Taylor's Birth Story

As soon as Dr. Day uttered those words, "I think today is the day", I kinda started to panic. I was so not prepared, I did not pack a hospital bag, did not clean up the house, I didn't even have the laundry done to pack the hospital bag. So to say I was unprepared is an understatement! But nonetheless, Taylor was coming and by Dr. Day's prediction, it wouldn't be very long! So My mom and I headed to labor and delivery and I called Tim at home!!

I was admitted around 3pm. Around 4pm they started the antibiotics that I had to have during labor because of my positive GBS test. They told me I had to be on the antibiotics for at least 4 hours before they would brake my water. They also started the pitocin around this time too! I was not happy that yet again, I would have to have pitocin....I was really hoping to go into labor on my own this time. Then we just waited, and waited, and waited some more. Around 6pm Tim arrived with the boys :) I was so happy to see them!! Then we did some more waiting.


By this point I was hooked up to all the machines and feeling contractions. They were not unbearable at this point but getting uncomfortable! Around 8pm they started the second bag of antibiotics, I had to have a bag every 4 hours until I delivered. I at this time finally asked for the epidural, I was in extreme pain and just really did not want to deal with it....I was hoping to have a natural birth but with the pitocin the contractions were just a little more than I could handle! So I decided to get the epidural right before they broke my water.

It was around this time that they started to have problems detecting my contractions. They would show up for a while and then all of a sudden just disappear.The were a little concerned about this, I was just hoping my labor did not stall! They tried to reposition the monitor and had no luck. They decided that they would brake my water and go ahead and put an internal monitor in for Taylor's heart rate and my contractions. It was around 9:30pm when my water was broke and the internal monitors were inserted. This worked and they were able to pick up the contractions!

I really thought that Taylor would have been here by this point but nope, I was still at 4cm and she was still really high. I was a little worried that if I didn't start to progress that I would end up with a c-section which I really did not want. This whole time they had been increasing my pitocin periodically to give me stronger more regular contractions. Then we just waited some more hoping things would really start to pick up since my water had been broken. A few hours later I was starting to feel the contractions again, not super painful but definitely getting uncomfortable. They decided to check me again to see if we had made any progress. They were able to stretch and force me to 6cm but Taylor was still high. The nurse said my cervix was very thin though and that there was nothing holding Taylor up so she should definitely drop all the way down.

Shortly after that I was in a lot of pain again and I could tell the epidural was already wearing off....they called for another one. Then it seemed right after I got that I was feeling pressure. Not contractions just a lot of pressure, and I wanted them to check me again. And when she did I was fully dilated and Taylor was right there, she was not even a full finger length in. Now all we had to do was wait for Dr. Day to get there. This was probably the hardest part of the whole labor and delivery!

I love when you have that uncontrollable urge to push and they tell you not to push until the doctor is here....it is the most uncomfortable thing in the world!! With every contraction I could feel her head right there, a few times I actually thought she might just come out before the doctor made it. I keep my legs closed and as tight as I could!! FINALLY the doctor arrived, she had trouble parking.

Tim's Aunt Shari took the boys out to the waiting room and it was just Tim and my mom in the delivery room. By the time the doctor and nurses got all ready and told me to go ahead and push when I felt the need to, Taylor was right there. I held my breath and didn't even get a full push and her head was out!! I could not believe that it happened that fast. Then I finished pushing with that contraction and she just slipped out! One contraction and two pushes and my beautiful little girl was finally here!

I was ecstatic, over the moon :) She was happy, healthy, and beautiful. Taylor arrived at 1:06 a.m. on March 9, 2010. She was 7lbs 8oz...I could not believe she was bigger than her brothers, and was 19 3/4 inches long. I was able to breastfeed her right away and she did great. She was and is perfect in every way!

Week 37....Then end of one journey and the beginning of another!

Well I had hoped that this week would be less eventful than last week, but it turned out to be the most eventful week....Miss Taylor finally entered the world this week!

But lets back up a little. So Friday(3/5) I was suppose to return my 24 hour urine to the doctor and have some blood drawn, but I don't know what was wrong with me that morning but I was just not leaving the house. I wasn't "sick" just tired and didn't really have to energy to drag both the boys up there...oops. I figured I was going in on Monday anyway so if I had to just redo it, I could and it would be no big deal.

So Monday I had my mom go to the doctor with me because just in case they decided to admit me Tim would have the van and could get to the hospital. Here we were again at the doctor....blood pressure, weight, urine sample, ultrasound, NST, then doctor visit, REPEAT! These weekly visits had been going on for about 6 weeks now, but this would prove to be the last one.

