For those of you who want all the fun details ...
On monday afternoon, November 9th, I started feeling some cramping and having pain in my lower back. I was at work, and already feeling pretty yucky/tired, but I decided to just keep working until 2:30 like usual. After talking to my mom on the phone about the cramps, I went for a little walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes while I wrote down each time I felt that same pain. Within 45 mins, I had a whole list of times ranging within 3 to 5 minutes of each other! After a little prodding from my mom, and more time passing with the same amount of "cramps" (aka contractions!), I called my doctor. The nurse told me to hurry to the hospital and have them check me. So I called Ryan home from school and we headed to St Rose De Lima Hospital.
When we got there, the nurse was absolutely sure I was just dehydrated and that she'd end up sending me home after making me drink 32 oz of water. However, as she checked me, I was indeed dilated to 4 cm already! I was actually in labor! I can't tell you how much of a shock it was to me... in fact I was pretty much freaking out. I couldn't believe it was already happening. I was still 3 1/2 weeks from the due date, I didn't have a fully packed hospital bag, and I hadn't even pre-registered at the hospital yet!
By 5:30 pm, I was admitted. By 7 pm (ish), I was already dilated to a 7 and in waaaaay too much pain to believe I could handle the rest without a little help from Mr. Epidural. We called the anisthesiologist in and he worked his magic. He was from the U of U, and it turned out my nurse was too! It made me feel right at home. :) Thank the heavens for epidurals, by the way. Anyway, the baby's heart rate in the beginning of the labor was really high (tacicardic) so the nurses were already worrying about that. Then when they broke my water, a few others major issues cropped up. My amniotic fluid was infected and the baby had been sitting in all that yucky fluid. I also was running a fever of almost 101 which meant the baby was way too hot as well. At that point, whenever I had contractions, the baby's heart rate would dip way down. They put me on an oxygen mask around 8 pm and had me moving into different positions which they hoped would help the baby's heart rate stay under control a bit better. The best position for her seemed to be with me on my hands and knees on the bed... NOT an easy task when your legs are practically numb. Ryan's friend, Justin Bruner, came to the hospital to give me a priesthood blessing sometime during this chaos because I was extremely nervous. Shortly after that, the baby's heart rate was getting so low, and taking so much time to get back up, that my incredible nurse injected me with something that was supposed to stop my contractions and help the baby survive the few more minutes until my doctor got there. Doing that probably saved the baby's life (as it was explained to me later).
By 8:40 ish, my doctor walked into the hospital room, immediately got ready (along with the NICU nurses and a few other delivery nurses) and within MINUTES had me ready to push. As my first contraction started, I pushed... then I pushed once more and the baby's head was free! But then everyone started freaking out and telling me to stop. The cord was wrapped around her neck twice. They cut it off of her right there and told me to push with all my might... so I did. One more push (during that same first contraction) had the baby completely out. Grace May Turner was born at 8:48 pm on November 9, 2009.
The drama doesn't end there, but the rest of that evening is still somewhat of a blur and a really scary/sad memory for me. There were periods of feeling lonely because Ryan was with the baby in the NICU and I was by myself... there were periods where nobody would come tell me what was happening with the baby... but mostly I was simply in shock over what had just happened. I couldn't believe that all of that had happened within 5 hours! I was a new mommy, who had only seen her baby girl for about 5 total seconds before they rushed her off. I was too overwhelmed with worry and sadness and heart break to even enjoy it.
But good news is all that follows that story... because every single day Grace continues to show more and more improvement! They've taken her off of the oxygen, and only have an IV for the antibiotics and some other nutrients they are giving her. I've been able to feed her every 3 hours during the day (although she's not doing too great with nursing yet). I feel like she truly knows who Ryan and I are when we are near her and she'll sit and look at us with her beautiful eyes. She even made faces at me this morning and there are hints of dimples in her cheeks! We'll see when she gets some fat on her bones!
Nap time with dad. Grace also LOVES to be wrapped up and snuggling in someone's arms. Even if she is really upset, I can simply hold her in my arms really close for just a few seconds and she'll calm right down. I hope that lasts...
First bath! Surprisingly she didn't hate it. We've realized after a couple baths that she only likes it if the water is at least in the low 90's - she likes it nice and warm, of course! And she'll freak out unless she has a warm wash cloth over her chest and stomach area so no part of her is cold.
