several thoughts ran through my head before another gush came and this time it soaked me. There was no question that my water just broke. I jumped out of bed and back into the bathroom. This time I was wet and had a bloody show. Matt followed me into the bathroom and I just said, "Oh crap, my water just broke AGAIN!" Matt's look was like a deer in headlights. He just kept saying "No, are you sure?" And I kept saying, "Yep, it really did." I asked him to grab the phone and I called my Mom. Matt sat down in front of me and just started to shake. He literally went into shock. I kept saying, "Matt you have to get up and pack now" and he would just sit there. There was one moment where he said, "I don't know what to pack." I literally had to direct him step by step at the beginning while I was on the phone trying to coordinate care for Brielle.
Now let me back up a moment to explain something. I was 100% convinced that this baby was going to be late. I had just made dinner plans with the Jolley's, and had plans to go to Wild Waters with Cristy on Tuesday. I hadn't packed yet, I hadn't coordinated care for Brielle yet etc. Matt and I had decided to get serious and finish up loose ends this next week so we were ready when the baby came. In fact the whole Taylor family was up in Idaho for the family reunion.
So I am sitting on the toilet making phone calls between Brian, Erin and my Mom. I originally asked Erin to get up and come over but I was really afraid this labor might go faster and I would have the baby before Brielle woke up. Erin wanted to be in the room so if she came over and my fear was true she would miss it or she would have to find someone herself to care for Brielle. After talking to my mom I thought I would text a couple of my good friends to see if they were still awake. If I got a response maybe one of them would come over, if not Erin was would have to do it. Cristy was still awake and responded, "Yes, are you in labor?"
Mike her husband came over and stayed and planned on taking Brielle over to their house in the morning. Sweet, one less stress for me. Before we left I was so embarrassed to leave the house messy so we cleaned up. I was kinda excited because I did have a few contractions while we were home. That was huge considering I didn't have anything with Brielle. It gave me great hope. We all knew it was going to take some time so my Mom decided to try to take a nap before coming down, Erin stayed home and the plan was to keep everyone posted by phone messages.
My leaking was minimal compared to Brielle. I would only leak a little here and there, and that was only when he would move. We arrived at the hospital and got checked in at around 12:45. With Brielle it was almost like they didn't believe me when I said my water broke but this time they didn't even question me. They hooked me up to the monitor and waited until 1:45AM before coming in and doing a vaginal check. She said I was dilated to a 2.5 and 85-90 perfect effaced AND having contractions every 7-9 minutes. Matt and I both at the same time with shock in our voice said, "REALLY?" The nurse laughed and said, "don't act so surprised." But we were! That was huge progress over Brielle. Matt called my mom and informed her of the news. She informed him she couldn't really sleep and was heading down. The nurse was super nice and waited to start my IV until lab could come and draw, meaning only one poke! She asked if I wanted to start the Pitosin (Pit). I asked if we could wait because my body was actually doing something and I wanted to give it a chance. She informed me that the Pit would be started in the morning if I wasn't progressing.
I tried really hard to rest but slept for MAYBE an hour. The night was filled with visiting, blogging and facebooking. It was great! I got so much accomplished on my blog and kept everyone informed on facebook. I also discovered the internet connection is super fast in the middle of the night whereas during the day it's a slow as molasses.
I was having some contractions but they were becoming less frequent and my body was putzing out. So at 5:50 AM they started the Pit. By then I was ready to get things going and praying I could have the baby before noon so I could eat lunch...I was starving! Just as I did with Brielle, my body would respond and contract really well and then putz out again. They would have increase the pit again, and the cycle would start all over.

Shift change occurred and I could hear JoAnn's voice in the hallway. JoAnn is my sister's best friends mom from high school and I have kept in touch with her because of work. She happened to be my nurse when I went in at the end of May with my weird pain. My nurse called her in and we found out she was charge for the day. However she ended up being my primary nurse and took such great care of me. I informed her I wanted to get an epidural and I didn't want to miss my window. I asked her to be the judge on when I should get it (I was petrified I wasn't going to get it and have to go natural. I hadn't practice any of my hypnobirthing and was very UNPREPARED for a natural labor). At around 9AM JoAnn came in and informed me there was a crisis in the other room. She said I should get the epidural or else I would have to wait an hour and I could potentially miss my window. I jumped right on the opportunity for an epidural and we started to prep so the anesthesiologist could come right in and do it and leave for the other patient.

