Allison's Birth Story

Once again, the Staples slogan, "That was easy" summarizes my labor with Allison but here is the long version!

Granny and Granddaddy flew in on Monday and I was scheduled for an induction on Tuesday morning. Dr. Weno was back from vacation and this was her first day back on call. I got a call early Tuesday morning that I was going to be rescheduled because there were too many people in labor already. I was so disappointed. Around 1130 I learned that I would not be able to come in that day so I scheduled an office appointment for that afternoon.

While in the waiting room with Granny, Dr. Weno messaged me to see if I could come in early Wednesday morning for an induction. We thought that if I got an early start, she would be able to deliver this one, too! She came to the NST room and then I had an office visit with her. I was 2-3/70%.

We took our last picture as a family of four on Tuesday night. We had to be at the hospital at 0500 Wednesday morning.

I must have checked my phone two dozen times from 0300 on in hopes I would not get rescheduled again! We checked in at 0500.

Katie and Becca came in and started the admission process while Jason napped.

At 0545, Pitocin was started and at 0615 Dr. Weno came in to break my water. I was 4cm/75% and feeling a few contractions. Within 30 minutes, the contractions were stronger and I was breathing through them. I was hoping to wait until 0700 for an epidural so I could get a fresh anesthesiologist who had not been on call all night!

By 0700, I did not care who it was or how tired they would be. I was hurting and wincing through the contractions. A little after 7, Lisa and Abby came in to take over. I could not even greet them during a contraction and tried to talk in between contractions. Dr. Jackson came in a few minutes later for the epidural. I warned Lisa, Abby and Dr. Jackson that my blood pressure usually drops after the epidural so have the Ephedrine ready! Not long after the epidural was placed, I started feeling woozy so they quickly gave me Ephedrine and laid me back down. I had a couple more doses of Ephedrine and finally started feeling better.

By 0800, baby was misbehaving on the monitor so they checked me and I was 8 cm! Lisa went to go make a delivery cart but every time she walked away to make it, the heart rate would drop and I would need to be repositioned. Soon I was laying on my left side with oxygen. At 0815 I was 9 cm and by 0830 I was complete.

I teased Lisa and Abby that they could just deliver the baby. Lisa reassured me that Dr. Weno was nearby. She came in and we got set up for delivery. I was feeling pressure but still had to push a few contractions to get baby to come down. It was decided that Jason would announce if it was a boy or a girl. We were so excited to meet this little one.

The baby had a double nuchal cord (cord around the neck twice). It had to be cut and then we were ready to deliver. At 0848, Dr. Weno held the baby up and I looked just as Jason said,

"It's

A

Girl!"

I immediately started crying tears of joy and saying, "Oh my goodness, a girl!!" Dr. Weno placed our girl on me and Jason cut the cord. I was so excited that we finally got our Allison! Allison was taken over to the warmer .



Her APGARs were 9,9. They did her measurements. Allison weighed 7 pounds, 0.7 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long.

 Soon she was back in my arms!

Jason texted my parents that baby was here so they came up to meet their #8 grandchild. They were so surprised baby was a girl. Granny cried along with me that we had our sweet Allison.

Luke did good meeting baby sister. He looked at her and then Daddy read him a book.

Jason called Grampa and Granna to let them know. We sent out these pictures in a text to announce baby Allison's arrival:

Davis came up after school and met his baby Sister. He had said all along that it would be a baby brother but he was pretty excited.

The Staples slogan, "That was easy" definitely summarizes my labor experience. Less than four hours after being admitted to the hospital, 2.5 hours of actual labor and six or seven contractions of pushing, I had our baby GIRL in my arms!

Luke's Birth Story

The Staples slogan, "That was easy" summarizes my labor with Luke but here is the long version! The induction was postponed until Saturday, December 21st (two days past my due date) because it was crazy busy at the hospital. Since I was an elective induction I was the first one rescheduled. Although I was disappointed, it was nice to get last minute errands and Christmas shopping done, spend time with Granny and Granddaddy and just soak up the last few days of pregnancy! Also, Dr. Weno was on call all weekend. She has been my doctor with Davis, through 7 cycles of Clomid, and this pregnancy!

