I think the kiss of death was assuming my third birth would go like my first two but is it though? I was induced with both Denver and Ray, with each of them, I walked into the hospital already dilated at least 3cm, I got the drugs, I got the pitocin and I had a baby a couple hours later. Ray’s birth story is here, for a more in depth version. Brennan has a TOTALLY different story, which still hasn’t quite set in.

I should have known things were going to be different at my 37 week doctors appointment. I asked to be examined to see how dilated I was compared to my past pregnancies. I was only 1cm at this point with Brennan, which was odd because with both D and Ray I was already 2.5cm. I didn’t think much of it except the fact that I knew I had plenty of time.

Monday, June 3rd 

7am My mom arrived at the house to be with Ray for the morning. We got the girls ready for the day and loaded up the bags. Danny and I left with Denver around 7:15 to take her to school and head to the hospital. Our induction time was 8am- we walked into L&D at 8:05 ready to get the show on the road! I immediately asked for the epidural which I tend to need right away, because once the induction begins, I labor very quickly and don’t have time for the drugs. They got me all hooked up, I got the epidural (which was pretty painless, although I think he hit a nerve because my entire right leg got numb before the drugs were active) and I was ready to go. This is where I think a step was skipped, in the past I get examined by my doctor before anything happens, no one examined me before they gave me the drugs. Had they done so they would have realized I wasn’t as dilated as I needed to be.

10am (I think) The nurses started me on Pitocen and my doctor came by to check on me. (At this point the whole family and Ray were at the hospital). My OBGYN did an exam and I was only 2 cm dilated, which I could kind of tell, Brennan was still logged in my ribs, she had’t dropped at all. I wanted the doctor to break my water, because I was sure once that was done things would start moving. The doc said they could only pop my water between 3 and 4 cm because when you break the water bag, if the baby has not dropped low enough you risk the umbilical cord coming first. Another problem was there was nothing I could do to move it along, I already got the drugs, so I couldn’t even stand up if I wanted.

so we waited

11:30am Ray is getting restless so my mom took her back to the house to hang out. The in laws, Danny and I were waiting, I wasn’t in pain, no contractions nothing but numbness and starvation.

2pm Everyone has now had lunch, I had jello. By this point with both Denver and Ray, the babies were out and I was moving to Postpartum. I was frustrated that things were not going to plan, I didn’t know why and nothing was happening.

NO clue of the time line in the middle- I do know Danny had to go pick up Denver from school and bring her to our house with my mom (thank God she was there for the girls.)

As the doctors were watching the monitors they started to get worried. After every contraction I was having, Brennan’s heart rate would dip dramatically or stop, so they stopped me on the pitocin until the doctor could come back and do an exam. She arrived and I was only between 3-4 cm. Her thought was that the cord was wrapped around Brennan’s neck preventing her from dropping which is why when I would contract Brennan was in distress.

I had a couple options at this point. Option one, we could try the induction again- more pitocin and just hope I can get to 4cm to pop my water. Option two, go home and wait (YA RIGHT, I was not about to get poked all day for nothing). Option three- C section (LAST resort). We chose to go at the induction again, in hopes for a natural labor and a healthy baby.

5:15 pm She started me back on the pit, and got me to 4cm so she could pop my water. This put things into motion.

I wanted more drugs, the epidural had been going all day and Brennan was finally dropping so I could FEEL those contractions and it was not fun! *shout out to all those mama’s who don’t have the drugs, you are a superhero. They upped my dose a little, but there’s a balance, not to have too much for our health.

At this point my in laws went to our house to be with the girls and my mom came to the hospital (she was kind of freaking out thinking a c section might happen)

7:15 pm The doctor popped my water, Brennan had dropped (not a lot), but because I tended to labor quickly she had confidence that I could get her out fast enough that she wouldn’t be in danger. She was right. 45 minutes later Brennan was born. The cord was wrapped around her neck TWICE, which is why she wasn’t budging. My doctor was AMAZING and got her out safe and right to my chest. She is the biggest baby I’ve had weighing in at almost 9 lbs and longer than both her sisters. She is absolutely perfect and healthy.

We spent the night not comfortable, I was still hooked up to the epidural because there was no one there to remove it and we couldn’t move to another room because of lack of staff, or timing, or something like that. But we got as much sleep as we could.

Everyone came in the next morning (with coffee and pastries, Thank God) to meet baby Brennan, we spent the afternoon in the hospital staring at the baby and broke out at Midnight!

Nothing went as planned, except for the fact that we took home a perfect, healthy baby. I still can’t believe its already here and gone and we are home as a family of 5. All our guests left today, so we are ready to start our routine!

xo,

proud mama, Kelsey