39weeks--Kynlee's Birth Story

Kynlee Grace’s Birth Story

I’ll start with Thursday September 17th, I went to work and wasn’t feeling well so I took it pretty easy that day, I could tell my blood pressure was high and had nurses at work check it for me and sure enough it was. I took most of the afternoon off to rest at home. I called my dr Friday morning as I was still getting reading of 140-150/ 90-100, they had me come in early for my NST, the first few when I got there were okay, but the longer I sat their they started to creep up, I also wasn’t feeling Kynlee move as much, which is an issue with high BP. Dr Phelps asked me to stay on bed rest over the weekend and to come in at 8:50am Monday morning. So I headed home and stopped at Pizza Glen on the way home, Dillon got off work early that day for some reason so we hung out at home the rest of the day. Being on bed rest was not fun, I don’t know how people make months like that. I eventually had Dillon bring our mattress into the living room so that I could lay on it and watch the big tv as the couch was not comfortable anymore. My BP didn’t improve over the weekend. It stayed pretty much the same and even my meds weren’t bringing it down anymore. I felt horrible. I was still having occasional braxton hicks, but they had slowed down even more than previous weeks and her movement was still slow. My head didn’t quit hurting all weekend, I was swollen, and groggy/in a fog from the medication.

Monday Sept 21, I made my way into Dr Phelps office, dizzy and light headed and with a plan to tell her to get this baby out of me it wasn’t good for either of us to keep going, thankfully I didn’t have to. My BP wasn’t as high but knowing that being on bed rest hadn’t brought it down and that I was 39 weeks, there was no reason to keep suffering. When she checked my cervix, I was still a 1-2 cm but had effaced a lot more, however her head was still a bit high. She said I think we need to induce. .All I could say was please and thank you. She left to go see what her schedule was for the week and to call the hospital to see what day would be good for them. She came back about 5 minutes later and said “how’s this afternoon”, I said PERFECT! She told me to check in at L&D at 4 pm and that we would start with cytotec and then try Pitocin. We talked a bit about my hopes for med free, but she informed me that if we did pit I would have to stay in bed, and that if my BP got too out of control they would suggest an epi to calm me and bring down the pressure.

I text Dillon on the way out of the office, and told him to leave work at noon, we were having a baby! I don’t think he believed me at first, I think his response was whatever...then I called my mom and Robin and told them that we were just starting meds tonight, we’ll call when progress is happening, it’ll probably be in the morning. Headed home to make sure the bags were packed and all was in order. Dillon was home when I got home, because I had to go do my NST in the mean time. We had everything ready about 2, and then decided to go grab some food from Smiths, well in the mean time it ABSOLUTELY poured rain, like we almost didn’t make it down 3rd or Ohio street from so much rain! We left the dogs at home, my dad was going to come pick up Truman later on and take him to their house and Izzy just stayed in her pin.

We got to the hospital about 3:30, thankfully we were early because there was huge line! When we got back to the room they went through all the normal stuff, got a hep lock in after several attempts, it ended up in my right hand which made signing releases fun! They asked a million and two questions, and I got in my cute gown. . About 5:15 they came in to give me my first cytotec insert, so Chuck and Dillon went to dinner, since they had brought mine. I had half a pill at 5:15 and was told they could do another one in 4 hours. I got up and moved around a little bit, but only could move for a while as I had to be hooked up to the monitors once an hour for 20 mins. At 9 they came in to put in another ½ pill. Woo it worked almost immediately. Contractions started shooting through the roof. I think I was dilated to like a 2.5-3 and effacing more at 9. So those contractions were painful and in my back, I started with walking around the room and eventually moved into the hall way with walking, but had to stop moving during contractions. They were 2-4 mins apart and lasting 30-60 seconds. Dillon was sleeping on and off and I was trying to relax. Around 1 I asked them to bring in a birthing ball, which helped some, but the pain was so far down into my bottom and in my back that it didn’t help much and the counter pressure wasn’t being effective either, it would work for a little bit but then not. I can’t remember if I had a 3rd cytotec, I don’t think I did as I was contracting well on my own.