On Saturday morning, I must have checked my phone a dozen times hoping the hospital was not calling to reschedule again! Granny and Granddaddy made a big breakfast for Jason and me. I could barely eat I was so nervous. Davis woke up right before we were leaving. I was so glad to see him! We took one last picture before we left.

We checked in at 0802 and got settled into our room.

My nurse Gina came in and started the admission process. By 0845, Pitocin was running and my antibiotic was started. I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Dr. Weno came in and said I could have the epidural whenever and she would break my water after I was comfortable. I knew I wanted the epidural but wanted to wait until the Pitocin started to work before getting it. As we waited for the contractions to get more uncomfortable, I sat in the rocking chair and visited with Gina and Jason.

Around 11, Granny and Granddaddy brought Davis up to see me and pick up Jason for lunch at Sub City. He did pretty good although he didn't like that I had an IV.

I was beginning to feel the contractions more so decided to go ahead and call for the epidural. I knew since it was the weekend it could be awhile. The anesthesiologist was on the way so I asked Dr. Weno to go ahead and break my water.  I was ready for labor to really kick in! At 1155, she broke my water. I was still 3 cm. I was starting to get more uncomfortable by the time Dr. Shockley was done with the epidural. By 1230 I was comfortable with a fabulous epidural!

At 1320, Gina checked me and I was 4-5cm/100%. I was keeping Gina busy! I started to feel really out of it and my blood pressure had dropped. She gave me a couple of doses of Ephedrine and that helped everything not be so fuzzy. At 1400, I was 7cm dilated. I was finally beginning to feel better so I took a nap for a bit.

When Gina was giving report to Deanna at 1500, Dr. Weno came in and checked on me. She checked me and I was complete! We did a couple of practice pushes and then she had me stop. They got everything ready and soon I started pushing again. After only 3 or 4 contractions and at 1521, we were ready for Dr. Weno to announce.......

"It's

A

BOY!!"

Dr. Weno placed our boy on me and Jason cut the cord. The feeling I got to have our baby on me was pure joy. I was 99.9% sure I was having a girl and had told everyone that. Melissa and I had looked on the ultrasound and were sure we had seen girl parts! Jason and I didn't even have a boy named picked out! Here's audio of our reaction to "It's a boy!"

Brother was taken over to the warmer for more stimulation. His APGARs were 9,9. They did his measurements and soon he was back in my arms. He was 8 pounds 3 ounces and 20 1/4 inches long.

Jason texted my parents that baby was here and to bring Davis when he got up from his nap. Here's big brother meeting brother:

He did not tell them the gender of the baby. When they arrived, he said, "Well would you like to meet your new grandson?" Both of their mouths were wide open and they thought we were kidding! I wished we would have taped their reaction. Taking in their #4 grandson:

We had a wonderful hospital stay. Most of it was debating on a name for our baby boy. Finally on Sunday night we decided on Luke Steven Brown. Steven is my Dad and brother's name and we just liked the name Luke! 

The Staples slogan "That was easy" definitely summarizes my labor experience. Seven hours after being admitted to the hospital, less than three hours of actual labor, and maybe three or four contractions of pushing, I had our baby boy in my arms!

Davis' Birth Story

One of the perks of working in labor and delivery is I actually scheduled myself for an induction (with Dr. Weno's approval). She was leaving for her honeymoon when I would be 41 weeks so I was scheduled on her last day of call. That day just happened to be my sister's birthday, June 16.

Being induced worked out perfectly because my parents were able to fly in the night before. We picked them up in Cedar Rapids and ate at Outback Steakhouse for dinner. I was unable to sleep very well that night because I was so excited and nervous.

The morning of June 16, Jason and I ate breakfast with my parents and then left for the hospital. The plan was once I got admitted and settled, Mom and Dad would come to the hospital. I had warned them that it may not be until late that night or early Friday morning that I would deliver.

I checked in at 0735 and went to my room. I had a sweet note from my night shift girls.

