*Pictures courtesy of Lizzy Jean Photography*
Hazel's Birth Story - Written by: Momma
Andy and I relaxed into watching the BYU Football game against Nebraska.
It was a fun game to watch because it's been a while since football has been on.
During the second half, I was still having contractions but again, nothing too regular.
If you haven't heard because you live under a rock...
BYU had an amazing, literally last minute, miracle touchdown that won us the game.
Mid contraction, I jumped up off the couch to jump up and down in Andy's arms!
So exciting, and apparently Hazel's ticket to get things started.
Contractions started to regulate,
so we decided we better start actually timing them with an app I have.
Sure enough, they started coming every 5-6 minutes apart.
I also had gone to the bathroom and had some blood tinged discharge that was most likely more of my mucous plug.
By midnight, after a shower and us packing things up, we decided we better get to the hospital.
Even if it was a false alarm, we'd have an idea of what was happening.
Midnight - we came to the hospital, went past the security booth and up to Labor & Delivery.
They got us in after Andy signed some papers for me since I was doubled over in pain.
They asked if I would like a wheelchair to get to the room and I declined and walked myself.
I changed into the gown and sat on the bed still having contractions every 5 minutes apart.
The nurse (Emma) came in to check me informing me that I am still at a 1...but 70% effaced.
Emma informed us that we will just hang out for an hour and then she will check me again,
if there is change then they can admit me, if there is no change then I will be sent away.
Meanwhile, she asked me loads of questions about health history, etc.
Then she left us to be alone for about an hour.
Having contractions still coming in, I was in a ton of pain and just praying that I was progressing.
Close to one hour later, Emma came back in to check on me.
She informed me that she was thinking these contractions were more from dehydration than they were from labor...great just what I want to know.
She checked me and reaffirmed that I was most likely dehydrated because I had not progressed at all.
She offered to give me a morphine shot in my bum to ease the pain of the contractions but I refused.
I had heard from many people how bad that shot is and that it has worse side effects than helping.
I was not about to get an extra shot that wasn't even worth it!
After continually asking and me continually declining, she sent us on our way with instructions to take Tylenol to try to help with pain but that it probably wouldn't help much, drink lots of water and try to get as much rest as I can.
Full of tears and so bummed
(and slightly embarrassed to walk past the security guys again),
we headed home.
At home, things began to get excruciating.
I would "fall asleep" for about 4 minutes only to wake up to a horrible contraction.
After a few hours of Andy sitting next to my bedside timing each contraction, they slowed down to about 8 minutes apart only to have them speed up to 2-3 minutes apart the very next contraction.
I have never felt more pain than I had felt right then.
No position I could get in helped ease the pain.
A contraction would come and I would scream!
I felt like I was going to die - I had never felt pain like that ever in my life.
By now it was close to 4:00am.
Even though it was so embarrassing, we had to go back to the hospital.
This time I had Andy take me up in a wheelchair because the pain was so unbearable.
Passing all the same people as before we rushed up to Labor & Delivery for the second time.
We went right back into the same room as before, Emma came in again,
checked me - no progress- and gave us the same chat.
This time she really pushed the morphine shot option on me.
She explained that my body couldn't progress because it was in so much pain and wasn't relaxed.
I truly did NOT want that shot, but after Andy saying,
"Bailey, you need to get the shot. Please just trust me, and get the shot".
How do you argue with that? So I had to get the shot.
It was just as crappy as I had imagined (a shot in the butt sucks..).
But I definitely started to feel better.
The contractions did not go away, but the pain was lessened.
I finally got a little bit of rest.
An hour later, Emma came back to check me and sure enough I was dilated to a 2.
It wasn't much but it WAS PROGRESS!
If I had not gotten the morphine shot, nothing would have happened and I would have been sent home again..how thankful I am for that shot!
I was admitted to the hospital and our calls and texts went out to our parents, Lizzy and Emily.
I tried to get some rest because we knew it was going to be a long day after that long night...
Shortly later, the on-call doctor, Dr. Glenn, came in explaining that he wanted to break my water.
I did not want this to happen until I had the epidural
and for Andy to be back (he had just left for a minute).
I was still having contractions but I hardly remember them
because they were so minimal compared to before.
When Andy was back, they ordered the epidural for me.
He came in and had me sit on the edge of the bed with my head on Andy's chest while Andy held me.
I was VERY nervous about this part of the whole process.
I believe it is because I knew I'd have the epidural for the labor so that didn't seem bad to me, but I didn't have anything to numb the epidural going in! I HATE shots!!
