Brenda's Birth Story

Brenda's birth story:

39 weeks pregnant, April 13, 2016

This whole pregnancy had been completely unremarkable, I only experienced mild morning sickness, I was still able to workout, I had less aches and pains, and overall felt good as the months progressed. Like any pregnant woman though, the last month was out to kill me. I began to swell, I could not longer work out, and walking, sleeping and moving hurt. At 37 weeks I was just done, but baby was not, so there she stayed. Then, 38 weeks came and just as quickly left as once again baby was just not willing to heed to my pleas to leave her hobbit hole. During these two weeks, I experienced contractions that should have led to labor, but nothing did. I was getting to the point where just rolling me around everywhere, or not moving at all sounded easier.

Finally the day of my 39 week appointment came, my legs were so swollen they looked like tree trunks, my tummy was so large that the muscles had begun to split apart, and we had been informed on Monday earlier that week that the baby was close to 9 lbs via u/s. I walked into my midwife's office close to tears, not thrilled at the aspect of going another week or 2. When the midwife saw me, she said without hesitation that we were inducing that day. I had gained 7 lbs in one week and combined with a slightly elevated blood pressure, she said it looked like I was headed towards preeclampsia, so we needed to deliver now for baby and mines safety. I started crying with thanks and told her how miserable I'd been all week. Yes, I had so wanted to go into labor on my own, but at this point I was just done.

 She handed me my induction paperwork and I headed over to Saint Al’s Labor and Delivery (directly across the street). I called my mom and let her know I needed her to take the kids and then called Nate to let him know it was showtime! At this point it was 11:00am on April 14th.

 In L&D, I met my nurse and the midwife on call and after running some labs (and botching an IV),

I was finally put on pitocin at 2:30pm. The midwife wanted to increase it every 30 minutes and start low. I hrumph’d at this because I was used to my previous OB hitting me up hard and fast with pitocin, breaking my water after the IV was started and having a baby in my arms a few hours later, but the midwife wanted to give me a chance at the delivery I had wanted. She was not thrilled with me being induced and kept telling me it would increase my chances of c-section, but we moved forward with the plan nonetheless. Our plan at this point was to have an epidural free birth, but I knew with the pitocin that those plans may change, and assured the nurse and midwife that I was open to pain meds, nitrous oxide, and possibly an Epidural in the end. Nate stayed optimistic about using the things we learned in our childbirth class for an epidural free birth which in turn helped me.

 The baby was too high (-3 station) for the midwife to break my water so Nate helped me with positioning and we worked on getting baby’s head down. Hours went by, we slept when we could, but we were working hard to get baby to come down. At this point the contractions were a minor nuisance, but nothing I couldn't handle and hadn't already experienced while contracting at home. We tried the tub around 10pm and it was great, sadly because I was on pitocin, I had to be on continuous monitoring, but was still able to walk around and be in the tub as I pleased as long as baby cooperated. Of course as with everyone of my children, there was no cooperating, our poor nurse was in and out of our room (all night) trying to find baby and this led to having me leave the tub. Once we were back in our room, Kristin, my midwife on call, showed up to check me and see if we had made progress in getting the head down.

 Joy upon joys! At 12:15am, April 15th, we had finally made enough progress to be considered in active labor (4cm, 80% effaced, and a baby at a 0/+1 station), so my water was broken. Turns out my normal midwife, Rieneke, was right about me having above normal fluids because Kristin awarded me the badge of most fluid she'd ever seen. Seriously...it was like Niagara Falls...eww (Nate would also purposely make me laugh while I was standing or sitting up to make more come out, I'm sure the nurse found us rather obnoxious).

