Taylor's Birth Story

Lets just say I have been planning for Taylor's birth for a long time. It all started on a September day three years ago, when I had to have surgery while I was pregnant with Chase. That was so hard to recover from, I got it into my head that I couldn't deal with another surgery ever, so I had to deliver Chase vaginally! The rest of my pregnancy with Chase was pretty uneventful, including no contractions AT ALL!! Some would consider that lucky, but I was pretty frustrated, because I knew how big Chase would most likely be and my doctor wouldn't agree to deliver me sooner than one week overdue since he was my first baby. Since I wasn't having any contractions, I knew my body wouldn't help me come early, or probably even on time, so I was finally induced 8 days after my due date.

After having Pitocin induced contractions for 10 hours of labor, I was stuck dilated to a 5, and not progressing. My doctor decided I needed to have a c-section after all, and shortly after that my 10 pound 9 ounce Chasey was finally in my arms. While my doctor was stitching me up, he said "There is no way you would have been able to push this kid out of your small pelvis. At least all the rest of your pregnancies we can schedule a c-section and you can do it a week early!" So this time since I knew I would have a c-section, I wouldn't go into labor on my own, and I could pretty much plan my delivery, I started making said plans very early.

A few weeks before my scheduled c-section, September 21st, I was pretty proud of myself. I had accomplished a good portion of my "To Do Before Taylor Comes" list, and I had worked out detailed instructions for Brad on everything he needed to know while I would be in the hospital. I had places for Chase to go every day, even while Brad was in school at night, my bags were packed, and everything was covered.

Unfortunately, in the middle of all my plan making, I forgot to ask Taylor when he wanted to come, because his plans apparently didn't coincide with mine...

Thursday evening, September 16th, yes that was 5 days before my scheduled c-section, Brad, Chase and I went to grab some dinner at Magleby's Fresh. As we were leaving, I had a contraction!! I was shocked because I didn't think my body would do that, in fact, I wasn't even positive it was a contraction, so I didn't think much of it. But, by the time we all went to bed that night, they kept coming. Far apart at first, and mild pain, progressing to every 5 to 10 minutes and very painful by midnight. Unfortunately, someone like me who was uneducated in the ways of normal "labor" didn't know what the protocol was for someone who was laboring but was planning on a c-section. So I told Brad at about 2:30 that I would try to tough it out, and call my doctor in the morning. But by about 5, I couldn't stand it anymore, and I figured we could go to the hospital and see what they said about it. So Brad got up at 5 to get ready for work as usual, but I told him to call in, we were going to the hospital.

Luckily, Brad's parents are so close by, and his mom was able to come be with Chase. Once we got to the hospital at about 5:30, things started happening really fast. Orem Community Hospital is so great and efficient, and they had me checked in and hooked up to a monitor by 6 am. It turns out even if you are scheduled for a c-section, when you come in they still monitor you for an hour to see if you make progress before they determine whether or not to go ahead and deliver the baby. When the nurse checked me, I was dilated to a 3 and 90% effaced. But, we didn't know what I was previously because with a c-section planned, of course my doctor had never checked my progress. So the plan was to keep letting me have contractions and see if I was progressing in an hour. Again, my body did something unexpected. My water broke! I said to the nurse, I think I am peeing, and she checked and we all were delighted to find out it was water leaking!

Once this happened they didn't need to watch for progression anymore. One of the partner doctors in my doctors office was called, since my doctor was out of town, and he said he'd be there in half an hour. So I was quickly prepped, given my spinal and moved into the operating room. By 7:03 am Taylor was out and I was being stitched up! My HUGE miracle came into this world at 11 pounds 1 ounce and 22 inches! He beat his brother by half a pound and an inch!

Taylor came out breathing and crying and seemed just fine to me. I wasn't told until later that the respiration guy was a little concerned so after we got to see him, he was taken to the NICU. Since it takes a while to be stitched up after a c-section I knew it would be a while before I would see him anyway. Once I got back to my room though, and still wasn't able to see him, I put Brad on duty to find out what the deal was. Turned out our little man had to be put on oxygen because his levels weren't where they should be.

Long story short, it turns out Taylor had two things working against him. It is common for bigger babies to have breathing issues, and it is common for some of the air and fluid babies are born with to not get pushed out of their bodies when they are delivered by c-section. Taylor had a little pocket of air next to his heart, and some fluid in his lungs. We were reassured that these things would work themselves out, but he needed to be watched, so he didn't get to come to my room and the doctors would be checking in on him frequently. Another precaution that was taken "just in case" was to give him an IV of antibiotics to make sure there weren't any infections.

All this made the hospital stay very hard. We went in and visited our little man in the NICU very often, and I went in for all the feedings. He kept getting a little better, and they would take him off the oxygen for little bits at a time. But by Tuesday, when I was hoping we would both be discharged, little Taylor still wasn't ready. Ironically, this was the 21st, the date my c-section had been scheduled for. So Tuesday night and all day Wednesday, I opted to board in, which meant a paid a little fee to stay in a room, but I could come and go as I wanted to. This worked out okay, but I was getting a little sick of the hospital. I was hoping that Taylor could come home Wednesday anyway so I wouldn't have to worry about staying again. However, after the pediatrician came and did his circumcision Wednesday morning, he gave me some crappy news.

The news was laced with good, that I must point out. He told me we would be able to take our little man home the next morning! We were thrilled about that. Unfortunately, that was where the good part stopped. He would be checking us out at 11 am, and that was on purpose because he had scheduled an appointment for us to see a specialist down from Primary Children's at Utah Valley Hospital to get an EKG and echcardiogram on Taylor's heart. Again, they said this was "just in case" and they wanted to rule out any heart problems. Also, we would be taking an Apnea monitor home with us for Taylor to have on for at least two weeks which is keeping track of his breathing and heart rate, to make sure he is doing okay.

Now to the present. We have been home for 8 days. Taylor is two weeks old today. Yesterday we had his two week doctor appointment and everything is fine. The results from the heart tests were positive, a few things were a little concerning, but they will work themselves out over time, and we don't even have to follow up. Taylor has to have the monitor on for two more weeks, but the doctor thinks that will be fine too. Now we are just settling in to our new routine with our new bundle of joy. Chase is thrilled to be a big brother and he helps out as much as he can. We have had tons of support from family and friends and we are so excited to have our little four person family at last!