Alice Olivia's Birth, Grandma LaDene's story

A PERFECT DAUGHTER FOR MY PERFECT DAUGHTER!!

After never letting my cell phone out of my hearing for a few weeks -paranoid about missing the phone call, the day finally came when Alice decided to make her grand entry!

The beginning of the event

Nathan and VaRonica came to our house about 6 p.m. March 21^st (as we live close to the hospital) to meet so he and VaRonica could go out to dinner one last time before becoming official parents. When they got back to our house about 8:15 VaRonica called the hospital and was told she could now come in for her induction at 9 pm. The “about to be mom”, the “about to be dad” and the about to be Alice’s “Sellers grandparents” all headed for the hospital.. As most of the “paper-work” had been previously completed VaRonica was quickly settled in Room 325 right after her arrival. Her first nurse was Jenna she was friendly and very efficient. Jesse (the sister-in law) and the other part of the support team arrived shortly thereafter and “Grandpa Sellers” went home

The Middle: Somewhat less than a half hour after having her induction medication VaRonica started labor but as the contractions were hard the baby’s heart rate dropped. The nurse called Dr. Thackeray then following his instructions VaRonica was given another shot to slow things down.

At about 3 am VaRonica’s water broke. She knew it did anyway but the next nurse on duty and a fluid test decided that didn’t happen-it really did- the expectant mom knew her body! When the nurse checked her she told her Alice had had a bowel movement and because of that and the heart rate Alice needed to arrive soon or a C-Section would be needed. VaRonica’s body seemed to respond to orders that Alice must arrive quickly so contractions were now unbelievably close together, seemingly not even allowing her to breathe between each long and hard pain. As her mom, I really wanted VaRonica to ask for an epidural for pain, but for once I kept my mouth shut! I was really afraid that as hard and as close as the contractions were that VaRonica would have no energy left to push Alice out when the time finally arrived. I envisioned several more hours of hard labor followed by hours of pushing. Finally, at a little after 7 am VaRonica asked for an epidural! Yea! As her mom it was hard to see her in so much pain but amazing to see how well she was handling everything. The Dr. that did her epidural was quick and professional even though the body racking pains were so close together. About 20 minutes later when VaRonica could again lay still enough the nurse checked her and she had dilated to a 9. Yep- we knew during the last those few hours the contractions had to be doing something spectacular! Dr. Thackeray came in and checked her then told her he would be back in about an hour. It didn’t take that long until she was at the magic number 10 and was ready to push. Dr. Thackeray was again called and came quickly and got everything set up. At that point Jessi and I got to start helping by supporting VaRonica’s legs while she pushed. Both the nurse and the Dr. said she was doing a fantastic job pushing but Dr. Thackeray found Alice was posterior so pushing wasn’t as productive as it should have been. Dr. Thackeray tried to turn Alice about three different times but as she was perfectly comfortable in the position she was in she wouldn’t turn so he said Alice now needed help to arrive quickly. After discussing options with VaRonica they decided on an episiotomy and a vacuum. The nurse then called two respiratory therapists and an NICU nurse to remain in the room. Yea for my strong daughter and her strong baby-a couple of more pushes Alice was out and I was allowed to cut the cord! Alice was quickly handed from the Dr. directly to the NICU nurse then all three of the specialists quickly cleaned her up and checked her out. As everything was great I was then able to carry my new granddaughter across the room to her mom. Alice didn’t need to be taught what to do as she began breast feeding as soon as her mom held her. YEA!

THE REAL BEGINNING

Alice Olivia Little was born at 11:05 am on 3-22-12. She really is a pretty baby. She has dark brown hair long that is long in the back. She found her tongue and started sticking it out and wiggling it right away. She also found her fist and could be heard “slurping on it” very quickly. Her most remarkable features (at a few hours old) are how intently she stares at whoever is talking to her, her long fingers and her long slender feet.

I’m sure I’ve neglected to include a lot of important things so just a few more items:

1) VaRonica has a supportive and caring husband- in spite of his aversion to needles and blood he stayed with her throughout

2) VaRonica is very lucky to have such a great OB. He is very caring, and professional offering her options and alternatives but letting her make decisions. He even gave her a darling pink baby bib that said “Special Delivery by Dr. Thackeray”

3) VaRonica allowed her mom and sister-in law to be part of her support team.

4) IMC has great staff

5) Nathan’s parents who drove down from Montana arriving very shortly after Alice’s birth

6) VaRonica’s dad who, following VaRonica’s wishes, went out and brought back Sushi for VaRonica before Alice was even two hours old!

Alice and her Birth *from mom's perspective*

Please know that I am fully aware that this is a super long blog. It is a selfish thing and might be boring to some. I want to save the memories that I have of this wonderful moment in my life and to share it with Alice some day. I am also a little narcissistic and believe that some people might want to read it as well. So take it or leave it, it is what it is! Know that Nathan is posing his version of the birth story as well. I am hoping that Jessi and my mom will write their versions as well so that we can put them all together, compare notes and let Alice read them when and if she ever wants to.