I was a little nervous about getting the epidural due to the major pressure and discomfort I felt with Brielle. The anesthesiologist came in at 9:12. Last time Matt couldn't stay in the room, this time he stayed but in the corner (maybe next time he will be the one holding my hands). I grabbed my moms hands and almost broke them because I was putting all my nervous energy into her hands. The anesthesiologist was really nice and walked me through everything he was doing. After inserting the epidural he did a trail run to see if he placed in the right spot. He informed me that if he put it into the bloodstream I would get ringing in my ears, numbness in my feet. As he is describing this I am thinking, "So far so good, quick and easy." But seconds later I started to get the weirdest sensation in my head, it wasn't so much ringing in my ears but a fullness in my head, then my heart started racing and my body started shaking. It scared me pretty good. As soon as I was feeling the fullness I said something and he pulled out the epidural. The symptoms started to fade right away but my shaking didn't. He informed me this was the first time he had the wrong spot for a year in a half...of course, leave it to me. I was so afraid to do it again but more afraid to do a natural labor so I told him to try again. This time it was successful. At 9:43 It was slowly starting to take effect and JoAnn came in and checked me (I was only dilated to a 3 and -2 station) and placed the foley, which meant I still felt the insertion of the foley. By 10 the epidural took full effect. I couldn't believe I got the epidural so early, I thought for sure I was further along. With the epidural in and being completely pain free I tried to rest again but was unsuccessful. Erin came at 10:07 to hang out and wait and my Dad arrived at 11:25. We just sat and waited and watched the contraction monitor. I hadn't seen a doctor yet but at 11:50 Dr. Najima came in to see me. She had been in surgery all morning and was having to do another 2.5hr procedure. She informed me that she would not be able to deliver if I were to have the baby between 12:30-3:30 and Dr. Chotnier was on call. She checked me and I was dilated to a 6 and 75% effaced with the Pit going at 8.

As the contraction slowed down again my dad decided to leave and get some work done. I was checked again at 12:40 and there was no change, so JoAnn increased the Pit. Around 1:00 I started to feel the contractions. I waited for a little bit then called the nurse button. Another nurse came in and informed me I had a button I could push to give me more of the epidural. So we pushed it and waited for 30 minutes, but there wasn't any change. I called again and another nurse came in. I informed her that I needed the anesthesiologist to give me more of the epidural. Finally at 2:25 the anesthesiologist came in and gave me a bolus. When he walked in he asked what I was dilated at. I informed him I was a 6 and he gave me the drugs. He hung around and talked with us for a little while and JoAnn walked in. She wasn't too thrilled to see the anesthesiologist because that meant he gave me more drugs. She informed him that she wanted him to wait because she had not check me yet, and his response was, "She told me she was at a 6." JoAnn snapped back and said, "Yah, that was hours ago." At 2:37 she checked me and found that I was crowning. She told me to hang tight and don't push. She ran out and called Najima and then Dr. Chotnier. Meanwhile Matt is calling my Dad and telling him to hurry. Dad was able to beat the doctor and at 2:59 the doctor pulled into the parking lot. He came coming into the room dressed in WHITE! Said a few things and went and changed. He informed us that we were lucky we called when we did because on his way here he was called over to Renown where someone else was ready to deliver-I had the epidural and the other lady didn't. Needless to say the doctor was in a hurry and wanted a quick delivery. However it wasn't that simple. I pushed once and the head came out, I pushed again the the body came out. Dr. Chotnier had me reach down and grab the baby and as I was pulling him up to my chest I hear him say, "Stop, stop stop! Don't go that high." I was really confused and said ok and put him on my chest. I was a little nervous because he was SO blue and wasn't crying and wasn't changing colors. I tried to wipe out his mouth and get him to cry but he wasn't. By this time I was a little panicky and handed him to the baby nurse. I couldn't really see Miles and the doctor but the nurse and mom looked really concerned. Everything is a blur at this point so I am sharing from my mother's view now.

"As I was on Danielle's right side, holding her leg and helping her push, I had a direct view of the baby's head as it turned around with Dr. Chotnier's help. As soon as the head was born, Dr. Chotnier said, 'Ok, Danielle, you can deliver the rest of the baby, put your hands right here (just below the baby's head) and pull the baby up on your belly.' Danielle didn't hesitate and placed her hands where the doctor indicated. As she pulled the baby up to her, the doctor ran the baby's umbilical cord through his hands and then said, Stop. . . stop, don't go that high! I watched as he held up nothing but a thin sheath of membrane instead of umbilical cord. His puzzled look made me curious. He and the nurse were looking at the strand of membrane and running his hands back up to the umbilical cord. He gave it some kind of medical term. I was so anxious about the baby, however, that I ran over to take a look at him. He was not breathing and it felt like the nurse took her time rubbing him with a towel and extracting the fluid from his mouth. At last she put oxygen on him and his color looked more normal.

