Kayla - July 5th

I have decided to let Justin keep working on his post as he has his own stories and thoughts to tell.

Early Tuesday morning I woke up a bit disappointed having been able to sleep so well for lack of contractions.  With Madi and Wesley I woke extremely early with contractions so I didn't know how they actually started while awake.  At around 7:00 that morning I started having contractions which were about 5 minutes apart.  I expected them to start out around 15-20 minutes apart and slowly get closer and closer together and stronger and stronger like with the other kids but that was not the case.  With them being 5 minutes apart from the very beginning I decided to time them and they were only about 30 seconds long.  I have been told that with true labor your contractions should consistently get closer together and stronger and last about a minute.  I timed them for about three hours and the contractions slowly got closer and closer so they were about 2-3 minutes apart but they were still lasting only 30 seconds and they were still about the same intensity.  I was waiting for them to get stronger so that I could finally say that I was in labor but it just wasn't happening.  Around 11:00 that morning they finally started getting stronger.  I called the nurse to confirm that I was in labor since they were still only lasting about 30 seconds each.  She told me to come in as soon as I could since I am GBS positive and with Kayla's heart problem they wanted to keep her monitored.  We called Justin's parents to come down and did a few last minute things before heading to the hospital such as taking the last belly picture.

39 weeks 3 days

We arrived at the hospital around 12:30 and got settled.  A nurse checked me out confirming that I was 3, almost 4 cm dilated.  She also checked on Kayla's orientation since she likes to be breach, she couldn't really tell which way she was lying so that was something to figure out quickly.  We moved into a delivery room and got settled in.  We hadn't been there long when two nurses came in to try and get Kayla to move and make sure she's head down.  They had me turn onto my hands and knees to see if that would help. While changing positions the nurse noticed that little Kayla's heart rate was dropping.  She then had Justin take the kids out of the room and they quickly grabbed whatever monitors and things were attached to me, with bum in air they rolled me into the ER room just in case things went bad.  They gave me an oxygen mask and watched the monitors as Kayla's heart rate returned to normal.  The doctors came in and told me that I needed a c-section and the baby needed to come out now.  They thought there would be enough time for a spinal anaesthesia so I could stay awake during the surgery but then as I had another contraction her heart rate dropped again.  They decided that there was too much distress on poor baby Kayla and there was no time for a spinal so they gave me general anaesthesia and knocked me out.  From the time the nurses came in to check on Kayla to the time they knocked me out was less than ten minutes.  It was all very crazy and very fast.  I tell the story like it was no big deal but really, Justin was not with me and they didn't really talk to me much as everything is going on.  I was scared.  I wanted everything to slow down and go back to normal but it didn't happen.  As it all went down I lied there and cried.  Seconds before they knocked me out I was told that Justin was at the window watching and wanted me to know that he was there.  
The next thing I knew I was waking up in my room an hour later, very groggy and very sore.  I was not ready to wake up.  I tried so hard to stay awake but after fighting it for a few minutes I passed out again.  A little while later I awoke again and Justin told me that we have a beautiful baby girl.  She was born at 2:01 p.m. weighing 6 lbs 4 oz and is 18 3/4 inches long.  She was having troubles breathing and her oxygen levels in her blood weren't very good so they were going to transfer her to Seattle Children's Hospital.  A little while later they rolled me in to the NICU where they let me hold my baby girl.  She seemed so peaceful, it was hard to imagine that there was anything wrong if it hadn't been for the tubes.  I passed her off to Justin and she woke a bit and cried the cutest, sweetest cries I have ever heard.  I have never been so happy to hear a baby cry before.

Holding Kayla before taking her to Seattle Childrens

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful for me but for Kayla and Justin it was all just beginning.  I will allow him to tell you their story as they transported her to Seattle Childrens.  
The following day my doctor came to visit me and we talked about the delivery.  I was a bit disappointed that they rushed me into an emergency c-section because the last I heard before going under was that her heart rate had come back up.  I didn't know until later that it had dropped again.  While talking to my doctor I learned that the umbilical cord was very very short.  So much that it pulled on her causing the heart rate to drop during contractions.  As labor progressed and she tried to drop into place the cord would pull on her, so much that it pulled on her poor tummy causing an extra lump at her belly button.  My doctor also told me that with the contractions it doesn't just pull on her but it could have pulled away from the uterus wall causing all sorts of problems.  Not only was the cord short but I guess the tissue was very thin and there was the possibility of it ripping in half.  After talking with the doctor I am very glad that they decided to do the c-section and it was the best course of action for them to take.  I also learned that because the cord was so short there was not enough blood for them to take for the chromosome testing.  
Kayla is now five days old and there is much to tell from the last few days but that will have to be in a separate post.  Hopefully we will get everything up to date soon so new posts will be shorter and simpler.  Justin has been really good at talking with the nurses and keeping well informed so I am going to leave the medical information up to him.