Alice’s Due date, (March 14, 2012) came and went and she stayed snug inside. I anxiously awaited her arrival and tried every home induction method we could think of or find on the internet (well almost everyone we found some I absolutely refused to do). I went to my doctor on Monday March 19^th and they checked the fluid around Alice and made sure there were no complications with me before scheduling me an induction date at the hospital.

*Induction is used after 41 weeks typically now days because the risks of the placenta breaking down, the baby defecating in utero and other such things are more likely which isn’t good for baby.

I continued to wait and try to get Alice to come on her own until Wednesday. Because she was so comfy she stayed inside. So Wednesday morning I got up and went to work. After Nathan and I went on a date, last one without having to find child care. We got a call from the hospital saying come on in at 9:00 to check-in, so that is what we did.

My birth coaches, they are the best!!!

Jessi, my mom LaDene and Nathan

Nathan, my mom and Dad, me and Alice went into the labor and delivery portion of Intermountain Medical Center. I got into a room quickly and was instructed to take it all off and put on a gown. I had what they told me would be my “first round” of medication to “ripen” my cervix. Typically the medicine is given in doses every 3 hours up to 4 times then Pitocin is started to help women dilate and contract. Well the medication was given to me at about 10:30 that night and within 20-30 minutes I started having contractions strong and steady about 3 minutes apart. They checked me and I had gone from dilated less than a 1 to a 3 (that is pretty good in just an hour). The problem with this was that Alice’s little heart rate started dropping after each contraction. They told me this is because I have an old placenta, RUDE!!! So at this point they give me a medication to stop the initial med but still allow my body to continue with labor but more slowly. This med worked as well. I continued to have contractions however they were roughly 6 minutes apart and I was told that I needed to stay in bed with an internal monitor to check on Alice. At about 3:00 I was so sick of laying in the bed, I attempted to convince the nurse that it would be ok for me to get up and go to the bathroom, maybe walk around the room a bit. She agreed to the bathroom but not the walking around. So after I peed I was washing my hands and there was fluid running down my leg and making a small pool at my feet. I called the nurse and let her know my water broke. She didn’t believe me. She wanted to test me first, so they swabbed me and tested she returned stating, “ Well your water didn’t break. Sometimes it’s just hard to control your bladder when your contracting.” Boy did this make me mad! I DID NOT PEE MY PANTS. I believe that I said this 6 times to my mom, Jessi and Nathan within the next 45 minutes. I had to return to the bed.

Nathan "dancing" with me to help me through contractions. This was a great method while I could use it!

About an hour later 4 am I had to go to the bathroom again, this time I lost my mucus plug. When I told the nurse about this, she said, “We will have to check.” This time I was so bound and determined to prove her wrong Alice helped me. When the nurse checked me the minute she put her hand in there fluids drained everywhere! The nurse looked up at me and said, “Well I guess your water did break earlier. HAHAHA (I love being right!).

At this point they let me know that Alice had released her bowels in her sack and would need to come soon or a c-section would be necessary, I was only dilated to a 4+. She said I had until morning before they would have to call the doctor to schedule the surgery.

*I want to put in here that I had a birth plan that was clear, but not concrete. I am pretty flexible and really the only thing that mattered to me is that Alice would get here as safe as possible. In my ideal world, that would have been without medications at all. My plan was to try to make it on my own without any pain medication, I asked that others don’t offer them to me, but if I ask feel free to administer them. Again I wasn’t trying to be a hero by any means but women have been doing this for thousands of years without I wanted to see how I could do.

I was hoping to not have to go the surgical route however if that was what was needed for Alice to get here safe, that is what we would do. Again her heart rate dropped after each contraction so I was back in bed for good this time. I repositioned the bed however so I was sitting straight up and had by legs down like I was in a chair (the labor and delivery beds are pretty amazing, just saying). I sat there for 2 hours. At this point Jessi and Nathan decided they better get some rest in so that when the true action went down they would be prepared for anything.

This is the bed in chair mode, like I said amazing beds!

My mom was there with me talking and supporting me. I started talking to Alice and letting her know that whatever happens, happens but I wanted her to get here soon and safe. I started having stronger and stronger contractions. They started coming faster and faster. By 6:30 I felt like I was screaming, and scaring the other patients. Nathan and Jessi couldn’t sleep through my moaning and I felt like it would never end. I had been having consistent contractions with at the most 30 seconds between them for roughly an hour. At 6:45 when the nurse came in and said, “I am sure you are dilating, probably at a 5 or 6 by now.” I was devastated. I asked for the epidural, the pain was just too much without a break in between. I felt a little like a failure at this point, but figured that if I have to get the c-section I would have to have the epidural any way and I could use the break.

At 7:15 I got the epidural after 20 minutes I got some relief and could sit still and not want to die. They could finally check my dilation because I wasn’t squirming around so much from the pain. Guess what Alice and I had done in the last 3 hours, dilated from a 4+ to a 9. That is right, we were kicking butt and she was going to come the way I had hoped, without surgery! I also felt like a little less of a failure because I was close to the end and made it pretty dang far without any pain meds.

One last smooch before the baby gets here!

