Birth Story - Addisyn Rae

The baby’s original due date was October 1^st and during the entire pregnancy I hoped for a healthy September baby – which was exactly what I got. I started dilating and effacing during week 37. In fact I had been dilated to a 3 and at 80% thinned out and then stayed that way for three straight weeks. Every weekly visit without fail the doctor would be surprised that I made it another week without going into labor and then they would send me on my way saying “you better get some rest because that baby could be coming tonight”. I must admit I was far from patient during those weeks. I think Danny could tell that I was getting grouchy because he shared with me a general conference talk about patience and being grateful in every circumstance – needless to say it only put me in a worse mood (sorry Danny). I was so anxious to meet our little girl. I was really starting to believe that my body didn’t know how to push her out which was annoying because I was almost already halfway there.

Two days before the due date on September 29^th I went to what would be my last weekly doctor appointment. It was then that I finally received encouraging news. The visit started with the usual “wow your baby is still in there?” and “she must be super comfortable” etc. (I feel like I’ve heard it all). Well it turned out that I was at a 4 with no membranes to sweep and my water was bulging. The doctor looked at me and said “you should have had this baby by now” then she left to get opinions from two other doctors in the office who all agreed that I should be induced the next day. The protocol for that office is that first time moms can’t be induced until 41 weeks and one day so I was pretty happy that they were willing to make an exception for me and induce me at 39 weeks and 6 days. It was weird knowing that after that day I would no longer be pregnant. I spent most of that day with my cousin Allen, his wife and their ten day old baby before Danny got out of school.  Finally that night we got a call from the hospital saying to be there at 6:45am. Danny and I didn’t get any sleep at all because we were so nervous and excited. Before leaving for the hospital the next morning Danny gave me a priesthood blessing. We ended up waiting until almost 10:30am to finally get situated in the labor and delivery room because so many babies were born during the night so there was no room. All the nurses and the doctor predicted that I would have the baby really fast because of how progressed I was; unfortunately that didn’t turn out to be the case.

I started to dilate pretty fast but they had to keep slowing down the process because my blood pressure kept dropping lower and lower. Even though my blood pressure was a concern I still felt relaxed because I knew everything was okay with the baby. I finally just told the nurse to call the doctor because I was ready to push. Pushing was a lot harder than I thought it would be and near the end I was telling anyone who would listen that I couldn’t do it anymore. I found out later that the doctor was considering a C Section and if I had known that while I was pushing I probably would have been all for it. Addisyn was finally born at 8:22pm and they put her on me long enough for Danny to cut the umbilical cord. I don’t exactly remember what happened next but they took her and handed her over to Danny. Two nurses came out of nowhere and were hooking me up to a second IV. I could tell the doctor was doing something to me but I wasn’t sure what so I just kept my eyes on Danny and our baby instead of asking any questions. I could also tell that I was bleeding and then I started to feel really lightheaded. I remember just feeling like I could close my eyes and fall asleep in an instant but I never took my eyes off of my new little family. Danny took the baby to the corner of the room and just started praying. I didn’t know he was praying for me. In fact I wasn’t aware that anything serious could be going on. Over an hour passed before I really got my turn to hold our baby. The doctor had been working on me that whole time and finally he was able to get things under control enough to explain what happened to both me and Danny. He told us that normally people lose 200-300 ml of blood but that I lost almost three to four times the normal amount. No one knows why but I had hemorrhaged and lost close to 900 ml (one liter) of blood before he could get me to stop bleeding. For all future pregnancies I now have to pre-warn the doctors that I hemorrhaged.

Looking back now I’m so thankful for the priesthood blessing I received that morning. I’m also glad that I didn’t go into labor when I started dilating at week 37. I believe I was supposed to get induced in a hospital setting because of my blood pressure complications and because of the medical team who helped me out. I finally got to really look at Addisyn when they placed her in my arms and that’s when I realized how absolutely perfect our little girl is. It’s now been eight days since I held her for the first time . . . eight days with our perfect little girl. Bringing her into this world might not have been easy but it was definitely worth it.

Addisyn Rae

8lb 8oz

21 inches long

8:22pm Sept 30, 2014