Labor & Delivery

Where to begin? Let me first start by saying that I am NOT the hero that some of my dear friends are referring to me as. ;) The lack of an epidural was due to the time factor...not by choice! In fact - I think the only coherent phrase you could hear from me during the whole ordeal was "Am I too late for my epidural?"

To get you up to speed with my thinking - I need to start by telling you a quick overview of my L & D with Ty to help you see where I was coming from...AND to serve as a reminder that no two deliveries are alike! Why didn't I remember that???

L & D with Ty: It was textbook. 10 days before my due date, my water broke at home at 4:30am, I labored for most of the day in the hospital, pushed for about 2 and 1/2 hours with what I thought was a dwindling supply of anesthesia (now I am sure that I still had it in full-force!) and delivered a healthy boy weighing in at 8lbs. 15 oz. at 4:23pm...so 12 hours total...DONE! Brock and my mom were my labor coaches...and sweet memories were made throughout that day while we awaited Ty's arrival.

L & D with Brylee: Not so textbook. Can you say pain in fast-forward mode? It began on the actual morning of her due date - August 15th. (Shame on me for assuming that she'd come early like her brother!) I didn't sleep well the night before, but finally fell asleep at about 3:30am. I woke up at 5am to make my regular visit to the potty and noticed that I was having contractions. I laid in bed watching the clock to see if these were regular. At 5:30 - I called my Mom to tell her that this was it - and to start driving here from San Antonio. She was going to take care of Ty while we were doing our thing during the day! I told her that the contractions were about 3 minutes apart. She must have called my sister-in-law because I received a text from Tami saying, "3 minutes apart...go to the hospital NOW!" Tami is known for her quick deliveries with no epidural. I laughed at her text, not wanting to get overly anxious. I proceeded to take a bath, straighten my hair, and put on make-up. HA! A lot of good any of that did... I casually told Brock - who was sleeping ever so soundly- that he needed to wake Ty up and get him ready to take to the neighbor's house...that we couldn't wait for Nana to arrive to take over. In my mind, I think I was waiting for my water to break as my signal to head to the hospital, but I was quickly realizing that pain was going to dictate that. Well - as I was doing my hair and face - the contractions got stronger. My face was starting to show signs of pain. Time was now about 6am. Contractions still 2-3 minutes apart. Brock was readying everything and taking loads of things to the Tahoe. I remember reminding him to get the radio and my carefully chosen Cd's for the labor process.

At 6:40am I told Brock that we can't wait any longer - to get Ty to the neighbor's and let's go! On the way - my bottom lip started quivering from pain...and the tears came. I was so afraid that I might have missed the window for an epidural since the pain was already so intense...I knew something was happening down there. I walked to Triage and was put on the monitor. The nurse was concerned because I was bleeding and she breathed a sigh of relief once she registered the baby's heartbeat on the monitor. The L& D floor had just finished with a major emergency and were not prepared for me at all. It took about 5 minutes for a nurse to come check me out to realize that I was dilated to an 8 and 90% effaced. YIKES! I was nauseated and asked for phenergan - all I got was a barf bag that I used about 3 times (gross, I know). Brock kept asking the nurses when I could get something for the pain. I saw a nurse whisper to him that it isn't going to happen. Panic set in...but I was in too much pain to fret over it. The nurse called for lab work, so a man was drawing blood from my left arm while a nurse was putting in an IV on my right arm. They would have to stop during my contractions since I would shake uncontrollably. At this point, it all felt as if it were a bad dream. I have never been in that much pain, and then knowing what was ahead of me scared me to death. I had to push a baby out with no pain meds to help! All I had in my memory was pushing for over 2 hours with Ty...that seemed like an insurmountable task to me. I couldn't do it. I had no choice BUT to do it. Panic.

At 7:20, while still laying on the triage table, I mumbled through the pain that my water had just broke. I had a sheet covering me, so no one noticed anything abnormal. They quickly wheeled me to my own room on the stretcher and had me slide over to the delivery bed. At that point, I heard the nurse say, "We have Mec." I knew that meant meconium in utero. My water was the color of pea soup (lovely) which meant that miss Brylee had bene under stress in utero and had her first BM inside of me. Not good. They quickly arranged for the neonatalogist team to get to my room for her arrival. The room was not prepped for me at all. L & D boxes were literally being thrown into the room and set up. The only way I could find Brock in the crowd was because of the BRIGHT orange shirt he was wearing. He was as taken back at all of this as much as me I believe...minus the pain factor! He asked if i needed anything from the car - uh NO. That was the last thing on my mind. My plans for some calming music had vanished! I just wanted relief from this nightmare full of pain. A nurse checked me to see if they needed to call in the doc yet. She asked me to push and quickly told me to STOP. She felt the baby's head. So - in comes Dr. Duke (not my doctor, mind you...but at this point, I just wanted her out). They threw his scrubs at him and I saw him changing in a corner of the room. It is about 7:38am by now. He assumes his position and asks me to push with the next contraction. I do...and he sees her head. Brock tells me she has lots of hair. I push again and deliver her head. One more push...here come her shoulders AND the LOUDEST scream I have ever let out. Words can't describe anything that I felt at that moment. At 7:42am (53 minutes after arriving at the hospital) I deliver Brylee Rose with cord wrapped around her neck. I am thanking God that she only weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. He knew she needed to be smaller than Ty! The cord caused her the stress...which led to the in-utero mess. ;(

The doctor didn't even offer the cord-cutting to Brock since she had been surrounded in her meconium in utero. He whisked her to my bedside where the neo-natal team took over. I still hadn't heard her scream or cry at this point. They wanted to suction her lungs free of mec so she didn't inhale it deeper. Unfortunately, they were too late. The damage was done. They assured us that she was taking small shallow breaths...and that they weren't wanting a full out scream. After working on her in my room for 10 minutes, they took her to the NICU to continue. I still hadn't held my baby girl. I did get to lay eyes on her and kiss her head, but it was such a fog to me.

Brock and I finally got to visit her in the NICU once stable at about 10:30am. We couldn't hold her as she was hooked up to CPAP in her nose which was forcing air into her lungs. A tube connected to a syringe was coming out of her little mouth to suction out the excess water that the CPAP forced into her lungs. She had an IV in her little hand to administer antibiotics to fight off the infection that can come from her being in meconium. She spent her whole time in the hospital in the NICU and we were allowed to come visit her as we wished. It was sad, but we counted our blessings. She was the largest baby in NICU. Her neighbor was no more than 3 lbs. She already was ahead of the game...size wise...we just needed to get her lungs free & clear of that yucky stuff...and prevent pneumonia from setting in.

So - as I have said before...it was not as I had planned. But it is good to know that God's hand was in it from the beginning. He knew I couldn't handle 2 hours of pushing, but more importantly, the delivery was FAST so Brylee didn't have to swim around in those murky waters for longer than necessary...which could have proven detrimental to her.

Brock didn't have to do much of anything other than fan me with a file folder and re-wet my washcloth so it was freshly cold! It was so comforting to look up out of my pain and see his brightly colored shirt looking on from the sidelines...as dazed and confused as I was! What a whirlwind...but how blessed we are!