Kayleigh Alexia Newell was born on April 13, 2010 at 4:00 PM at the Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree, CO. She weighed 8 lbs 7 ozs and was 21 inches long, born at 38 weeks and 4 days.
Last Friday's prenatal checkup showed that I was already 4 cm dilated and given my history of a fast active labor the doctor recommended that I worked from home this week if I didn't already deliver over the weekend as she had predicted. Monday rolled around and I was still pregnant, but feeling well. Hoping to wrap up a few work items more efficiently, I decided to go to work.
I felt fine all day, but my nerves were starting to get the best of me. I was 15 minutes farther away from the hospital than I would be at home, but there were a lot of people willing to take me to the hospital if necessary. The doctor felt that the best case scenario would be that my water would break and I don't go immediately into active labor, allowing me enough time to get to the hospital. Worse case scenario being I don't recognize that I'm in labor (because my contractions don't hurt until my water breaks) until it's too late and I wind up having to deliver in an unconventional situation. With both scenarios I would prefer they didn't happen at work! So, I decided to tell my lead and manager that Tuesday would be my last day in the office.
Driving home from work around 6:30 PM, I began to feel some mild contractions roughly 5 minutes apart. These contractions continued all evening, but neither getting more intense nor closer together. Paul and I were both getting mentally prepared to go to the hospital just in case. We had even called my parents to ask them to come stay with the sleeping Abby if we had to run to the hospital that night. However, at 10:00 PM, there were still no changes in my condition, so I figured I was just having more practice contractions and we all decided to go to bed.
At 5:00 AM, I was woken up by a strange feeling contraction unlike the others I had experienced. It started as a mild menstrual cramp that radiated upwards across my belly. Not painful, just different. I stayed awake for awhile to see if I could sense a pattern, but no such luck. I would have 3 contractions back to back to back and then nothing for 30 minutes. By 6:45 AM, I had decided it was probably safe to go to work. However, something was nagging in the back of my mind and I asked Paul if he wouldn't mind going with me to my OB's office that morning for reassurance that nothing had changed before we headed to work. We both decided that was a pretty good idea.
We dropped Abby off at daycare, expecting to head to work after the appointment. On the way, I called the nurse for an appointment and after explaining the previous night's experience, was told to show up at the appointment with my packed bags in case I'm sent to the hospital. Well, the bags were still at home and I didn't think there was a need to go grab them. In fact, the appointment was at 10:50 AM, so I went to the office and grabbed my work laptop thinking that at least I could get some work done if I were sent to the hospital to be induced.
The 10:50 appointment was quick. Two nurses confirmed that I had progressed to 6cm and needed to go to the hospital immediately. Although the contractions were not regular, they were afraid of how quickly I could potentially progress. The on-call OB doctor happened to be going to the Sky Ridge soon, so the nurses called her up to expect me there. We were told to go straight to the hospital and only stop to grab bags if they were on the way and lunch if we must.
The bags were not along the way, but we went home to grab them anyway. Paul also had to drop some tea off at work for a going-away party for a co-worker and since I was still feeling peachy, we decided to trek up to Aurora and run the errand. In Aurora, while grabbing lunch, the nurse from the OB's office called and asked where I was. The OB had arrived at the hospital and not seeing me there already was very nervous for me and hoped I wasn't delivering on the side of the road! I told her we were on our way. I felt awful keeping the doctor waiting, but I was sort of driven to dawdling partially because I wasn't feeling like any of the urgency was necessary or real and also because I was very nervous! The nurses told me the plan was to have me walk around the hospital a bit to see if it would get my contractions more regular and then probably break my water if I made more progress and needed something extra to get the stronger contractions necessary to make it all the way.
At least I didn't have to be induced, which was a goal for this pregnancy.
We were admitted to Sky Ridge at 1:43 PM. As I walked up to the admissions desk obviously NOT in pain and asking to be admitted to labor and delivery, the admission's lady asked, "Are you being induced?" All I could say was, "No, I'm in labor, supposedly." After filling out some paperwork, she said someone will come and get me and when they come, "act like you're in a lot of pain, ok?!"
It was so surreal, walking to the labor and delivery deck, going to my room, changing into the hospital gown, and chatting with the nurse and OB, still not having it sink in that we were going to have a baby that day. I think I was still very doubtful that I was actually in labor and I was definitely still nervous that they may have to resort to induction. The OB, Dr. Ashbeck, was clearly relieved to see me make it to the hospital in time and she gave me a big hug when she saw me. After explaining to her about the contractions from the night before and the office visit in the morning, she asked about my birth plan (no epidural unless it starts getting really painful), we discussed how she planned to help me avoid another 4th degree laceration which I had experienced with Abby's delivery, and she examined me to see where I was at so we can plan the rest of the afternoon.
To everyone's surprise, I checked into the hospital at 8 cm dilated. There wasn't much time for me to walk around and Dr. Ashbeck wanted to see my contractions more regular, so she suggested that she break my water. I was scared - a little bit because I knew as soon as the water broke, I would really start feeling the contraction pains, but more so because I knew that the baby would be here soon. As excited as I was to meet Kayleigh and have the pregnancy over with, I couldn't understand why I felt so frightened. After all, we weren't first time parents here. Nonetheless, Dr. Ashbeck saw my hesitation and told me to think about it.
