Avery is now 3.5 months old and I’m finally writing her birth story. The day Avery was born was the best day of my life and I wish I could forever remember every detail, but I know that is unrealistic… so a blog post will have to do!
Let me start by saying my due date was February 26th, so when I woke up on February 6th I thought it was going to be a normal Thursday. I had a doctor’s appointment that afternoon. I was going to the doctor’s to check up on Avery 2 times a week because we were having a few issues. One, I had IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) so she was really small and wasn’t gaining any weight like she was supposed to. Two, her heart rate was unsteady and she was having multiple decelerations (meaning her heart rate would drop way below what it was supposed to be). So a few times a week I would go in and sit on the heart monitor so we could see how she was doing.
Usually, when they would hook me up to the monitor, I could hear/see what her heart rate was. That particular day I remember hearing her heart rate drop SIGNIFICANTLY. Like so much that it made my heart start racing because I honestly thought hers was going to stop. (I was used to hearing her heart rate drop… but not THAT much). One of the nurses came in, looked at the strip (that showed her heart rate pattern), and told me I might need to go to the hospital.
Let me pause real quick to mention this wasn’t the first time one of the nurses told me I might need to go to the hospital… there were multiple times where they told me that, so I wasn’t really sure I should take it seriously. I thought, as usual, the doctor would come in and tell me we will just continue to monitor.
This time it was different. I heard the nurse talking with my doc outside the door, and next thing I know they are both standing in front of me in the room and he says “Looks like you’re going to have a baby today!”. After that it was kind of a blur. I think I zoned out for a moment and then I heard him say “Hello? You look like you just saw a ghost!” It took me a few minutes to process what was happening. The only words I could mutter out were “Wait… like right now?” He told me that he already called the hospital to get a room ready for me. We were doing this now! I don’t think words can describe how panicked I felt haha.
*Side note: I was alone at this appointment. Charles was able to go with me to a lot of my appointments, but since they were so frequent, he couldn’t make it to every single one.*
I walked out to the car and called Charles, who was working, and told him I was heading to the hospital and we were having the baby… for real this time! I also called my sister and mom. I remember driving myself to the hospital just shaking. I was excited, nervous, had so much anticipation, and just plain scared. I did not feel prepared. The hospital was only like 10 mins away and Charles was there waiting for me. We went straight up to the labor and delivery unit.
Everything happened so fast. They had me change into a gown, take off all my jewelry, go to the bathroom and try to get comfy. They started my IV, took some blood, quickly went through my history, and told me to eat something real quick before I went NPO. The nurse explained to me that the doctor wanted to try to induce me, so they were going to place Cervidil in me to help get that started. She warned me it would be painful… but I totally underestimated it. Seriously… it made everything “down there” way way way more tender and it made the cervical check excruciating. I remember screaming during one of the cervical checks because it hurt so bad… I thought to myself “How am I going to push a baby out when I can’t even handle this cervical check?”. It made me soooo much more nervous. The nurse assured me that once they take the Cervidil out, the tenderness quickly goes away.
My mom showed up at the hospital (she really didn’t want to miss Avery being born), and the rest of the night was a painful blur. The contractions started at about 7pm and getting more and more intense throughout the night. I kept having to go to the bathroom, but every time I moved the contractions would stop me in my tracks. I’m pretty sure Charles was helping me to the bathroom like every 10 minutes.
Around 5am when the nurse came in, my contractions were about 2 minutes apart & the nurse said I was having “double contractions”. I was begging her for the epidural at that point. I had been laboring for several hours and it started getting to the point where I didn’t think I was going to make it through haha. 5am-6am felt like the longest hour of my life. I was looking at the clock every other minute haha. Finally at 6:07am (yes… I remember the exact time) the anesthesiologist came in and started my epidural. All through my pregnancy I was most anticipating getting the epidural. Epidurals have been one of my biggest fears my whole life. But at that moment I wanted nothing more than for the pain to stop. A few minutes after the epidural, I was finally comfortable for the first time in hours.
Around 7am, they started the Pitocin. A few hours passed and I thought that the pitocin was working, but little did I know, they had to stop the drip because Avery’s heart rate was dropping too much. I thought everything was going smoothly, then the nurse came in around 9am and told me the doctor might come in and say we are doing a c-section. Sure enough, two minutes later, my doctor walked in and told me we had to do an emergency c-section to get her out safely. I don’t remember too much after that. I remember my hearing started to fade and I think I zoned out because I was so scared and was just trying to process that I was about to have a major surgery.
I vaguely remember going in the OR and seeing Charles, and then hearing Avery cry shortly after. I honestly feel sad sometimes because I had so much medication that I don’t clearly remember my first moment seeing Avery. It took a bit to not feel hazy. They brought Avery back to the room while I was being stitched up. Then I hazily remember them wheeling me back down the hall and I could hear Avery crying in the room, and I just knew it was MY baby that was crying.
The rest of the day I remember bits and pieces of. I know family was there and a couple friends came by, but again, I was feeling pretty out of it. We spent the next few days in postpartum before we went home (only to end up right back in the NICU… but that’s a story for another time).
I still can’t believe my little baby is here. She has been the greatest blessing in my life and the day she was born was the best day of my life. I never knew I could feel this sort of love. It is indescribable. I feel so lucky to be her mom and love her with all my heart!
xo, Hales