Labor of Love – Michaela’s Story!

Thanks so much, Kelley for having me here to share my Labor of Love. My name is Michaela and I blog over at Covered in Mod Podge. Kelley is a sweet, sweet woman who always comments on my blog. It is such a pleasure to be here at her blog today!

This is the story of how my husband and I were both thinking about what we wanted for lunch when we found out our daughter was about to be born.

At my thirty seven week appointment, my daughter’s heart rate was really low. The hooked me up to a monitor and left me freezing on a table while the recorded what she was up to. Every time she moved, her heart rate was dropping. My OB talked it over with me. These decelerations were concerning, but not pronounced enough to warent too much concern. She sent me home with an appointment for the next day. I was a nervous wreck, but glad she wasn’t coming yet!

My husband’s alarm goes off at 5:30 every morning. Starting about week fourteen, this woke me up enough to make me get up and pee. At about week twenty five, my little miss started dancing around after this bathroom trip. At week thirty, this dance became more of a kick mom in the liver thing that kept me up for a good thirty minutes. It happened every day like clock work.

So the alarm went off, I got up and peed, got back in bed and braced myself for my half hour as a human punching bag. But nothing happened. I waited about five minutes. Still nothing. I poked her a little bit. Still nothing. So, I started to panic. 

Remembering the advice of my OB, I went and downed like half a gallon of apple juice and a huge glass of ice cold water {because “drink a glass of juice or cold water” seemed like it could be improved upon}. I told my husband what was up and got back into bed to wait the hour I had to wait before calling the OB.

As I hung out on my left side I tried to will my little girl to move. I prayed, I talked to her, I poked her, all to no avail. My husband headed off to work, promising to keep his cell phone in his hand. And then the hour passed with no movement.

I called the OB and was told to head into L&D. I started freaking out, realizing I was going to have to drive myself in because my doctor wanted me to be seen right away. Thankfully, as I headed out the door, my husband pulled back in the driveway. And off to the hospital we went.

At L&D, I was hooked up to all kinds of bells and whistles. My little girl wasn’t moving still. Her heart rate was low. My blood pressure was through the roof. After about a half hour, she started to make little flutters. My blood pressure stayed sky high and her heart rate shot through the roof.

My OB came by to look at all my test results and talk to me about what was going on. She sat on a little stool and talked my situation through to herself.

At my thirty-six week appointment, my OB basically jumped on my stomach to help her find my cervix. I was closed up tight. She said it was odd that I hadn’t dropped at all. It was the same story at my thirty-seven week appointment. So, she knew she couldn’t induce and didn’t want to c-section me without great cause. So, she said that we needed to wait for some blood tests and she wanted to talk to the maternal-fetal specialist before making any decisions. She gave me a hug and headed off to her office.

So there was waiting. But as we waited, my little girl started to move a little more. So my husband and I started relaxing a little bit. We started to talk. We started to mock the really bad local morning news program. My blood pressure came down a tinny bit.

About 11, my nurse came in. She started to tell us how my doctor had talked to the maternal-fetal specialist and she didn’t think I needed to be monitored more. She kept talking and I figured I was on my way home. I was looking at the clock and thinking we could stop at a sandwich shop and have lunch before my husband headed back to work. He was having the same thought. And then, the nurse said, “so you’re going to be delivered in about two hours.”

Both of our jaws must have dropped all the way to the floor. We have no clue why this crazy nurse didn’t lead with the punch line. She said something about how she needed to go call the operating room and left the room. 

I’m not sure who blinked first, but someone finally started freaking out. And then the other followed. We were about to have our daughter. Neither of us were prepared for that. A million thoughts started racing through my head. And I was sure glad I gave the cats a lot of food before I left.

We called my dad, who was going to fly out from California. We called my husband’s parents, my brother, and a dear friend who was going to let all our other friends know. And then we just kept saying, “We’re about to have our baby!” incredulously. 

There was a revolving door of people coming in and out of the room giving me a gown to change into, having us sign paperwork, making me drink icky things and all sorts of stuff. My doctor came by and talked thorough why it was important that we delivered now. She really made me feel comfortable with the decision.

I was surrounded by an incredibly compassionate group of people. They knew we were scared and did everything they could to help us feel at ease. As I got my epidural, a nurse held my hand and looked me straight in the eye while talking. It made an awful experience a little easier. 

The effects of the epidural had to be one of the craziest things I’ve ever experienced. I could feel my doctor’s hand on my leg as she asked me if I was ready but I couldn’t feel the knife cutting me. And there was a point where she was tugging on a muscle that was both above and below the epidural line. Ikes! Just ikes!

But then I heard my sweet little girl cry. And I was able to breath for the first time in what seemed like forever. But as my husband went over to meet her, I stared to cry uncontrollably. I couldn’t see her. I couldn’t hold her, I couldn’t touch her yet. That was excruciating. 

She was born at thirty-seven weeks, one day at 1:16pm. She was 6 pounds 8 ounces and was 18 inches long. It turns out the cord was wrapped around her several times. Also, my pelvis was shaped in a way that would have never allowed her to be born naturally.

The next couple of hours ended up being a bit of a whirl wind. We got situated in a room and started to get to know each other. My dad got there in record time. My little girl wouldn’t sleep anywhere but in my arms. I just remember being so tired and yet so content. I just kept thinking over at over again how this day could have turned out very differently.

And now, I have a trouble making little eight month old. She is a problem solver who wants nothing more than to be walking. She loves crawling all over me and thinks its hilarious when we pet our cats. She sleeps great some days and then makes me want to pull my hair out other nights. And her little giggle warms my heart.  

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How sweet is that little girl?!  I want to smoosh her cheeks!  Thank you Michaela for sharing your amazing story!