Luckily, and again I think the morphine probably helped, the epidural wasn't horrible.
As he was doing it, I kind of jerked forward and he kept reminding me to hold still, and I remember replying over and over, "I'm trying!".
It wasn't as immediate as I was expecting based off of others stories,
but it was amazing when I was fully numb!
The only thing I really wasn't a fan of was that I couldn't lay flat on my back because of the epidural.
It wasn't the worst thing in the world but definitely would have been nice to lay on my back.
By this time, I'd say probably 6:00am, my parents had shown up.
When they walked in, they were both wearing Sunday clothes.
I asked, "When are you going to the temple??" not having a clue in the world that it was Sunday! Ha!
It was so nice having them there to support me.
Shortly after their arrival (8:00am), Emily and John came as well.
We had updated Lizzy on my progress, she informed us that she'd come over around 9:00 most likely to take pictures outside and everything before coming up.
Now it was just time to relax and let things happen.
The nurses and doctor really wanted me to rest so that things could progress and so that I wouldn't be dead tired when things started really happening.
I got a few hours of sleep in here and there, while everyone in the room just quietly talked amongst themselves.
I really wanted Andy to get some food because everyone talked about how important that is, but I really didn't want him to leave in case something happened fast.
When the nurse came in to check me and told me that because of the epidural my contractions had slowed down, I felt better about him leaving for a little bit.
Not totally sure on times, but later, the nurse came in to check me and said that my water was bulging and that it would probably break at any minute.
Well minutes went by and nothing happened.
They called Dr. Glenn in and he came in to break my water for me.
Once everyone except Andy, my Mom, and Lizzy were out of the room, he used a hook to break my water. At this point he informed me that my goals would not be able to happen because there was meconium (meaning, baby had a BM in the womb).
This basically means that when baby is delivered they will have a team of specialists in the room to inspect the baby and make sure that baby doesn't inhale the meconium upon it's first breaths.
When I had arrived at the hospital and been admitted, they asked what my birth plan/goals were.
We explained that only if the baby was healthy we wanted a delay in the cord clamping, for Andy to cut the cord, and for me to get skin-skin immediately.
Like my Dr. had said, none of these things could happen which we understood and were fine with since that meant the baby would be in the best hands possible right away.
So Dr. Glenn broke my water and as he started, Lizzy was taking pictures and the Dr kind of freaked out at her.
Great...we have an old stubborn Dr who doesn't get the amazingness of pictures - is what went through all of our heads.
He also informed me that my amniotic sac was very thick which is probably why it didn't break like the nurse thought it would.
By this time, I have had a bunch of different nurses, and I don't quite remember all their names.
I had more nurses than is normal because of different shift changes as well as the charge nurse needing to leave and my nurse taking over at one point.
I'll be honest this was a little annoying since I'd grow to love a nurse then she'd leave.
As Dr. Glenn broke my water, he also checked baby's positioning.
The baby was LOP which is Left..Posterior, meaning baby was looking up and to the left when baby should be looking down to my back.
They wanted me to "rest and descend", because when a baby is posterior, pushing can take up to 3 hours.
Everyone was getting a little restless, especially Andy!
Everyone was getting a little restless, especially Andy!
To maybe help baby change positions, they brought in the "peanut".
At this point, I was ready for all the visitors except my mom (and Lizzy), to leave and wait in the waiting room.
The nurse brought in this giant exercise ball that looked like it had been pinched in the middle to look like a "peanut".
I got the best sleep when the peanut was between my legs, but I was getting restless.
The doctor and nurses kept wanting me to "rest and descend"
(and the Dr wanted to me start feeling my bum more -
meaning to stop pushing the epidural button, ha!)
meaning to stop pushing the epidural button, ha!)
and all I wanted to do was push.
I felt the need to poop, and I was told by many friends that when I felt that, I was ready.
So I was getting frustrated but all the nurses thought I was tired because I'd give them one word answers, when in reality I was anxious.
The more I rested, the more tired I got.
I wanted to just get this party started and finally meet our baby!
A little before 5:00pm, the Nurse finally let me start pushing.
It was so much harder than I ever imagined.
The nurse would have Andy and my mom grab each leg, and while I pulled my legs back with their help I would inhale and then push. 3 times.
The nurse kept saying how the third push was the most important one and it was by far the hardest!
I continued this with a 10 minute rest between for about an hour and half when the doctor came in.
The nurses had called him saying I hadn't changed much, but then I truly did change sort of fast.
