Birth Story - Madelyn Marie

Madelyn's pregnancy seemed to be going just as smoothly as Logan's where they predicted I would most likely carry her full-term to around her due date.....that is until I went to my 37 week appointment on March 3rd. At my appointment a midwife checked for dilation and I was already 3-4 cm and 50% effaced. She said I would be lucky if I made it to my date with those stats - my hopes weren't too high since I was the same with Logan and carried him to a day before his due date. She then measured my stomach with the tape measure to see if I was on track with 37 week measurements and I was actually measuring around 33 weeks. She re-measured a few times and looked at previous visit numbers and seemed a little concerned. She thought maybe the baby was just sitting pretty low, but to ease concern she wanted me to be seen down in radiology for a sizing ultrasound.

Right before going down to radiology.

She made an urgent appointment and I was seen just an hour later at 5:30 pm. Steve wasn't able to make it on time, but I wasn't too concerned of them sending me to the ER. Later that night, the midwife called me and said the baby was measuring in the 3rd percentile and an estimated 5 lbs. The midwife said the baby may just be small because of genetics or there may be other complications that have caused her to stop growing. She suggested that we should plan on having the baby before 39 weeks and we should start thinking of an induction date. The midwife confirmed that my fluid levels were okay but they wanted me seen tomorrow (Saturday) for monitoring.

We walked into Labor and Delivery Saturday morning at 10 am to be put on the monitors. Steve and Logan came with and just watched TV while I was all hooked up.

All hooked up!

Baby's heartbeat and stats were all PERFECT which was a relief. 

I was seen by the midwife that morning after monitoring and she suggested that we get a second opinion on sizing since she was only in the 3rd percentile and they wanted to make sure everything was okay. I was referred to the Center for Genetics and Maternal/Fetal Medicine in Springfield, OR (1 hour south of Corvallis) and an appointment was made for Monday (March 6th) in the afternoon. This clinic specializes in ultrasounds just for pregnancy and has more advanced equipment (unlike the hospital that does ultrasounds for pregnancy and other health conditions). 

Monday rolled around and I went into work as usual. I warned my supervisor that I may have to have the baby earlier than my due date depending on how my appointment went that afternoon. I left work and drove down to Springfield with Steve and Logan. We checked in and brought into the ultrasound room. A tech looked at baby and confirmed that we were still having a girl ;) she then had the doctor come in to go over the results from the ultrasound. 

I can't find these original photos from the ultrasound so this is the only picture I had on my phone.

The doctor said that the baby was measuring between the 5th-10th percentile in most areas throughout her body - estimated body weight was 5 lbs 6 oz. I was then brought into another room for monitoring - baby was doing okay but they noticed there was some restriction in the blood flow to the baby. Fluid levels were okay. 

 

 

She left the room for a few minutes to talk to my midwife via phone and came back in. She firmly said that she felt that we needed to have the baby very soon - like check into the hospital within the next 24 hours soon. She explained that sometimes near the end of pregnancy some women's placentas will stop performing their full function and overtime break down. She said my placenta was still providing nutrients to the baby, but not to its full potential. She said that would explain the restriction in the blood flow. She said the longer we wait - the more risk of a still born/complications. Of course we knew we needed to follow her advice and go in to have this baby. She said we had time to go home get our things together and wait for our mother-in-law to get here. 

On the drive home we text Steve's step-mom to tell her they wanted us to have the baby ASAP and she quickly packed her things and started driving down from Seattle. I had already packed my hospital bags after my appointment the previous Friday so there really wasn't much to gather at home. I took a shower and cleaned a few things around the house. My midwife called me and asked what time we had planned on checking in that night. I said after our mother-in-law got here which would most likely be about midnight. She said to call before we came to make sure there was room. 

 Soaking up the last of our time as a family of three and Logan being an only child.

I didn't really have much of an appetite because of my nerves, but Steve made me eat something. Steve's step-mom got to our house a little after 11 pm that night. We called the midwife and she said they were really busy and there wasn't room so suggested we get some sleep and come in around 6 am. 

This is where things started getting frustrating.....we called at 6 am and they said they were busy still and they should have room after a c-section around 8 am. Steve and I got in the car and got breakfast. We gave Logan a hug and kiss goodbye and thought "okay, this is it."