The ultrasound went great, she said you were looking good and the fluid had not changed. You were as cute as ever...couldn't keep your hands out of your face! My blood pressure was high though, and I remembered to take my medicine this time :( The NST is where everything changed. You were having another non reactive day, and I was given chocolate and ice water yet again, but nothing was working. You were moving here and there but there was no accelerations or decelerations in your heart rate.

This is when Dr. Day decided today was the day, it was time to pull the plug and get you out. This was week 2 of you having a non reactive NST :( This was the day I had been waiting so long for. My body was ready for you to be here (I was so uncomfortable) but of course I was not prepared at home. This is nothing new for me though, I have never been prepared with the boys either. I though I was emotionally ready, but once I knew you would be here by that night, I wasn't. I was not ready to give up being pregnant, having you being apart of and with me all the time. All I could think about was wanting to go back just a few weeks so I could take that belly picture I forgot to take, feel you moving inside me a little longer, and maybe take just one more nap. But as we know there was no going back! And so it was BABY DAY!!!

Week 36...When it Rains it Pours!

This has probably been one of the hardest weeks so far. It makes me realize all the other little nonsense I have been complaining about was nothing compared to the week I have had. The week from HELL!

Well there was one good thing this week, my baby shower. It was a great way to start the week!! It was nice to have a night out without the kiddos :) My great friends Ann and Laura set up the baby shower and we went to 54th street bar and grill in Arnold, it was yummy! I have some of the greatest friends who just went above and beyond on gifts. I am truly grateful! It was so fun to open up all the girly stuff since I'm so used to blue clothes and trucks and cars.

So a special thanks to Ann, Laura, Aaron, Lisa, Sarah, and my mom for coming out tonight and of course for the gifts. And thanks to Krista for a wonderful gift even though she couldn't make it out tonight.

Here are some pictures from tonight and of all the "goodies"!











Then on Monday I had my weekly appointment. It was just not a good appointment all around. I had my ultrasound where she was just measuring the fluid, which we learned had dropped :( The normal range for fluid is between 6-25cm, I had been at 12cm for the past few weeks, but had dropped to 9cm. Not at the dangerous stage yet, but definitely lower and something to keep an eye on. She said if it would get down to a 5 or lower that would mean I would have to deliver. Then I had my NST, which was not that great either. Miss Taylor you were not very active at all, they did manage to get a few accelerations and decelerations by giving me some ice water! So you ended up passing, but barely!

By this point it felt like dejay vu..this is exactly what happened with Mason and why he was born when he was. Not to mention my blood pressure was high. 160/106 YIKES! But Dr. Day said that even with all this; the BP, fluid, and NST you were still doing alright nothing that would make her want to induce. She then decided to go ahead and check my dilation since I was at 1cm two weeks ago. And sure enough I am at a solid 3cm, woohoo, I am excited about that. The farther dilated I am hopefully the shorter the labor! I was at 3-4cm when I was induced with Mason and his labor and birth was quick! Upon this exam though she did notice that the cyst was filling up again. It had not gotten as big as it was but she went ahead and drained it again. The good news is all the test they ran on it came back negative! So its not infected and its just a cyst. She believes that maybe a pore or something got clogged and allowed a cyst to form, which is common. So we were free for another week.

That was Monday, the next day Tuesday I woke up to a nasty eye infection. Felt and looked just like pink eye, which I used to get ALL the time when I worked at the daycare. I was completely miserable, could hardly open my eye it hurt so bad. But since daddy was at work I had to try and just make it through the day. Around lunch time though I fell and cut my foot open, not bad but it just added to all the was going wrong that day. I had a complete nervous breakdown. I called daddy at work and begged him to come home, which he did because he didn't know what was wrong. I think I was just so overwhelmed with everything from the doctor app., to the eye infection, then the fall, plus the boys were not behaving. I just couldn't take anymore. Thank god for daddy, because when he got home I was able to take a nap :)

By the next day my eye was much better, I was feeling pretty good considering the week I had had so far. But then I started to worry because you had not been moving like normal, something just didn't feel right. So I called the doctor and they had me come in just to be on the safe side. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as I got there and they gave me a roll and some ice water you started moving. You were all over the place. Oh well it gave me a piece of mind!! My blood pressure was still high and the fluid was about where it was on Monday....so she wanted me to do another 24 hour urine and bring it back on Friday and have blood drawn at that time.

She also at this time put me on "bed rest" HA I don't know how that will work with your two brother's at home. Plus daddy is not the greatest help with house cleaning and such, but we will see how it goes. The thought of bed rest sounds so good right now!

I'm hoping next week is not as eventful as this week. I need a vacation!

35 weeks....

