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My journey, family and birth story

Kelsey • Tue, Jan 29 • Peyton 1.11.19🎀

Wednesday, 1/9 I was 40+1 and just really over being pregnant. I went to the store and got pineapple, raspberry leaf tea, had been doing EPO already for a few nights. It had been a while since my husband and I had sex and I said we are doing it tonight, which he happily agreed to, especially since it would likely be the last time for a while.

Fast forward to 2am Thursday, 1/10, I woke up after a few hours of being asleep having horrible cramps. Felt like I had to poop, definitely having contractions but thought they were BH due to being unpredictable. Well I couldn’t fall asleep so I read my phone, watched tv, and pooped several times until about 6am when my husband woke up. My husband works from home so he was with my all day and was so anxious because he just knew this was it. I was still hesitant, neither of us have done this before so I just rode it out all day. I kept in contact with my doula all day who didn’t seem to be too concerned. I showered, laid down and watched tv most of the day. I was losing little bits of mucus all day.

Things started getting a little more intense around 4pm and I also realized I hadn’t felt baby kick, maybe all day, I was just so preoccupied I didn’t even think about it. Called my doula, she said drink some juice and call me in an hour and let me know about kicks. Well an hour goes by and I thought I felt some kicks but still wasn’t positive. Told my doula I wanted to go get checked out at the hospital and just make sure baby was doing okay. I originally told my husband no need to pack bags but we decided to go ahead and take them just in case.

We meet my doula at the hospital at 6pm, go to triage and I am 5cm, 80% effaced, -1 position. Um, what? I thought I would be going home after I saw baby was okay. Well good thing we packed the bags because we were admitted right away and taken to our room. I got my IV and a bag of antibiotics (I was GBS positive) and when that was done my doula said alright let’s walk the halls (nurses said I could walk for 40 min, come be hooked up to monitor for 20 min for as long as it took).

Me, doula and hubby are walking the halls, doing squats and lunges whenever I feel a contraction. I will say, my contractions were totally in my butt. I felt like I had to poop so bad. Doula said that was good and meant baby was very low.

After 40 minutes we went back to be hooked up to the monitor and dr came in to check me, I was 7cm and definitely more uncomfortable but doing okay. Dr said he could break my water and it might move things along quicker. I said sure and he tried but said it had already broken? But I never had any leaking, still unsure about that. Maybe it happened when I peed at some point? I asked about the epidural but wasn’t ready to get it yet (I wanted to keep walking and squatting to make labor go quicker) the dr said if I had made it this far I was in a good position to do this all natural and of course my doula and husband were saying how amazing I was doing and how I could do this. I hadn’t totally decided against the epidural but decided to just see how it went. A few more rounds of walking and it’s about 2am, I’m 9cm dilated and I can’t handle the pressure. I say I want the epidural and doula, hubby and nurse are all trying to tell me I can do it I can do it but I said nope I need it. I was so tired at this point I didn’t think I had the energy to push when it was time (I hadn’t slept since 2am Thursday and it’s now 2:30am Friday).

Anesthesiologist comes in, I voice my concerns about having rods in my low back (I had a spinal fusion many years ago), he said we will give it a try. As I am getting the epidural the nurses and my doula keep saying something smells like it’s burning and they thought maybe the heat turned on. Well I was totally out of it and just wanted my epidural so not paying attention but apparently the light in my bathroom was smoking so they said let’s finish the epidural and we’re moving. Getting the epidural wasn’t bad, it was a shot and then I didn’t feel anything else. The wheeled me to the new room and nurse asked if I wanted to be checked or if I wanted to rest for 30 minutes, I chose rest. Next two hours I am progressing slower to 10cm (I guess moving around really does help) and I still had a tiny bit of cervix that needed to thin. I am napping on and off and at 5am dr comes in, checks me and said alright let’s push.

Since I saw a group of OBs I was nervous about which I would get, there were 2 I would have loved to have and lucky me got one of them. My husband and I both really like him, also my doula said he is one of the best in that group. He is 34 (a year younger than my husband which was a little crazy) but he was truly amazing. He sat on the end of my bed the entire time I pushed (50 minutes) and guided me through every single contraction and push (along with my doula and husband who were holding my legs).

I saw her head with a mirror and the next contraction I literally felt like he put his hands in me and pulled her right out.

Peyton Courtney Patrick was born at 6:11am on Friday, 1/11/19. My dr wanted to delay cord clamping but the cord was around her neck so of course he cut it right away. That was honestly the only hiccup we had. I had no tears or anything.

Peyton was then on my chest doing skin to skin while he cleaned me up. She weighed 7lbs 3oz and was 19.5” long at birth. She is perfect.

My doula helped me nurse shortly after and baby is doing great at it. I was up and showering 4 hours later. I have had barely any pain at all, just some cramping.

36 hours later, Saturday at 6pm I was discharged (we could have stayed til Sunday morning but I was ready to go).

Now, this is the hard part. The baby blues, the getting used to being the primary care taker of another human. My husband and I are both new at this and he has been beyond wonderful with me today as I cry all day, barely sleep and and am just unbelievably overwhelmed. My placenta is being encapsulated and I should have it tomorrow, which hopefully will help even out my hormones.

We love our little girl more than life itself but we are also just trying to get through the hump of this huge life change. It used to just be us 2 and it’s not now. We may be a little selfish but we are scared about how it will change our life that we already loved so much. We both know it will be well worth it to see our little girl grow though. I love my husband more than anything in this world and now my heart has grown to love our child just as much. I have room enough for them both, but I will never forget the reason Peyton is here is because I fell in love with her father and will love him for the rest of my life.

Blake, Peyton, and our sweet pup Pippa Patrick, you are my entire world.