Fenton Party of Five: March 2011

It has been an exciting, happy and also very difficult week. Tomorrow Sage will be 1 week old. I never posted our labor/delivery experience and it is something that we want to always remember. I don't expect everyone to read all this. It may not that be exciting to anyone else, but it is for us and although I don't think we will ever forget it, we want to record it as well.

I had been to the doctor Friday, Feb25 for my weekly appointment. Dr. Jacobs stripped my membranes. I was hoping that would put me into labor. I was not feeling very well all weekend and went in again on Monday. I already cannot remember exactly why. It seems insignificant now. I think it was because I was still bleeding from getting my membranes stripped. Anyways, they did a non-stress test to be sure the baby's was not under any stress. At first the nurse was concerned because her heart rate was an average of about 170 and a normal babies heart rate is between 110-150. However, her heart rate was not dropping when she moves or during contractions, so she was doing good! The nurse checked me again and I had dilated from almost a 2 on Friday to a 3. She stripped my membranes again.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 I woke up at about 5:00 am and thought my water had broke. I did not continue to leak any fluid though, so we called the on-call and he said to wait it out and if it was my water I would leak more or begin having contractions. I went back to bed and woke up a little later and had leaked a little more. By this time the doctors office was open so I called and the nurse said I should go to labor and delivery. I left a message for the nurse who saw me the day before and we slowly got ready, cleaned a little, went and got some breakfast at Sonic. The nurse called me back and said she would save us a trip to labor and delivery and she would see me. We went in and she tested the fluid and concluded that it was not my water- just random fluid I guess. I have to admit that I was very disappointed. I was ready to get this little one out! I took they day off of work and rested.

That night or I guess the next morning- Wednesday, March 2 at 1:00 am I woke up with really bad back pain and a little bit of cramping in my lower stomach. I laid there for about an hour before I woke Taylor. I didn't think they were contractions, but the pain in my back would come and go, so we started timing the pain at about 2:00 a.m and they were about 3-4 minutes apart. I got up to go to the bathroom and there was a lot more fluid and a significant amount of blood. We immediately got ready and headed for the hospital. We got there about 3:30 a.m and by 4:30 they had confirmed my water had broke, admitted me, had me all hooked up and I had an epidural. I have to say, the epidural was wonderful! Wonderful from 4:30 am to about 11:30 am. I could not feel a thing and if I began to feel anything I could give myself another dose. I slept off and on and was a little out of it. I felt like I was dreaming. Taylor kept everyone updated with texting or calling. By about noon my epidural medication was running low and I was not able to give myself any extra and at this point my contractions were pretty frequent and strong. They had given me pitocin. They let the anesthesiologist know but he was in a c-section and could not make it back to me for an hour. Taylor kept telling me that he was on his way and that I still had a little left. Little did I know that I was empty for that hour and my epidural was very quickly wearing off. By 1:00 pm I had more epidural. I could feel in all the wrong places and was not able to feel what I needed to. I had been dilated to an 8 for a just a little bit, when I felt an intense burning. I remember thinking and telling she was coming out and I needed to push. The nurse checked me and sure enough I had quickly dilated to a 10. It was time! I pushed for a little while. I was so exhausted and could not feel when to push or feel myself pushing. The nurse had me rest until the Dr. Woolsey arrived. He had me start pushing again, but I still was not able to successfully push. Sometime during my labor I developed a fever and Dr. Woolsey was concerned and wanted to get the baby out as soon as possible. He said we would have to do a c-section in the next little bit if I still could not push. I pushed and pushed as hard as I could, but they were not able to feel any pressure from my pushing and she was still pretty high up. He suggested we try the forceps, but that if that wasn't successful we would need to do a quick c-section. At the time I just wanted her out safe and did not care, but now looking back I am so grateful it did not come to that. Dr. Woolsey tried the forceps but I still needed to push. Just when he was going to call it quits and take me for a c-section I could feel her coming and felt the urge to push. I pushed again and she began to crown. Sage Nicole arrived at 4:13 p.m at 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches. We were both so relieved and so happy to have Sage here safe. She had passed miconium prior to delivery so they quickly had to take her to suction her nose and mouth and make sure she had not inhaled any of it. She fortunately was just fine. Taylor was right by her side watching as I got stitched up from my episiotomy. From across the room all I could see was a head of dark hair- lots of beautiful dark hair. I tried nursing pretty soon after. Grandma and Papa and Taylor's parents and Grandma Fenton were all waiting see our Sage girl. They came up and all had a turn holding her. They then went down to our room in Mother/Baby which was room 413. Sage was born at 4:13. Imagine that! After getting cleaned up a bit they moved me down stairs where everyone was waiting. Tony had also came by to see her. We said goodbye and the next couple days at the hospital are all kind of a blur.

Grandma and Papa came and visited several times throughout the days and Taylor was there with me most of the time. Hermana Farnsworth also came to visit one day, which was so nice. It was so surreal to just sit and hold our little girl and cuddle with her. I did not get much sleep because of the nurses coming in and out checking on me or checking on the baby. I felt guilty sending her the nursery, but I did a couple times in the night to sleep. They had both Sage and me on antibiotics just in case of infection because of the fever I had during labor and delivery. We were there until Friday evening. Grandma and Papa met us at home and brought dinner. We loved having them. They were not here long enough. They left early Saturday morning.

Saturday Taylor had to work because he had told someone a couple weeks prior that he would cover them. Sage and I were on our own. I had to take her to the lab to get her blood drawn. Her CRP test was a little elevated in the hospital so Dr.Simmons wanted her to retake it. The test came back even more elevated, which we did not find out until Monday evening. We'll get to that in a minute.

I don't think I have mentioned yet, but Sage and I have had a hard time nursing. She had not been eating much and we were starting to worry. Also, she was not having the wet and poopy diapers she should have been having, so we took her into the doctor Sunday evening. We saw Dr. Adams. He took a look at her and said she looked just fine- no stomach problems, which I had been worried about. He said, "what goes in must come out and if she is not taking anything in, she has nothing to let out." Makes sense. So we started to supplement with formula and still continue to do so.

Monday we went to Dr. Simmons for her weight check. She had lost 6% of her birth weight. She was down to 6 lbs 11.5 oz. He just said to continue trying to nurse and continue supplementing with formula. Monday evening we got a call from Dr. Simmons. He had overlooked the results from Saturday's CRP test and was concerned that they had elevated. He wanted us to take her into the lab to get it taken again. The lab however was closed so we had to take our little girl to the emergency room. I was so upset that they could not get a 5 day old in quickly just to draw her blood. They said it could be over an hour wait in the waiting room full of sick people. We waited a good hour before they sent us to another part of the hospital that was able to take it. They couldn't believe we had waited in the ER with her for as long as we did. They were helpful and took her blood pretty quick. Dr. Simmons called back a little after and said that the test came back within normal limits. Thank goodness!

Today Jeanne came down to stay with us for a few days. We are so happy to have her here. Sage loves her Grandma. Also, Lexi took some wonderful pictures of our Sage, which will be posted in the next post. We also had an appointment with the lactation consultant. Sage was not very cooperative though. She just wanted to sleep. I did pump for the first time and even rented a hospital grade pump for $15 for the week. I have been pumping every couple hours ever since and trying to get my milk supply in more. I think breastfeeding has been the greatest challenge so far, but we are continuing to work on it. Sage is such a good baby. We are so happy to have her in our lives and join our family. She is so sweet. It has been a long, exhausting week, but we are enjoying getting to know our sweet, little girl.