Baby was super close to coming out and the doctor came in perfect time.
As I was pushing, the doctor instructed me to STOP mid push.
I apparently was ripping in 2 places that I shouldn't have been.
So he checked me to see how numb I was then gave me an episiotomy.
It was time to push again, but baby had not changed positions at all.
I was having this baby posterior and with meconium.
I was so super anxious but just wanted so badly to be done pushing!
Again I pushed and pushed, when the doctor mid push told me to STOP again!
Watching in the mirror I could see it all happening and what an amazing thing it was.
Babies head was out but covered in meconium.
Dr. Glenn before I could even blink was wiping the face off before baby took her first breath.
It was scary but I cannot thank him enough for knowing that that was most important.
*Side note: the respiratory therapist that was in the room got mad at Dr. Glenn for wiping off her face like he did...Are you kidding?! Dr. Glenn after was saying, "I wasn't going to just let her take her first breath and inhale the meconium so that she (the RT) could do her job.."*
*Side note: the respiratory therapist that was in the room got mad at Dr. Glenn for wiping off her face like he did...Are you kidding?! Dr. Glenn after was saying, "I wasn't going to just let her take her first breath and inhale the meconium so that she (the RT) could do her job.."*
I only had to push out babies head because the doctor pull her out the rest of the way.
Due to the scary situation for a minute, the nurse and doctor forgot to tell us the gender, so the next thing Andy and I hear is my mom saying, "It's a Girl!".
The doctor held her up for me to see her, then she was quickly taken by the respiratory therapist to the side to have her checked out.
Andy went with her, while my mom stayed by my side.
Sobbing (me, my mom and baby), I looked to my mom and said, "Is it a joke? Is it really a girl?"
When the doctor held her up, he covered any indication that she was a girl, and I didn't get to see her right away to know.
I truly thought people were telling me she was a girl because we were all convinced it was a boy.
What felt like an hour went by while they checked her out and weighed/measured her before they finally brought her to me.
She really was a girl and I couldn't have loved her more!
While Andy stayed with Hazel, my doctor spent a good amount of time fixing me up.
They had to give me an IV of petocin to make the uterus contract.
This combined with the sheer exhaustion of having just had a baby, my jaw and body had the most horrible shakes.
The petocin made me cold shake and the labor make me exhausted shake.
I was miserable...I just wanted my jaw to not hurt.
Finally, after a long amount of time suturing and fixing me up, my doctor was finally done with me.
I'll be honest, I didn't want to hold her again because I was so shakey and was scared of her in my arms when I couldn't control how shakey I was.
They gave me a Motrin which started to help the shakeyness so much!
It was unbelievable and filled my heart more than I could have imagined to watch Andy become a daddy and hold onto little Hazel.
She was only 6lbs 11oz! A tiny perfect angel.
Grandma got to hold her, then it was time for us to be alone for a few minutes as a new family.
It was the most precious blessing I have ever heard and am so sad that we forgot to record.
It makes the blessing that much more sacred and tender for me.
I'm more thankful than I think anyone could know that Andy is able to give blessings.
That he is a worthy priesthood holder that I can call upon at any given moment to bless me and now to bless Hazel.
Now was the time to call Lizzy back in as well as everyone else to tell them the news!
Chase & Lucy, Emily & John, Kelly & Beverly, Melanie and my parents were all there at the hospital eagerly awaiting the news.
We had them all come into the room and Andy announced that "It's a GIRL!".
It was amazing and of course I began to sob!
Everyone's love and excitement for us was unbelievable!
Everyone else found out via Facetime, a call or text.
Apparently everyone says that they knew she was a girl because she was wearing a "pink hat".
I hate the hospital hats for this exact reason.
The hat is pink/blue striped but it looks way more pink than anything else!
Apparently everyone says that they knew she was a girl because she was wearing a "pink hat".
I hate the hospital hats for this exact reason.
The hat is pink/blue striped but it looks way more pink than anything else!
I was still in shock that we had a girl.
I continually felt like I was just the aunt, that Leslie or someone would come and take her home.
My heart is exploding knowing that she's a girl!
Of course, my dreams of having a boy first are now gone, but I.HAVE.A.GIRL!
It's like a huge gift the Lord gave us.
It's hard to explain it but Andy and I truly feel like she is a gift.
If we had a boy, he'd just be our son.
But we had a girl and she's our gift!
People would come to see us, and I'd just start sobbing with each new family member.
I could not stop saying, "She's perfect!!"
"The Recovery Stuff"
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