The Story of Brynwen's Birth

Okay, I have a little time to sit down and catch everyone up on the birth of Brynwen. Joe is holding the baby and the kids are watching a movie, so I have a few minutes to get this done.


It all began Sunday morning early. Joe said that I kept waking him up with sounds like I was in pain. I slept through them for the most part, they were not any different then what I had been experiencing the two weeks prior to that morning. I woke up and was sore and stiff which is normal. We all got breakfast and then ready for church which was our Sunday morning. I had been drinking a lot of water the day and night before so I was using the bathroom a lot. I kept on drinking and emptying my bladder because that's what all the books say to do.

At church I couldn't sit for long periods of time because I was so uncomfortable. I got up a lot to walk around. I just didn't feel quite right but didn't give any thought to it. When Church was over I noticed that on the drive home I was having a few harder contractions but nothing I couldn't handle. When we got home, our home teachers were here and we had a nice visit with them. Nothing really changed for me until they left. Joe was in the kitchen with the kids getting them some lunch/dinner. I had gone into the bathroom again and this time I noticed that I had quite a bit of blood when I was done. That kind of freaked me out a little. At that point it was about 4:45pm and I told Joe that I thought that I would probably have to go in that night. That is when it hit me. All of a sudden I was in a lot pain. I couldn't sit down and all that I could do was walk around the room. I called the doctors office and they paged the on call doctor to call me back he did within about 5 minutes and I explained what was happening. At this point the contractions were right on top of each other. I could still move through them and talk but they were getting harder. The doctor told me to come right in because I also needed an antibiotic during the labor process. I called Bev and told her that we needed to go in. She watched the kids for us during the birth. Joe and the kids finished eating their lunch around 5:30.

We got the kids all packed up and got all of my stuff packed up and headed out. We dropped the kids at Bev's house and then headed to the hospital. On the drive in my contractions got really bad. The drive wasn't really helping either. Every bump was excruciating. We really couldn't get there fast enough. The doctor told me to go straight to labor and delivery. Thankfully I had preregistered so that wasn't a big deal. When we got there, about 6:00pm, I was doubled over with the pain of the contractions. The nurse took me back to see how dialated I was. When she checked me I was already 6 centimeters. I was pretty shocked. I didn't figure that I had made it that far. I thought maybe a 3 or 4. They then took me to the birthing room and started the preparations for delivery. I wanted an epidural very badly. They had to give me and IV first so that they could start the antibiotic. Unfortunately it took them about 8 tries, 25 min, a nurse and an anesthesiologist to get it done. I also had to be hooked up to all of the monitors so they could keep track of me and baby. That is when the first sigh of trouble showed up. The baby was in distress and the doctors didn't know why. That is the last thing that any parent wants to here. Her heart rate was 180 which is very high. A normal heart rate would be between 120 and 140. By this time the pain of the contractions was so intense I thought that I would pass out. Once the IV was in the anesthesiologist was able to do my epidural. I was ready for it. It was hard to sit still and concentrate on not moving during the relentless pain of the contractions. They were right on top of each other and on a scale of 1-10 were an 8. I was very grateful when she finished and had the epidural in place. Within about 10 min I was numb enough to relax a little and not think about the pain so much.

It was now 6:35 pm and this is when the doctor came in and said that if I didn't deliver within the next hour of so I was going to have to have a c-section to get the baby out fast. I was worried and scared and anxious. I asked Joe and one of the doctors, he is in our ward, to give me a blessing. It was very comforting and I was told that everything would be okay. Doctor Hess then decided to check me to see how things were progressing. I was 8 centimeters and he broke my water to make things happen faster. That is when it was discovered that there was maconium(sp?) in the fluid. Baby still hadn't moved down into the birth canal which worried him a little. I was now worried even more. I didn't want her to aspirate it into her lungs. Another worry. By the time all of this was completed it was 7:10pm. I was so ready for the baby to come out. I didn't feel a lot of pain but I could feel the pressure of the contractions and was anxious to have her here and well. That is when I felt her little head engage my cervix. I felt her move down into the birth canal and I was ready to push. The nurse ran and got the doctor and by the time he got there I was a +2 station and she was coming. I started pushing and pushing and pushing. They didn't want me to stop. They wanted her out of there. And, at 7:24pm she was born. I couldn't believe how fast it went.

The NICU nurses had come down to make sure that all was okay with the baby. She was covered in maconium but they didn't think that she had swallowed any. They didn't want to take any chances though, and decided to put her in the NICU for a round of antibiotics and to check her blood for, anything. Joe and a brother from our ward came to the NICU and administered to Brynwen and within an hour of that she was off the oxygen and doing 10x better. Thankfully she never grew any major infection in her blood culture and was able to come home after the 7 day round of antibiotics.

Brynwen has been home now for 5 days and we just love having her here. She is such a good natured baby and I am so happy that she is healthy and strong. I know that we have been blessed to be able to bring her home so soon. It was hard to spend that week in the NICU. I will always be grateful that it was for only a week. Thank you to all of you out there that sent your prayers and thoughts our way. We will be forever grateful for you love and support.