Delivery Day (5/4/12)

After our doctors appointment at 9:30 am we headed home to get to bed since we were both supposed to work that night. First we decided to stop at Wal-Mart to pick up some calamine lotion, because Jennifer developed PUPPP, which is an irritating rash that happens to 1% of first time mom's.(Lucky Jennifer) We also picked up a bag of new green apple flavored twizzlers and some strawberries. After getting home we both tried the twizzlers and then I read Brinley a few night time stories. Today I chose Brown Bear (one that she is usually really active for) and "On the Night You Were Born". I had been reading this last one to her for about a week now because I figured at least one time I am going to be right.  At 11:00 am I had just taken my glasses off and put them on the night stand and closed my eyes when Jennifer says "My water just broke!" I jumped out of bed and the adrenaline started pumping through my veins. I fumbled my glasses before getting them to my face, so I had to stop to pick them up. I took a look and sure enough the bed was soaked. I started to panic and asked what I needed to do. Jennifer started giving me a list of things I needed to do and I was unable to comprehend any of it because my brain was scattered in all different directions. I had to ask her again what she said, so this time she gave me individual tasks. First was to get her a towel, then to find what she had worn to the doctors that morning. In between tasks I took all the sheets off the bed and tried to clean up all the amniotic fluid ("broken water") so that when we returned home it wasn't a mess. The first person I called was my brother because I had promised him that since he was usually the last to know things I would call him first. No answer, so I texted him (come to find out he was actually taking his last final exam of the semester). Then I called my parents so they could start to make the 3 hour drive up and then I called my sister to inform her that she would soon be an aunt. After getting dressed we started to head down to the garage. But before we went down, Jennifer asked me to get another towel for the car and a trash bag. I ended up in the basement with a grocery bag, so I had to go back for the correct bag. While up in the kitchen I noticed some popcorn that had missed our mouths scattered around the table, so I took a moment to clean it up because I knew that we had people staying in the house while we were at the hospital. We made it out to the car and got settled in. Before starting the car, we took a moment to say a prayer that both Jennifer and Brinley would be safe during this labor process and that he would be with us as we were about to become a family of 3. After our emotional little prayer I had to update my Facebook status saying that we were headed to the hospital. Then we backed out of the driveway for the last time as a family of two and headed out of the subdivision. About halfway out of the subdivision we realized that Jennifer didn't have her purse, so we circled back to try it again. This time it really was our last time backing out the drive just the 2 of us.

On the way to the hospital Jennifer called her family members to let them know that Brinley would be arriving sooner that our due date. We arrived at noon and parked in the clinic were we usually park for work and made the walk into the hospital. Movies sometimes give you an unrealistic view of events and that was exactly the case with us. Upon arrival we thought we would be rushed back to a room and get everything set up and that the doctor would be quickly behind to inform us of the plan. Instead, we arrived at the birthing center check-in and there was no one at the window. I, being in a frantic state of mind, started looking around everywhere for the attendant. What seemed like 10 minutes later, which was probably about 30 seconds, the person finally arrived to check us in. He took down our name and then made us sit in some chairs while he put together a chart. Five minutes later we were taken into a triage room. A resident doctor arrived a few minutes later and said they were going to check to make sure that her water had broke. She checked and quickly agreed that it was broke and decided that she was 4 cm and 90% effaced. The dilemma now was that there were no available delivery rooms. We would have to wait until someone could be moved out and have the room cleaned.

Jennifer in the triage room.

The nurse started an IV and hung a bag of fluids since Jennifer was not allowed to eat or drink until after Brinley's arrival. We also got asked about a 1,000 questions, by about 6 different people, all of which seemed to be repetitive. It would have been nice if the first person that asked the questions had just relayed the information. (Interesting to finally see how some of my patients and families feel when we do this same exact thing to them) In the triage room is where we met our nurse, Brittney, who ended up being with us until Brinley arrived. At this point her contractions were about every 3-5 minutes apart and she was in a considerable amount of pain when each one happened. A few weeks prior to this we had discussed what our plans for the delivery were and she had said that she wanted to wait as long as possible for the epidural, but that she did want one. I had suggested getting it sooner than later, because I had heard stories of waiting too long and not having enough time for an epidural. So, while in the triage room I asked if they knew which anesthesia resident was on call for today. They informed me that Dr. Parks was on, who is a friend of mine, so I asked if they could page her to come talk to us. She arrived and said that as soon as she wanted to have the epidural to let her know, but she would be around the area all day. After all the questions were answered, they left us by ourselves until a room became available. Jennifer became extremely hot at this point and made me fan her with some of the papers we had received upon arrival. We finally were told that a room was ready, so we gathered up our stuff and we helped Jennifer into a wheelchair. When she got into the wheelchair it was like another flood gate opened and more of Brinley's swimming pool gushed out onto the floor.

We arrived in room 317 around 2 pm. This was a really nice and spacious room. Upon arrival Jennifer told me that she was ready for the epidural, so I informed our nurse to let Dr. Parks know we were ready. Dr. Parks arrived and informed us of the complications and made Jennifer sign some paperwork. Jennifer sat up on the side of the bed and Dr. Parks started the process of placing an epidural. At 2:35 the epidural was in place and Jennifer started to feel much better. Jennifer decided that she was extremely tired, so she tried to take a nap. Before she could fall asleep the grandparents-to-be were beginning to arrive. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Shelia were the first to arrive, followed closely by Jennifer's mom, MiMi. We talked for a while and recounted the events that had occurred up until now.