Latisha and Jeanelle stopped by on their way home to wish me luck. I was surprisingly not nervous. Soon my nurse Tina came in and started the long admission process. She got my IV started and then we waited and waited on pharmacy. Tina hung my antibiotic and then started Pitocin at 0915. I then decided to be out of the bed and sat in the rocking chair. I talked on the phone with Caryn and Diana, chatted with Tina, and visited with Mom, Dad, and Jason. It did not seem like I was the patient. Tina had turned down the volume to the baby's heart beat and moved the monitor so I could not see what the baby was doing on the strip.

Around 1100, Mom, Dad and Jason left to get lunch. I sent Jason with them since I figured it would be a long day. About that time I finally started to feel the contractions.

Dr. Hines came in to check on me. She asked if I wanted to get the epidural before she broke my water or after. Since I wanted to experience some labor and be able to answer the question my patients often ask, "Does it hurt when they break your water?", I told her to go ahead and break it. At 1115 I was dilated to 2-3 cm and 90 % effaced.

Within 20 minutes, I could really tell the difference in contractions. I had had my experience of painful labor. At first I told Tina I could wait for Dr. Kippes to get done with a tubal and then two contractions later I did not care who did the epidural. Thankfully Dr. Kippes was done with the tubal and came in around noon. By 1215 I was comfortable with an epidural!

Once the epidural started working the real fun began. I started to feel sick so Tina gave me some Zofran. I don't know if it was the Zofran or the epidural but I seemed really out of it. It was hard to complete sentences and then I would forget what I was saying. I teased Tina that she must have given me some other medication instead of Zofran.  I kept touching my legs and asking Tina "Is this my body?" It was the weirdest feeling, it seemed like I was touching a pillow instead of my leg.

At 1305, Tina checked me and I was 8 cm dilated. That was when I knew I would have Charlie on my sister's birthday! We just visited and waited some more. I kept asking her if she was serious that I was that far dilated.

At 1400, Tina checked me again and I was complete. That was when the party began. My coworkers came by to visit and cheer me on. I started pushing a little while later but could not feel anything to know where to push. We did tug of war and then took a break after about 20 minutes. I asked Tina to pause the epidural so I could get some feeling back in order to push effectively.

Brenda took over at 1500 and I continued to labor down to let the contractions do the work while we waited for the epidural to wear off some more. Around 1515, unbeknownst to me, Charlie started being naughty with the contractions. Tina and Brenda both did a good job of hiding what was happening with the heart rate during contractions. At one point I even asked Dad what the heart rate was because the volume was turned down. I wanted him to tell me what was happening with a contraction but all he said was the number. Dr. Weno came back soon and we were all ready for delivery.

This was the moment we had been waiting and praying for but not just all day or the last nine months. Last June I started my first month of Clomid.

After pushing for only 20 more minutes we were about to find out if Charlie was a boy or girl. Charlie had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. At 1535, we heard Dr. Weno say....

"It's

A

Boy!"

Jason cut the cord and Dr. Weno placed him on me. The feeling that I got when Davis Jason Brown was placed on my chest was pure joy.

Davis was taken to the warmer for more stimulation and oxygen. Jason had stepped out of the room to let my parents know that it was a boy and nearly got run over by nurses running to our room. At first he thought that they were just excited to see the baby but soon realized something was wrong. Davis stopped breathing and they had to pull the code pink button to get the NICU nurses over to help him.  I heard the alarm but with so many extra nurses in the room for delivery, did not realize what was happening. Dr. Weno and Tina really distracted me and Dr. Weno kept reassuring me that he was crying and asking me if I could hear it. Looking back now, it was such a blessing that I did not know. His APGARs (10 is the best) were 2, 9, 9.

Davis weighed 7 pounds 4.8 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. Soon Davis was back in my arms and he had to be monitored a little extra. Thankfully he was able to stay rooming in with us.

Later that night he had to go under phototherapy because of his bilirubin levels. His lab work at birth showed he was at risk for jaundice so the doctor decided to start him on phototherapy then instead of waiting for it to get worse. By the day of discharge his levels were right where they needed to be.

The Staples slogan "That was easy" definitely summarizes my labor experience. Eight hours after being admitted to the hospital, four hours of actual labor, and roughly 40 minutes of pushing, I had our baby boy in my arms!