Hill Crossing: 2012

Mylie Kay Hill has finally arrived!!! :D

Our sweet little girl Mylie arrived last Sunday, June 10th at 9:15pm.

She was 9lbs 12oz and 22+in long! (more like 23)

I planned on having Mylie naturally but I never ruled out an epidural, I hoped I wouldn't have to have one though. Below is her birth story. Be warned it's a little long. :)

I woke up at 6 am on Sunday morning and had what I though were pretty strong contractions, but I knew they would only get stronger. I had been having contractions off and on for the past couple days but they didn't hurt at all. These ones hurt, although I knew it was nothing compared to what it would be. Dustin was supposed to teach priesthood at church that day (we have church at 8:30) so I figured that he would probly be able to go to church before they got really bad and we had to go to the hospital.

They say that you should go to the doctor when they are about 5 min apart and lasting at least 1 min, and you are having them consistent for at least an hour. Well by 8:15, as Dustin was getting ready to head to church, they were coming every 3-4 min and lasting 1-2 min (I had been timing them since about 7:15 when I had actually gotten out of bed). I called my mom (who was on her way down from Washington, and had stopped at my grandma's in Pocatello) and said "I'm having regular contractions and they hurt but I don't know if they really 'hurt' yet, when should I go to the hospital?" She asked me how far apart they were and when I told her she was like, yeah you should probly be at the hospital right now.

So Dustin called someone in our ward (very last minute) and asked them to teach (good thing we have such a great ward cuz he said yes) and we got in the car and headed off to the hospital. By the time we got there and checked in it was about 9am and I was having a hard time moving during a contraction. They took me back to the room and I put on one of those awesome hospital gowns with no back (dignity out the window, haha). They hooked me up to a couple machines to monitor my contractions and the baby's heart beat. The nurse, who's name was Brittany, checked me and I was dilated to a 4+ and 50% effaced (at my last Dr. Appt, about a week earlier, I had been a 2 and 20% effaced). She told me she'd be back in one hour and if the contractions were still coming consistent they would keep me. I remember thinking, you better keep me, I want this baby out!

When Brittany came back around 10:15 I was a 5+ and 70% effaced. She said "I think you'd better stay here and have your baby today." I replied GOOD! haha :) They hooked me up to an IV with saline fluid and I got to sit and wait while my contractions got harder (they hurt a lot, but I felt I was handling it pretty well) and my body get ready to have this baby.

At about 12 they started me on an antibiotic because I had tested group b strep positive. The nurse checked me again and I was at a 7 and 80% effaced. She told me it would be good if I didn't have Mylie till about 3pm so that the antibiotic could start working better and they wouldn't have to give my baby a shot when she came out. Brittany asked me if I would like to try a birthing ball because I was having a hard time sitting in the lousy hospital bed. I said sure, and I'm so glad I did! It made it so much easier. I could sit and bounce on this ball. She told me to ride the contractions like a wave and had Dustin sit on the edge of the bed and I would lean on him during each contraction. It helped a lot! They kept reminding me to breathe in my nose and out my mouth, A reminder I desperately needed, haha.

At about 1pm Brittany checked me again and I was dilated to an 8 and 90% effaced. She decided she should go and call the Dr. and have him come and break my water. My Dr. wasn't the one on call that weekend so I got another Dr. that was in the same office to deliver my baby. She came back just after 1:10pm and told me that he would come as soon as church was out. We were both hoping that his church didn't start at 1. I have learned that with some doctors, you really are on their schedule, not the other way around. By 1:40 I was dilated to a 9+ and almost 100% effaced (there was a little lip that hadn't effaced yet), so Brittany went and called him again and he showed up just after 2pm and broke my water.

