Blakely’s Birth Story

I hate to even think about it but reality is starting to set in. After 12 weeks of bliss at home with my sweet girl, I head back to work a week from today. It has been so much fun dedicating all of my time getting to know our Miss Blakely. I can’t even begin to tell you how glad I am that I took the full 12 weeks of maternity leave. I recommend it to ANY mama-to-be.

But realizing that she will be 12 weeks old next week is also crazy to think about! In light of the fact that our family will be thrown back into our ‘normal routine’ in just a few short days, I wanted to dedicate a blog post to how Blakely decided to join our family.

It all started when I went in for my 39 week check up. I had an elevated blood pressure which was a first for this pregnancy. They had monitored Blakely’s growth very closely starting around the 30 week mark because she was measuring pretty inconsistently. Preeclampsia had been something the doctor had brought up as a possibility, but up until now my blood pressure had been normal and every time we would do an ultrasound to check on Miss B’s growth, she was measuring small yet normal. They chalked it up the fact that I was small so baby must be small. However, I just knew something about this pregnancy was different. I felt like my belly had stopped growing at 36 weeks.

Once my blood pressure spiked my doc got a little more concerned. They monitored baby’s movement and heart rate while also checking my blood pressure every 20 minutes for about an hour and a half. All the while I am super anxious because I’m 39 weeks and assuming the worst. However, my blood pressure went back down and baby was doing fine. Preeclampsia was no longer a major concern.

My doctor was still open to inducing given I was 39 weeks, my measurements seemed odd, and how anxious I seemed. I was very ready for baby to come so I agreed to come in the following day for a scheduled induction.

As you might expect, I didn’t sleep very well that night knowing I would be meeting our baby girl the next day. Not to mention that I was still quite anxious and feeling like something wasn’t quite right. I also knew I was about to be hooked up to Pitocin which I had experienced during my labor with Carsten. Yuck.

We arrived at the hospital at 7 am the next morning to start the induction. I was hooked up to Pitocin at 8 am after they had checked me in and asked what felt like 600 questions. My doctor came in to talk to me about what her schedule looked like that day and when she planned to check in on me. It was then that she informed us that it was exactly a mile if you walked 16 laps around labor and delivery. So we started walking!

On lap 14 my nurses peeked out of my room to request that I come back in for vitals, etc. Being set on completing the mile walk, I asked if I could finish two more laps. Sweetly, they allowed it. 😉

After completing my mile walk (around 10 am) we went back to my room and that’s when things really started rockin’ and rollin’. By 11 am, I was visibly uncomfortable. Since I had not had an epidural with Carsten, I had already planned on not having one with Blakely. But by this point I had a swift reminder of what serious contractions felt like. My nurses explained the epidural process/procedure and even though I was in pain, I still didn’t feel like I wanted to go through with an epidural.

My nurse also explained that I could be put on a pain control drug to take the edge off. I agreed to that since it was as simple as adding it to my IV drip. They started the pain med (Fentanyl) at about 11:30 am and then I was allowed to eat lunch. By 11:50 am, the pain med had me feeling like I had taken four shots of tequila. So naturally I started hitting on my husband. 😉 It really did help take the edge off so I was happy with my decision and would totally recommend this option to other mamas.

Not only did the Fetanyl kick in quickly, it also wore off quickly. They gave me another dose at 12:30 am, right after my doctor had checked on me. When I had come in that morning, I was already at a 3.5 (woohoo!). But when they checked around noon, I had only gotten to a 4. (What a downer… I had just walked a mile!)

My nurse then left to grab lunch and I was in bed. About 2 minutes after my nurse left I felt the contractions get really intense. I was still on the Fentanyl, which up to this point had really helped with pain management. But all of a sudden, it didn’t feel like it was doing a whole lot. I was concentrating and breathing through the pain but I told the nurse who had come in to cover for my first nurse that I felt like things were really starting to happen. She took a look at my contractions and not only did she call my nurse back from lunch… she had to quickly call in my doctor. My doctor got there at about 1 pm (reminder I had just been checked about an hour before) and I was at a 8.5! I couldn’t believe it. I was somewhat terrified by how quickly everything was happening.

Everyone was called in and our room filled with people. It took about two contractions to get from that 8.5 to a 10 and then I was pushing. I pushed through about 4 contractions and by 1:40 pm Blakely was here. She was perfect. She IS perfect.

Remember how I said that I felt like something was wrong? My doctor said almost right away that my placenta looked awful. She showed it to me (yes… very curious mind here) and showed me how discolored, small and just all around bad it was. This explained Blakely’s smaller size and why I had felt I stopped growing. I had a bum placenta, folks! Thankfully, Miss B was fine but both my doctor and I were thankful we had decided to induce labor as a lazy placenta (this is not a real medical term… just what I like to call it 😉 ) can result in still birth. So many answered prayers for the safe delivery of our 6 lb. 5 oz. / 21.5 inches of beautiful baby B.

It all went so incredibly fast. Labor. Maternity leave. All of it. You hear all of the time, “You blink and they’ve grown.” There’s no truer phrase. Now at almost three months old, we have a gorgeous, fun, constantly smiling and (most importantly) healthy baby girl.

I have to thank you all for your continued support and kind words throughout my pregnancy and upon her arrival. I will continue to share glimpses of our sweet girl. We are so incredibly in love with her and our family feels so perfectly complete. Praise God!

xo – M

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