Lauren's Birthday Story

I think this is weird to post a very personal experience for everyone to read. But it is something I always want to remember, and a story I want to tell her someday. And since typing this out is easier than writing, here it is. I actually wrote most of this a month or so after she was born, but thought it would be fun to post it on her birthday just to remember back to that day.

Being pregnant was relatively easy. I was fairly sick for the first few months and our new bedtime was 8:30, but other than that, it was good. I had been dealing with high blood pressure so my doctor was a little concerned that it could be a problem, but being pregnant or something made it really low! Hopefully now it just stays that way! My funniest craving was Jamba Juice and an artichoke one night. But after that all I craved was milk. We went through six gallons in a week!

I kept working right until the day before we went to the hospital. For the most part it was easy to keep working, it made the time go by faster even though I felt like a total ditz and was pretty spacey. And aside from all the horror stories of labor and delivery from fellow employees, they were all very supportive. About eight months along it hurt to walk and climb up on my lab stool, but it wasn't too bad.

The last five weeks were the longest of the whole pregnancy. At that point it was possible to have a baby in three weeks or six. Not knowing when she was going to come drove me nuts! At my first weekly appointment the doctor said things were getting ready for her to come so I thought we wouldn't have to wait too long. I was wrong. At each weekly appointment thereafter we would come home more and more disappointed because I hadn't dilated or effaced at all. I would have very random minor contractions but they weren't doing anything! By this point I felt like we would never have a baby. I was miserable, tired, and none of my clothes fit anymore. Finally the doctor scheduled an induction date, although we were hoping that she would come on her own before that.

I was getting pretty nervous as my due date got closer and closer and then passed. The doctor estimated that she would be about 8 to 8.5 pounds and she was just getting bigger everyday. I didn't want to have to be induced, go through a grueling long labor and then end up having a c-section because she was too big. (Before the doctor had mentioned that I had a small pelvis so my chances of having a c-section were higher than normal anyway.) We went into the last doctor's appointment ready to just schedule a c-section and be done. But the doctor was pretty against it and wanted to try naturally since my other deliveries would be easier. She didn't seem too concerned about the possibility of a c-section.

We scheduled an induction date for Wednesday, March 30 although the doctor thought I would go in on my own before then. Not. I went to work on Thursday, March 24th, my due date and I was pretty depressed. My other coworker was actually in the hospital that day having his baby that was due after me. The boss was really nice and they threw me a "Due-Date" party complete with cake and everything to cheer me up.

Wednesday came with no baby. The doctor had scheduled me to go in at 3 in the afternoon so hopefully she would be here early Thursday morning since the doctor was leaving town Thursday afternoon. (Didn't happen that way AT ALL!) I called the hospital to make sure we could come in and they were swamped and told us to call back in another hour. I was ticked! I wanted this baby NOW! Chase was home from work and school at this point and since we didn't know when we would be going to the hospital we went and got ice cream, then went and got a haircut so I would feel cute at the hospital. There was nothing else to do while we waited. (I remember the lady cutting my hair asked when I was due and just about died from shock when I told her I was waiting for the hospital to call, and here I was getting my hair cut.)

We finally went in at 6. They got us all situated and hooked up and we were ready to go! They started me on the cytotech at 6:30 and then we waited, and waited and waited some more while the contractions started. Can I just say that was the longest night of my life?! From the time they started the cytotech to when Lauren came I had contractions every minute. They weren't bad during the night, just obnoxious enough to keep me awake all night. Finally at 4 in the morning the doctor decided I was ready enough to start the pitocin. And then we waited and waited some more. The contractions were starting to get bad so they gave me some Fentanyl to take the edge off and man, was that crazy! I've never felt so dizzy in my life. But I was able to sleep a little. I was still only dilated to a 1 by 9 that morning. So they called in Dr. Olsen to break my water. Wow, uncomfortable! I was a 3 by 11 and my doctor came in to check and see how I was doing. She was leaving at 4 that afternoon so she had the nurses crank up the pitocin to try and get the baby here before she had to leave. Didn't happen. We waited some more and about noon I had had enough pain. Chase was about ready to take his hand away from me since it hurt so bad every time I squeezed it from a contraction. So I got the epidural, it wasn't bad at all although I think Chase was about ready to pass out. :)(Looking back now, I think if I had been able to get up and move around I would have been able to handle the pain better, but I was almost totally bedridden from the time we got there since I had to do the cytotech to get started.)