I am so close to seeing you Taylor that I can hardly stand it! I am trying to enjoy these last few weeks because I know I will miss being pregnant, but it's so hard! The anticipation of your birth, who you will look like, and holding you for the first time is so overwhelming! But most of all I just pray that your arrive healthy :)

This weeks doctor appointment went fairly well! Grandma watched your brother's so that daddy could actually be there, he has not been to an appointment since we found out you were our little girl. Really I wanted him to come just to keep me company during the NST!

This time during the ultrasound they did all the measurements and not just a fluid checked. She said you are around 6 1/2 lbs and everything looked great! We were even able to get some really awesome 3D picture's this time. Daddy said you were showing off because he was there ;)




The NST went smoothly and you were as happy as ever! It was nice to have someone to talk to for that half hour instead of just staring at the wall!

Then we seen the doctor. She said that you and I are doing great and everything seems to be chugging along down the right path. I asked her about the cyst because it has been bothering me and causing some discomfort, so she asked if I would want her to go ahead and just try to drain it. Of course I did. So that's what happened, she used a needle to drain it and sent off all kinds of tests on it, just to cover all bases. She even at one point said it was a little bizarre, which makes daddy and mommy a little nervous. So were just hoping that all the tests come back fine. She opted out of checking me to see if I dilated anymore for risk of introducing an infection to you. She did say that there is a chance that the cyst could fill back and then we would have to drain it again. I am praying it doesn't because it was extremely painful to have it drained.

Today we had a little party (get together) for Timothy for his birthday. One of mommy's good friends Kelly bought you the cutest little outfit I just have to share! Another reason why I can't wait for you to be here, so I can put all these adorable outfits on you!


I actually have a busy week coming up. We have a baby shower and our weekly doctor's appointment! So until then we will keep chugging forward!

34 weeks

Well I actually had a pretty eventful week! I started not feeling very well early in the week. Very tired, a little nauseous,headaches, sore, extreme pelvic pressure, abdominal pain, I had it all! Well I just took it day by day knowing I had a doctor's appointment on Monday. To me it felt like you had dropped, so I figured that's why I was feeling different especially the pressure.

SO on Monday I had my appointment, the ultrasound and NST went well. I still had plenty of fluid and you looked great. She said we will measure to see how big you are next week...I'm really excited to see how much you have grown! We were even lucky enough to get a few 3D pictures of your face, which we haven't been able to get before because of how squished you are and your position. My blood pressure was 134/92 which is a little high, but not too bad.




I then met with the doctor and talked with her about the pressure and such and she decided to do a pelvic exam to see what was going on. And boy am I glad I had that done because I was not expecting to hear what she was about to say. While doing the exam she did say I was indeed 1 cm which isn't uncommon in a third pregnancy...with Mason I was a 3 for about a month before I was induced. But that was not the shocking news....she also found a cyst in my vagina. She said it is pretty large, like the size of a grape. Now I know cysts are pretty common and usually are nothing to worry about, but I couldn't help worrying. I had never had any of these kinds of problems. She did look it over and tried to determine what it was attached to and such (sorry if TMI) and it was really sore to the touch. She said she could just put a needle in it and drain it and then I would be good to go, but because of all the extra blood flow down there when your pregnant there were a lot of blood vessels in it. She was afraid to pop it because of the bleeding. She she had me look at it with a mirror and touch it so I knew how big it was ( I know..again TMI) so that I would be able to tell if it grew. So now I have to monitor it and make sure that between now and my next doctor's appointment it doesn't grow otherwise I have to go in and have it drained. UGH..as if I didn't have enough to stress over.

The doctor did say that this could be part of the pressure I am feeling since it was large, it may cause some of my discomfort. Ever since then I have done nothing but worry about this darn cyst, but good news I actually think it's getting smaller. I may have popped it a little on my own by just walking. Daddy is a little grossed out by all of this LOL!

I am still having Braxton Hicks contractions, and they actually started to get pretty uncomfortable on Tuesday. I was staring to get a little worried that maybe the pelvic exam jump started labor or something. Just really crampy and uncomfortable. The pain was going all the way to my lower back. I made it to bed and decided to see if these "contractions" would keep me up, if they did I would go in and be checked again. But I woke up the next morning and was actually feeling better. So hopefully they were just practice.

Lets take it easy baby girl...we only have around 3 weeks until full term and 5 weeks at the most until you are probably here.

Here is some humor at my expense to lighten things up. I am at the point now where I fit into nothing...not even my maternity clothes fit. This is odd to me since at the doctor I have not really been gaining any weight, hmm figure that one out. It must all be baby ;) Well the other day I was in a hurry to get ready and grabbed a pair of jeans out of the dryer, ran to the bedroom and began to put them on...to my surprise I could barely get them up much less buttoned and zipped up. These were the one pair of jeans that I thought actually fit. Well turns out they were not mine at all but Tim's...yes you read that right I could not even get daddy's jeans on. Not that I'm calling him fat or anything, but he is bigger than me..or so I thought! Oh well it actually made me chuckle a little!