An hour later, the doctor and nurse came back to check on me. I was having contractions, according to the monitor, but I only felt a couple of them. Dr. Ashbeck asked again what I thought of having my water broken. After an hour of chatting with Paul and feeling more relaxed because we were at a hospital, not still driving all over the Denver metro area, wondering if I may or may not drop the baby, I decided to take Dr. Ashbeck's recommendation and she broke my water at 2:45 PM and immediately brought in the tray of "stuff," getting ready for the delivery.
Waiting for the pain of contractions to hit, Paul brought out books we were reading to pass the time. Many minutes went by and many contractions were now felt, but nothing painful enough to warrant alarm. The nurse kept coming in to check on my pain level. On a scale from 0-10, I ranked them 0 or 1. Jokingly, she advised that I keep that information quiet and don't let the other women on the labor deck know. :)
The nurse went back to the nurse's station where she could still keep an eye on the fetal and contractions monitor. Baby was doing great throughout.
Roughly around 3:30-3:45 I came to the end of a chapter in my book and realized the contractions were getting harder. Hard enough for me to lose concentration on my book to focus on them. I was also getting thirsty, so I asked Paul to ask the nurse if I could have some water or tea. He came back with a cup of water and word from the nurse to only take sips because I'll be delivering soon. I remember thinking, "How soon is soon?"
After the sips, I thought I might as well talk to the nurse about an epidural because I didn't want to get it when things got REALLY painful, so Paul went out again to tell the nurse I was feeling the contractions a lot more now. When he came back in, I all of a sudden felt an overwhelming need to push, so I sent Paul out again. The nurse rushed in along with Dr. Ashbeck, who was giving me instructions to breathe through my next contraction so she can make sure I was 100% effaced (no more cervix) and could push. While she checked, she asked the nurse to change the bed and prepare for delivery.
What? No epidural? Seriously?!
That next contraction where I couldn't push was by far the WORST part of the labor. Luckily, it only lasted a few seconds and Dr. Ashbeck was able to verify that I could push, so the next contraction she gave me the go-ahead.
I remember thinking how odd it was being asked to push because you don't actually need to consciously do anything except let your body push as it wants. In fact, trying to do anything against what your body naturally wanted to do was extremely difficult, hence why trying to breathe through the contraction and ignore the urge to push was nearly impossible. So, not having to put my mind towards “pushing”, I focused my attention on bearing through the pain. In only a few moments, the contraction was over and Kayleigh's head was out. I heard Dr. Ashbeck say to collect myself and prepare for one more big, big push. Another moment later and she was born.
Kayleigh was placed on my belly and I saw that she was blue, motionless, quiet, and with the cord around her neck. I was stunned, but I also heard someone saying, "she's ok, she's ok" to me. Meanwhile, Dr. Ashbeck was telling the nurse the cord was wrapped twice around her neck and Paul told me that she had cut the cord as soon as the head was out and that the baby had already coughed and was getting some color back. Kayleigh was taken to the warming bed and they didn't even need to rub her to get her to start wailing. When I saw her flailing limbs, they were already looking healthy and normal.
After a scary start - her Apgar score at 1 minute of life was a 2 - Kayleigh recovered immediately and by 5 minutes of life, her Apgar score had improved to 9. Dr. Ashbeck reassured us that the baby's vitals were perfect up until the delivery, so she wasn't in distress for long at all.
I was complimented on my amazing control while pushing, which I thought ironic because I had absolutely no control. But as a result, I only had a small 1st degree laceration, managing to avoid a repeat of the 4th degree tear from Abby's birth.
Soon, I was able to hold Kayleigh again and start nursing her. She was a champ, latching on immediately and was nursing in no time.
My parents arrived around 5 PM and we watched Kayleigh get her first sponge bath.
Since I didn’t have to recover from an epidural, I was able to walk and be moved to a recovery room with Kayleigh right after her bath. Paul left the hospital to pick up Abby from daycare while my parents helped Kayleigh and me relocate. My brother, Allen showed up shortly after we settled in the new room.
Abby was shy meeting Kayleigh for the first time, but she was also all smiles and you can tell she was fascinated by her. She wanted to touch her all the time and she was great being extra gentle with her.
At the end of the day, I felt so blessed to be surrounded by family as we welcomed our newest member. Aside from the distress caused by the umbilical cord around her neck, Kayleigh’s birth was actually surprisingly pleasant and nearly painless. I couldn’t have asked for a better labor and delivery.
Kayleigh and I both received clean bills of health the next morning and since there was nothing for the nurses to do for us (no need for lactation consultants, pain medication, etc.) we were asked if we’d like to be discharged early. After a bilirubin test for jaundice (Kayleigh’s bilirubin score was 3.4, which means no jaundice) and a hearing screen (complete in less than 4 minutes) that indicated no need for concern, we were on our way home around 1:00 PM on Wednesday.
Over the next few days, we plan to settle into a family routine. Abby has been an amazing big sister and she has been more than understanding about sharing mom and dad with Kayleigh. She loves her little sister and we are so grateful for her maturity in handling this transition.
