Kayson's Birth

I wanted to write the story of Kayson’s delivery both, for those of you who care, and also to keep as a journal entry.

Saturday September 22, 2012

Cody and I had a pretty relaxing Saturday planned.  Cody was working on a fence job in the morning and I sat around home because I hadn’t been feeling well.  The previous day at my doctor’s appointment they had stripped my membranes and ever since then I had been cramping and feeling a lot of pressure.  That had been my third appointment that week and I had been into labor and delivery to get checked.  I had been having really bad headaches and was starting to get high blood pressure, along with extra weight gain and swelling.  It was not preeclampsia but we were a little nervous about it.  On my appointment on the 21^st I met with Dr. Broberg.  I would be 40 weeks the next Monday and I was so ready to have the baby.  I had been having a lot of kidney pain and then along with the high blood pressure I was hoping that they would induce me.  Dr. Broberg didn’t feel like it was a good idea since my cervix didn’t seem like it was getting ready at all.  I was still only dilated to a 1cm and about 70% effaced.  He felt that the risk for C-section would be higher with induction.  I was sad to hear that my cervix still was not ready to deliver but I agreed that it would be safer to wait until our baby was ready to come out.

Saturday we went up to South Fork to look at the fall leaves.  It was so pretty to see them changing.  We took Bella, that crazy girl was so excited to be out.  We took lots of pictures and I kept commenting how funny it would be if we had Kayson that day and we’d be able to show him how pretty the day was that he was born.

We got out and walked a little bit at one of the parks up South Fork.  It was seriously so pretty, but I started to feel like I was having a lot of contractions and just was not feeling well so we got back in the car and headed home because we were going to go to BJ’s football game that evening.  As we rode back I started getting sharp horrible pains in my kidney and kept contracting.  When we got home I took a couple of Percocet (I had been so careful for months not to be taking them for my kidney pain, but Dr. Broberg got mad at me the previously day for not taking them.  He said that it would not be harmful to the baby unless I was taking it around the clock and that I really needed to take them when I was hurting).  My pain finally started to relieve a little and I was able to take a short nap.  I continued to have contractions about every 3-4 min and they were getting very painful (starting at about 4:00 pm).  They just got worse through the evening and I felt that I would be going in that night to the hospital but I wanted to wait as long as possible so that hopefully my cervix would have started to progress and I wouldn’t be sent home.  My best friend Cozette came over and rubbed her Doterra oils on me to help me relax and deal with the pain so that my labor could progress.  I have to say, they really did help so much (and no, I am not being paid to say that).  Her brother Eric is a photographer and had asked if he could come and document Kayson’s delivery (not the actual pushing, but right after he was born).  He came and took a couple of pictures at our house while Cozette was rubbing on the oils.  Finally at about 11:50 that night we got to the hospital (UVRMC) and they checked us in.  I was contracting about every 2 min and they were starting to be quite painful.  The problem is my cervix still was not making progress!  I was having so much back labor.  They kept me an hour or two but since I was not dilating or getting thinner the doctor sent me home on morphine and nausea medication.  I knew that I would be back in and so did they but they were not able to admit me yet.

 

Sunday September 23, 2012

I went home and labored there for quite a while.  The morphine worked for about 1 ½ hrs and I was able to rest a little bit.  Then I kept taking baths and laying in bed trying to deal with the pain until I couldn’t handle it anymore.  We went back in around 8:00 and they monitored me again.  My cervix still was not changing but my contractions were again getting more frequent and more painful.  The nurse gave me morphine again and something for nausea.  A couple hours later they wanted to send me home again.  I was so frustrated and started crying.  I told her that I knew I could be back in an hour as soon as the morphine wore off.  She agreed and I think she felt bad for me.  She talked the doctor into keeping me for another hour so they did and I started to thin out a little more so they considered that change and admitted me!  I was still at about 1cm but I was 90% effaced.  They got my epidural in right away (they probably thought I was a wuss for getting it at a 1cm but I had been having strong, painful contractions for the past 18 hours so I didn’t care).  Cody and I were so relieved that finally they were admitting me and that our baby would be coming soon.  The doctor came in and checked me and I was dilated to a 3! Then he broke my water.  Things started to progress fairly quickly after that, I was dilating about 1cm an hour. 

The nurse had a feeling that they should check the position of the baby early on so when they did the ultrasound he was posterior (which explained my slow progression in the beginning and my back labor).  The plan was that hopefully that baby would be able to turn himself as my labor progressed and if not once I was fully dilated that they would turn him before I started to push.

