Sawyer Noelle was born July 10th, 2014 at 7:58PM, weighing 7.1 pounds and 19 inches long. I had a doctors appointment on Monday the 7th, Dr. Twelves gave me the option of keeping my induction date the 10th (due to pre-eclampsia) or we could wait until the 17th since my blood pressure was back into the normal range. It took a couple of hours to decide but we chose to stay with the 10th. I was scared and nervous but couldn’t wait to meet our Baby Girl.
Shannon (Dr. Twelves nurse) called Riverton Hospital to arrange for me to go in on the night of the 9th for cervical ripening.
That day was so surreal. I tried sleeping in to get some extra rest but I was so nervous and excited that I couldn’t. I went to breakfast at The Original Pancake House with my Mom and Gammy. Afterwords, I came home and made sure the house was spotless. I washed all of the laundry, made sure everything on my checklists (yes I made 2 different checklists) was packed and then relaxed in the afternoon. I showered and got ready around 4:00PM, because Danny and I were going on our last non-parent date.
Since I wouldn’t be able to eat for awhile, Danny and I went to my favorite restaurant The Wild Rose. We filled up on their yummy bread/butter and beef tenderloin. After dinner we went home to load up the many bags I packed. I’m not a good packer to begin with and had no idea what I would need…turns out we really didn’t need much and now I know for next time.
It had been raining but cleared up as we were driving to the hospital and there was a beautiful rainbow. My mom thought it was a “perfect sign from heaven”. We checked into the hospital at 8:00PM. My nurse Amber took us to our delivery room #9, had me change, took my vitals and went over what was in store for that night. I had to take Cytotec every 3 hours so she would be coming in and out a lot. My first dose was at 9:00PM. We hung out for a little bit before getting ready for bed. Shortly after I started feeling really nauseous, so I called the nurse in and she gave me Zofran which helped a little. A couple hours later I was starting to have contractions. Turns out contractions are pretty painful! When the nurse came in for my second dose of Cytotec, I told her I was in a lot of pain so she gave me Fentanyl, which helped, but only lasts an hour. She was constantly in my room to give me one of the medications, check vitals or help me to the restroom.
The anesthesiologist came to my room at 2:30AM asking if I wanted my epidural….umm its a little soon for that! I didn’t want to be bed bound all night and morning. Well he apparently didn’t like that answer because he came the next hour asking if I had changed my mind. I continued with Fentanyl and was just fine.
The next morning I got up at 6:00AM…not like I had slept much or was going to get much sleep. So I got up and got ready (yes I’m one of those girls). My doctor broke my water at 7:03AM. We chatted for a bit and then she said she would see me later that day. My nurse was done with her shift so the nurses were switching everything over and starting me on Pitocin. I was really nauseous, the Zofran was no longer working and I started throwing up. My nurse gave me Reglan for the nausea (which can cause fatigue and drowsiness). My contractions were getting stronger and stronger. I was having a really hard time between throwing up and contractions so I asked for my epidural at 9:23AM. Luckily it was a different anesthesiologist 🙂 By the time he got to my room I was fighting to stay awake because of the Reglan. I almost fell asleep while I was getting my epidural. I laid back down and I was out within 2 minutes.
I was still pretty sick and threw up a couple more times throughout the day. I was able to catch up on sleep since I knew I would need energy to get through the delivery. I’m not sure if it was all of the medication, not feeling well or a combination of everything but I was really hot. The room temperature was turned down and the nurse brought a fan to my room. Poor Danny, Crystal, Mom and Dad. They were all freezing and bundled up in blankets all day.
The nurse came in at 1:47PM to check and I was only dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced. She flushed my internal monitor to track my contractions and see if they were strong enough to change my cervix. At around 3:00PM a different nurse came in to check me again and I was a little over a 3. She said she was going to call Dr. Twelves and see if they should start prepping me for a C-section. I was devastated! I wanted to experience childbirth and skin to skin right after giving birth. The nurse came back shortly after and told me Dr.Twelves wanted to continue the path we were on and had them turn the pitocin all the way up. I laid there for a bit trying to prepare myself mentally for a C-section, all the while having pretty painful contractions.
The nurse came back around 4:00PM to check me. I was paying close attention to her facial expression because I thought I would know before she told me. I was completely surprised when she said “Are you ready to have a baby? You’re a 10!” I couldn’t believe it! The nurse then went to call my doctor to inform her.
She came back around 4:30 and they had me rest and descend. An hour and half later they had me start pushing. My legs felt too heavy at that point so the nurse and my Mom held my legs, Crystal took pictures and Danny was holding my hand and cheering me on. During my contractions the nurse and my Mom would hold my legs up, have me take a deep breath and push for 10 seconds and repeat two more times. I had a hard time with the third set because I was so out of breath and couldn’t wait for the 10 seconds to be up.
The nurses ended up giving me oxygen because Baby Girl was taking longer and longer to recover from the contractions and pushing. That of course scared me but I tried to calm down since I knew that would just make it worse. In between the contractions I would close my eyes, try to regain some energy and just focus on the fact that I would soon be meeting our baby girl. After about an hour I was ready for delivery so the nurses called my doctor and told her. She was at the gym and said she needed to take a quick shower and that I would appreciate it. She said she would be there in 10 minutes.
While we were waiting, all I could think about was poor Baby Girl is stuck waiting and her poor head was most likely being smashed. About 20 minutes later Dr. Twelves arrived, she broke down the bed and had me start pushing again. 4 sets of pushing later Dr. Twelves, Crystal and my Mom, were all talking about how much hair she has. Dr. Twelves used a towel to clean her off (Crystal almost told her to stop hurting her) Dr. Twelves said “she’s coming out with her hair already done”. She then asked if I wanted to see…I tried to sit up to see but my big belly was in the way and I couldn’t see.
3 more sets of pushing and Baby Girl was delivered at 7:58PM. They laid her on my chest and I was in complete awe. I couldn’t believe after 9 long months she was finally here. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She was so tiny and yet big at the same time. They started cleaning her off then took her over to be checked out, measured, and cleaned off.
Crystal and my Mom were over at the table taking pictures and holding her hand. Dr. Twelves continued to work on me. I could feel a slight tugging motion while I was talking to her. She then had the nurse give me another dose of my epidural because my placenta didn’t fully detach.
Baby Girl weighed 7.1 pounds and was 19 inches long. Crystal said “I won the time and Danny won weight and length”. We all made predictions earlier in the day.
The nurse laid her back on my chest and in that moment I knew our lives would forever be changed.
My Love how beautiful you are.
Endearing Charm 