Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Beginning of Our Little Princess...

...Our Birthing Story...

I finally found some time to write up the story of Makenzie’s birth for us, so we won’t forget about this amazing miracle, as well as for anyone else who is interested. Before we actually get to the actual birth, I’m going to talk about the three ‘almosts’ before our little miracle was born.


[First Time]

On March 2nd, 2010; I started having contractions at 7:30pm (I was only 36 weeks, so if I were to give birth she would have been 4 weeks early and most likely would have had to stay at the hospital for most likely 4 weeks). Anyways, I called my mom because I was by myself and Chris was at work. I told her what was going on, and she came over right away. When she got here, my contractions where about eight to 10 minutes apart. I was also having really bad cramps on my left side. I called the hospital because I did not like the feeling I was having; cramps like these. The cramps were basically like being on your period but 10x worse. The Labor and Delivery Unit told me if the cramps did not go away in 30 minutes to come in and they will get me hooked up to the monitor. We waited about 10 to 15 minutes and we left our condo. The cramps were starting to get stronger.

Once I got checked in the Labor & Delivery Unit, they took me to the triage area and hooked me up to the monitors. The nurse also checked to see how far I was dilated, and of course I was only dilated to a three at the time. The nurse said the cramps were just part of the contractions. They did not want to admit me until I dilated to a four. So they had me wait for an hour to see if I had progressed at all, and of course I did not. They sent me home and gave me a sleeping pill to help with the pain as well as helping with the dilation of my cervix.

After My Mom and I left the hospital, we headed home and this is when the sleeping pill was starting to kick in. I remember the drive home but I don’t remember opening the door. Chris got home shortly after I did, and he started making the pizza that he had bought for us. When Chris did get home, I was sitting on the couch and I remember seeing three of him walking around and then our two cats we have, well, I saw three of each of them. I did not like being on this sleeping pill but it helped the pain go away.

[Second Time]

I woke up the next morning and my contractions started getting stronger; they were six to seven minutes apart. Chris was so amazing, he helped me with everything I needed and made me very comfortable. The next few hours, the contractions started to get closer and closer together. Chris and I left the house when they were about four minutes apart. When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitors and checked my cervix. I still was dilated at a three. The nurse wanted to watch me for another hour just to see if I was going to dilate anymore. Of course I still was dilated at a three. She called my doctor, and he told her to give me another sleeping pill as well as a shot to slow down and/or stop the contractions. The contractions ended up stopping that night. We were very sad, and got our hopes up. We were looking forward to meeting our baby girl that day.

[Third Time]

On March 9th, 2010; Chris was at work that night and I was by myself. Everything was going great did not think anything was going to happen that night. When I was watching the Biggest Loser, [that’s what my favorite show to watch Tuesday nights] and there was a commercial, so I ran to the bathroom real quick. After, I came out of the rest room. I felt something running down my left. My first thought was my water broke. I thought I would stick my hand down there to check and see what was the fluid. As I pulled my hand out, I had all this fluid and gooey stuff all over my pants and my hand. I called my mom immediately and told her we need to get to the hospital, I called Chris to tell him what was going on, and then I called my cousin Sandy because she had asked me a question about something. My Mom picked me up and we arrived to the hospital. The nurse checked everything out and the results were that I was still dilated at a three and that my water did not break. Chris and I got our hopes up again for the third time.

[Fourth Time]

On March 19th, I had my weekly check up with my doctor. My doctor was out on an emergency c-section, so I had to see the nurse. She was doing the check-up and I was actually starting to contract. I was dilated at a three when she checked my cervix. I did not progress from the week prior to that. The nurse wanted to help me out, at which time she stripped my membranes. That was very uncomfortable but I would soon find out it was well worth it. The nurse got my cervix to a four that morning. I left my appointment at about 9:30am and I started getting contractions that were about seven minutes apart around 12pm that same day. Chris and I went for walk around our complex then I would relax for a little bit and we would take another walk around our complex.

The same day, we went over to my dad’s house to have dinner and the contractions progressed to five minutes apart. After we left my dad’s house we went to the gas station to gas up the car, just in case. I remember calling my mom and telling her to be ready because I had a feeling it was really going to happen that night. About 9:45pm, Chris and I went for another walk, this time we only walked to the mail box and back. Once we got back from our walk, I asked Chris if we should head to the hospital. He told me that it was up to me, and of course I kept saying, “I do not want to get turned away again.” He looked at me and said, “Yes or No” at which time I said, “okay lets go”.

