My Birth Story

I know it’s super long but I wanted to keep every detail I could & wanted to share with you guys 😊

On Monday, November 5, 2018 I had my weekly check up with Dr. Southern and was 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I got checked and was 2 centimeters dilated and Dr. Southern casually asked “Do you want to be induced? Go in Thursday night and deliver on Friday? There’s no benefits of staying pregnant after 39 weeks.” I told him I’d have to talk to Brandon first and would tell him tomorrow, since we had a growth ultrasound scheduled anyway. Bran agreed we should do it. On Tuesday, we got some really good pictures of our baby’s face for the first time and she was estimated to weigh 7 pounds and 7 ounces and she was still head down. Dr. Southern told me to just wait for a phone call on Thursday evening. On Thursday around 7pm, the hospital called and said they didn’t have a room for us and someone would call back before 7 in the morning, which was a little disappointing. We went to dinner and I went to sleep. At 12:03 AM, we got another call that our room was ready. Our bags were already packed and in the car. I only told my friend, who we had planned for her to be in the delivery room with us & would be our baby’s godmother. We got to the hospital a little before 1am. They wouldn’t let Bran there for the first part, so he brought in our bags while they asked me things like if I felt safe, if we planned to breastfeed, and if we have things to take care of her. I had tested positive for the strep b bacteria during my pregnancy, so I needed to get antibiotics to protect the baby, before delivery. They stuck me 6 times and dug around with the needle in my arm trying to get a vein. I wanted to cry because they kept blaming me because they couldn’t get it and I wanted Brandon there. They finally got it, when the 4th person tried. I texted Brandon as soon as my nurse told me he could come back. We tried to get some sleep that night, but I had never slept without him since we’ve been together and I wasn’t comfortable with the monitors on. At 6:00 AM Dr. Southern called and said to start pitocin. At 7:15AM, he came in and broke my water and tried to put in an internal monitor which was very painful and didn’t work. Our doctor left and said he’d call and check on me. I didn’t know I’d have water coming out of my all day. It was such an odd feeling. Tracy was our nurse for the day and told us we’d probably have her between 2 and 5 that day. She checked my dilation around 9:00. She said I was at 2, but stretched me to a 3. When she stretched me, it really hurt. I had done a lot of research and knew I didn’t want to spend my labor laying in bed, but that’s what the hospital expected me to do. Around 10:00, I was very uncomfortable and felt that laying in bed made it worse. I was having back labor and walking eased my pain during my pregnancy. I asked to get up & my nurse was reluctant but told me I could stand beside the bed. I did & I felt so much better. The hospital & my doctor really pushed the epidural, but I wanted to hold out as long as I could. At noon, Tracy checked and told me I was dilated to 5 centimeters. Dr. Southern came in 15 minutes later to check me and said I was 4-5 centimeters and left. I was in a lot of pain by this point, but I tried hard not to fight the contractions but to welcome them so my body could progress. At 1:00pm, I got the epidural. My anesthesiologist spoke so low I couldn’t hear him most of the time. He said he couldn’t feel my bones and asked if it felt like it was in the middle. I was already scared of the epidural and that scared me even more, I cried the whole time which annoyed him. I cried the whole time. It hurt and I said “Ow” lowly, but not consciously and he kept telling me not to say anything unless it felt sharp, but I couldn’t help it. When it was finally over, my legs were tingly and I couldn’t feel my contractions anymore. It lasted until 5pm and then didn’t help at all, even with pushing the button for more medication. I was in a lot of pain, we tried different positions which sometimes helped and sometimes made it worse. They decided to do another epidural. This anesthesiologist was much nicer, it went much faster and smoother & came to check on me. I wasn’t in nearly as much pain. Our nurse checked and said we were at 6-7 centimeters and told us we were making good progress. at 6:10 pm my doctor called for an update and wasn’t happy with our progress and our nurse said he was leaning towards a c section. I did not want a c section unless it was absolutely necessary. Our nurse understood how I felt and we tried different positions and she hung a new bag of pitocin. At 7:00pm, Dr. Southern came in to check me and told me I was still at 4-5 centimeters and she wouldn’t come out this way and I needed a c section. He asked if I wanted a minute to talk to Brandon about it and I shook my head "yes”. I knew as soon as he said we needed a c section that I would have it, but I needed a minute alone with Bran and her godmother and I cried. When I started crying, I didn’t stop crying. He came back in and I told him we could do the c section, he already had the room ready before he came in the room at 7 that evening. The nurses that came in were all new nurses and kept complaining because it was shift change. They told Bran someone would come get him and gave him the clothes to wear. They ignored me and I just kept crying. They made me feel worse. In the OR, they kept ignoring me and I just kept asking for Bran. The anesthesiologist from earlier came in and talked to me, and sent someone to get Brandon. He understood why I was crying and was nice to me. Every so often, someone would say “you don’t need to be so nervous” I wasn’t nervous, but they didn’t listen. Dr. Southern came in and started the procedure, Bran was sitting by my head. I didn’t have much of a voice and I just kept crying. Dr. Southern peaked over the curtain and said “She’s sideways, she never would’ve come out”. At 7:38, our baby girl was born. She didn’t cry much at all and they never brought her over to me. I was still crying. I told Brandon to go be with her. Harper Grace Clay was 7lbs 15 oz, 20.25 inches long, and she was born very cone headed. Because I was still crying, the nurse asked if I wanted something to calm me down, I said no. A few minutes later I told her maybe just a little bit. She didn’t tell me it would put me to sleep. I woke up and my baby and Brandon were gone. He has went to show our families pictures, but I didn’t know that then. I kept asking for him again but no one acknowledged me. They took me to recovery and someone finally went to get him. He came back and told me where he had been and our baby was in the nursery. Lea Ann, my friend, had left. She didn’t wait to see me or the baby who was supposed to be her goddaughter. I asked Bran where she was and he said “she’s being updated” I knew then that she’d left. For those few minutes when it was just me and him in recovery, I felt so much genuine love from Brandon. I will never forget that feeling and how special those moments were for me. He went to get our baby and that was the first time I got to hold her. People kept telling me she was hungry, so I tried to breast feed her and she ate really well. I was very cold, sore, shaky, and hungry. We finally got in a room, Brandon’s aunt and mom came to see us. I noticed my face was super itchy and later found out it was from the anesthesia. A nurse kept coming in that night for me to breastfeed her, but I don’t have much memory from it. The next day I was super nauseous and dizzy. I kept throwing up. I waited on our doctor to come check on me so they could take out my catheter, I could walk, and finally eat. He came at 3:00pm. Walking was hard, but bearable and I could eat. We had our fancy parents dinner that day, which was nice. I was either starving or the food was really good. I kept trying to breastfeed, sometimes she would do really well and sometimes she wouldn’t latch at all. I walked a lot that evening because I was told that helps with healing. I over did it and got extremely sore. The next day, Sunday, a lady came in to take her pictures and they came out really well and were really expensive. We were giving the option of going home or staying to meet with a lactation consultant the next day. We decided to stay and I’m really glad we did. We stayed Monday and most of Tuesday for the lactation consultant so I could learn as much as I could, staying extra days gave me time to heal some. On Tuesday, November 13 we were both discharged to go home. It was very nerve racking and exciting.