Jennifer in her pretty hospital gown.

Once the epidural kicked in Jennifer no longer felt any of the contractions, she was actually pretty comfortable. The nurse would periodically come in and make sure we were doing ok. Around 4:30 they came in to check again to see what progress had been made. The resident doctors decided that she was 7cm and 90%. They told Jennifer to let them know if she had any more pressure that made her fill like pushing to let them know. Around 6:00 Jennifer started to feel some more pressure, so they came back in to check her and she was now 8 cm and 100%. The whole labor process was moving much faster than I had expected. We had talked with many friends recently who had taken much longer to get this far or hadn't got this far and had to have a c-section. So we were both pleasantly surprised to have this much progress so quickly. However, things started to get a little scary for us around 6:30. Miss Brinley decided that she was going to start dropping her heart rate at random times for no reason at all. Each time this happened they came in and made Jennifer re-position to another side and would reattach the monitoring device. After re-positioning multiple times they decided to try another option, which was placing oxygen on Jennifer. As you know, Jennifer and I both work in the hospital, but obstetrics is not an area that we are familiar with. We were unsure of what options were ahead of us if Brinley continued to drop her heart rate. This time was scary for us all, so we said another quick prayer that Brinley would be safe for her arrival. Our families also decided that they would stay in the waiting room so that Jennifer could have a quiet and calm environment.

Jennifer with her oxygen.

Most of you know that Jennifer is on the quiet side, but she always talks up a storm to me. During this time she was extremely quiet, so once I asked her why she wasn't talking to me and she said that she was only trying to breath in as much oxygen as she could right now, so no time for talking. Around 7:45 the residents came back in to check on Jennifer and they now said that she was 10 cm and 100%. They said that Dr. Marcum, who was the attending doctor who was to do the delivery should be called. At this time about 5 new nurses arrived and started setting up all kinds of equipment. With the nurses we started to do some practice pushes. I explained to the nurse that we were unable to attend a birthing class, so we were unsure of everything that we both needed to do during this next phase of labor. This was another time in which I was trying to pay attention, but my brain wasn't listening fully. So we began a practice push and all I remembered was that I needed to count to 10. Jennifer pushed when they told her and after it I began counting to 10, then Jennifer pushed and I followed it with a count to 10. After the second time I counted to 10 Jennifer looked over at me and said "Your counting at the wrong time". So I learned my lesson and began counting to 10 during the push and not after. A few minutes after starting some initial pushing, the resident came in and said to wait because the doctor was not in house and she needed time to arrive from her house. So we patiently waited for the doctor to arrive. At 8:05 the real pushing began. Due to a very successful epidural, Jennifer was unable to feel any contractions at all, so the nurses and doctor had to inform her when each contraction started and when to push. They even pulled a mirror over so that Jennifer could see her progress. All the nurses and doctors in the room were very supportive and encouraging to Jennifer. Brinley was also having some drops in her heart rate during this time as well, so we heard the doctor tell a nurse to have an OR (operating room) ready and to have the NICU on standby if needed. I am not sure if Jennifer heard this conversation or not, but it made me even more nervous. I tried to stay as calm and encouraging to Jennifer because I knew that me freaking out in front of her wouldn't be good. After about 40 minutes of pushing we finally were able to meet our daughter and we couldn't have been happier. At 8:46 I met my daughter for the first time and it was the most amazing thing. I was able to cut the umbilical cord and then they immediately placed Brinley on Jennifer's chest, which is part of a new practice by the hospital, called kangaroo care. Brinley was only allowed to be held by Jennifer for the first hour.

Brinley's first picture

After that hour they took her into another room to weigh her and do an initial assessment. They also gave her a couple of shots, which she was not a fan of. She was 6 pounds and 12 ounces and 19.5 inches long. (Although I incorrectly said that she weighed 6 pounds and 7.5 ounces because I misunderstood the nurse.)

She was not happy about those shots

The next hour I got to hold my daughter and at that time everything in the world seemed to be right. I don't think someone could have slapped the smile off my face if they had tried. We had been waiting a extremely long time for her to arrive and the moment almost seemed surreal.

My baby girl

After I got some time with my baby girl, they let our families come back. The grandparents were extremely excited to finally get to see their 1st grandchild. We spent some time together and then they moved us to our new room for the night. We moved to room 369 and that is where Brinley got her very first presents. Grandma and Grandpa Heflin gave her a set of silver eating utensils and a handkerchief bonnet. We were then extremely tired so we decided to call it a night. We took a short nap before waking up at 3 am to have Brinley get her first bath (All newborns at UK are given a bath at 6 hours of birth). We didn't bring in any of her clothes, so I went to get her clothes out of the car. So we took this opportunity to have a photo shoot with our little girl.

Shirt made by Mom

We even had to accessorize with hair bows that her mom had made her. After our photo shoot I decided that we would do the only thing that was appropriate at the time - we read "On the Night You Were Born". Then we decided to try and get another nap in before all the visitors and doctors would start coming in for the day. May the 4th, 2012 could not have been any better and I cannot believe how blessed we truly are to have a happy healthy little girl. I can't wait to use this blog to recount all the wonderful things that we do together so that she will have many memories to look back on when she gets older. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Daddy's little elephant