My epidural worked ok for a while but soon it started to wear off.  I kept asking Cody to push my button and it was timed out.  The anesthesiologist had to keep coming in and adjusting the settings and giving me boluses.  For some reason I metabolize the medication very quickly.  Then once I was dilated to about an 8 all of a sudden I felt like I could feel my contractions so strong and that the medication was all of a sudden not working at all.  The anesthesiologist would come in and I told him but he kept saying that that’s what happens as labor progresses.  I talked to the nurses and they disagreed saying I shouldn’t be in that much pain so they made him come back in.  He said, “Well it doesn’t seem like you’re in that much pain because you just finished a contraction and you are not grimacing.”  I was so mad and I have never seen my mom that mad!  She said, “Just because she is not grimacing does not mean that she is not in pain!”  In her most stern voice I have ever heard.  He gave me a little extra medication and it started to help.  When I was dilated to a 9 I thought that things would go fairly quickly and that I would be having the baby soon (I think this was around 8:00 pm).  When they checked me the next few times I wouldn’t progress to 10 cm.  They said that I was at about a 9 ¾ but I still had an anterior lip so I was not quite ready.  During this time that I was not progressing to a 10 the epidural wore off again and I was in dire pain.  It is all kind of a blur now but I remember crying and thrashing in bed.  I was so mad at Cody because he was the one who got me in this situation haha.  I told him to get me a contract because I was not having any more children.  Bret and Cody gave me a blessing to help me get through it. 

Because I wouldn’t dilate to a 10 from a 9 ¾ they just decided to try and turn the baby to see if that would help.  They tried so hard to get him turned around so many times but he wouldn’t turn for the life of him.  They said that we were going to have to do a C-section if he didn’t turn in the next half an hour.  At 11:00 pm they came back in and checked him and he was still posterior so we went ahead with the C-section. People ask if I was nervous.  I was a little nervous but mostly just ready to do what we had to do to get our baby out safely.  Cody said that he was nervous but he didn’t act it.  My mom was in there when we found out that I was going to have to have a C-section.  She went and told our family out in the waiting room.  Everyone was praying that things would go ok.

The anesthesiologist once again came in prior to my C-section to prepare me.  He had to give me more medication so that I wouldn’t be able to feel anything.  The nurses prepared me and then wheeled my bed into the OR.  Cody was right there by my side and helped me through everything.  Once we got in I started to get a little nervous.  They scooted me over to the table and then hung a drape so that I wouldn’t be able to see anything.  I had horrible shivers that I couldn’t control.  They gave me the plastic that blows up with warm air to warm up your upper body but it didn’t help too much.  I didn’t know if I was shivering because I was nervous or for other reasons but the nurses kept saying that it was normal. The anesthesiologist was up by my head on one side watching my vitals and then Cody was on my left side.  He was so supportive.  The nurses and doctors were in there everyone was working very efficiently.  Dr. Reese was my OB who was doing the C-section (which I was very happy about because he is one of my favorites in the group) and he called in Dr. Dayton to assist.  They were happily talking about football and Cody joined in on the conversation.  I was so, so, tired after 31 hours of labor plus the medication that they were giving me I was having a hard time staying awake since I was unable to feel any contractions at this point.  I told Cody that he had better wake me up if I doze off before the baby came.  They asked if I was ready and I said “yeah” and they said “Good because we’ve already started.”