My OB came in and checked on me. He told me that he was going to run and perform a c-section on another patient then be back. It was an hour later I was ready to push. Now I was still able to move my legs fairly well and couldn’t feel anything but a lot of pressure, but I knew that it was time. I called the nurse, she checked and yep I was at a 10 and ready to start pushing. They told my doc and he said get her started I will be there in a minute. So that is what I did.

Nathan, who doesn’t like hospitals, needles, blood, guts or pain, had decided that he would stay by my head. My mom was on my left side and took a leg. Jessi was on my right and took that leg. Together we all did our parts. Nathan counted the pushing for me while supporting my head and upper back. My mom and Jessi both held an ankle and supported my knees. I would grab my thighs pull towards myself and push at the same time. We did a few of these and the doctor came in. He geared up and we went full force.

Staying strong through bad contractions, Nathan rocked this labor!

Alice was still not liking all the stress from the labor and her heart rate was low. We all knew we needed to hurry. Also we found out that she had turned at the end and was posterior. This is when the baby is facing the wrong way coming out and causes the baby to slip back up inside the birth canal after each push, it also causes more problems for the baby and the stress they are under. The doctor tried to turn her as I pushed, this happened twice before she decided to stay put. At this point because of her low heart rate, having to turn her and slipping back in so many times my doctor looked at me and said, “We have a few options. She needs to come out quickly so I can use a vacuum, do an episiotomy and see what you can do. Or we can keep trying this. We can do either, but if she doesn’t come soon we will have to take her one way or another.” At this point I was thinking you are crazy to think that I have come this far to just get a c-section! I gave consent to use the vacuum and cut if needed. The NICU nurse and Respiratory therapist was there to help Alice as she arrived because of her bowel movement situation, the doctor was confidant in me and what we were doing so I was ready to rock and roll! It took two more pushes and here was Alice!

My fabulous OB

11:05 am on 3-22-12, my wonderful little Alice came out and instantly began to cry. My mom was able to cut her umbilical cord and Jessi went with Alice and the NICU nurse and Respiratory therapist to make sure Alice was taken care of properly and doing well. Nathan and I just stared at her being worked on. We looked at each other. Nathan had tears in his eyes and all I could say was, we did it! I am not sure how long it actually took, but it felt like maybe 5 minutes later they brought us our healthy little girl. She was able to lay on me skin to skin and begin breast feeding. She latched on like a champ and began to go to town.

The first official picture of Alice Olivia.

I will write later about other hospital experiences and I am sure go back to other things that happened here and there, but in essence this is Alice’s birth story from my perspective. I feel so blessed, lucky, fortunate, honored and overwhelmed that I get this little girl. She is mine and Nathan’s and we are going to do our very best with her. I love her so much already and can’t imagine life without her!

Not our first picture together, but the first that doesn't show too much of me!

Alice when you read this know you were so worth the wait, the pain and the worry. Having you here is the best thing that has happened to me and I love you!

Mom

New and effective alarm clock

I am a lover of sleep! I love it so much that I often use the snooze button in the mornings in order to just get a few more moments with my precious sleep! Nathan is one of those weirdo’s who can just wake right up when the alarm goes off and gets going without problem. Well today Nathan schooled me in the art of waking up without the snooze, I am warning you this method might not be for everyone but it was quite effective for me this morning.

I began waking up about 3 am because I started coughing and feeling chest pressure. It wasn’t anything too bad just woke up about every 45 minutes. Well at 6:05 this morning Nathan woke up and decided to use the bathroom before I crawled out of bed. At 6:15 the alarm went off, and I naturally hit the snooze. As I lay in bed I hear Nathan flush, there was a few moments with my eyes closed before it happened. There it was, a HUGE crash and a bunch of things falling. My eyes flew open and I yelled to see if Nathan was ok. There was no response, I yell again as I am heading towards the bathroom. Again no response so I start to open the door. It was sticking on something , Nathan’s legs. I pushed then aside and got into the bathroom where Nathan was laying face down with his head and shoulders lodged between the toilet and tub and things thrown around the bathroom. I continued to yell his name and got no response. I checked and he was breathing but still not responding to me. I pulled his body out for his crazy contortion and yelled and pushed his arm around. It took about 2 minutes before Nathan began to respond. I was so relieved!!!

It was at this point that the love of my life attempted to convince me that he had just fallen asleep and that he just was going to go back to bed. We argued and I won, we put some clothes on and went to the ER.

Nathan got way more than he bargained for with his little early morning stunt… we spend the whole morning, until 11:00 in the ER. He got stickers all over his body, got to pee in a cup and got his first official IV (for those of you who don’t know needles are Nathan’s nemesis and IV’s are even worse).

Nathan made it through with flying colors. In the end he was diagnosed with a worse infection and given new antibiotics, IV fluids antibiotics and pain meds then released with the doctors saying I am not sure what happened this morning but he should be fine. This was a relief but frustrating at the same time.

Now the reason for the title of this blog is while we were in the ER and things were calming down Nathan realized that I got up this morning without having to use the snooze, he is always looking on the bright side of things! I love him and I am so glad that we can both laugh and joke when intense things happen. We work well together! Needless to say this was an effective method of waking up in the morning, but not one that I would like to repeat anytime soon!