Labor and Delivery Story

We have now been home from the hospital for almost 48 hours and I have finally found some time to sit down and share the labor and delivery story.

I woke up on Sunday morning, September 19th at about 1am and noticed that I was bleeding. I went back to bed and woke up at 3:11 am with contractions. Ryan and I timed the contractions all morning and they were all over the charts. About 7 or 8 am the contractions were coming pretty regular and we decided to call the on call doctor at 8:45 and she called us back at 9am. I described to her all the symptoms I was having and she told us to head to the hospital. We arrived at Baylor Dallas at 9:40am. We were signed into Labor and Delivery and they put us in a room. They checked me and I was dilated to 4cm and 90% effaced. I was definitely staying at that point. I received an epidural when I was 5cm. I was checked on and off throughout the day and about 4:30ish I was fully dilated to a 10 and 100% effaced. We immediately prepared for pushing. I started pushing close to 5pm and pushed for 3 hours. Towards the end of pushing I started having trouble breathing so I used my inhaler. Then I got nauseous and threw up about 3-4 times. I just about finished pushing and the doctor saw the Chloe's head and then realized her shoulder was stuck under the pelvic bone and had to push her back in. I started having trouble breathing again, they put me on oxygen, Chloe's heartbeat dropped and I was immediately wheeled in to the OR for an emergency c-section at 8:05ish pm. I was concentrated on my own breathing and trying to drown out all the commotion that was going on. Before I knew it Chloe was born at 8:19pm. When she came out she wasn't breathing at first so they put a tube in her mouth and then she immediately started breathing and I heard her cry for the first time. That was the biggest relief to me to finally hear her cry. The NICU team consisted of 5 people and were right there to take care of her. After they did everything they needed to a nurse brought her over to me so I could see her and they quickly took her to the nursery for observation. After the doctor finished working on me, I went to recovery for a few hours and was then moved to a Post Partum room upstairs. While in recovery I was constantly shivering and shaking and they had to put heat blankets on me. We finally got to our room and around 2am the nursery nurse brought Chloe to me and I got to hold her for the first time. I had waited for that special moment for a long time. I knew that I was going to love her, but I didn't realize to what magnitude and especially after all the trauma I went through to get her here. That is something I will always remember. We then stayed in the hospital the rest of the week until Thursday, September 23rd. Chloe had jaundice really bad and was put on bili light blankets starting Monday night until Thursday at noon. It was a really bad case and was treated aggressively throughout the week. We started nursing on Monday and that has been quite a struggle because my milk has still not come in fully. The Lactation nurses were a great resource and helped us so much. All throughout the week we had the best nurses we could ask for. They did every little thing they could to take great care of Chloe and I and we couldn't have asked for anything better. Overall, this has been one of the hardest weeks of my life, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Ryan has also totally fallen in love with our precious girl and I know the feeling is mutual. We are now a happy family of 3!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a picture of our precious baby on her first day of life:




**Sidenote** This entry is really for myself so I can document and remember everything that happened. Sorry if it seems scattered.