About 3 am I was still at a 3 but effacing more and I think this is about the time the nurse started saying she could feel hair! Woot! The nurse also remembered that I wanted a rub with a Jacuzzi tub, so we moved into a room with one and it was fabulous! Especially at first! I labored in it for a good hour and then got hooked up to the machines, contractions while in bed where unbelievable, I absolutely dreaded that 20 minutes. Thankfully my BP wasn’t too bad, they called Dr Phelps about this time and she was okay with my BP and not starting any other meds yet, so I went back to the tub for another 40 mins but it was losing its effect especially as the water cooled off. After I got out the 2nd time I think my water broke while I was on the toilet but I didn’t realize it until later. Humming through contractions was effective a bit too. Dillon was still being supportive and rubbing my back and holding my hand as need be.

About 5 they were getting unbearable and I was barely 4 cm, just still effacing more and she was dropping some. Around 6 am I started crying through contractions, I couldn’t get out of bed as my BP was starting to climb and they wanted me to stay monitored. I had been having off the scale contractions for 7 hours and was starting to get weak physically. I asked when I could get an epi about 6:30 and the nurse said it was still a little early and they were getting ready to switch anesthesiologists and if I could hold out it would be better, so they started giving me fetnol (spelling?), which made me feel like I had just chugged a bottle of vodka, Dillon didn’t like me telling everyone that :). I had 3 doses of that and finally about 8:30 they got an anesthesiologist there an hour after it was requested and I was at an absolute breaking point. I wasn’t sure I was going to live lol, it was horrible and I was sobbing. I didn’t want the epi but knew I wasn’t going to survive without it, my back was hurting so bad, the pain hadn’t went away in over 6 hours, there was no “break” between contractions for me, although it was worse during a contraction, it never totally went away.

They let Dillon stay in the room during the epi which really surprised me, so he was standing in front of me and the nurse and Dr start yelling at each other about them taking so long for a dr to get there to give me the epi. Like literally yelling and I’m sobbing because I was so tired and in so much pain and here they are being unprofessional so I screamed why are we talking about this? And the dr says “I’m preparing your medicine” I said good do it in silence. Then he tells me he’s putting the needle in, then I look up at Dillon and he’s saying hun, hun, hun and his eyes started rolling back in his head and I said are you okay? and he said no and starts falling towards me, as I’m supposed to be sitting still and there is a needle in my spine.....so I holler at the nurse who comes and helps him sit down but she’s holding him so he doesn’t hit his head and the dr is holding a needle in my back and I can’t reach the call button, so the dr just leaves the needle in my back and then goes to get help..they brought him food and I got some pain relief. And all was better. For a while. The nurse also apologized for their behavior, the dr did too a little but not much.

