Our baby was due on Monday (January 6th), but as suspected she decided that she wasn't quite ready to come out. We understood that it was fairly normal for the first baby to be late, but the suspense was killing us! It was like each day was Christmas Eve with the promise that the next day would be Christmas, but Christmas day never seemed to come. Despite having Kelsi chase our nephew around the house, going for walks in 30 degree weather, attempting labor inducing acupressure points, and lots of pineapple and spicy enchilada verdes; we were unable to start up her contractions. The doctor told us that Kelsi would be induced the following Monday (January 13th) if her labor did not start naturally.
Saturday, January 11th
Kelsi woke me up on Saturday morning at 2am. She said "I think my water might have broken. I feel a slow drizzle". This seemed highly unlikely to me since most women don't have their water burst naturally and Kelsi had not previously had real contractions. Being as understanding and sympathetic as I could muster at 2am in the morning I said "are you sure?". She replied that she was not, but had been having semi-consistent contractions. In a moment of absolute failure as a husband and father-to-be, I fell back asleep. Kelsi and I would have this conversation about every 20 minutes for the next 3 hours.
Finally, at 5am I was able to pull myself up, get ready, and begin putting our needed things in the car. By 6am Kelsi's contractions had slowed down quite a bit and weren't as painful. She wasn't sure that her water had actually broken so she was hesitant to go to the hospital or even call the doctor so early in the morning. We decided to go to McDonalds for breakfast since we were already awake and going. When we returned home around 7am I encouraged Kelsi to call the on-call doctor. Although Kelsi's contractions weren't consistent, the doctor believed that Kelsi's water may have ruptured and told us to head to the hospital.
At 8am we headed to the hospital fully expecting to be sent home after 30 minutes. A little doubtful, the nurses gave Kelsi a test to confirm that her water had truly burst. I was not aware that there is a smell associated with a burst water, but apparently there is. The nurses quickly picked up on this and moved us to the labor room long before the results of the test came back positive.
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| In triage waiting to be admitted to the hospital |
Around 1:10pm Kelsi was put on an iv to help reduce the pain. It helped reduce the pain mildly, but it also made her hot, nauseous, and a bit delirious. She told me that she "went to 'La La Land' with a very nice black family". She told me he was the President. I asked her if she went to "La La Land" with the Obamas and she said "No, the President from the movie last night. I thought he was cool". The night before we had watched White House Down and the man who plays the President is Jamie Foxx.
At 3:15 Kelsi was at 4cm and really struggling to resist the pain of each contraction. We decided it was time to bring on the epidural. I had to leave the room for about 20 minutes and when I was brought back in Kelsi was loving life. She reminded me a little bit of Brain Regan when he encouraged all other patients to say "8". After Kelsi's body relaxed from the epidural, things really began to pick up. Within minutes she went from 4cm to 7cm.
By 6:30PM Kelsi was beginning "the push". The nurse was a little concerned because our baby's heart beat would drop after each contraction during this part of the labor. She turned off the Pitocin and took a small break from pushing and the baby's heart rate quickly return to normal. It was then the nurse mentioned that our baby may be Asynclitic, meaning the baby's head was tilted toward her shoulder. A number of online resources mention this can be fixed with time and re-positioning of the birthing woman, but looking back, Kelsi had already had an epidural and had absolutely no feeling in her bottom half. So re-positioning was not an option at this point.
At 7:00PM our nurses swapped out. As the new nurses entered to help prepare the baby for delivery, they noticed that Kelsi's contractions had slowed down significantly. They weren't going to be able to move her along enough if they didn't start the Pitocin again. After going through a single series of pushes on her back, Kelsi was told to flip to her side. The nurses knew that our baby was struggling with the Pitocin, and when Kelsi moved to her side the nurses lost our baby's pulse altogether. We spent the next 10 minutes without being able to hear our baby's heart beat. In a frenzy of instructions, nurses, gadgets, and prayers they once again were able to find the heart beat. The nurses spent the rest of the hour keeping our baby's vitals stable, but not insisting on progressing the labor until the on-call doctor arrived.
At 8:00PM the doctor arrived. The nurses quickly walked her through the past hours events. After a few minutes of consideration the doctor said she wasn't sure that they should proceed with a vaginal birth and suggested that we do a C-section. Being a first time father, I was a little bothered by this doctor. She had been in the room a total of 5 minutes before she decided that she should cut my wife open instead of letting Kelsi have a vaginal birth. This isn't what you want to hear after 18 hours of labor. Trusting in the system and the Lord we agreed. Kelsi asked for a priesthood blessing and the nurses agreed it would be ok. I quickly ran to the lobby and invited my dad and my in-laws to join us in the labor room. When we re-entered the room the nurses were moving 100 miles an hour. We never got the chance to provide a priesthood blessing before Kelsi was rushed away, literally running down the hall, to the operating room. To save me from uncontrollable tears, I had my father-in-law offer a prayer.