Yep you guessed it.....33 weeks!

I'm beginning to feel like a broken record when I say that I don't have much to report on this week and that nothing real exciting happened. Although I guess that's kind of a good thing, we don't want anything too exciting to happen HA!

I did have another doctor's appointment on Monday that went pretty routinely. I had the ultrasound first and all she was checking was the fluid level. She said they will not check your growth every week, but every 3 weeks. If they check every week it will look like you are not growing since, that slows down towards the end. Fluid looked great, you have plenty :) She quickly peeked at your organs and those looked great as well. So we got an A+ this week! She snapped me a few pictures to take home. I got two of your sweet little face, and one of your little foot and toes. Which by the way is pushed right up against my ribs, I can totally tell you are running out of room!


Speaking of feet in the ribs...I think you have moved slightly because I have not had any rib pain in a little over a week :) So if your foot was in my ribs, thanks for moving them!

OK back to the doctor appointment. I then had that pesky NST. You were actually not as active as last time, but I figured it was because this appointment was in the afternoon and last week it was early in the morning. You tend to be more active in the morning. But nonetheless you passed :) I have to return yet again next week for the same thing, so just keep it up!

The other day I did experience some severe pressure and pelvic pain which I haven't had too much of a problem with. I was actually having trouble walking, but I forced myself out of the house and actually felt better once I was up and moving around. Another reason why I'm pretty sure you are starting to move down or "drop" as they say!

I also finally got together with my friend Laura to discuss the music assisted childbirth. I actually had a great time, and she gave me some really great information that I think will really help me to achieve my natural birth. So now I just need to get my music together on the IPOD so we will be all ready to go. I am getting excited about this birth which is weird to me, I mean I am still a little nervous, but I feel so much more prepared for what my body will go through.

Dr. Day has already mentioned getting me to 39 weeks and then inducing, which I really do not want, but I have a feeling it will be inevitable with the blood pressure. I'm hoping next week I can discuss my plan for a natural childbirth and hopefully we are able to try other ways to induce labor besides the pitocin if it does come down to needing to induce! I think my only fear right now is that if I do need pitocin then the contractions will be so unbearable that I will give in the the epidural. It doesn't help that my labor with the boys were both induced with pitocin and the contractions were horrible.

For being so cramped in there I still feel you moving around so much. Mostly I feel it really low where your head and hands are. This feeling is one of the greatest things about pregnancy! The one thing I will truly miss when you are born. There is just something so amazing about feeling life move inside you, it brings a smile to my face :)

I will close for now. I can hardly wait to meet you Taylor! Keep growing!

Love,
Mommy

ultrasound, non-stress test, Dr. appointment, OH MY! (32 weeks)

Well the weekly ultrasounds and non stress tests started this week! They make for very long doctor appointments, NO FUN! Except the ultrasounds, I always enjoy those :) But I guess we should start at the beginning before my doctor's appointment.

I started having really bad rib pain this week. Like so bad it hurt to breath, cough, laugh, bend over, sometimes to walk. It really felt like a broken rib would but I was pretty sure It wasn't broken, but bruised most definitely. This would be because I was starting to bruise on the outside, yes you read that right, not a big dark bruise but one nonetheless. I did some research and found that this is actually common in pregnancy and could be because of your position and it may be foot stuck inside my ribs or just you pushing up against them!! I knew you were head down so I figured that must be the problem. At my doctors appointment I mentioned this problem although by this day, it actually was feeling better...go figure. She said she also believes it was the position and to just let her know if it occurs again. So for mommy's sake could you lay of the rib, literally ;)


Monday was my doctor's appointment. I was scheduled for the ultrasound at 9:30AM, then the NST immediately after that, and then finally to see the doctor. The ultrasound went very well, you are still measuring a week ahead which is where you have consistently been measuring so that's great! All the organs and heart rate looked great, and your fluid was good. She did try to peak at your gender just for a added peace of mind but you are so cramped in there already we could not see. But that's OK because I know you are a girl :) We did get a pretty good face shot and I could see hair, quite a bit too!! I am so excited. I was hoping you had a lot like your brothers so I could but bows and such on you. You are still head down, so just stay put!


The non-stress test went perfectly too. You are a very happy little girl and were all over the place. Actually had trouble keeping you on the monitor you were moving so much! I even got to hear you with the hiccups, which is always fun to feel, but even funnier to hear! So..you PASSED! Way to go baby girl!

I will go back next Monday for the same thing. So I guess until then behave yourself!

I LOVE you,
Mommy