Dr phelps came in to break my water, but it was already broke and I had progressed to a 5 within minutes from before the epi. I was 90% effaced at this point and a zero station. She said looking good and left. I started shaking bad at this point, uncontrollably, they brought me warm blankets, but it didn’t really help. My mom and Dill’s parents got there about 10 am, but they didn’t get to come in because Kynlee started having heart decels with contractions so I was put on oxygen and they wanted me to roll on my side and rest while they watched her. They also put a monitor in me to monitor the pressure of contractions to see if they should have been progressing me more and they put a monitor on her head to get a better heart rate tracing to see if the decels where justified. Parents did eventually get to come back but then had to leave again when dr phelps came back about eleven to check on me again. I had progressed to a 6 then but her head was not dropping at all, her heart would be fine for a little bit and then not fine, and every time they would get ready to do something she would be fine. My nurse started prepping me for a c section though because she knew it was probably coming. Dr phelps said lets give it an hour to see if you progress any more and I hadn’t, and with the level of contractions I should have been moving along. So I was still shaking, my epi was not completely working, I could still feel the pressure/some pain of contractions and I was on oxygen and scared about her heart rate. At 1p Dr Phelps said lets do the c section which was more than fine with me because I hadn’t slept in 48+ hours and was beyond tired and didn’t know how I was going to push. So everything happened pretty fast, Dill got his sexy little outfit on they upped my epi read me my rights, Dr Phelps came in and went over the dangers, the last words she said were “you could die and baby could die” ack. So they take me back and Dill has to sit out and wait. I was still shaking really bad but then Dill came back and they started cutting. That was the strangest feeling ever. I’m not even going to try to describe it you just have to feel it to know. The new dr from anesthesiology that I had was fabulous and explained everything to me. Then they pulled her out at 1:59 am on Sept 22, 2009 and first said woah lots of hair! And then said “It’s a girl” and I said are you sure?! And they said yes...I wish I had a picture of Dillon’s face when they said it’s a girl :) it was priceless and you could tell his life was forever changed. I said is she beautiful? He just nodded. She struggled with breathing at first so they put some oxygen on her and then once she was somewhat okay they came and put her head next to mine, she was beautiful. He left with her while they stitched me up and then took me to recovery. That was the worst thing ever. They did bring me pictures of her and she looked JUST like Dillon when he was a baby. Then they took me back to my room, where Dillon was holding her and seeing him look at her as I came around that corner was amazing, I still tear up thinking about it. The hardest part was that our parents were in there, so we didn’t ever get a family moment, and they had already all held her, which is still hard for me, but it’s alright, she’s here and beautiful. She was wide awake for about 3 hours after delivery which was col and then she was out like a light! And we got some alone time when grandparents went on a shopping spree.

A couple hours later, I got a phone call from a lady who had found Truman out on the highway (a mile down gravel from my parents house) he had been ran over by a truck. She very kindly took him in town and met Allison and Eric with him. They all said he was just scared and stiff but was wagging his tail and could walk. Thank God for them taking care of him, and we called our vet, Elroy at home and he told us what to check and said to bring him in in the morning if we thought he’d be okay through the night. Dillon went home to check on him and he was pretty much okay, he took some childrens tylenol and stayed in his kennel all night his ribs were swollen but he could walk and jump off furniture. I was so upset when I got the phone call, thankfully I was still heavily drugged so I wasn’t as bad as I could have been. And Truman is now fine!

So that’s pretty much all of her delivery!

38th week.

Shockingly still pregnant. Feeling much worse. Very tired of being pregnant. I know I should LOVE being pregnant, and I do, I'm extremely thankful for it and that it was so easy for us to get pregnant. But I hurt, I'm tired, my feet and hands are swollen on the time, my head hurts all of the time, and i'm taking meds that make my heart slow down and make me groggy. I went to the dr tuesday after some pretty good cramping/contracting over the weekend I was looking forward to the internal. Hadn't dilated much more, she could get a finger tip through, she had asked if i wanted membranes stripped so that incase we had to induce my cervix would be more favorable, but i wasn't open enough. However, I had effaced some which apparently is just as good if not better than dilating. So that's good. She upped my BP meds again. Ugh. She had said she would induce, but nope more meds. Annoying. So by Thursday my BP was 150/110 at one point. I was having a bad day at work and hadn't gotten one of my meds filled so i missed it, but even after I took it i only came down to like 145/89. So Friday Morning after feeling terrible all night I called. They wanted to repeat some lab work they did tuesday and do the NST earlier in the day. So my lab work came back fine again, which means everything inside is in working order, which is great news! Of course my BP was fine during the NST, until they faxed it off to the dr then it started creeping back up. She put me on bed rest for the weekend which I've been doing and it's still high. 130-140's/80-90's and I feel worse. Heads hurt all weekend, stomach is completely nauseated, dizzy...all the same ol same ol just a lil worse. I'm praying she'll bring up induction tomorrow. If she doesn't I'm going to be brave and do it! Since it's going to be have baby or bed rest, i'd rather have the baby if i'm going to be using work days..hope she sees that as just cause :)

Babies movement really comes and goes these days..sometimes it goes nuts..then other times I'm super worried because I haven't felt it in a while.