Kayson’s head was already engaged in my birth canal so they had a little bit of a hard time getting him out. The nurse had to push his head up as the doctor pulled really hard to get him out. It took a little while. I couldn’t feel pain but so much pressure as they tried to pull him out. I felt as he finally was out. He didn’t cry right away and it scared me half to death (I couldn’t see anything). Finally he let out a gurgly cry followed by two really loud cries. I was so relieved and so so happy. I teared up as soon as I heard him cry. Cody looked over at me and had tears in his eyes and said “he’s beautiful”. I could hear the doctor’s and nurse’s talking. They said “look at those chubby checks!” and “look at that dark hair!” He peed all over as soon as he came out. I couldn’t believe that I couldn’t see him but I asked the nurse if she was ok and she said he was. That’s all that mattered. Cody kissed me and kept telling me “good job” and how beautiful our baby was. They had him go back into the room with the warmers and where they weighed him. He was born at 11:38 pm on Sunday 9/23/12 (22 minutes before his due date). He was 8 lbs. and 20 inches long. Once he was all ready to go down to the nursery they wrapped him up and had Cody carry him over to show me before they went downstairs (I was still being stitched up). I was so happy to have our little Kayson here and that he was healthy. They had Cody push him downstairs to the nursery while they finished up with me. After they were gone I kept falling asleep while they were stitching me up. I was so relieved that things went well and I was so exhausted. They finally got me back into bed and then were able to push me back to my labor room where I was going to recover. The nurses helped me get comfortable and kept checking me. My mom and Cozette came up to my room to check on me because Cody was still with Kayson in the nursery. The nurse got me water because I was SO thirsty and that is all that I had wanted through all of the delivery. I couldn’t wait to hold my baby but I knew that I needed to recover. Everyone was waiting outside in the hall when I was having my C-section and they said that they could hear Kayson cry. They all got to sneak a peek at him as they pushed him down to the nursery and they waited outside the nursery peeking through the windows as he got his first bath, his shots, etc. Finally at about 2:30 a.m. they let me go down to my Mother/Baby room on the 4^thfloor. They pushed me down in the bed; my epidural hadn’t completely worn off yet. (The nurses were surprised how much movement I had at that point though, like I said my body metabolizes the medication really quickly).

 

I couldn’t wait to see my baby.  I wanted them to bring him in right away but I was running a fever throughout my labor so they were giving him antibiotics prophylactically.  They said that they couldn’t bring him to me while that was going.  I was so sad.  I asked if I could get up in a wheelchair as soon as I was able and go in the nursery and see him.  The nurse didn’t seem too thrilled about that but I don’t think she wanted to tell me no.  Finally after waiting for quite some time Cody went down to the nursery and asked if they could just bring him to me for the 30 min. that they had to wait in-between antibiotics.  They agreed! I was so happy to finally hold my baby Kayson.  I can’t describe the feeling of being able to finally hold your baby for the first time.  It was amazing.  You could tell that he truly did come straight from Heavenly Father.  I couldn’t believe how little and cuddly he was.  I was able to nurse him for the first time and had to have the nurse come in and help me learn how.  He did great.  I only had him for that 30 min but I was so glad that I finally had my little baby.  They kept him in the nursery for a few hours and Cody and I got some rest (at this point it was about 3:30 am).  We were so exhausted.  The next morning it finally hit us that we were actually parents and that the baby was actually ours to keep.

Over the next few days that we were in the hospital SO many friends and family came to visit baby Kayson and see how we were doing.  There are so, so, many people who love him.  He is one lucky boy.  He is one handsome little guy.  All of the staff in the hospital kept saying how cute he is and I agree.  We can’t decide who he looks like.  He doesn’t really look like either of us too much, haha.  I think as he gets older and his features develop more we will be able to tell better.  I swear that he is going to have brown eyes.  In the hospital his bilirubin was elevated so we have had to continue to get it checked outside of the hospital and last time it was 15.2 which is high and they are hoping that it will go down so that he doesn’t have to be on the bililights.  

We came home from the hospital on Wednesday and ever since we’ve been working on figuring out the whole parenting thing.  Overall I think it has gone pretty well.  Kayson has had a hard time sleeping at night.  It seems like he just wants to be held the whole time and as soon as we lay him down he starts to cry.  He sleeps great during the day but wants to stay up all night (that has been the hardest part).  He has been nursing and doing pretty well (except he falls asleep or gets uninterested and then he is starving not too long after).  We’ve had to supplement him with some formula but he seems to be doing well with it.  Cody has been such an awesome daddy.  He loves his little Kayson so much.  He always holds him and rocks him to sleep.  He has changed SO many diapers and has fed him bottles.  He gets up with him a lot during the night too.  I seriously couldn’t have asked for a better husband and I know that I couldn’t have done this without him.  Parenting is hard.  I think that you are blinded by how hard it is so that people actually want to have children.  I am SO glad that we have little Kayson and we love him SO much.  We have so much to learn as parents and I hope that little Kayson can be patient with us J You think that when you find your husband that you will never love anyone as much as you love them.  Then your little one comes along and there is a whole other part in your heart that you never knew existed that was made just for your children.  You love them SO much and can’t imagine your life without them.  You will do anything for them.  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father trusted us to raise Kayson and that we were blessed for him to be so healthy and strong.  We love him so much.