So many people have been emailing me and asking me about the birth. I have been having so much fun with Macie that I haven't been able to email and call all of my friends and family. So here it is.
4 weeks prior to birth-
As many of you know I was going to have the baby in WI but I spent two very sleepless nights worrying about what would happen if Chris wasn't there or if something happened to the baby during or after the delivery. So we started to make sure we were covered and we were surprisingly able to work things out.
The week before-
I had been having bad contractions off and on for about 8 days before she was born. There were a few times when the contractions were 3-7 min. apart but I knew they didn't hurt enough to go in. On Tuesday I thought for sure she was coming so I made a frantic shopping trip to pick up nursing bras and stretchy pants (must-haves for all women who have just given birth.)
The day before-
I had a scheduled appointment at 1:00 with my nurse midwife. She checked me and I was dilated to a 3, was 80 % effaced and my cervix was softened.
The rest of that day I ran errands, got curtains for the baby's room, went grocery shopping (and for some reason only bought junk food--don't ask me why) and got home at 8:00. Chris called and said that he was going out to dinner with some of the other Comfort dentists. At this point I wasn't feeling good but I thought it was just a stomach bug and wasn't noticing any more contractions than usual. Chris got home at 10:30 and I was watching Cake Boss. We went to sleep.
Macie's B-day-
I woke up about an hour and a half later with a killer stomach ache and threw up and had other stomach issues (I was losing fluids from both ends, if you know what I mean). I decide to sleep on the couch because I did not want to wake up Chris because he had to work early the next day. Between throwing up, doing the "other thing", taking baths to try to calm my tummy down, and lying on the couch I didn't get any sleep at all. Around 6:00 in the morning I still didn't think I was in true labor and woke Chris up to get me some Pepto Bismol. When he got back I realized that my contractions were quite close together but still thought Chris should go into work. About 30 mins later I notice that they we starting to hurt so he decided not to go in. It’s a good thing, too, because we left for the hospital about 15 min later. We got to the hospital at 7:30. The nurse checked me at about 8:30 and I was still at a 3 and 80-- the same as the day before. Because I hadn't changed at all they didn't know if I was in truly in labor yet. The pain wasn't bad but it was getting worse by the minute. At 9:00 the pain became unbearable. I started to cry (which I don't usually do when I am in pain—I gave birth to Britton without an epidural and didn’t shed a single tear) but I was feeling like there was no end in sight and thought I might get sent home.
At around 9:25 (one hour later) the midwife came in to check me and to our surprise I was at 9 cm and almost ready to push. That was when they decided that I would not be going home. Because I dilated so fast the pain was even more intense than with Britton’s delivery but with Britton’s delivery pushing was a relief and with Macie it was not. I didn't push for long--only about ten minutes or so--but her skull bones didn’t give at all like during a normal birth(more about that later). To make things even more difficult she had shoulder dystocia (her head came out but her shoulders got stuck for a bit) and was sunny side up so it was unbearably painful. The nurse midwife was literally pulling her as hard as she could and the nurse was on top of me pushing on my uterus to get her out. The funny thing was I didn't even feel it because I was in so much other pain everything else was nothing. Finally she was delivered and placed on my tummy and we got to see her for the first time. The pain didn't matter and I would have done it 20 times over just to have her. I was in love with her and we grow more and more in love every day. She is truly the princess in our family and feel so blessed to have her in our home. Also, if you’re wondering why I didn't post any photos of me it is because I was butt naked. Don't ask me why but the nurse took off my gown after she was born.
The few days in the hospital-
I heard several at the hospital people say "Oh, I heard about your delivery" but the hospital was very nice and I loved the nurses. The food was very bad but I have a very good husband that snuck me in food on occasions. Chris stayed with me for the whole time we were there. He is SUCH a good dad. I love to see how he interacts with the boys and it has been fun to see him with Macie.
About her skull-
On the last day of our hospital stay the pediatrician came into give Macie her final check. During the exam he noticed that she did not have a soft spot so he had her sent downstairs to get a CAT scan of her head. The preliminary reading of the scan was that the sutures in her skull are prematurely closing. This can be a bad thing if not recognized early because it is the fact that the individual bones aren’t fused yet in a baby’s head that allow the brain room to grow (and that allows the head to pass more easily through the birth canal.) We were able to get her into the doctors the day after we got home from the hospital and we are currently in the process of getting her into a pediatric neurosurgeon to determine what treatment will be necessary. From what the doctors have said, she will most likely need to undergo a surgical procedure between 6-9 months to open up the sutures to allow room for her brain to continue to grow properly. It is a major surgery that only needs to be done once and has very high success rate. It kills me that my perfect baby needs a surgery but I know it will all work out. There have been too many blessings for us in the last few months for us not to believe that Heavenly Father is looking out for us and will continue to do so. Today the family gathered together to join in a fast and I have felt the peace it has brought to us about the situation. I am thankful for Macie and my family and for the faith we all share. I will update you all after we get more info from the neurosurgeon.
