This story actually starts long before
the actual birth. Xander's homebirth experience was awesome, and I
really wanted another experience just like it. As soon as I found
out I was pregnant, I called my midwife and was really excited to be
working with her again. Although the pregnancy was a little more
difficult than my others, everything was going well and I was
healthy. As the due date got closer, however, I found myself getting
more and more nervous. This had me confused because I had already
done a homebirth which wasn't that hard, and everything had gone
well. I talked to my midwife about it, and she suggested I get a
blessing (which I was already planning to do) and try to figure out
what was making me nervous. Neil gave me a really great blessing
which said that both the baby and I would be healthy and safe, and
that I would have my questions answered. The next morning Sherri
called me and suggested I get an ultrasound just for peace of mind.
I was feeling quite a bit better about things at this point, so I
wasn't going to do it, but in the end I decided it couldn't hurt.
The next morning we went to the doctor
she had recommended and had an ultrasound done. As soon as the tech
started and said “there's the head” I knew we had a problem. She
was breech! I'm almost positive she was head down up until a few
days before, and my heart sank. Daphne was breech as well, which
ended in a horrible C-section experience that I was desperate not to
repeat. The doctor gave us a bunch of options ranging from waiting
to see if she'd turn back on her own to doing an external version and
then breaking my water right after. I really wanted an unmedicated
birth, so it kind of surprised me when Neil and I prayed about it and
felt like we needed the highest level of intervention. Even though
it was not at all what I wanted, I really felt a lot of peace about
doing it this way and getting her here quickly.
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| I think this is one of the only pregnant pictures I have |
The next morning we got to the
hospital at 6 am to start the process. They gave me both Tributaline
and an epidural for the Version to give her the highest chance
possible of turning. Once that was all in place, the doctor tried to
turn her in what seemed like the easiest direction, but she wouldn't
budge. He then tried the other way, and she ended up turning ¾ of
the way around to end up head down. He had to push really hard, and
it put her into distress for a few minutes. They were almost ready
to prep me for a C-section when her heart rate went back to normal.
After that, they broke my water, started me on a low dose of pitocin,
and we were off. We all thought things would progress quickly since
Xander's birth was really fast, but for a long time nothing seemed to
be happening. The one thing we did notice, however, was that her
heart rate would go down quite a bit every time I had a contraction.
This was worrisome but we just kept an eye on it and kept going.
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| Just waiting! |
At some point, the nurses came in to
check me and found something worrisome. She quietly had someone get
the doctor, who checked and confirmed that he could feel the cord
below her head. This is called a cord prolapse, and it's really
dangerous for the baby. Since he knew I didn't want a C-section, he
tried to push the cord back up out of the way. I had let my epidural
mostly wear off at this point, and it was actually quite painful.
After a few minutes he did manage to move the cord, but her heart
rate dipped and wouldn't go back up. At this point, my room was
suddenly a hub of activity. Everyone started prepping me for an
emergency C-section, and I wasn't sure exactly what was going on.
Just as they were about ready to wheel me out the door, Sherri told
Neil to give me a blessing RIGHT NOW! He put his hands on my head,
the room calmed down, and he gave me the most amazing blessing. As
soon as he was done, her heart rate started to go back up to normal.
Everyone kind of paused, not knowing what to do, and my doctor
decided to wait for a minute to see what would happen. Her heart
rate stayed up, so they put the C-section on hold. Apparently he got
a lot of flack from the other doctors about that, but I was so
grateful.
After that scare, things progressed
fairly normally again. Her heart rate stayed up and I eventually
progressed far enough to start pushing. They told me I needed to get
her out as fast as I can, which luckily is pretty easy for me to do.
I did want to ease her head out so that I didn't tear, and that went
well, but then her shoulder got stuck. Apparently her head was
completely purple, which was scary, but after a few really hard
pushes they got the shoulder out and then she was out! They had to
take her immediately over to check her out, but she started crying
right away and pinked up really quickly. All I could feel was relief
that it was all over, and so grateful for the support that I had. I
know that it was the guidance of the Spirit and the power of the
Priesthood that got her here safely, and this birth was such a
testimony to me that both are real. Even though the experience was
completely opposite than the one I wanted, I am still grateful for it
and we have a perfect, beautiful, healthy little girl to love!
