Mae Kathleen Cooper | Born 4/9/2016 at 8:07
pm | 6 lbs 4.5 oz | 20 in Long
Written 4/16/2016
PREFACE
The wait time for our sweet baby
girl was a bit longer than I had anticipated. Her due date was Tuesday, March
29th but we soon saw that day come and go as we awaited her arrival.
At my 41 week check up I had a non-stress test to make sure that baby was still
nice and cozy in hotel uterus. I never thought I would end up going to my 41
and 3 day (4/8/2016) appointment on Friday but alas, I found myself heading
into DC to talk to my midwives about an induction date and to get a repeat
non-stress test. At this point, my
patience was at zero and I felt discouraged that my body may not be ready to
bring this little life to us. My midwife
and I, talked about getting induced on Tuesday the 12th and went over
the different steps involved with that. I left that appointment planning on getting
induced BUT I still had a bit of hope that she would make it here before
then. I heard from my midwives and a few
others that acupuncture is a safe way to induce labor so I scheduled
acupuncture for that afternoon as well as another appointment for the following
morning on the 9th. If
anything, I figured that it would help me relax.
SATURDAY APRIL 9th, 2016
My wake up time was around 7am. That
morning Kraig [all of a sudden] wanted to end his hiatus from exercising and
asked if I wanted to go to the gym with him.
I was feeling a bit crampy, so I declined. Around 8 I started going through my morning
routine, but noticed that instead of just feeling crampy, I would get crampy
back pains that would come and go. After
breakfast I decided to start timing them, because they seemed to be coming
fairly close together. They came about
every 3 minutes, but they were still very bearable. Since most of the information I read, and was
given, said that contractions started 15-30 minutes apart and then became
progessively closer, I was a bit confused.
So I called the midwife on duty at the hospital and it turned out to be
Jenna, who was the midwife I saw at my appointment just the day prior. When I told her who it was she said, “how
serendipitous! All we had to do was
schedule your induction!” She told me that sometimes first time moms will have
irregular contraction patterns and to not drive myself too crazy. She also said it would totally be fine to go
to my 11am acupuncture appointment if I was feeling up to it.
My contractions became more painful,
but still manageable so I decided to go ahead with acupuncture. I think my acupuncturist was a little nervous
that I was having contractions during the session, but she helped me time them
and they spaced out a teeny bit. The
sessions usually last 20 minutes so it was a good way for me to practice my
breathing and relax through contractions. When we got home, Kraig gave me a
blessing. Kraig has always been an
awesome priesthood holder, but those few weeks leading up to this day, I felt
like his spirit had become more aware of the events that were upon us. I could
not have asked for a better partner to take on this new adventure with.
Since it was midday on a Saturday
we didn’t run into any traffic, which was something we worried about when
deciding to deliver at GW. I popped my
headphones in and tried to relax my jaw and muscles throughout the car ride. We
arrived around 3pm and headed up to labor and delivery where they took us back
to triage. While in triage, my water
broke, the ‘trickle’ kind of break. It was probably 20 minutes to a half hour
before Jenna was able to come and see how far I had progressed. Finally, the verdict was in-- I was 4 cm
dilated, 75% effaced, and baby was at a -2 station. They prefer you to be at 6cm before you are
admitted, but since my water broke and had meconium in it, she decided it would
be best to keep me.
After a while on the birthing ball
my midwife suggested that I try the shower. I really wanted to get into the birthing tub,
but they kept saying that I needed to wait a little longer. I sat in the shower and Kraig would spray my
back during the contractions and then my chest during the breaks. I wore the monitors in the shower and every
now and then the nurse had to come in to adjust them. This is when my contractions really stepped
it up a notch. After a half hour, Kraig
needed a little break so my mom stepped in.
While Kraig thought he was settling in for a long night [and was stuffing
his face with beef jerky] my contractions started to double peak and overlap
with each other. I felt like I had no
breaks in between. It seemed like one
minute I was coping with the contractions and the next I was going through
transition. My moans turned into yells
and I knew this was it. I remember
saying, “I can’t do this” and “I can’t breath”.
Aside:
I saw Hannah once during my prenatal appointments and that was one of the
appointments that Kraig came with me. We
both remember leaving that appointment saying “I would love for Hannah to
deliver our baby.”
She greeted me in the shower and
told me to relax my shoulders. She
helped get me out of the shower and into the bed. I was still having a hard time breathing at
this point. I have NO idea how I made my
way onto the bed. That part is a total
blur. I settled into a position that was
on my right side with my left leg/knee pulled back. I was given an oxygen mask because I was
struggling to control my breathing. It
helped a lot, and I was able to calm down.
Then it was time to push. No one
told me when to push, It was all self directed. When I felt up to it, I
pushed. At this point I wanted that baby
out, so I was determined to push like there was no tomorrow. Hannah used mineral oil to help get things
lubricated, and I got a lot of positive talk from those surrounding me-- Kraig,
My mom, Hannah, and Vanessa the nurse (basically an angel sent from heaven). I
touched baby girl’s head when she was beginning to crown. Towards the end, I found myself pushing when
I wasn’t even having a contraction. I
needed to be done and needed to have that baby in my arms. After 20 minutes of strong pushes, our sweet
little Mae Kathleen came to us at 8:07pm.
She was beautiful and perfect!
She opened her eyes within seconds of coming out and cried shortly thereafter.
They laid her on my chest and I just remember saying “oh my gosh” over and over
again. I could NOT believe it. After all this time, this little spirit was
now here with us. Just like that. There
are no words.
I was able to do skin to skin with
Mae on my chest for almost an hour and half while I delivered the placenta.
Kraig cut the cord, and they sewed me up.
Mae was so pleasant the whole time, we even got her to nurse a teeny
bit. After my placenta was delivered,
Hannah gave us a quick tour of it, she flipped it over and back, showing us the
tree of life, and telling us about how placentas calcify, as they get older and
older. It was amazing.
They took Mae to get weighed,
measured, and checked out by the pediatrician.
She weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs 4.5 oz. and was 20 inches long. Just a skinny little peanut. The pediatrician
said she was perfect! They bundled her
up while Vanessa helped me get cleaned up. We wheeled ourselves to the recovery
room and settled in. My mom snuggled
baby Mae before she headed back to our apartment. Hannah came by to check on us, and had a
moment with Mae that I will never forget.
She went over to her bassinet and rubbed her little cheeks and
nose. It was so tender. She then set a
pillow up on my lap and handed Mae to me so that we could just enjoy each other
for a bit. I still could not believe she
was ours— the best gift I’ve ever received. How was I supposed to sleep after
all this excitement? I didn’t. I woke up to every little squeak and sound
that Mae made and nursed her in between.
It was pure heaven.
AFTERWORD
While re-reading this today, I feel
blessed to have had a safe and healthy delivery as well as a happy and healthy baby. Women’s bodies are amazing. No matter how a woman brings life into this
world, it is truly a miracle. There has
never been a time in my life that I have felt more confident in my body than
when I was pregnant and even during post-partum. Heck, I just grew a baby in my tummy, it’s
the most beautiful / alien-ish thing in the world. So shout-out to all mom bods everywhere—you
are perfect.
My favorite part of this whole story: "I heard Kraig snacking on goldfish and told him he would have to leave if he wanted to keep eating them. He stopped." Haha! But seriously, such a sweet story and I need to meet this little cutie Mae!
ReplyDelete