 At this point, Nate and I knew that things would get serious from here (given our past experiences) and were a bit apprehensive about it being so late. Sleep was important and we were already pretty drained, but there was no stopping it now. Soon the contractions picked up and we were moving about the room about every 20 minutes or so changing positions to keep up with pain. I was still doing really well, I had picked up my own breathing pattern and had Nate talking to me (affirmations) through the contractions. We were thankful for our birthing class and used every method taught to us to help get me through contractions. I found that hanging off Nate, squatting, while he supported me was the most relieving, but now at well after 2am with contractions coming every 1.5-2 minutes, I was just too tired to keep standing. I found that sitting in the rooms rocking chair is what helped the most. I could rock as hard and fast or slow as I wanted to through a contraction and focus on something else at the peak. I was repeating the affirmations after Nate now and things were pretty darn uncomfortable. I would fall asleep between contractions and wake to the pain, reach for Nate, and he would begin affirmations as I moaned and repeated after him.

 We did this for a few hours, sleeping for only 2 minutes at a time (at one point I woke up and swore I saw a life size gummy bears walking around the room during a contraction). At about 4:45am I looked up at the clock and thought that I just couldn't do this anymore. Maybe the baby wasn't here yet because I was in too much pain and couldn't relax enough, so I told Nate I'd had enough and it was time for the epidural. I had 3 good contractions right then that double peaked and brought me to tears so I knew I was done. Nate said to just wait for the midwife to check me first and then I could make my final decision. At 5:00am, the nurse and midwife both came in and I told them I wanted to be checked. I wasn't feeling any of my transitions symptoms, the pitocin had been turned down and nearly off because I was doing well on my own, but I felt like there hadn't been enough progress made. The midwife agreed, the nurse agreed that none of my signs pointed to baby anytime soon, and so they helped me stand from the rocking chair so I could take two steps over to the corner of the bed.

 As I stood I was rocked with the biggest contraction yet and called Nate to me so I could hang off of him. Then, that's when I felt her head come down. I managed to get out “HER HEAD!” before the urge to push took over. The nurse started throwing chux and towels and all things soft on the floor as I was still standing and there was no going to the bed now. The midwife was down on her knees in a flash and told me not to push if I could help it (ha-ha) while she helped my cervix open that last little bit. I don't remember much about the pain here, just that I was internally telling myself I could have her out in 2 to 3 pushes, that I was a good pusher, hang in there...within two contraction and the midwife letting my body take the lead, I indeed had Brenda out within 2-3 pushes, it was now 5:11am. Nate was a super hero and kept a hold of me the whole time, watching from quite a different angle than he's used to of one of our children being born.

Brenda Lorrayne Saunders

 After she was out, they sat me back in the rocking chair so I could hold Brenda, but I had pushed her out so quick that she was still full of fluid and wouldn't cry. Another nurse had now joined us and took her to quickly suction her out as I was escorted to the bed for the rest of the delivery. Nate was by Brenda’s side giving her a stern talking to so she would breathe (what do you know, daddy’s voice really does get a baby to take a breath, thank you Kyndal). Kristin kept telling me how awesome I had done, that I had pushed a 9lbs12oz baby out, with no tearing whatsoever while standing and squatting like a cave woman (ladies, do not be intimidated by the squat bar! Thank you heavy lifting lol). I was so exhausted at this point that I almost immediately started to fall asleep. After a few short minutes, the placenta was delivered, Brenda was breathing and layed on my chest for skin to skin and I was able to finally fall asleep. They did Brenda's exam while she slept on my chest and I drooled into REM. Nate was finally able to rest now with us and we happily slept until shift change.

 I am happy she is here, I'm happy to no longer be pregnant, and happy that I can now spend all my energy on raising my beautiful little family!!

Brenda Lorrayne Saunders 

April 15, 2016

 9lbs12oz

 22 inches long

Cousin Brenda holding baby Brenda

Sadie and her baby sister!

In the NICU

Despite not having Gestational Diabetes, Brenda still had sugar issues and had to spend about 48 hours in the NICU.

Adorable chubby face.

We had just received word that she would indeed be discharged with me and coming home with us!

Going home!

Home!

Liam excitingly greeting his sister, I couldn't get him to sit still.

Happy to be home!

