The Stotts Family: Carly Rae's Birth Story

So early labor or pre labor started on August 7th in the morning. I had period like cramps that were light that would come in 15 to 20 min intervals. Then at 2am on August 8th I was woken up, I thought I was woken to pee, so I peed. Then I laid down and tried to fall asleep. After an hour of that I thought maybe I was hungry. So I asked Perry if he would venture upstairs to get me a banana. Then I told him I was having contractions and I couldn't sleep. I ate the banana and tried to fall asleep again. Nope. So I went upstairs to lay on the couch and not to disturb Perry but rest and time the contractions for an hour. They were consistently about 10 minutes a part and lasting over a minute. So I called my mom at around 4:45am. We had never decided what exactly was good enough labor symptoms for her to start traveling up here before her flight date. Well she figured that since I couldn't sleep through the contractions that was good enough reason. By 5:45 they were on their way. I decided to journal this little beginning event. I made a mini to do list of what I wanted to do that day if I really was in labor, and then I tried to rest until 7am. That would give me one hour to relax before starting my day. Luckily my contractions slowed so I may have fallen asleep a little but at 7am I had a harder contraction that woke me. So I got up and showered, read my scriptures, and started my day. Funny thing though, My contractions stopped or really really slowed in frequency and intensity for about 3 hours. I thought, "Great, my parents are on their way and I may have just had them come for a false labor." But then after 10 ish they were all over the place from 3 minutes apart to 20 minutes apart depending on what I was doing. I cooked a couple freezer meals, cleaned, put things away in storage, and really made sure I was ready for a baby and to go to the hospital. By 4:30pm the contractions were getting bad enough to have to really focus and breath through them. I asked Perry to come home from work so he could take care of Grant until my parents arrived. They got here by 6pm. We decided to go to the hospital once they got here just to check me and see if they would keep me. I thought we would be sent home which would have really meant we would have walked around the hospital for an hour and then went back again to be checked again. They hooked me up to the monitors to monitor my contractions and the baby's heart rate. I was dilated to a 3 and 90% effaced. I thought that wasn't much progress of all day but things progressed in just one hour. It seemed like as soon as I got to the hospital I had graduated to the real labor phase of labor because my contractions magically became between 1 min and 5 min a part and were really really really painful! They were so bad I was a little ticked when the nurse came to check me 5 minutes past the hour that she was supposed to check me (8pm). I was 4 and half cm dilated! Yay! So they could keep me sense I was progressing. And I was allowed to get the epidural.

Side note: I read a book and hadn't completely decided if I was going to have the baby naturally. But my real goal that I had no control over was to go into labor on my own, and not be given pitocin to speed it, and then get the epidural if I decided I couldn't handle the pain any longer.

The nurse was real logical when she said, honestly, you have probably endured enough all day long that you deserve the epidural. My mother in law also helped me feel good about my decision in saying not to be a martyr. So I wanted the epidural as soon as they could get it to me. My goal of going into labor and experiencing it well was accomplished. I would be missing out on some of the high mothers get with out one but oh well.

So we went to my Labor, delivery, and postpartum room. It was huge. They hooked up my IV and pumped me with saline since I was knowingly severely dehydrated. Then by 9pm the anesthesiologist arrived and hooked me up in a matter of minutes. After 20 minutes the contraction pains were completely gone. It was interesting to slowly feel them get less and less painful. Before I got the epidural they checked me again and I was at a 5 and a half. At this rate the baby would be here by 11 for sure without interventions! Its wonderful to know my body is capable of having a baby without being induced.

Shortly after getting the epidural I realized that it wasn't going to be fully effective. I had what is called a hot spot. I knew this and the nurse knew it because I felt everything and even pain when they put in my catheter. Every time I had a contraction I would feel moderate pain down in that area. I was a little scared. Then they broke my water.

But since I was comfortable for most of the time I decided I needed some Jello. I had been eating a very light diet all day in case I was in labor. I didn't want to puke. Oh by the way, before I got the epidural my contractions made me feel extremely nauseated. I was feeling miserable. Anyway, after the jello I skyped my parents. After hanging up with them at around 10:25pm I felt like Carly's head dropped like 2 inches and then I felt horrible excruciating pain where my hot spot was. I called the nurse and told her I was in constant pain and even more when I had a contraction. She came to check me and Carly was indeed descending and I was "complete" (10cm dilated). So she asked if I wanted to push and said yes as long as that was the way to make the pain go away. They also brought in the anesthesiologist for a last ditch effort to make the pain go away. It didn't work. I was pushing a practice push and Carly was already crowning. Then the midwife said Carly would be here in less than 2 pushes. They asked if I wanted to wait for my parents and I definitely did not want that. I just wanted the pain to go away. So I pushed, and then breathed between the contraction and her head was slowly coming out with out pushing and what gave me excitement and joy before she was born is that they told me she had lots of dark hair.

So was then motivated one last time to push. Her head was out which gave me great relief, and then the midwife finagled her shoulders out, then placed her on my abdomen and rubbed her down. So she was born at 10:51pm, weighing 6lbs 10 oz and was 19 inches long. She was trying to look at me and stopped whimpering when she heard my voice. The sound of her cry and her being born made me tear up with joy and relief. I felt the normal pain one feels on my left side of what its like to not be numb down there. In that I'm grateful because I didn't feel contractions but still felt that other pain which made me still get the high new mothers get when they deliver naturally. I actually wouldn't have changed a thing about her coming out with that pain because it was a wonderful feeling as soon as she arrived. I did not feel that way at all when Grant came. I felt stoic and foreign when Grant came.

So after a while Perry cut the cord and whisked her away for her tests and shot and what not. Perry left too to take pictures. My body began to shake uncontrollably (this is normal and can begin during transition before a woman pushes), and it lasted for more than an hour. They put a blanket on me to try to lessen it. It was quite a weird experience. It never happened with Grant's birth.

Then my parents came about 5 min after the birth to watch all that go on. Later the nurse came back and told me Carly was Small for Gestational Age which meant that she didn't have much Brown fat, which is the fat that the babies use to survive while they only get minimal amounts of colostrum to feed on for the next few days. So her blood sugar was low also. So for the next 12 hours we supplemented formula during each feeding with a little tube, while she nursed. From the start in the hospital she always has eaten on a 4-6 hour schedule. The only exception was when she was cluster feeding at 10 days old.

After the pediatrician saw her he said it wasn't necessary to pump and supplement more breast milk or formula unless we wanted to and we didn't have to wake her to feed her if she didn't wake on her own to eat. So that was good news. The next day my mother in law and sister in law and her children came to visit. Grant and my parents came to visit later on. I napped and ate on and off and actually got decent rest for the two days in the hospital. I felt nauseated on and off too. Grant was very tender when meeting her.

It was all such a blessing and I'm grateful for the experience and that everything went well with the delivery, and that Carly is such a healthy baby.