38 Weeks Pregnant

Your Baby
Your baby's intestines have accumulated a considerable amount of meconium (the code name for black, tar-like baby poop), which is usually eliminated shortly after birth and gives you your first experience with the 100-wipe diaper change. Here's what else is up:

Your baby might just scratch herself in the womb as the fingernails have grown over the fingertips now. Resist painting them hot pink when she arrives.

Baby's lungs continue to mature and her brain and nerve function are working better every day. The latter two will continue to mature until Junior is a teenager, at which point she'll know it all (or at least she'll think she does).

Your baby weighs about 6½ pounds and is around 19 or 20 inches long—as long as a duffle bag (in case you needed an excuse to go shopping for a new bag for your labor gear).

37th week full term!

So we would have had the u/s this past week..it went well baby slowed down growing BIG time and was perfectly on track for the date i had planned from the beginning the 29th!
so it was about 6 1/2 pounds..all else looked good, nst went well. my mom went with me since dill was out hunting or whatever. baby liked the ice chips! my bp is still struggling at this point but what's new. i've slowed down working quiet a bit in order to relieve it a little since i'm sure work is a major cause of it! Thursday of this week I started to get a little excited I was having some good contractions about ever 3-5 mins lasting 45 seconds to a minute...then exactly an hour in the quit. ugh.

37 Weeks Pregnant

Your Baby
Huge news this week: You're carrying a full-term baby! If you were to go into labor today, all systems would be a go. Woohoo! Even though you can't wait for the little bambino to quite literally rear his head, keep in mind that your bun benefits from every day in the oven. Other ticker-tape-worthy developments:

Baby's growth slows down dramatically this week, which is great news for your birth canal. His bones are still soft and pliable and will solidify after he's born. More great news for your birth canal.

So if he's all cooked and ready to go, what the heck is he still doing in there?! He's busy practicing for "life on the outside," working on his breathing, sucking, sleeping, gazing and peeing abilities. The only thing he can't practice yet is his ability to scream at the top of his lungs when he's hungry—but he'll do plenty of that in a few weeks.

At this point babies vary in size, but the average length is between 19 and 20 inches and most babies weigh approximately 6 pounds. About the size of an average largemouth bass caught in Minnesota by your cousin Earl.

i did good for a while...

And now i have no clue what i need to tell you about...ugh..i think this is the week that one of my NST's took over two hours to complete..baby would NOT wake up. i had water, juice, crackers...finally it decided to kick just enough..i was contracting pretty majorly the whole time..but not getting movements, the heart wasn't deceling with contractions tho so that's good!

here is the 3d info for week 36..the other info from that week is below! that's when she did the GBS test.

36 Weeks Pregnant

our Baby
Your baby continues to put on weight at about ½ pound each week. This layer of fat will help your baby regulate his body temperature after leaving your climate-controlled womb. In fact, your baby will be 15 percent fat at birth (and you ... well that's another story). Even in the womb, your baby can listen, feel, touch and see. The only thing separating him from living in the outside world is a little thing called the birth canal. Other highlights this week:

His gums are firm with ridges that look somewhat like teeth, though his actual pearly whites won't start breaking through until he's between three months and a year old.

Your baby has definite patterns of sleep and wakefulness—opening his eyes while awake and closing them while sleeping. Your baby will become alert and turn his head toward light and sound just as a newborn would—except when you put on that Celine Dion CD. Then the baby puts his hands up, turns away and gurgles, "Oh no you didn't!"

Your baby is now around 18½ inches long and nearl

yes this makes THREE updates in a week

for all you complainers!