Welcome little Liam

Right before Christmas break on November 29, 2012, our family welcomed a second little boy into the family.  Our little Liam was born!  Here is his story;

At 34 weeks pregnant, I went to work as usual, upon my arrival I was told I was going to sit with a patient.  I had been sitting an awful lot lately, but the charge felt it was better for me to be off my feet than running around the busy unit.  Long story short, this was the patient from hell and I ended up taking a hit to the stomach and going to the ER and later admitted to L&D because of contractions.  I was told by my doctor that because of this we should probably expect Liam early, around 36-37 weeks.  He was ok at the time and I was released the next day, so we decided we should prepare our home for a baby.  My doctor jinxed me.  Liam didn't make his arrival until 39 weeks and that was with me giving him an eviction notice. 2 weeks prior to his arrival, I was trying every at home remedy there was to get that kid out, and nothing! I opted for an induction at 39 weeks because, well, lets be honest, I'm impatient and I wanted to see my baby.

The night before my induction I prayed that we wouldn't have to wait and wait to come in to get started on pitocin like we did with John.  I was set for a 7am induction and Dr. Rice told me to just arrive there ten til unless the charge nurse called me.  Thankfully my prayers were heard and we were able to get a room upon our arrival.

I was hooked up to monitors and the nurse did the normal run through (gown, urine,and IV).  My nurse was beyond amazing! She got my IV in on the first try and kept the mood light and happy in the room.  She asked what my birthing plan was and I laughed at her.  I informed her, there was no plan other than get baby out, that just so happened to be her favorite kind of plan so our day was set.  At 8am I was started on pitocin and things on the monitor looked good, I was even contracting on my own.  Cindy, my nurse, was saying that she had a feeling things would go fast.

At 9am, Dr, Rice came in and broke my waters.  William was still floating and hadn't fully engaged yet so it took her a while to break my waters and out of all 3 times I've given birth, this time getting my waters broken hurt.  Eventually she got it broken and agreed with my nurse, everyone was saying by lunch time.  So I cheerfully went about my morning browsing TV, walking around the room, and bouncing on the ball.

Around 9:30 the nurse noticed that the monitors weren't picking up Liam's  HR any more so I was given in internal monitor.  The prop is placed lightly into the babies scalp and usually stays there until birth.  This gives an accurate reading of the heart without having to follow baby around.  Later around 11, I opted for an epidural as breathing through the contractions was no longer possible. My anesthesiologist was very nice and because of my history of spinal headaches, he went nice and slow in putting the epidural it.  Because he was going so slow, it took him 3 tries to get it in, yeah...awesome.  But as soon as it was truly in, the world was awesome again.

At 1 they checked me and I was only a 6.  Nurses were debating on whether they should up the pitocin or not when I told them I was having trouble breathing and if my epidural could be turned down.  The resource nurse kinda laughed at me and said turning it down was a bad idea and wouldn't help me progress.  My nurse on the other hand, said she's call anesthesia and have him reassess me.  He turned it down by 60% and within 10 minutes I was able to take deeper breaths again and move on my own. at 2 my nurse came into prepare the room and asked how my epi was now.  I showed her I was able to move again and she said that if I felt any changes to let her know and she would check me.

At this point I told a little white lie.  I wanted her to check me, so I told her I was feeling pressure.  So she gave me a quick check and to our surprise, I was 9 cm.  She then walked from one end of the room to the other just to grab something and I told her this time I really DID feel a lot of pressure, BAM 10 cm in less than 20 seconds.  Cindy called Dr. Rice and told me not to push until she got there, which was fine as I didn't feel the need to push, but the labor shakes started. Dr. Rice was there with in 5 minutes and 2 pushes later, William Charles Saunders came into the world, screaming his little head off.

He was 8lbs 5.8oz and 22 1/4in long.  He is perfect!  He didn't cry for long and was our only baby who didn't need extensive sucksoning after birth.  He has been a wonderful blessing and addition to our family and we couldn't imagine life without him now.