We arrived to St. Rose Siena Hospital at 10:30pm. We walked up to the labor and delivery unit and I checked in at the nurse’s station. The nurse took me straight to the triage and hooked me up to the monitors and checked my cervix. When she was checking my cervix she was “oh my! You are at a five” and she stated asking us what we did before we came to the hospital, and we told her I had a really nice dinner and then we went for a walk. She could not believe that I went for a walk with my cervix being dilated at a five. I guess I just have a high pain tolerance. I remember laughing when we were in triage, especially during each contraction, because there was another lady across from me screaming her head off, yelling at her husband. Although she was not dilated at all and she was not even having contractions.

They admitted me at about 11:30. My labor & delivery nurse came in and asked me if I wanted the epidural, and of course my answer was “YES PLEASE!!” She took us to our room, and at about 12am I was getting the epidural placed into my back as Chris was calling family members.

Getting the epidural was not that painful when placed into my spine. I thought it was going to be much worse than it was. It basically felt like a lot of pressure being placed in your spine.

After getting the epidural placed into my back, the nurse checked my cervix again and I was still dilated at a five. Since I was still dilated at that, she could not break my water until 4am. Which at that point seemed forever away but it was only about four hours but still… lol! The nurse gave me instructions with the epidural. She said I was not allowed to get up a walk, because I will not be able to feel my legs, and I had to lay on my side and flip every 45 minutes or so to keep the both of my sides equal.

I remember there was a time when Chris literally had to pick me up to move me because I could not pick my legs up and flip myself. That was so weird not being able to move myself. Chris had to do this several times within those four hours.

Around 4am, my nurse came in and broke my water. The way the nurse explained it is that I had lots of fluid. She even asked me if I was diagnoised with having too much fluid, but she used some fancy name that I could not even tell you. After she broke my water, she checked my cervix and I was dilated at a six. This was very frustrating because I was there for four hours and only progressed to a six. She gave me some medication to help progress the contraction as well help dilated the cervix faster.

I remember my mom asking the nurse if she thinks I will be delivering little miss Makenzie, and the nurse said “no, there is no way that Ashley will be crowning by then”. About 5:45am, my doctor called my nurse to check how I was doing at which time the nurse came in to check my cervix for him. She had me lay on my back and she checked my cervix. She went to check it and she said, “ OMG the head is right there. You will be having this baby within the next 30 minutes.” After the nurse told us we will have our baby in our arms in about 30 minutes. Chris started getting really stressed out. He almost passed out a few times. There was one time that he kept trying to give me ice chips and I was like “no, no thanks babe” and he was like “babe, you seriously need to take some.” I, of course, kept say “no thank you” and he was like “okay I need some.” It was really funny, I guess you just had to be there.

After that happened, she went and told my doctor I was already crowning and he has about 20 minutes to get to the hospital. The nurse started having me push. Once I started pushing, she actually had to stop me because I was going to give birth to Makenzie before my doctor even got there. Next thing I know, she is on the phone with my doctor telling him he needs to get to the hospital now.

About five minutes later, Dr. Torres walks into our room. This was the first time I have ever met this doctor. My actual doctor was on-call that weekend. It was a very awkward introduction, my legs were spread eagle but at that point I did not care, and I just wanted to get that baby out. When Dr. Torres came in sat in front of me and he had me do a two hard pushes and then he was like “okay, stop let me get ready.” I’m guessing Makenzie head was basically half way out.

After he got ready to deliver Makenzie, he started to cut me because she was way to big for me to deliver without being cut. Chris almost passed out here as well. I honestly did not know what he was cutting because for one, I could not feel anything, and two, he had something white in his hand that he was cutting before hand. After he was done cutting me, he had me do two hard sets of three pushes. On the very last push Makenzie was born. She was born March 20, 2010 (first day of spring) at 6:35am (at sunrise) I seriously saw God that day. Have you ever heard that country song? It is seriously so true. I love every word that song says.



Here are a few picture’s of her birth day…March 20th, 2010


Her First Bath in the Hospital

Our First Family Picture

Our Princess

Moments after I delivered her..

7 lbs 9 oz... 20 inches long

Chris cutting her Umbilical Cord

When we found out that we were being admitted! =)






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