After that I had to stay on the bed and the contractions got a lot harder real fast. I was checked a couple more times in the next hour or so and was fully dilated and effaced, but Mylie wasn't moving down into the birth canal and there was a little lip left on my cervix so I couldn't push yet. By the time 4pm rolled around I was in more pain than I could handle and started hyperventilating. I had been here for 8 hours and hadn't eaten anything but ice chips so my strength was pretty much gone. I had had a bowl of cereal at about 8 that morning but that was it. When they told me that it would probably still be a while before I could start pushing I though I was going to die! My wonderful husband Dustin was so supportive during the whole thing and having him there made it a lot easier. Him and my amazing nurse Brittany were so helpful and kept telling me that I could do it even when I said "I can't handle this any more!" Brittany suggested that I could get an epidural to help with the pain and by that point I was all for it.

Within 5 minutes (although it felt so much longer) the anesthesiologist arrived. He was so nice and excellent! He had me sit up and lean over a pillow into Dustin. It took all my strength to get myself up and into the right position and as he prepared to give me the shot I was praying with all my might that I wouldn't have a contraction while he was giving me the epidural! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for helping me not have a contraction while I got the shot. It truly was a miricle!!! I had been having overlapping contractions for the past 30 minutes and there was about a 1-2 minute break as he gave me the epidural and then they started again after I laid back down.

The relieve took only a few minutes to kick in and I was so grateful for it! And for the steady hands of my anesthesiologist. He also hooked up a time release drip so that I would keep getting just enough to help with the pain but not too much. It was a weird sensation, I could feel my lower half of my body and even wiggle my toes, but couldn't lift my leg up more than an inch if my life depended on it.

I am so glad I got the epidural because for the next three hours I just sat there and laughed and talked to my husband, mother, and mother in law (who had both arrived around 12pm) and watched my contractions get harder and harder on the monitor. It was amazing that my baby's heart rate stayed very constant through the whole thing. At 6pm the nurses changed shifts and my wonderful nurse Brittany left and was replaced by another girl.

At 7pm the Dr. came back in and checked me and told me that "he liked my baby" because she had finally gotten into position and I could now push, then he left the room and left the nurse to help me start pushing. This new nurse was helpful but not near as positive or encouraging as Brittany had been. My epidural had to wear off enough that I could feel more in order to push and I felt my energy start to drain again. I pushed for over an hour and was starting to get really discouraged. I asked the nurse how much longer she thought it would be and wondered if all the doctors do is show up to catch the baby! She told me that "well if it hasn't come in the next hour..." Another hour! I didn't think I could keep going that long! I had already been pushing for that long at lest!

I was so excited when the door opened and MY Dr. walked in the door!!!! I was so glad to see her :D (it turns out that Brittany had called her to let her know I was in labor before she left and then my Dr. had called the Dr. on call and asked if she could step in and deliver me). I'm so glad that was the case! It gave me the energy I needed to keep going. After she got there my Dr. stayed in the room the whole time! she pulled and stretched on me a ton and I pushed as hard as I could, but at 9pm Mylie was still not quite coming, although they could see the very tip of her head.

My Dr. suggested that she could use forceps to help guide Mylie out (because each time I had pushed her head would crown, but when I relaxed she would go back up a little), I would still be doing the pushing, but it might be that little extra needed to get her to come out. (my Dr. used the forceps to help keep her into the right position as I pushed. When her head was crowning more, my Dr. took the forceps out an I pushed with everything I had a few more times. Her head popped out and my Dr. exclaimed wait, don't push yet, the cord is wrapped around her neck twice. (it was a miracle that her heart rate had stayed constant the whole time, and now we understood why she took so long and it was so hard to get her into the birth canal. If the cord hadn't been wrapped twice he would have come around 3pm after 6 hrs of labor.)

Within a couple seconds she had the cord off and I gave the final push. Finally at 9:15pm on June 10, 2012 Mylie Kay Hill ARRIVED! She was beautiful and the relief was almost instantaneous! They held her up so I could see and Dustin cut the cord. Then they took her over and wiped her off a bit, put some antibiotic ointment on her eyes and gave her a vitamin K shot and put a little hat on her head and a dipper on her. Then they brought her back to me!!!! Words cannot describe the feeling I had when they placed my little girl in my arms. Definitely the hardest thing I've ever done but so so worth it!!!!!