"We needed a good day"

Life has been hectic lately.  There always seems to be a never ending list of chores, someone crying to comfort, and home work to accomplish.  Last month we were able to take time from our busy schedule and attend Sam and Cortney's wedding down in Utah.  While there we went to temple square and  did the mormon tourist thing.  It was nice to feel the peace surrounding the Christus and how excited the kids were to see it.  We walked around a bit more and realized that we left our recommends in Boise. Makes that kind of hard to attend a Temple wedding, but after some frantic calls to our bishop, things were worked out and we got to go to the ceremony.  It was beautiful! Then came pictures and then came the great melting of the pregnant lady.  I. Was. Dying.  The heat was awful...well, not the heat alone, but the humidity on top of it had me melting faster than ice in hell.  Overall it was great, we got to see family and good friends and be part of Sam and Cortney's new life together.  Congrats to them! We are currently taking bets on how soon they get pregnant ;-)
 

  Soon after we got home, School started.  I'm forever doing pre-req's for the nursing program and it's starting the wear on me.  But I will stick with it and eventually one day will reach my goal (see kids, you should stay in school!).  More exciting than me starting school was little miss Sadie started Kindergarten! I have never seen a child more excited about school.  She comes home every day beaming from ear to ear ready to tell me what exciting things she learned that day.  She loves her teacher and wishes she had school on the weekends too.  I can't believe my little one is growing up so fast.

 Life just keeps speeding by and it feels like I'm forever running to keep up.  Finances have been hard lately as I took a cut in hours and Nate took a little cut in pay by going to day shift.  But with my cut in hours and his new day shift we are home more often together and with the kids, so it has been worth it.  We will just keep trucking along and trusting in the Lord.  Today though has been a much needed good day.  I don't feel so exhausted from being pregnant, our video card came in the mail, so now we can get the computer running again, and we got some money back from the hospital (love when that happens).  As Nate told me earlier, "we needed a good day!"  So I will give my thanks for a non stressful, laid back, sun shinning day and children who are quietly playing as I attempt to do my math homework...

My baby is 5!

I can't believe time has rushed me by.  Sadie is now 5!  We had a combined birthday party with her cousin Ella a week ago and the girls were in 7th heaven.  Still can't believe she starts school in just a few short weeks.  I love you miss Sadie Ann, and so proud to be your mommy! P.S. Thanks Grandma Su for making their cake, it was awesome as usual!

Building onto the family....

  Nate, Sadie, John, and I are happy to announce the upcoming addition to our family!  No, not a delicious cinnamon roll, but we do have a bun in the oven!  William Charles should be here around the end of November, early december (hoping in November).  That's right, another boy! Nate and I are so excited, but sis took a while to warm up to the idea as she still really wanted a sister.  Maybe next time sweetie!

  So far I'm feeling pretty good.  I didn't really have that bad of morning sickness, except for some migraines that had my tossing my cookies, and while I was at work.  Apparently 1am was not a good time to be awake.  Baby Liam is active and kicking.  At our 20w ultrasound he was measuring right on track, except for his limbs.  Both arms and legs were measuring a full week and a half a head of the rest of him.  So we're thinking he's going to be one tall kid.

  Even though I didn't really get sick, I am so very, very exhausted.  I get tired a lot faster with the pregnancy than I did with the other 2, but I didn't have a 5 year old AND a 19 month old then.  Really though, I am enjoying this pregnancy, come about 36 weeks and you'll all be hearing a different story, until then I'm going to enjoy my glow!

Baby William "Liam," 20w 3d

Forks fun!

At the end of June Nate and I took our annual trip to Forks.  While the weather wasn't great, it was still so much fun.  First we stopped in Spokane to go to my cousin, Brenda's, sealing. It was a beautiful sealing and I'm so glad we got to be part of it!  Then after the festivities with our fam, it was off to Forks, WA! 

 Both Kids get car sick, so they were on motion sickness meds and slept most of the way there!

 Crossing the Colombia River

 Colombia River Gorge

 Beautiful Forests headed into Seattle

 ON a Ferry crossing the Puget sound!

 Seattle!

 Lake Cresent

 Hiking the Hoh rainforest

 John seeing the ocean for the first time!

 "Look Momma!"

 Realto Beach

 Pretty Girl!

Over all we had a great trip, Nate had a great time showing Sadie where he grew up and we all enjoyed the ocean.  Now if only we didn't get rained out!