8:20PM
Minutes later I found myself sitting next to Kelsi's head while what seemed like an army of doctors and nurses worked to save our baby on the other side of the sheet. After a brutal struggle our baby was born. We later learned from the doctor that Ellie's head was lodged in Kelsi's petite pelvis. The doctor had to pull Ellie out breach. Simply stressed and stunned by the whole experience, Ellie came out without a sound. Her limbs were lifeless and no cries were heard. I remember looking over as they dropped each of her arms without any movement from Ellie. She wasn't breathing. The nurses hooked Ellie up to a machine to help her breathe. A full minute and a half passed by, during which time Ellie made three big gasps. According to the nurses the gasp is usually a sign that the baby about to die. After 90 seconds had passed, Ellie made a small whimper, and then another. The nurses quickly took Ellie off the machine and blew oxygen over her. Eventually, Ellie let out that beautiful newborn cry and began breathing regularly on her own. Soon she was moving her arms and legs, allowing Kelsi and I to breathe a big sigh of relief. After a brief picture and moment with mom she was rushed to the NICU.
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| Letting out that lovely newborn cry! |
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| She made it! |
8:40PM
Ellie's Apgar scores immediately after birth were critically low, probably because she wasn't breathing or moving. She scored a 3 after 1 minute, 6 after 5 minutes, and 7 after 10 minutes - a 7 is a normal score. After determining Ellie's length and weight she was given a few IVs of her own. She required work to get both her blood levels and pH levels to normal. The doctors believe the low levels were caused by stress and depression caused during labor. They were also worried about how her organs were functioning. Ellie lacked oxygen during the delivery and by default the body protects the heart and the brain. Consequently, the liver, kidney and pancreas get rejected.
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| Ellie heading to the NICU |
9:00PM
Kelsi was moved to recover from surgery. She was in good spirits though because she was now enjoying the benefits of Brian Regan's favorite medicine, Morphine. Ellie would stay in the NICU to be monitored over the next few days. They estimated she could be released by the following Friday. While in the NICU, they monitored Ellie's breathing, fluids, heart rate, PH levels, oxygen levels, and tested her for any infection.
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| She's got all the hook-ups |
Sunday, January 12th
Kelsi spent most of the day in bed recovering from her surgery. She was able to make it over to the NICU to hold Ellie and practice breastfeeding. Dad got to hold Ellie for the first time and spent the day back and forth between visiting Ellie and Kelsi. Lots of family came to visit. Only Mom and Dad were allowed to hold Ellie, but everyone over 18 was allowed in the NICU and could see and talk to her.
Kelsi spent most of the day in bed recovering from her surgery. She was able to make it over to the NICU to hold Ellie and practice breastfeeding. Dad got to hold Ellie for the first time and spent the day back and forth between visiting Ellie and Kelsi. Lots of family came to visit. Only Mom and Dad were allowed to hold Ellie, but everyone over 18 was allowed in the NICU and could see and talk to her.
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| Dad holding Ellie for the 1st time |
Monday, January 13th
They noticed Ellie had a really low heart rate for a short period of time. They wanted to keep her a few more days to be sure that was just a low resting heart rate and not something more serious. Kelsi and Ellie got more time to work on nursing with help from the Lactation Consultants in the hospital which was a huge blessing. Ellie had a little bit of Jaundice, so they put her under the bilirubin light therapy.
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| Bilirubin Light Therapy |
Tuesday, January 14th
We got the results from Ellie's blood tests for infection, which came back negative. They stopped the antibiotics and took her IV out since her fluids were at a normal level. This was the hardest night as we had to check out of the hospital. Not only is it hard having a baby in the NICU, but leaving your new baby in the hospital while you go home - just breaks your heart! I feel for the moms and dads who do this for weeks, or months. New babies are not meant to be separated from their parents! I know it's for their own good, but it is so hard.
Wednesday, January 16th
We had hopes that Ellie might be able to come home. She had been doing so great, but they weren't quite ready to release her yet. We spent the day trying to be by Ellie's side. Kelsi was able to work on nursing with a couple different lactation consultants and a handful of different NICU nurses which was very helpful.
Thursday, January 17th
Kelsi called the NICU in the morning to let them know we were on our way. While on the phone, the nurse told Kelsi that Ellie had just been cleared for discharge later that day! We were ecstatic and so excited to finally be able to bring her home! Once we got there, the nurses started going over all the information to discharge her. While changing her diaper, a nurse thought Ellie was looking jaundice again, so they drew her blood to be tested. If her bilirubin levels were too high, she would have to stay until they were normal. A couple hours later we got the results that she was fine and could still be discharged that day. We were thrilled!
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| Sweet Ellie made it home! |
Other Miracles/Blessings:
-Kelsi's water broke on its own. Since it broke during the weekend, no one was scheduled to be induced and we were the only ones having a baby at that hospital that day. L&D was actually over scheduled for the following Monday when Kelsi was to be induced. If we had gone in that day, there wouldn't have been as many nurses and doctors readily available to help deliver Ellie.
-The NICU nurses. After talking to the NICU nurse who was in the OR during the C section, we learned how worried she was being handed this lifeless baby, not knowing if she could save her. She told us how she was praying in that moment after Ellie was delivered, that she would be able to breathe on her own.
-The on-call doctor for suggesting the c-section. Although this was the last thing we wanted, we realize it would have ended very sadly any other way.
-Having family close by. Several family members brought Weston meals while we were staying at the hospital so he didn't have to leave Kelsi or Ellie.
-Modern medicine. If this had been 100 years ago, we probably would have lost both Kelsi and Ellie.
Although Ellie had a rough journey into the world, we are so blessed that she is alive and well. We are so grateful to all who offered prayers on behalf of our family. Heavenly Father was really involved at every step.
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| 1 Month Old |
I'm so glad that everyone is doing so well now! I'm sorry things didn't go as hoped, but I'm happy you're able to see the good in it all. I'm also glad that you updated your blog. ;)
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