Lily's Birth Story - Unabridged Version

Baby Lily made a very special entrance into our lives on Tuesday, January 12th 2010 just after the new day had begun. Her arrival, although much anticipated came more sudden than we had expected. This will be a long post capturing the events and happenings of the time leading up to her arrival… so brace yourself… or just skim through and read the parts that are the most interesting to you.

Date: Sunday, January 10th at 1:00am – After not having a single noticeable contraction (no Braxton Hicks, nothing) for 40 weeks, the contractions started coming. I was pretty excited about it because to me, it represented some sign of progress. I was so nervous that she wouldn’t be born before the 16th (the day my parents leave for their cruise) and I would have to be induced on the 18th. What a bummer it would have been to not have my parents even in the same country when she was born. I timed them out for about an hour and a half and was delighted to see that they were all between 3 and 5 minutes apart. I woke Trent up at 1am and told him I thought I was in labor. We grabbed the last few needed items and were on our way.

Once we got to the hospital, we went to triage to be monitored for the first hour. During that time, I was to show that I was in progressive labor. As long as I was, I would be admitted and the fun would begin! I thought getting admitted would be a piece of cake… especially with how consistent my contractions were. It was fun for me to watch the monitor measure Lily’s heartbeat and also the frequency and intensity of the contractions I was feeling. The contractions stayed between 3 and 5 minutes apart. Some of them were pretty painful. I kept telling myself… it’s only an hour. Once I endured that hour and showed progressing labor, I would be admitted and get an epidural, to ease the pain.

My plans were basically thwarted when the nurse came in, checked me, and said… “well, it doesn’t look like there was much of a change.” She then explained that we had a couple of options. None of them included being immediately admitted. Had they, I would have chosen that one. Instead, we chose to spend the next hour walking the halls of the labor and delivery unit to see if that changed anything. I even did a few lunges, hoping to speed things along. After that long hour, another quick exam… and still no change. At that point, we were basically sent home. The nurse gave me a couple of pain pills and told me to try and get some rest. She said if the contractions stayed steady and became stronger, I should come back into the hospital.

Sleep was really hard to come by. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that I thought we were going to have Lily that night and we didn’t. The contractions continued all night long… that is, until I woke up in the morning. I went to the bathroom and they suddenly stopped. At the same time, I seemed to be bleeding quite a bit. Also, I didn’t notice Lily moving. She had been such an active baby that the combination of these three things sent me into panic mode. I called the hospital to see what they suggested. They said they weren’t allowed to give me advice over the phone and I should call my doctor. Since it was Sunday, I thought it might be hard to get in touch with someone. I decided we should go back to the hospital. I called the on call doctor on the way to the hospital and explained what was happening. He didn’t act like it was any reason to be alarmed but told me it wouldn’t hurt to go back in and check the baby's heartbeat, if it was concerning to me. So there we were… 4.5 hours after leaving… back in the hospital.

Fortunately, everything was fine with Lily. Unfortunately, my cervix still hadn’t changed. When we went home this time, I just felt relieved. I was so thankful nothing was wrong with our baby. At that point, I made the determination that I wouldn’t be going back to the hospital until I was completely sure that I was in labor.

I had irregular contractions for the rest of the day on Sunday… and didn’t get much sleep Sunday night because the contractions would wake me up. Monday morning I had another appointment with the obstetrician. We talked about my Sunday experience, the contractions I was experiencing, and the health of the baby. The doctor told me I was 90% effaced, dilated to just over a 3. So, in essence, all those contractions on Sunday did me absolutely no good. The contractions didn’t stop on Monday though. As a result, I decided to work from home.

Skipping forward to bedtime…I really wanted to sleep Monday night. I hadn’t slept hardly at all Saturday night and very little Sunday night. My body was completely exhausted. Despite the better opinion of my doctor, I decided to take Tylenol PM to assist my sleeping ability. I went to bed around 10:15 and was completely unable to fall asleep. My contractions were still fairly irregular but they were extremely intense. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be getting much sleep. I did, however, want Trent to be able to sleep so after 20 minutes of suffering in bed, I decided to go suffer downstairs. I started timing my contractions again and they seemed to be between 4 and 7 minutes apart. Now it was just a game of “clock watching”. My fatigue increased in between the contractions (probably because of the medicine)… to the point where I’d fall asleep for a couple minutes and then awake again to the pain.

