Peyton's Birth Story
August 17th, 2014
We were on our second power walk of the day on
the evening of Saturday August 16th, 2014.
We stopped and chatted with various neighbors who were curious about when
little P would be joining us. I assured
them that she would be at least another two weeks arriving- most likely Labor Day weekend (fitting,
right?) Little did I know that little
Miss Peyton had other plans for us...
We had dinner that night at Brookridge (our
gym/club) and sat outside, as the August weather was being very nice to us KC
residents. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and making a quick run to
the store to get milk for cereal for Sunday morning that we would end up NOT
needing...! Chris and I went to bed at 11:30 and 60 minutes later I woke up to
a "I'm having an accident in my bed" sensation. Over the next 10 minutes or so, I figured out
that my water had broken and I started to do some legit deep breathing to start
this whole process out calmly... which believe it or not I did! I woke Chris up
and then called my OB- the on call OB called me back and told us to come in...
also mentioning to "not clean the house or do any picking up" which
was comical as I was doing just that as I was on the phone with her. She couldn't have been nicer and made me feel
more at ease just in our short conversation.
So at 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 17th the
adventure began! :) We gathered our things which were already pretty much
pulled together in the "hospital staging room" - a.k.a what used to
be the guest room- and headed to the hospital. Since it was the middle of the
night, we went to the ER- where the lovely (sarcasm) security man asked us if
we were there to "see someone." Strange question to ask someone 9
months pregnant with a suitcase. We were checked into the triage area where a
nurse confirmed that my water had broken but I was still not dilated at all,
nor was I having contractions. My
effacement was the same it had been for 3 weeks (50%) so no progress had been
made, other than the water works in our bedroom. Since my water HAD broken,
protocol was to be admitted.
Our first nurse we had was so, so nice- her name
was Terri. She told us the plan for the
night was basically a waiting game to see if my body would go into labor on its
own or not. I had to be hooked up to the
fetal monitors every 20 minutes out of the hour but the rest of the time I
could power walk the halls- which we did.
Surprisingly, the night flew by.
Morning was around the corner and nurses would be checking for progress
(need to be dilated to more than a 1 or I would have to have Cervadil, a drug
that softens your cervix). I really did
not want the Cervadil, as it would mean I'd be bedridden until noon when they'd
start Pitocin (labor inducer/helper)- and anyone who knows me knows that me being
forced to be stationary for any length of time is not good for anyone... 7:00 a.m.-ish rolled around, the nurses
checked me and low and behold I was dilated to a 3! HALLELUJAH! :) No Cervadil!
I was put on Pitocin to get things moving (still wasn't feeling contractions
much and they were 8-10 minutes apart and irregular) at 8:30 a.m. or so.
With the start of the Pitocin, I promptly asked
if we could pair the Pitocin with my epidural- to which the on call doctor (not
my usual doctor but the nice lady from my 12:30 a.m. phone call) replied
"no." She wanted my
contractions to be more regular and closer together- which to me translated to
"I want you to feel more pain."
Not cool. So we waited. To pass the time, Chris and I just talked and
listened to music on my tablet (John Mayer radio on Pandora- highly
recommend...). I also had my face fan
that I can't live without so between the music, cool breeze, ice chips, and
occasional popsicle I was dandy.
By 10:30 or so I had started to feel cramping
but nothing unbearable. Contractions
were much closer together but still irregular.
I asked again about the epidural and my wish was granted- the anesthesiologist
arrived around 11 to administer it.
Unfortunately, our wonderful family vet's husband who was going to do my
epidural was done with his shift right as I was ready for it- so he didn't get
to do it. I'm sure he was devastated (sarcasm)... but the lady we had was
great. Very assertive and the whole thing was no big deal. My waist down slowly went numb but not
completely- my legs felt tingly... kind of how your body feels when something
is falling asleep. Kind of strange. I
felt a little yucky after getting it... not sure why. Felt very anxious and nervous (not
emotionally but my body was acting this way).
Chris got a cool washcloth for my head and after a little while I felt
calmer and cooled down. Maybe an adverse
reaction to the epidural but nothing unmanageable.
Around 1 or so (everything is "or so"
because let's be real- this is all a blur), I was checked for progress again
and I had gone from a 3 to a 4... I was bummed. Could this move any slower?
Chop chop! The waiting game continued as I was switched from laying on one side
to the other- getting turned by nurses with a half dead weight body was quite
the experience. Those girls are
saints. Thinking we were truly going to
be there all day and probably the week following in labor, I was impatient but
calm. I got checked again around 3:30
and the nurses couldn't believe that I had gone from a 4 to a 10 (or
"complete") in such a short period.
They asked if I felt the need to push to which I replied no. The doctor decided that since baby was fine
and so was I that I would "labor down" for awhile- basically my body
was ready to rock and roll but I didn't feel any sensation to do so- so I got
to lay there and let things naturally progress, baby moving down etc. without
any real work on my part- yes, please!
We found out that my wonderful doctor would be
coming in at 5! I was elated. I wanted P
to wait til then to come so that my doctor could deliver her but hey, I wasn't
in charge. The other OB who I had had
all day called my doctor and updated her- my doctor came in a little early so
she could deliver our baby! So cool. The
nurses had me do a couple of practice pushes a little before five and pretty
soon my doctor arrived. The room was
being prepped and a flood of people had come in- all calmly though, which was nice. Keeping the mood calm was good. :) As this was going on, Canon in D was
playing on my tablet which was a little emotional, as it was what I walked down the aisle to at
our wedding. My doctor came over and
informed us that it was game time- so at 5 or a little after I started to push
for real. 7-8 pushes and 15 minutes
later, Peyton Day came into our world! I
couldn't believe how fast it went. When
they pulled her out and held her up, I immediately burst into tears and said
"Oh my gosh, she's real!" to which the nurses all laughed. My word
for this whole pregnancy experience was "surreal" and seeing her
finally confirmed that she had indeed been in my tummy for all that time and
was the real deal. Chris cut the cord
and they put her on my chest right away.
Wow. The feeling was indescribable.
I immediately knew she was mine and my life would never be the same.
My parents had been in the waiting room for not
that long (we called to have them come up once the time got closer for her to
arrive) and they were shocked with how quickly she came, too! Chris went out to get them and they wanted to
know her name- to which he wouldn't tell. :) My mom had guessed her name a few
months ago- very eerie!- and Chris and I had been looking forward to seeing
their reaction when we told them that they had been right all along.
Peyton is truly a gift from God and we are forever blessed to be her mommy and daddy.
