Brenna Laine is here! (updated with birth story/pics in post #8)

[arahzel]

Dec 20th, 1:29am.

8lbs, 12oz. 21"

We're home and doing well. FINALLY got to meet my little one face to face!

[mamavegan]

Congratulations!!!

[mom2annika]

Congratulations! :

[CAKJNH]

[gretae]

:

[Lemon Juice]

Welcome to the world, Brenna Laine : Congrats, mama! I am really happy for you and hope you enjoy your babymoon

[smerkin]

Congratulations!! So exciting!! We're thrilled for you.

[arahzel]

Pics here.

By far the most intense experience of my life. This is Brenna’s birth story. If you are eeked out by graphic description of body function, please don’t read further.

I had my last appointment with Dr. Kouri last Monday. He decided to wait till Friday to give me a non-stress test, which measures the reactive heartbeat of the fetus. So… 8:30am I show up for my appointment and get hooked up to the monitor. I sit there for an hour, and the test proves inconclusive because Brenna is one sleepy little baby.  I’m sent to Jackson Hospital for another test on a better monitor. I walk over from Dr. Kouri’s office and get hooked up to another monitor – for another FOUR hours. Ugh. I drink juice, soda, tea, all kinds of stuff to get the kid moving. Nothing “responsive enough”. Ok. So I ask to leave. Actually, I pretty much tell them that I’m done. I felt like I wasted an entire day. It was 2pm when I left. They want me back in the morning for another stress test. Ugh.

So, because I’m annoyed, I wander around Montgomery a little bit, driving, looking for some yarn at multiple stores. AC Moore was going out of business, so I spent about $14 on knitting needles. I love 90% off sales.

So, it’s about 4:30 now, and I’m ready to go home. I’m still annoyed that I have to be back at the hospital, but at least now I have something to focus on. As soon as I get home the contractions start. For comparison, when I went into labor with Kairi, the contractions were weak, but immediately 5 min apart. This is exactly how this labor started, too. I timed them for a few hours before saying anything to Dave. It’s around 7pm now, and I start mentally going through my last minute things-to-do checklist. I call Melanie to make sure she can take Kairi just in case we have to go to the hospital tonight. Then I lay down and try to get some rest.

It doesn’t work. The contractions are getting stronger and stronger. It’s been a few hours, and the exercise ball is NOT working nearly as much as it did last time. I don’t know if any of you remember, but while laboring with Kairi I used the exercise ball to bounce the pain away. It really worked, and honestly the car ride to the hopistal was the worst part because there is no way to bounce. I made a big deal about bringing that ball to the hospital this time around.

I get online and try to see where I am labor-wise. I had read through this before, but I’m ready to see where I stand in comparison. I’m already dilated 3cm, so that puts me in the second stage of active labor. Ok. I can handle this, but it’s time to get ready. The plan is to stay home as long as possible to avoid getting a whole lot of medical intervention. I knew if that epidural was ready for me, that I’d take it – and in fact, I chose not to sign for one this time around for that specific reason. However… 2nd babies are notorious for arriving much faster so I thought it best to go ahead and get all of our ducks in a row.

Here’s where we get graphic. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. My contractions are 3minutes apart and pretty intense. More intolerable because when they hit, I get the urge to empty my bowels. This is normal, I know. Making room for the baby and protecting my port-partum body from further pain. I was not prepared for my bowels to actually EMPTY though. I thought I’d just push out anything in the way. Nope. I was actually worried that I wasn’t going to make it to the hospital because I could NOT bring myself to leave the bathroom. Meanwhile, Dave had roused Kairi and bundled her in the car. He packed the exercise ball and everything else. Awesome man. I realize that if I want to get to the hospital I had better leave NOW.

We drop Kairi off at Mel’s house, and head to Montgomery. I am in pain. I can’t move around in the car. I am trying really hard to stay focus and breathe. Dave is coaching me as best he can while driving. He’s rubbing my knee which, frankly, is annoying the hell out of me, but I can’t bring myself to tell him to stop. I know if I say something it will come out wrong. Aside from that, I like that he’s trying to comfort me. I think at one point I actually said, screw this, give me the epidural – I’m sure I said something a bit more graphic.

