Bryn's Birthday

To celebrate Bryn's one week birthday, here is the story of her birth!
I had been going to the maternal fetal medicine specialist weekly for the past 2 weeks to monitor Bryn's growth because they thought she was measuring too small (which wasn't true). Because of this, my regular OB wanted me to be induced on Friday October 28, which was fine with me. I went to the ultrasound Wednesday morning, expecting another "she looks great, see you next week" appointment. I knew something was wrong when the tech scanned me for about 5 minutes and then went to get the doctor. The doctor came back and said that my amniotic fluid was too low and that I needed to be induced today. Uh...what? This was NOT in the plan! I called John and had him finish packing my bag and we had to arrange for someone to watch Kiley and then I had to let my parents and sister know- it was just crazy!
So I walked over to Labor and Delivery and got admitted and everything, still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I would be having my baby today. I was a little emotional because I felt like I hadn't properly said goodbye to Kiley and I knew I wouldn't see her for awhile, and when I did, there would be another child there for me to care for. Plus I was all by myself in a hospital room, so the tears were flowing!

John gets there and they wait for me to eat lunch to start the Pitocin. They started that around 2:30 pm and for hours I didn't feel anything, so I thought for sure I wouldn't be having the baby until the next day in the early morning. The doctor came in and broke my water around 5:30 and I was still only 3.5 cm dialated, so I settled in for a long night.

The contractions were starting to pick up, but I was trying to wait a little bit before getting the epidural. Around 8:30 I couldn't take anymore, so I got the epidural and it was great! They checked me after that and I was about a 6, so I thought it would still be several more hours, so I sent my parents to their hotel, thinking I would be calling them around 3 or so in the morning. Since I pushed for so long with Kiley and my labor lasted longer, I wasn't prepared for a fast ending to the labor.

Around 10:30, I was really feeling some pain and pressure, but I hadn't felt like I had gone through transition (with Kiley, I was shaking really bad and really nauseous during transition). My nurse kept saying that she thought I was close, but to hold on because my doctor was in surgery. She started getting the room ready and then at around 11:15, she checked me and the look on her face was priceless. She ran out of the room to get my doctor, who had thankfully just got out of surgery. My doctor went to check me and said "Whoa! Don't cough or anything!" as she hurried to get her gear on. I pushed for maybe 5 minutes and Bryn was born! It was so nice because they were able to put her right on my chest (Kiley pooped inside so she had to be suctioned right away) and she cried the smallest cry and then was silent, just staring around the room. I was so shocked at how purple she was because I had never seen a brand new baby before, but John said Kiley looked the same way. He even got to cut the umbilical cord this time!
She weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 18.25 inches long!
Looks just like her big sister did at birth


We didn't get up to the recovery room until about 4 am and of course, I couldn't sleep. The hospital is the worst place for someone who doesn't fall asleep easily- you are constantly interrupted by somebody wanting to take your vitals, or check on the baby, or take your picture. It is just torture. I had a little emotional breakdown after Kiley came to visit because I missed her so much and I just wanted to be at home with my little family!
The second night we were in the hospital, all 3 of us were sleeping (miracle!) when the nurse comes in at 1:30 am to tell us Bryn's bilirubin levels were too high so she would need to be under the lights "for several days" (our nurse was a little bit of a Debbie Downer, she never made us feel better about anything and was always telling us the worst case scenario). It was so hard because we couldn't hold her or anything. She had to stay under the lights for 2 hours, then I could feed/change her for 30 minutes, then repeat. She finally got to come out at 3 pm and her levels had gone down enough for us to go home that night at 11, but we had to take her back to the lab the next day to get her blood taken again. Thank goodness! I was so ready to go home!
Finally out of here! She only lost 5 ounces in the hospital, but she is still so teeny tiny!
So now we are home and figuring things out. She had her first doctor's appointment yesterday and her bilirubin levels were great and she went back up to 6 lbs 9 oz, so we are very happy. Kiley loves her (sometimes a little too much!) and things are slowly returning to normalcy. So happy that I have 2 beautiful girls!