Millie’s Birth Story

Monday July 12, 2010

Clint and I are sound asleep in bed when all of a sudden…I wet myself. I woke up thinking…”Why can I not control my pee?” So, I did what I thought normal, I stood up and stayed in ONE spot over the carpet with water dripping everywhere. I said to Clint “Honey, I can’t tell if I am peeing or if my water broke” to which he replies “Where are you?” This all happened at 5:45 a.m. From there, I made it to the toilet, he went and woke up my mom for her to check and by 5:50 we all decided that the time was HERE. My WATER BROKE!!!!

From there we went into high gear! I called my sister Danielle in CO first and woke her up about 4a.m. her time. When she answered she said in her sweet voice “Sami???” You could tell she knew something was up! Then I called my BFF Karen to let her know and to give her the go ahead to start updating my facebook. I then called my dad and gave him the news. That was all the calling on my part…Clint did his few, Mom did her few…we all took showers and we were off to the hospital about an hour away.

When we arrived, we checked into triage and were admitted immediately….they could VERY much tell my water was broken! I was moved to the labor room and ate a great breakfast of pancakes at about 9:00. Little did I know that would be my last meal for 46 hours!

I got my IV (which really did hurt…but I did get used to it), signed forms and hooked up to the monitors. And the wait began! I was doing great and in no pain! No pain because I was having NO contractions! They began pitocin which brought them….oh yes it brought them! I immediately started asking for my epidural. I am a wimp and I warned them! They really wanted me to wait a little bit to see what the pitocin would do without the epidural…so I did. I waited and waited…contractions were coming enough that I thought for sure we were making progress. THEN SHE CHECKED ME and I made VERY little progress, so little that they wanted to put internal monitors in me so they could really watch Millie’s heart and really monitor my contractions. When they went to put them in….I CRIED…It was rather painful because I wasn’t dilated enough. They stopped and let me recoup.

10 minutes later the heavenly nurse Tina walked in with two more angels….the anesthesiologists. It was on then…epidural time…now I am shaking like a leaf! I was very scared….I remember grabbing Clint and just saying Jesus, Jesus, Jesus over and over in my head….not in a mean way, but in the way that you “Call unto Him” when you don’t know what else to say or what else to do. In the grand scheme of things the epidural wasn’t that bad….especially for the relief it brought.

We are now sitting at about 2:00. I am feeling good, watching the monitor and watching my family take turns coming and going and seeing them fascinated with the monitors and telling me how HUGE my contractions were. They were amazed I didn’t feel a thing! We all knew I was making tremendous progress and were getting excited for what was coming!

5:00 rolls around, they check me again and put the monitors in. Much more pleasant experience. I went from 1cm to 3 cm, but my cervix wasn’t thinning like it should! Boo! Time passes and they decided that since my water had been ruptured for over 12 hours to start antibiotics and not to check me until the next morning so as not to bring an infection. So we waited. Family came and went, everyone but me got a bite to eat, and eventually everyone left except my mom and Clint.

We went to sleep being told that they would check me about 4:00 a.m. I KNEW I would be much further than 3cm and ready to attack what came my way! 4:00 comes and goes…no midwife.

Tuesday July 13, 2010

She did not come until 10 a.m. Why? I have no idea…something about waiting to hear if I was feeling pressure…I was feeling nothing! She came in and checked me….4 cm! 4! I boohooed like a stinking baby! I felt like Millie would NEVER come out! I knew it would be today though because they wouldn’t let me go past 48 hours with ruptured water. That was a tad bit encouraging!

Family comes back, phone calls are made and promises of another long day were made. Things are fuzzy at this point…I just know I am uncomfortable and starving and wanting to do this. I remember going from a 4 to a 6, from a 6 to an 8 and finally an 8 to a 9. From the 8 to a 9, something goes haywire with my epidural and from that point on never really worked right. Also, little Miss Millie goes a little haywire and decided to turn sideways in my belly. NOT GOOD.

In comes the doctor, and tries to turn Millie….with what felt like her entire arm. BY FAR That was the most uncomfortable part of the whole thing….painful and scary…they even had me pushing at this point too….to try to help turn…that was crazy!

After this, they made me lay FLAT on my stomach…with Millie in there….promising me that she was fine and could breathe and that I wasn’t squishing her. I cried and cried and cried and cried. I was in SO MUCH PAIN! I was scared and I wanted to be done. This was about 5:45 p.m., 36 hours after my water broke!

At about 6:00, the doctor didn’t like that Millie hadn’t turned and that her heart rate wouldn’t stabilize (my heart rate wouldn’t either if my big mommy was squishing me like that! Sheesh). So….Csection it was!

Room was being packed up by family, Clint got suited up and I was getting all set to go. I was a blubbering baby and was shaking like a leaf…I was SO SCARED! Again….you know what I kept saying “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” There is no way I could have survived this experience without KNOWING Him and being able to cry out to Him!

The rest was a very quick blur…I remember them saying rather loudly “room entrance 6:20 p.m.” They moved me to the other bed, and immediately began. I remember them counting all the tools too!

Then lots of pressure and pulling and at 6:32 p.m. our sweet baby girl entered the world! I cried and cried and cried as I waited to get my eyes on her. I could not wait to see her! Finally they brought her over and I was smitten immediately. I know everyone says that but it is the God’s honest truth!

After this…time flew! They sewed me up as Clint went off with Millie. The moved me to recovery where it seemed nothing was happening. They were working on my charts and figuring out pain meds and all of that. I could see Millie getting cleaned up, but my whole self longed to hold her. I was a shaky mess and just couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that I hadn’t held her yet. Finally the nurse grabbed her up and put her on me. It was Love! She looked into my eyes and I looked into hers and that was that! Forever changed!

Eventually they moved me to my room and got us all settled in. My family all got to come in very quickly at about 8:45 p.m. Visiting hours were over at 9 and I was on the verge of pitching a fit if my family didn’t get to see her after waiting for two solid days in the waiting room. They did pull some strings and worked it out for everyone to get to sneak a peek for a little bit.

The hospital experience after Millie’s arrival is a whole different story for a whole different day.

For now we are all learning each other and getting settled in at home. We are in love and are immensely blessed with the opportunity to be parents…not just parents…but parents to our baby Millie!