We arrive, and Dave drops me off at the emergency room entrance. I really have to go to the bathroom. The attendant won’t let me go though. She has me sit down in a chair and wait for a wheelchair. Another attendant comes just as Dave arrives from parking the car. She won’t let me go either. I beg her to stop at a bathroom. I do not want to soil myself and I am REALLY close to doing so. THEN, we get upstairs to L&D, and I have to stand up to get weighed, and a nurse takes my temp. They send Dave off to a waiting room while they get me settled into a delivery suite. I head straight for the bathroom and empty the rest of my bowels. I also have to ditch my panties because, that’s right folks, I soiled myself just a teeny bit. I get cleaned up, changed into a gown, and settled in the bed with a monitor. Dave comes in just in time for the nurses to check me. I’m at 8cm! Getting close now!

I ask the nurse for something for the pain, and once my IV is set up (Strep Group B+, so I have to have IV antibiotics), I am given a shot of Stadol. I am told this will dull the pain, and let me get some rest, but it won’t take the pain completely away. Uhh. It works. For one contraction. It doesn’t even really dull the pain, it just takes the edge off. Okay. I can handle this. No wait. I can’t… immediately afterward, my contractions start up full force and start lasting longer, with even less breaks in between. This is transition. Transition is hell.

At this time, I have turned on my side – screw the monitors, I don’t care if they can’t get the readings they want (and btw, the nurses here rock. They are understanding, and sweet). At Baptist South the nurse were nice, but you felt like they were just doing their job. Anyway, I am turned on my side, the nurses have all left. And I am begging for some pain relief. I swear that last contraction lasted about 10 mintures, and I am having a hard time focusing on anything but the pain. I am trying hard not to hyperventilate. I am asking Dave to get the anesthesiologist, who, I’ve been told, is in the next room over. I am a desperate woman. Dave leaves to get the nurse. The nurse assures me that he’s coming. Btw, through all this Dr. Kouri is not the OB on call. It’s Dr. Gentry, whom I have never met or even seen. I try to send Dave to tell them to hurry up. I am apologizing to Dave for this mess. I’m sure I said lots of stuff. Dave has since then assured me that I didn’t even cuss while we were in the hospital. I remember cussing in the car after dropping Kairi off.

So… Dave is back in the room. It’s just us. I’ve used a bedpan a few times between contractions since being at the hospital. I have something more serious to do. And I can’t get up. I can’t remember clearly, but I’m still on my side, and I think I tell Dave that I have to go to the bathroom. No one is around. I’m at the point where I say screw it, I’m just going to go right here. I push a bit. I push a bit a few times. I realize that maybe I do not need to go to the bathroom. I hit the nurse call button. I tell them I need to push, but they can’t understand me. Dave tells them, and immediately my nurse comes in. In the meantime, I am PUUUUUSHING. Or my body is. I have the uncontrollable urge to push. They want me to turn on my back, but I can’t. I tried before and it’s too much pressure. Dave and the nurses push/pull me over to my back. The doctor isn’t here yet. I am mid-push and my nurse is telling me to stop pushing. I yell that I can’t stop pushing! She is holding what I think now is the baby’s head. It feels more like she’s holding her head IN though, and I am confused and angry for a second. Dr. Gentry walks into the room. He puts on gloves. I push one last time. There she is, on the bed. They clean her up, get her breathing, Dr. Gentry cuts the cord just as I’m asking Dave if he wants to cut the cord. Hehe. No biggie. Dave doesn’t mind. He was only planning to cut the cord this time because he cut Kairi’s at Dr. Kouri’s insistence. The cord was wrapped loosely around Brenna’s neck twice. After Brenna is breathing, they wrap her and take her to the adjoining room with Dave. Dr. Gentry pushes on my belly and I deliver the placenta. The cord is very long. Let me tell you, delivering the placenta… it actually felt good. I think I even sighed with relief as it came out.