My attention then turned back to Danielle as she was happy about the birth, as we all were, but I was there when the doctor was talking to the nurse. He had his hand up to his wrist trying to scrape the placenta out with his fingers. He had to use so much force that Danielle bounced around from the effort. He continued this procedure for about 10 minutes pulling strands of placenta out at a time.

An additional 10 minutes was devoted to cleaning out the rest of the placenta with a tool used in D&C's. The most fortunate blessing about this was the fact the anesthesiologist had just inserted enough anesthesia in the I.V. right before birth that Danielle did not have to be whisked away for the surgery directly after birth. There is no way Danielle could have withstood the pain and effort had she not been anaesthetised before hand.

As the doctor labeled the placenta, he answered questions I had about it. It was nothing like the placenta for Brielle or myself. The umbilical cord had attached to the outside membrane instead of the placenta itself. This in and of itself could have caused the baby to abort and die within minutes as well as the likelihood that Danielle could have died from internal bleeding.

Second, the spider web of veins that feed the umbilical cord was on the outside of the placenta, shaped like a small bowl instead of throughout the inside of the placenta where it normally nourishes the umbilical cord.

Third, the placenta itself was abnormal. It was shaped in clusters like old spoiled grapes. It took such an effort to remove it, that parts of it were torn in shreds.

We all slowly realized the implications of how many miracles had occurred and continued to occur during the birth. We had no idea we were so richly blessed." (Anita Hicks)

I knew things were a little off when I looked at JoAnn and she was so somber. Once the doctor finished surgically extracting my placenta and left, we asked her to describe what had just happened. As she did, she became tearful. She just kept saying, "You are SO lucky."

A few things occurred during the birth and surgery. One, Brian and Crystal arrived seconds after the delivery and they had to wait to come in until after the doctor left. Then I wasn't able to hold Miles until after the doctor was finished, it felt like eternity.

Once things settled down Cristy brought Brielle. I was so excited to see how she responded. When she walked into the room she was a little hesitant and would not come to me. The IV in my wrist and the machines freaked her out. She was more interested in food. Matt tried to show her Miles and have them interact but she wasn't interested. The only person that was successful was my mom. She was able to get Brielle to sit on her lap while holding Miles. I figured it would take time for her to warm up and the first time for something is never successful. In fact I was lucky that she even gave me a kiss goodbye.

I ended up staying in the labor room longer because I couldn't lift my left leg. Once I could kinda move it, they helped me into a wheelchair and wheeled me by the nursery to see the baby and then to my room. I was so scared I would throw up that it took me awhile to eat and when I did, I ate really slow.

Once I was in my room Cristy and all my family took off. Joann was giving report to the postpartium nurse. The medical name to what happen is I had a circumvallate placenta with three-vessel umbilical cord with a velamentous insertion. I hade her write it down so I could rememeber. Shortly after the Fluckigers came by for a visit and to check out little Miles. However the nursery had a little situation and they wouldn't let Miles out of the nursery until he got a bath and was warm enough. Therefore, the Fluckigers could only look at him through the nursery window. Then we had Keith and Angela with their boys come by for a visit. It was so fun to see everyone.

I must admit that first night was rough. I relied a lot on the nurse and called every time I got up to use the restroom. My biggest complaint was my abdominal muscles were so sore it was hard to use them. I didn't have much cramping and when I did it was more like back pain. Plus my back really hurt where my epidural was. I was so uncomfortable at times I would ask for warm blankets to use as a heating pad. I would also keep ice packs on throughout the night because I tore (only one stich) and stayed on Motrin around the clock. There was only one point in the night where the pain woke me up and it felt like I was hit by a truck but a heating pad eased the pain away.

Miles slept the whole time. I had to force him awake to eat at around three or four in the morning. Too bad I couldn't sleep very good because there was the potential to get a lot of sleep that night. Despite Matt sleeping in the same bed as me, neither one of slept very good. You would think we were so sleep deprived that we could just crash, obviously not.