So then we waited some more. At 3:30pm my doctor came by again to wish me luck and tell me that Dr. Craig would deliver since she had to leave. She felt really bad but at that point I didn't care who delivered her since I just wanted her here! I had heard really good things about Dr. Craig so I wasn't worried at all about having a different doctor. By 5 the epidural had started wearing off so I got another dose of that. And we waited some more, watched MASH and Sound of Music. About 8pm things finally started to get going. I was dilating more and more and I was about ready to go. At this point I started getting really nauseous. Throwing up is no fun. I was so thirsty and hungry at this point but I couldn't eat anything. So Chase was nice and got me ice chips to help, but they made me throw up even more. Forget that! By this time the epidural had worn off again and it was really starting to hurt. The anesthesiologist came and gave me a higher dose of whatever it was and even then it didn't totally take away all the pain.

About 9 Thursday night the nurse came in to check me and said I was finally dilated to a 10! Praises! We waited for an hour for the contractions to push her down even further so I wouldn't have to push as long. It felt really anticlimactic after waiting for so long and then start pushing. The nurse was really nonchalant and laid back. Which I guess was nice since it made it seem like no big deal. I pushed for just over an hour. Dr. Craig had to run in and hurry and get her gown on since Lauren was ready to come! There was also a NICU nurse and respiratory specialist in the room since they were worried about Lauren breathing because there had been meconium when they broke my water and thought it might have gotten into her lungs. I don't think I have ever been so exhausted in my life. Her head finally crowned and the doctor told me to push one more time. I have never felt so much relief when she said "Nevermind" and our baby girl was here Thursday, March 31 at 11:12 pm after 28 hours of labor.

They dried her off a bit and put her on my tummy. And my stomach had the worst timing ever as it decided to throw up again. All I wanted to do was look at my baby for the first time but I was puking. So I was vaguely aware that Chase cut the cord and I held onto Lauren while the nurse held the bucket. :S

But that finally passed and I looked at our cute baby. It was amazing to me that I felt like I already knew her, yet here she was a brand new little person. She kept looking at me and I've never felt such immediate love. She was sticking her tongue out and cooing. I held her for a minute then the nurses took her to check her out while I got stitched up. Chase was snapping pictures and I asked him what she looked like. He looked at her and said "She's a Lauren." I was so glad since I had the same thought while I was holding her!

The nurses got her her all cleaned up and ready to go and we got to hold her for another half hour. I could have sworn that she had brown eyes, which was weird since both our families all have blue eyes, but it must have been the way the light was shining because they are very blue now! Lauren kept sticking her tongue out and talking to us the whole time we were holding her. We called our families and woke them up to tell them they were grandparents again.

So after a day and a half of only eating a rootbeer popsicle I was ravenous. Chase brought me a cup of apple juice while I was holding Lauren so I wouldn't die from dehydration. Apple juice had never tasted so good. So I proceeded to drink the entire carton in the next ten minutes.

The nurses took my temperature and noticed that it was a little high so they took Lauren's temperature to make sure she didn't have one too. Well she did, so then they were worried that she might have an infection. So after they had cleaned me up a bit and got me into the wheelchair we took her to the NICU so they could do some blood tests to see if she was okay. I went up to the recovery rooms and got all situated while we waited to see what the results were from her blood tests. The NICU nurse came about 3 in the morning to say that Lauren did show all the signs of an infection and they were starting her on antibiotics. Bummer. We went right down to make sure she was okay and it just about broke our hearts when we saw her with a huge IV sticking out of her head and bruises on her hands from where they tried to put the IV in.

Nobody was very worried about her since they caught the fever before it made her really sick. Nobody knew what the infection was just that it had showed up in her blood tests. I wasn't too worried about it either, since they had caught it early and antibiotics are wonderful! Everyone kept telling us they were so sorry we were in the NICU and how horrible that was. And even though it was so hard to see her hooked up to all the monitors as a precaution, I knew that she would be okay. We had both seen friend's babies in Primary Children's so we knew that it could be MUCH worse.

It was hard not being able to have her in our room with us. We would trek down to the NICU every two hours to feed her and hold her. The nurses had a hard time tracking me down to make sure I was doing okay and give me my pain meds. Even though she was only in the NICU for two and a half days, it felt like an eternity! I felt like we got to know the nurses personally and know our way around the NICU really well. It was Conference weekend so it was great to hold her while we listened to Conference. Chase's parents and my parents came to see her and we held her up to the window so her aunts and uncles could meet her.

Sunday morning her tests came back negative so we were cleared to go home! I don't think I've ever felt so relieved and nervous at the same time. Relieved that she was better and coming home, nervous that she was coming home with just us to take care of her.

Thank goodness no one is pregnant forever. Those last few weeks I was wondering if we would ever have a baby, but now she's here; healthy and growing, and we couldn't be happier!

And now, a year later, you are the happiest part of our lives. We've watched you learn how to walk, wave hi, and give the best cheese grins and scuz faces. We've never been so exhausted, we've never worried so much, but we have also never known this much love and happiness. Thank you Lauren for making our dream of being parents come true. Happy birthday Sweetie Bug!