Brynnlee Marie Smith

July 4th, 2010
9 Pounds 2 Ounces
21 inches long
9:57pm


The Birth Story
On Friday, July 2nd, contractions started and eventually started coming every 10 mins. Didn't really think anything of it since they weren't terribly painful. Woke up Saturday morning, still about 10 mins apart. We walked around our neighborhood, then tried running up this huge huge hill, then walked back down to our house, then walked back to the mailbox, went to Walmart, pretty much just tried to keep busy and yet the contractions still kept coming. Obviously, early labor had begun. Woo hoo! So by later afternoon, they were coming every 5-7 mins. We figured, why not go to the hospital just to see where I'm at even though we knew we would be sent home. Well, they said I was dilated to a 2 1/2 and effaced 80%. Not quite there yet. So we came home and contractions kept on coming.

Woke up around 3am Sunday and in PAIN! I felt like I had to go to the bathroom, but then couldn't and they just wouldn't stop! So i tried sleeping in between contractions cuz even though they were more painful they only happened about every 10 mins so by the time everyone was awake say around 7-8 or so, I was practically crying with every contraction that came. Thank goodness my Mother in Law and parents and siblings were here already. It was the perfect time for her to come. So by noon, I had to go to the hospital. I said I couldn't take it anymore. The pain just kept getting stronger and stronger and they weren't going away.

We went to the hospital, went to the front desk of labor and delivery and the lady is like so you're contracting then? I was like, DUH! can't you tell I'm crying and in PAIN?! So they took me to a room, I was dilated to a 4 and 100% effaced. They admitted me and we were ready to get the show on the road! Yippee! So I must say that I am a wuss cuz i asked for the epidural once I got into the delivery room. =) For one reason is that I thought the guy would take an hour or so to get there but nope he came 10 mins later! Thank goodness! Anyways, once the epidural kicked in, must I say I was in Heaven? cuz that's sure what if felt like. It was so nice to not feel those contractions anymore.

An hour later I was dilated to a 5, so the doctor was on her way to come break my water. She came a couple hours later and I was then 6 1/2 cm dilated. Until, all the sudden, when I had gotten checked about an hour in a half later, I was still at a 6 1/2 and I had a fever and my contractions weren't active labor contractions. Of course I was trying to stay calm but I was nervous of what was to come. I definitely did not want a c-section and was Brynnlee still ok? I was treated with anti-biotics, and had to put an oxygen mask on so that it would "gas" her up again to get things going. I was also induced with Pitocin to help things get moving again.

So with in an hour, my fever was gone, Brynn was doin great once again, and soon enough I was dilated to an 8 1/2 and a 0+ station. Which means her head was in the perfect position. By 9:30pm, I was finally at a 10 and +2 station. (head is almost out) I was still in Heaven at this point and all I felt was pressure. But I didn't think the pressure was good enough to push quite yet, but once she said we're ready to push, I was like, really?? Sweet!! We did a couple practice pushes before the doctor came in. By 9:40ish she was there and Brynn was on her way..=) 9:57pm, my beautiful baby girl was born.

She had a few complications and had a hard time breathing at first because she was holding onto the umbilical cord and so there was a lot of stress that was put on her and her body. They had to take her to the nursery right away so I was only able to hold her for about a minute. It turns out that she also had some sort of "infection" to where her body was having a hard time fighting something off and so they had to take her to the level 11 nursery where she had to be put on anti-biotics and her blood sugar was low so she had to get an IV and also had to hook her up to oxygen for just a short amount of time because she was soon able to breath ok on her own, so that, they weren't too worried about anymore. So the whole time we were in the hospital, we had to go visit her in the NICU, which was ok but it definitely wasn't fun to see her all hooked up to the monitors, but we knew she was in good hands and that she would be ok.
The pediatrician did blood cultural tests on her and so we had to wait for the results to see if we could take her home or not. Thank goodness the result came out negative cuz if it didn't she would have to stay in the NICU for another 7 days. =( So we are very blessed that nothing was wrong with her and that we were able to take her home with us. We love her so much!

This whole experience was the most amazing thing I've ever been able to experience. I would definitely do it again and again. Except being pregnant for a year minus 2-3 months definitely sucks, but the labor part I could definitely do again and again. Especially to finally meet that baby of yours and to be able to hold her in your arms is the most amazing thing ever!