The Baby Story: Unexpected Suprises

So here's the low down on how my baby came to be (not the first stages- we all know how that happened). 

It started on a Saturday night at our ward Halloween party. I started feeling contractions every 20 minutes. They weren't very strong, but I knew that finally things were happening. It made me really excited because it was the day before my due date and it would be super awesome if she came on her due date.

The contractions continued through the night (very hard to sleep through by the way) every 20 minutes. In the morning around 9, they started to get farther apart and we were sad, hoping that it would have progressed instead of slowing down. 

That night they started up again at 20 minutes apart and by Monday morning around 5:30, they were coming 3-5 minutes apart and went on for a good hour. YAY! It's time to go to the hospital!

Now, our car has an odd quirk. Sometimes if it's too cold outside, then the ignition won't start and it will alert the security system and you have to wait 10 minutes for it to let you start it again. So as my contrations got closer and closer together I told Matt to go start the car once to make sure it was ready for when we needed to go. So he did, twice. And it started perfectly both times. YAY!

So now it was time to get in the car and go to the hospital. Matt had packed all our things in. I was listening to my hypnobabies tracks and was ready. I got all buckled in and Matt started the car. It would not start. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! I need to go to the hospital now! So we said a prayer and the car started! And then promptly turned off... umm.. what?

Luckily, we thought ahead in case such a scenario happened. Some gracious friends of ours down the street lent us a spare key to one of their cars just in case ours didn't want to work on D-Day. So Matt sprints inside the house for the key and seconds later I see him sprinting as fast as he can down the street for the other car (honestly he didn't have to sprint, just because my contractions were 4 minutes apart, doesn't mean the baby is about to pop out. I would have been screaming at him to hurry if that was the case). 

So I go to the other car, Matt tosses everything unceremoniously in the back and we are off. We get to the hospital and to labor and delivery and the front desk lady is like, what do you need? And Matt is like, "she's having a baby right now." And the lady seemed confused and didn't really know what she was doing, it was weird. She was trying to get me to fill out this slip of paper, but Matt had to tell her that he would do it because obviously I was in pain, duh. 

They finally took me to a room and had me change and were asking a ton of questions and getting all set up. I just wanted to start working on getting this baby out instead of lying on my back answering questions. 

I had been working on this program called Hypnobabies for a while to help me with labor and I was really excited to actually attempt going natural with this birth. Matt was really supportive of it and I was really excited to go through this with him by my side. 

They felt for the baby's head to make sure she was head down. The nurse said she was pretty sure she was but to do a quick ultrasound just to make sure. So she brought it in and she seemed a little confused and told me she would get the charge nurse to come in and read it because she was better at it. So they got her to come in and she confirmed that the baby was, in fact, butt down. 

They then had a doctor come in and tell me I would need a C-section. Absolutely not, was what I was thinking. I had been working so hard on Hypnobabies with Matt, I was ready to do this naturally. I asked if they could try and turn her (you know, like you see in all the cool doctor shows). But they had to see if my water had broken or not because if it had, then I would have to get the C-section (It's apparently SUPER painful to turn a baby with your water broken. Or unbroken for that matter). And they told me only rogue doctors will deliver a baby butt first and that it can cause serious neck and head pulling on the baby if done that way which could really hurt or kill baby. And we don't want that.

Anyways, it turned out my water was broken and this was my only choice. I was devastated at first. It was the last thing I imagined actually happening to me. Plus, it seemed really freaky to me to imagine cutting me open and pulling this child out of me in such an unnatural way. I was so distraught, but after talking with my mom on the phone and getting a blessing from my Bishop and husband, I felt a little more confident and started thinking about the positive aspects of getting a C-section. 

So with original birth plan thrown way out of the window, I proceeded into the operating room. They put an IV in me and gave me a spinal to numb me from mid-belly all the way to my toes. It was not a nice feeling to have no control of my body. It made me want to cry. My biggest fear was that I would feel them tugging my belly and know when they were cutting out the baby. The cool thing was, I didn't feeling a thing! All of a sudden they were saying, "Here comes baby's legs!" What?? No warning that you were cutting me open? That's OK, I think it was better that way. I even almost fell asleep!

Finally she was out. It only took them about 10 minutes from the time they put in my spinal. It was the putting back together that took about 35 minutes. Which is OK, take your time and do a good job!

They took her into the next room, where Matt got to go and watch them wash her and wrap her up. He then brought her in to see me. He put her on my chest for a moment, but my hands were so shaky from the drugs and hormones I could only have her there for a minute. They didn't trust me to hold her by myself yet. At the time I didn't feel like crying, but now that I'm writing this, I feel pretty emotional (probably all those new mommy hormones). 

She was 6 lbs and 3 oz. SUPER TINY! Even though she went to 40 weeks and a day. They had to check her blood sugar all the time because she is so small, but she was perfect every time and passed all her tests. 

The drugs from the spinal didn't fully wear off until that evening and into the next day. I was hooked up to so many machines and monitors, by the second day I was so grateful to get them all taken off. We had to stay for 4 days because a C-section takes a lot of rehab and figuring out how to use your body again. 

I am home now and still have staples in my belly(which we call franken-belly). I am getting a bit better every day. I am so lucky to have such a supportive husband and a mother who take care of me right now. She is sleeping in bed with me to help get the baby at night and so Matt can get sleep for school. I can't really do much for myself right now, so pretty much I have to ask for everything. But they don't mind and are very helpful. I'm pretty slow when I walk (like a grandma) and it takes me a few minutes to sit down or stand up. I don't get much sleep because I have to sleep slightly sitting up and because the baby is up all night eating and pooping and crying. It's not so bad though. I have a lot more appreciation for other moms who have gotten a C-section. I didn't know how much it does to you. And I'm glad I have the experience now.

Well, I think you have probably heard enough. Sorry if I put in way too many details. I tend to over-tell all my stories haha. But there you go. That's how it all went down. And it's not all bad either. I now have an adorable baby girl. See?

Olivia Hazel Dunstan