So wed's dr appt my BP was a little high right? normalness for appts. I get home though and still feel like it's high, i take it..it is. rest awhile, still have headache..take it again, still high. bathe/shower...bed time comes, i don't feel good at all...i had dillon rubbin my back and then cuddling me trying to relax myself..it helped a little and I finally got to sleep..wake up around two for my normal potty break, still having a bad headache and i'm really swollen...go back to bed and get some sleep, woke up about 6, took BP still high 140's/90's...which is where dr doesn't want it. so dillon didn't have to work and was talking about going hunting..told him didn't think he should cause i was pretty sure i was going to need to go to the dr. so i called in to work..dillon got called in to work, i fell back asleep, woke up took bp again about 10 still high. i call the dr, she said she was going to order me another med to add to my regiment tonight if it was still high, but for now to take another propranol lay down for two hours, if it's still high to head to L&D. so i laid down for two hours, BP was high the whole time...i got one low reading, but took it again still high....so i head to the burg. get checked in start doing NST, first BP fine. second, third, fourth, fifth..fine. go flippin figure. my head is still killin me though, they said to take tylenol. which had helped earlier in the morning i just hate taking meds, i feel like they're masking symptoms that i'm having for a reason. baby was fine on monitor. my top bp number started creeping up at the end, but when i got home it was fine. the headache went away with tylenol, meds just made me super tired so i rested a lot..i took today off from work again and then next week i've been instructed by my boss that if my dr says its okay to work lightly to do so. in order to save up my days off. BP is a little high this morning 130/80 every time, we'll see what it is once i get to NST this afternoon!

also have u/s so i'll update you after that!

look at me go!

So I figured I'd better update about the past two days before I forget the details..

I headed to my appt yesterday afternoon...pee'd in a cup had just sat down to wait to be called back...dr gets called to go deliver..so we reschedule for this morning..so i went ahead and headed to my NST...baby had been pretty still yesterday, but i figured it was normal since there was so much movement over the weekend. We got some pretty fast heart accels within 15 mins..but only four were registering...baby was moving but heart beat wasn't going up...dr phelps came in after delivering the baby and said lets get one more....hour and a half later..still didn't have it...so a nurse came in moved me to my side...gave me some juice...we had tried crackers too..still not getting much and my bp was going up...mainly because i was scared...finally we got two more accels and they came in and said you can go if you want or stay if that would make you feel better..but told me it was looking pretty good because i was having some pretty good contractions and the heart wasn't deceling which is good. each time a different person would come in they would say are you feeling these?? well yes. i went ahead and left...i was gettin too worked up and wasn't comfortable and was starving..get home..tried relaxing did a kick count..took an hour to get 5...ate something FINALLY 9:45..right on cue baby wakes up..goes nuts..for about 20 minutes..i headed to bed, fell right asleep..woke up about 3:30 realized baby hadn't kept me awake which was out of the ordinary for when it starts kicking that late...so i got scared again, got up and got some water and worked on paper work baby started goin nuts in there..PHEW.

so we head to my appt, she did the GBS test..it wasn't bad at all! blood pressure was a little high, but the girl taking it is terrible and always screws up the first time so then she doesn't let the air all of the way out and then pumps it back up..which you aren't supposed to do. anyways, then dr phelps did an internal too since i've been contracting...she said *tmi warning* that she couldn't get her finger all of the way in but that it was open about this much *held her fingers open 2-3 cm* and that it cones back and was closed in the back..YAY! not officially dilated but working towards it. :) and that it was very soft. so that's all good! progress. She then said she'd like me to stay pregnant at least two more weeks before we think about induction because of my BP's she didn't say much about my fundal height today..i lost my tape somewhere so i cant measure...

so that's about all..im still contracting quit a bit especially before i get home in the evenings..i may ask my supervisor about going part time next week or something...

more pictures..

I decided to go ahead and download these..i need my memory card free anyways. i think these are from the end of my 34th week.