Yeah I know I look miserable.....puffy, swollen cheeks and all.

8 am rolled around and they called us letting us know that L&D was packed and they still didn't have a room (insert eye roll). I eventually told the nurse that my midwife told us we needed to be induced ASAP for the safety of our baby and she said "well ma'am where would you like to deliver? In the hallway?" I was super frustrated at this point because last night at my appointment it seemed emergent that we get in and we kept being put off.....but what can you do when there are women in active labor who need to have their baby and you aren't??

We drove home and waited some more - they said hopefully by 10:30 they will have more of an idea of when they will have room. I eventually got bored and decided to curl my hair because I didn't know what else to do and thought why not look somewhat put together while delivering this baby. We got a call and they said they were once again pushing me back to 12. I had enough and asked if I could come in for monitoring. I wanted to make sure things were okay with our baby if we were going to keep having to wait. They said to call my OB office to see if they could do it there. I called and they suggested I go to Labor and Delivery for that. We walked into L&D at 11:45 am and they greeted us as if they had been waiting for us and lead us to our room (I wonder how long that room had been ready for). 

 We got in our room and I got changed into the lovely delivery gown.

I was then checked again to see if I had made any progress since Friday and I was a "stretchy 4 cm" and 70% effaced. About an hour later I was given pitocin to help start the contractions. With Logan I went into labor naturally so being induced was definitely a different experience. I felt myself bored waiting for my body to start going into labor. Logan's labor was only 6 1/2 hours from being admitted to delivering. 

I was checked again at 7 pm and I was 6 cm and 90% effaced. We didn't really expect to have any down time so Steve and I ended up getting bored watching TV and looked for something else to do. The nurses station had some playing cards so we played a few games until we were bored again. I tried to take a nap a few times but wasn't really tired so just bounced on the birthing ball and walked around the room. While I was getting pitocin I was visually seeing the contractions on the monitor but wasn't really feeling anything. It was actually kind of nice to just sit on the birthing ball and not really feel anything. 

When I was admitted I was told that I would need to be hooked up to the monitors my whole labor because of the risks for the baby. I didn't think it would be that bad, but boy was I wrong. Those monitors were SO annoying. I felt like the nurse was always coming in to re-adjust because they had moved or I had moved and it wasn't picking up baby anymore. I really felt bad for my nurse because she had come in probably 20+ times to fix them. 

I eventually tried to sleep and nodded off between 8 pm - 12. It was really hard to get comfortable on the hospital bed and being hooked up was hard too because I didn't want to move the monitors. 

Around midnight the contractions started getting closer together. I decided I would go hop in the bath tub to hopefully help if they got stronger. I sat in the tub for about an hour and the contractions were definitely getting stronger towards the end. I got out and really had to stop and wait each of them out as I made my way back to the bed/birthing ball. 

I was checked again at 1:30 am and I was 6-7 cm and 100% effaced. As I laid in the hospital bed my midwife came in and talked me through my options. It had already been over 12 hours since I was admitted and she wanted to see what I was up to doing to possibly speed up the process. She talked about possibly breaking my water which would make my contractions stronger and move towards pushing or to just let my body continue dilating on its own and then hopefully my body will break my water on its own. 

I talked it out with Steve and we thought even though we may be waiting a while, to just let my body continue doing what it needs to do to have the baby without help of breaking my water. I was taken off pitocin shortly after since my contractions had leveled out. 

As the contractions really started to get strong and closer together I talked about the idea of getting an epidural. With Logan I made it to a 9 before I got the epidural. I really wanted to wait as long as possible to get it with this baby as well to see how my body would do. I felt like my epidural last time really slowed down my labor and I didn't want that again. My doctor suggested I try the nitrous oxide (laughing gas) first to see if it took off the edge at all. I agreed and tried it through 3 contractions. I really was hoping it would help, but it made me feel as if I was in my own little world. It didn't make me feel nauseous or dizzy, but I just didn't feel like myself.

