One Mother To Another: Braden Allen Birth story

A quick time line of the day

630 Admitted

715 pit icon started
0800 epidural started by Todd turner anesthesia
0900 dilated 4+
0925 water broken
1011 dilated 6. 90% effaced
1024. Dilated 8. Fully effaced
1045 delivered !!!

YOUR BIRTH STORY AS TOLD BY YOUR FATHER (and a little by me)

**Because of the preterm labor and issues during this pregnancy, the doctor ultimately decided to induce Braden's birth. I remember the night before induction we had gone over to Gigi and Papa Powells house for Fathers day. I sat on the back porch after dinner thinking for a bit. I was so torn about what to do. I was excited to meet you the next morning but also so nervous about being induced and "picking your birthday". I know that seems stupid, but Madison came on her own and I sort of liked the surprise of which day you would finally decide to come, especially since you have been trying to come since we were 26 weeks along. Ultimately I decided to go along with the induction. It worked better with Daddys's crazy work schedule and it was easier to make sure we had someone to watch Madison. We kissed out little girl good bye and went home for the night. She was staying over at Gigi and Papas with my parents (who had recently moved to Utah from California and were looking for a house themselves). They were planning on bringing her to the hospital the next day. Zach and I went back to our little apartment and tried to watch a show before bed. I showered, shaved my legs and double checked our hospital bags.

The day started at 4am when Sara just couldn't fall asleep, it was like waiting for Christmas morning. We arrived at the hospital 6:30 am when we were admitted and sent to our room. Sara was the only induction that day. The nursing staff went about doing their business, asking questions and filling out paperwork. Our L&D nurses were Stephanie and Debbieann. And IV was quickly placed and Sara became comfortable in her bed. She was given 1 liter of fluid before the Pitocin was started at the lowest level possible, which then started the contractions at 3 minutes apart.

**I was again nervous and excited. I couldn't believe it was all happening. I couldn't sleep so I was up early doing my make up and curling my hair. I sent a reminder text to my friend that we were meeting at the hospital at 6:30 am and Zach gave me a blessing. We snapped a picture on the way out the door and headed to the hospital. Such a different experience, the nurses knew I was coming. My room was ready. Everything seemed so much less urgent.

**Once the pictocin was in my contractions started hard and fast! They were painful about 2-3 minutes apart and 30 seconds long. They stopped the medicine and let labor progress naturally. However giving someone medication to kick start labor when she has already been in "fake labor" for several months just gave my body the go ahead to GET THIS KID OUT!

At 8am Dr. Turner with anesthesia entered the room to administer the epidural. This was in midst of the neighbors in the adjacent room screaming wildly for some type of Exter celestial help. Dr. Turner made light work of the epidural and Sara's lower extremities quickly started to feel the feeling effects of bupivacaine and Fentanyl.

**We joked as he entered the room that he should probably help the lady down the hall who was SCREAMING "Heavenly Father, please make this stop!" he said she had been in labor all night long and complained so much and for so long they were taking her to knock her out and have a c section, so he wanted to get my epidural in before he was stuck in surgery with her. I appreciated his thoughtfulness, I was definitely not willing to wait much longer.

At about 9am Sara was checked and found to be four plus centimeters dilated. About 15 minutes later at 9:25am, the Honorable Dr. Harward entered the room and with the use of an amnio hook made quick work of the bag waters. It was funny to watch Sara's belly quickly lose part of its volume as the water was broken.

**When the doctor broke my water I felt a slight pinch and a warm gush of water. Because my legs were mostly numb I had no control over my lower half and it just felt so weird to be stuck in a puddle of water and not being able to do anything about it. All we could do was sit and play the waiting game.... I call this the calm before the storm.

The next check happened at 10am and she was dilated to a six. Over the next few minutes we started to see that Braden's heart rate with the accelerate with each contraction. It's usually isn't much of a concern but his heart rate was starting to stay steady at that lower pace. First the nursing staff gave Sara some extra oxygen to help out the baby. After some time and she was dilated to an eight but the time the baby was with lower heart rate started to increase. The nurses thought maybe the baby ran out of fluid to quickly. The wanted to place an inter-uterine catheter to replace some of the fluid. When she tried she got nothing but blood quietly and calmly she took her gloves off and exited the room, without saying anything.

** This is when I felt the mood in the room change. The nurse had come to check how far along I was and place an inter uterine catheter to try and replenish some of the fluid I lose and help with his heartbeat. I couldn't see what was going on but she quickly put her hands behind her back and left the room. Something didn't feel right. I started to get nervous but no one would tell me what was going on. 10 minutes later I heard Dr Harward yelling at his nurse in the hallway. Apparently she had just paged him instead of urgently calling his office when she ran in to the issue with the blood. He was not pleased and let it be known. Then as if nothing had happened he enteted the room with a big smile and said " lets have a baby!" I cried. I didn't feel ready to push. I didn't feel ready to have a baby. I knew something was wrong and no one said anything. My emotions were overwhelming but mostly I just didn't feel ready to have the baby, labor hadn't progressed enough for me to want to push him out.

Dr Harward had planned to let Zach deliver Braden but when things got a little scary, Zach stepped back and Harward said " get in there, its go time". Three pushes and my beautiful boy was out. I remember feeling so exhausted and light headed after he was out. They took Braden away and Zach followed. My friend Lindsey stayed by my side while the doctor worked hard to stitch me up and stop the bleeding.

The next time we saw the nurse was with the whole delivery team and Dr. Harward. The doctor explained that it was time to deliver there is some mild bleeding and that she was fully dilated and this baby was going to come out now. And a quick rush of events the doctor and Zach quickly gowned up put on the gloves and prepared for delivery. With the nurse on each leg, Sara began to push with Dr. Harwood and Zach ready to catch. Soon the head was visible in it was getting closer. Sara even reached down once to touch the babies head. She managed to put her finger in a blood clot and was thoroughly grossed out. With the doctors help Zach proceeded to deliver his new little boy. Experiencing one of the happiest moments of his life Zach pulled his baby boy out and held him close. Dr Harward leaned in and asked " how you going to cut the cord ". He helped Zach hold the baby and cut the cord. Zach held up his beautiful baby Braden to show his mom at which point, Braden peed all over the place. Baby was then cleaned up checked by the hospital staff. He weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz. and 19 inches long and a full head of hair. After they were done with thier work, Braden was given back to his mom for some skin to skin time.

While they were checking the stats on the baby Dr. Harward worked to stop the bleeding and repair the damage that had be done. Because delivery happened so quickly, Sara tore her cervix and also got a few additional stitches. Sara lost a good amount of blood and the Dr worked quickly to try and fix it before needing to go to the OR. After he was finished the housekeeping staff came in and quickly cleaned all the blood on the floor before Sara could see it. It looked like a murder scene, but of course no one shared that information with Sara so she would remain calm during the entire thing.

** I finally got to hold my boy for a few minutes but felt so tired and weak I couldn't hold him for too long. Soon after we called our families to tell them Braden was here. They wanted to all come visit but I didn't feel up to it because delivery was so intense. Big sister came around 1:30 with Mimi and Papa. VIkki, Lance and Jono came that evening around bedtime and the rest of the friends and family came the next day.

The first few hours with him were the best. The tiniest newborn baby snuggles and breastfeeding was actually working! Birth was traumatic but I swear women do it over and over again just for this moment. We didn't sleep much in the hospital but I didn't mind.