When Brenna came out, I didn’t experience any pain. Just intense pressure. The only thing that really hurt during this time was the contractions. After the placenta was delivered, I still had contractions. My mind was elsewhere though. I was focused on my new baby, and feeling great. I mean it. I felt great. I needed one stitch, and Dr. Gentry said it was more of a just in case, rather than necessary. This birth experience was so different. I was definitely NOT in the ideal control that I envisioned. However, I did get the chance to experience an epidural-free birth, which was my goal! I did it!

Oh, and during all this – in most delivery units, the bottom half of the bed can be removed, and stirrups are lifted in preparation for birth. We never had a chance to get to that part. My little Brenna was born on the bed itself. This time around, no one had to hold my legs back for me. After she was born, they raised the stirrups so I could get checked out. And guess who walks in at that moment? Eleesa! My friend walked into the room exactly 3 minutes too late to witness the birth. We called her while prepping for the hospital trip, but she had over an hour to drive to the hospital. We had intended for her to be support during labor, because she had a natural birth with her daughter. I’m not sure if she was intended to be more for Dave or for me though. Both of us, now that I think about it. Eleesa stayed for a few hours, talking and all that. Brenna was at the nursery getting cleaned up and tested. She scored 9 on the Apgar. Before she left, Dave took her to the nursery to see Brenna. I was hoping she’d be able to hold her before leaving the hospital, but I never had the chance to ask her later. Dave left for home at the same time. I spent the night in the same room I delivered in, drifting in and out of sleep, wondering when I’d see Brenna again. I kept asking, but they kept telling me another 30 minutes or so. I was half-awake most of the night, I think from the adrenaline rush of giving birth. I had to be helped to the bathroom the first time I went, more to make sure I was okay, then I was given the clear to go on my own.

One thing I forgot about after giving birth to Kairi. Bread-dough tummy. I remembered that I still looked pregnant for a while after giving birth before – but I forgot just how pregnant you still look while all of the organs are shifting back, and how weird it feels.

Anyway, they finally brought Brenna to nurse for the first time around 6am. I had to wait till the pediatrician checked her out of the nursery. I learned that she was a bit jaundiced, and that they were monitoring her closely because she had a positive Coombs factor. It’s a blood typing issue. My blood type is O+, which means I have two recessive O alleles. Brenna’s is B+, just like Dave. I never thought this would be a problem because we are both Rh factor positive. Apparently the Coombs factor is similar to the Rh factor. When our blood types are different, it can create blood type problems. My body can produce antigens against her B blood type. Really, with the Coombs factor, it really just means that I have passed along more than the normal amount of red blood cells. In newborns, shortly after birth, the newborn circulatory system starts breaking down the red blood cells passed along from the mother. In adults these would be processed by an enzyme created by the liver, but in a newborn the liver isn’t yet functioning at normal capacity. The red blood cells breaking down causes jaundice. They check this through the bilirubin levels. Normally this corrects itself. However, with the elevated red blood cell levels, the bilirubin levels get to much higher levels. Untreated jaundice can cause neurological problems. Poor Brenna had to have her levels checked a lot while we were in the hospital. She was fine every time they checked, thank goodness. A good thing about breastfeeding is that it helps push the meconium through the digestive tract faster, which helps with jaundice.

She’s nursing great, btw. A minor latch issue, but nothing we can’t handle. In fact, I was very surprised when my milk came in the first day after giving birth. I attribute this to little Brenna being rather aggressive when it comes to eating. Yow. She actually had the seedy yellow bowel movements before we left the hospital, which means the meconium was cleared from her system – AND we left the hospital early. We were actually discharged on Sunday afternoon, after having her Saturday morning, with the agreement that we would go to the pediatrician’s office and have her bilirubin levels checked once more. No problem! I was ready to go home!

Brenna is 11 days old now. She has already lost a lot of the newborn look. She and Kairi both were born with strong necks. Brenna is extremely determined and strong. This child lunges for the breasts, and can climb upward. She’s feisty when her diaper is being changed, but otherwise she is a much calmer baby than Kairi ever was. I think this might be because we are calmer parents. We are both confident in our abilities, unlike when Kairi was born. I was a nervous mess back then. It’s amazing how easy this is the second time around.

Btw, I'm definitely going to tell my Ob about the MAJOR differences between getting an epidural and not getting one. I vote NO on the epidural, for the mere fact that I had a much faster recovery!