I then said I would like the epidural. The midwife called the anesthesiologist and started preparing. Not long after she got off the phone I felt the need to push I told her that I was feeling an immense amount of pressure and she's like "okay maybe you're ready." She checked me once again and I was at a 10. I was told there wasn't time for the epidural and I panicked a little. I didn't really feel anything when I was pushing with Logan because I had the epidural so I didn't know fully what to expect. After about 10 minutes of pushing, Steve called our birth photographer to let her know that the baby would be here soon. It was a little after 2 am so I'm surprised she answered and she said she would be on her way. The midwife said baby's head was pretty close and I wouldn't have too much longer. After only 20 minutes of pushing our baby girl was delivered (I pushed for 2 hours with Logan). The contractions weren't really that bad compared to the amount of pain I felt while pushing without an epidural. I don't know if I will do that again.....probably tmi - but when they say the ring of fire - it really feels like the ring of fire haha

My water didn't end up breaking until her knees were out. Babies who delivered in the amniotic sac are referred to as born "en caul." This only happens in 1 in 80,000 births. Some cultures say that your child is forever blessed or they have life-long luck. I wish we would have gotten a picture of this, but if you are trying to picture a baby born en caul look it up on google. I feel like most of them are from c-sections.

Our newest addition:

Madelyn Marie Boyd

Born March 8, 2017 (International Women's Day)

2:50 am 

5 lbs 6 oz 

19 inches long 

 Her name: throughout my pregnancy I had 3 names I had been going in between - Sydney, Sadie, and Madelyn. After she was born Madelyn just fit her and we loved the middle name Marie to go with it. Cool thing is Marie is a family name on both sides - my mom and Steve's mom both have the middle name of Marie and then we both have siblings with the middle name as well.

She was immediately placed on my chest and I of course cried. She was so perfectly beautiful and had lots of brown wavy hair. We tried to prolong cord clamping as long as possible, but eventually my midwife said we had to cut it because of the amount of blood I was losing. It's crazy that the last hour of my labor I progressed from a 6/7 to a 10. My midwife said my body was forcing my body to deliver the placenta and that's why she started panicking with the amount of blood I was losing.

When Madelyn was placed on me I could tell she was having a hard time breathing and didn't start crying for a few seconds. They had to take a bulb syringe and suction a lot of fluids out of her mouth and nose and then she cried. Her first apgar score was a 6 because of the delayed crying and she was a little purple/blue but then after a few minutes she was at a 9 because she promptly nursed and did some skin-to-skin.

After some skin-to-skin time with mom, I handed her off to Steve to told. He couldn't stop smiling at her.

 

After about an hour Madelyn then got her measurement, stats, and footprints. 

Hospital photo cred: Liz Sproul

We snuggled with her for a few hours before they moved us down to our post postpartum room. 

Around 10 am Brenda brought Logan up to meet his sister. Steve didn't have class until 12 so he was able to stick around for a little bit.

He immediately walked into the room and ran to the window - totally ignoring her. After a little bit he seemed a little interested, but still wouldn't hold her. We didn't put much pressure on him - I'm sure it was a lot for him to take in. 

We couldn't stop aweing over her hair - it looked like it had natural blonde highlights in it. 

Madelyn has been doing super well despite being born a little over 2 weeks early. Luckily she was doing well enough that she didn't need to be in the NICU. We did have a scare where she stopped breathing because she was so stuffed up. She started turning purple and I had to have Steve run and get a nurse because it had been a few seconds. The nurse picked up Madelyn, laid her on her side and patted her back pretty hard. She eventually gasped and took a breath. It was so scary!

  

Thursday - Brenda took Logan to daycare since she was leaving that day and Steve went to class. It was just Madelyn and I hanging out in our room most of the day.

 

Steve's class got out around 6 and he brought Logan up to the hospital so we could have dinner and get packed up to go home. Throughout our stay Madelyn had borderline jaundice, but it wasn't enough to be concerning. They just advised to continue offering to nurse. 

All packed up and ready to go home 

 

Overall Madelyn's pregnancy was pretty easy. I ended up gaining about 22 lbs this time around (3 lbs less than Logan's pregnancy). I didn't get any new stretch marks (hallelujah) - most of mine from Logan's pregnancy have faded. I didn't really have any morning sickness. No major complications. I am so grateful that my body is usually pretty easy on me throughout pregnancy. I know some women don't have the easiest of times.
My delivery went smooth for the most part and for that I am grateful. The last thing I wanted was for something to go wrong or to have a c-section. Also I successfully made it without an epidural which I wasn't planning on but hey my body did it!!! We are very grateful for our two healthy babies that we get to raise.