Welcome Home Mary-Brenna

Mary-Brenna is finally here! She didn't come into this world in the most normal of circumstances but they were the perfect circumstances for my beautiful baby girl.


The journey to bring Mary-Brenna into the world really got going on Friday morning (bright and early). I wasn't far enough along at that point to stay at the midwifery, so Mom and I went back home to try and get some rest and hopefully make some more progress. In the afternoon I started feeling a lot more and by 4:00 I was feeling enough to give the midwifery a call. They had me come in and I labored there from 5:00 on. I made some good progress throughout the night, leading me to be about 7 centimeters at around midnight. They broke my water and really thought that it was just a mater of hours before I would be ready to push. However, at 4 in the morning, I was still at 7. I had a choice to make at that point, go into the hospital or continue to labor at the midwifery until the doctor would be there. I chose the midwifery route and stayed there until about 8:00. At that point I was still at 7 and it became evident that something else needed to be done. We got ready to go to the hospital and the doctor was notified that I would be coming in. I got there around 9:00 in the morning. They got me all hooked up to an IV and we waited a little bit for the doctor to get there. It wasn't long before we had a good plan in place of giving me some medication to help increase the intensity of my contractions. I wasn't on the medication long when the situation took a turn. My midwife noticed a rapid change in Mary-Brenna's heart rate, it jumped from 135 to over 200 beats per minute. They gave me enough time for the medication to work out of my system and ruled out that it was the medication that caused this change. It became clear in a very short order that an emergency c-section was necessary.

And so the prep began. Throughout all of it I was still working through contractions (that was not so fun). When they got as much done in the birthing suite as they could they wheeled me off to the operating room. My doctor was wonderful and held my hand while I was getting my spinal done. My mom was able to come in as soon as they confirmed that my spinal took. It was so great to have her there, I have to say I was nervous about my little girl. They worked fast and before I knew it I heard a sweet cry from across the curtain. Mom was invited to look across the curtain to see her and she was telling me just how perfect she was. My doctor held her head over the curtain for me to see for a moment before handing her off to the nurses and the pediatrician. At first her heart rate was normal, and then the next moment it was high again. They let Mom go over and see her while they were checking her out and held her out for me to see before whisking her off to the nursery.

While they were sewing me back up (oh wow that sounds strange), Mom got to stay with me. I was shaking a bit afterwords, and let me tell you that that was a weird feeling, I only felt from about 3/4 of the way up my stomach to my head. I wanted so much to wiggle my toes, but no could do. When they were done I was scooted out to recovery and told I could see her in about an hour. When I was done with recovery they wheeled me out to the nursery and let me see her. I held her hand and talked to her. The pediatrician filled me in on how she was doing, and the plan was for her to be transferred to Providence if things didn't turn around soon. Shortly after I left the nursery however, her heart rate went back down to normal. It was amazing and the doctors were so shocked. Thankfully we were both able to stay out in the valley for our hospital stay.

Mom was able to stay the night with me for the two days we were in the hospital, which was wonderful. Mary-Brenna was able to be brought to my room around midnight on Saturday night. From then on, she was able to be in my room with me, which I loved. I felt so bad for my little girl, she had to have an IV for fluids and antibiotics and she had to get her heals poked every two hours to test her glucose levels. I was so thankful when the tests came back and she was able to get her IV taken out and no longer get poked.

Monday was a special day, we got cleared to come home! Mary-Brenna was all checked out by a doctor and given a green light to go home. I was cleared in the morning by my doctor to go when she could. Mom and I enjoyed our "Celebration Dinner" and then we were discharged. We got home around 8:15 Monday night and it was so wonderful to spend a night in my own bed.

Mary-Brenna has been home for a day and has done wonderfully. Dad was able to stay home today and help out which was wonderful. He held her while I took a nap this morning (thank you Daddy), and watched her while I got up and moved around the house a bit (walking is good for a c-section patient). Tomorrow is a check up with her pediatrician to make sure all is well. Hopefully more wonderful days with my sweet daughter to come.