Baby Bryden's Birth Story

***Pictures of this day to come***

The last couple of months before Bryden was born were really rough as my body was struggling with the pregnancy so needless to say here, 2 months later, is the birth story of our little man…

I went into the doctors office for my 37-week appointment with high hopes that after we did the amnio test that I would be admitted into the hospital to deliver my baby. After waiting in the doctor’s office for about 3 hours the doctor came in and told us that his little lungs were not ready quite yet. Bryden’s amnio score was a 37 and it needed to be above a 50 in order for me to be induced. So very upset we left the office and scheduled an appointment for 4 days later to come back and do another NST. When I came back in for my appointment that Monday the doctor told me he was not going to do anymore test, he figured that I had suffered long enough and the baby was not responding well so he wanted to take him right at 38 weeks. He told me to go to the hospital on Thursday and he would strip my membranes with some sort of jelly that would get me ready for labor. Then I would need to come back early Thursday morning and I would be induced.

Wednesday afternoon I went into the hospital as planned. I had my NST done and then the doctor came in about 5:30 to strip my membranes… boy did that hurt!!! Not even 20 minutes after he did this I started to go into labor. I was having the most painful contractions only about a minute apart. The nurse came in and told me that I could have an epidural at that point but she needed to get the doctors approval. The doctor on call said that I couldn’t have one because I was not dilating at a fast enough rate. After about an hour they finally came in and gave me morphine shot but said that they were going to admit me that night because my contractions were just too close together.

That night was the most restless night ever. My blood pressure would drop so the nurse would have to come in and check on me, then 10 minutes later the baby’s heart rate would drop, 10 min later I need oxygen because my levels were too low and so on and so forth ALL night long. Finally at about 6 am the nurse came in and said we were going to start the induction. 20 minutes later she came back in and said that with the night we had they didn’t feel comfortable starting me on the pitocin and I would have to wait for the doctor to come over and break my water. However the good thing was I could finally have my long awaited epidural. The doctor came in around 730, broke my water and the pitocin was now dripping. It was a waiting game from there on out, but not with out all the bumps in the road. Much like the night before the baby and I had problems with our oxygen levels and blood pressure. I was only able to get a drip level of 6 (20 is what they usually do for inductions) because my body and the baby were not responding.

Finally at about 3:30 the nurse came in and checked me and said that it was time to start pushing!!! This was probably the hardest part of the entire delivery. I was just so exhausted and it didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Luckily my support team was encouraging and got me through it. Finally at 4:15 pm our little boy was born weighing 6lbs even and 19 inches long. I wish I could say that it was everything I ever dreamed of but it was anything but that.

Right after the doctor pulled Bryden out he didn’t cry for about 3 minutes. They took him over to the ventilator/bed and had nurses blocking him so we couldn’t see what they were doing. From what I could see they were roughing him up pretty good to try and make him breathe. I kept asking if he was okay and everyone just told me he was fine but would change the subject. I was really nervous because my doctor just kept sewing me up and didn’t say a word. FINALLY we heard a little fuss coming from our Bryden. They came over and laid him on my chest but the little guy stopped crying and started panting so the whisked him away to the NICU. It was almost 5 hours later before I got to see my baby boy again. ☹ Luckily daddy was there to save the day. While my parents stayed with me, Wade was in the nursery with Bryden while he was having all his test done. He would come in periodically and give me updates so that I knew what was going on.

I don’t really like remembering the hospital much. It was a really hard time for us because we were not able to hold or feed our baby for 24 hours. He was hooked up to all kinds of IV’s and monitors. His poor arms and feet were a pricked mess from the test they were running. The pictures are still so painful to look at. Thankfully though the worst was over. Our little boy was able to come home 4 days later with his mommy and daddy.