As the clock kept ticking, I decided that in 20 more minutes, if my contractions continued, I would wake Trent and we’d go to the hospital. Just when I had made that decision, I felt like I really needed to go to the bathroom. I’ll spare you all the details you’d probably rather not read and just summarize by saying I felt really constipated… like I had the biggest “poop” ever to get out. With every contraction, I tried to get it out. After four or five pushes, I felt thirsty and went to the kitchen for some water. After taking a few drinks, the feeling that I needed to be in the bathroom came back. I went back in and pushed. Except this time I started to wonder if I wasn’t constipated at all. I felt “down there” and could feel something coming out. Panic and fear overcame me. I started screaming Trent’s name out. When he didn’t respond (sound asleep)… I hustled as quickly as I could upstairs. I told him he needed to get up right then… because the baby was coming out. He didn’t say a word… just shot straight up in bed… hurried to his closet and got ready. With every contraction that came, my body pushed, despite my best efforts to stop it. Within minutes, we were out the door, headed to the hospital.

American Fork Hospital is not that close to our house. With traffic, it takes about 25-30 minutes to get there. We didn’t have that much time. Luckily, since the clock was nearing midnight, there wasn’t much traffic. Trent traveled as fast as possible down Lehi Main Street… passing cars in whatever way possible on the way. We jumped on the freeway, got off the next exit, ran the red light and continued speeding. As each contraction became more intense, the natural pushing of my body also became more intense. With each one, I would tighten my body, roll down the window, and cry out “don’t push”… “don’t push”. With the hospital in sight, I was overcome with a feeling of gratitude that Lily would be born there… not in our house, not in our car. Trent dropped me off at the front entrance. Just as I got out of the car, another really strong contraction came. I hunched over and tried not to contribute to the pushing my body was doing. The security guard came out and asked if I needed a wheelchair. I told him I was fine. Trent parked the car and sprinted towards me and the entrance. We got on the elevator, got off on the third floor… and entered labor and delivery.

Upon entering, I calmly said to the receptionist: “Hi… we are having a baby, like right now.” She asked my name. My confidence that the baby was coming right then seemed surprising to the nurses. One of them said: “this is your first?” I assured her it was… and that she really was coming, right then. We skipped triage and went straight to room #1. I stripped down upon entering the room, put my wonderful gown on, and the nurse checked me. “She’s at a 10,” she said. She had me lay down on the bed. They called for my doctor and started to prepare for delivery. One of the nurses asked “What’s her station, zero?” The other responded… “No, it’s probably at a plus two.” They asked me routine questions. They asked about anesthesia and if I had wanted an epidural. I assured them that I had wanted one. At that point, all there was to do was push the baby out… so no time for drugs. As the contractions continued, I started pushing more actively. It just seemed like what my body wanted to do. Trent asked the nurse if I should be pushing. She said I could do what felt most comfortable. They started monitoring the baby’s heartbeat. It was stable… then it started to drop. My doctor still hadn’t arrived but there was a midwife on the floor. They called for her. They could no longer detect the heartbeat of the baby. At that point, the main nurse said “let’s just go ahead without the doctor.”

One push and my sac of water (which still hadn’t broken), bulged out. Two more pushes and Lily’s head emerged. I felt exhausted. I said I didn’t think I could push again. Trent sounded excited as he told me her head was out, and I could do it… just one more. With the next push, I screamed… there was a piece of profanity that flew out of my mouth which I choose not repeat… then there was a baby, they laid her on me.

My words can’t capture the feeling I had when I saw our baby. Birth truly is a miracle. Lily was born about 17 minutes after we entered the hospital… 10 minutes after they started monitoring her heartbeat. The time was 12:07am… and 59 seconds. The nurses were all very capable and competent. They made the experience better for us. They waited for the doctor to come to sew me up. There was a lot of tearing on that last push (which is probably why the profanity flew out). The doctor arrived about 10 minutes after her birth and started to stitch me up. Since I didn’t have any medication, he had to give me several shots to numb the areas he was preparing to stitch. The stitching took much longer than the delivery. Trent held Lily as the doctor continued working on me. Once he was done, I got to feed her. After she finished eating, I walked to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

I felt like I could have easily walked down the hall to the elevator and traveled to my recovery room on my own. That was not an option though. They insisted that I took the wheelchair. Trent went with Lily to get bathed and taken care of, I was brought to my room.

Thinking about it now, the whole thing kind of feels like a dream. That first night I didn’t sleep a lick. I just kept going over everything that happened in my mind. I felt really good. I kept touching my face for a “reality check”… to see if I was just dreaming. In a way, it is like a dream. Since I was quite a bit younger… all I ever wanted to do was to be a mom. That was my dream… and now I’m living it.