Blake's birth story

A tale of Beauty and the drama that followed...

Warning:  longest birth story ever!!!



The sign my boss posted after
getting tired of everyone
constantly asking her if I had the
baby yet.

I guess I should start with a confession.  I didn't want to be induced in the traditional sense, but honestly at 12 days past due I was emotionally done with this pregnancy.  Done with everyone's comments, thoughts, suggestions, and well, I just wanted to meet him and sleep on my stomach again and finally be allowed to try hot yoga.  Ok, so those last two are a little selfish, but really all the old wive tale versions of home labor induction weren't seeming to do a darn thing.  I tried them all....for real...ALL of them.  Oh, except for castor oil.  And this mom needed to try phase 2.  Phase 2 turned out to be membrane sweeping.  It could be done in the office and was relatively safe.  I was already 4 cm and 60% effaced so there really were no guarantees that it would work.  Apparently it seems to work better if you start from no where, but you never know and I was willing to try it.  So, I had it done at around noon on Tuesday and instantly regretted it.  Again, probably more due to my emotional state at that moment than for any other reason, but still I could tell it was working.  I wasn't having any contractions, just felt that something was happening.  If it was going to work, we would know between 12 and 24 hours.

I went back to work for a few hours and finished up a few things with my boss and tidied up my desk again, knowing it would probably be my last day.  I let her know that I had decided to do the stripping/sweeping thing and had a feeling I wouldn't be back.  On the way home I texted mom to let her know I needed to run by Target to pick up a prescription since the midwife had noticed I had a bit of a cold...STILL after 3 weeks.  Kind of glad as sweeping your membranes can cause bacterial infections which is one of the huge cons of doing it.  Mom suggested Chilis for dinner, which is right in the Target parking lot so I met everyone there after my prescription was finally ready.  All through dinner I could still tell it was working.  For sure we would have a baby in the next 12 hours or so.  Even still I went with mom to Albertsons to pick up a few things before going home. 

I didn't make into bed very early as usual and then spent most of the night awake.  I was doing a squat/pushup challenge in a facebook group so around 2 in the morning I decided to go ahead and do the 2 sets of 25 squats and 13 pushups required for January 8.  I never really went back to bed after that, just wandered around the house and the bathroom until about 4:15 AM I had my first contraction.  I had loaded a contraction app on my phone earlier in the day so I got it out and instantly started timing them.  From that moment they were about a minute or so long and around 2 to 3 minutes apart.  I waited until closer to 5 to wake up Mark.  I didn't want him to spring into action too fast and insist we go to the hospital before I had time to think. 

So at 5 I shake him and tell him that we will be having a baby today.  He says ok and lays back down.  About a minute later he jumps up and says did your water break?  I told him it was just contractions, but he really wasn't paying attention to me at that point.  He just jumped up, went to the bathroom and started shaving his face.  Only a clean shaven face for the birth of his children :)  He finished shaving and was about to get in the shower when he asked me again what time my water broke.  Once again I told him it hadn't but I was having pretty close together contractions.  He tells me that he is going to take a quick shower and literally was in the shower for 60 seconds or less.  He then starts racing through the house asking me if I have everything.  Apparently we were leaving for the hospital right away.  We woke up mom and told her that we were going to the hospital.  G was asleep in our bed and we would call later when it was closer to time. 

We race to the hospital, literally!  I kept telling him it was fine to stick to the speed limit, but I'm pretty sure he was still not listening to me.  Since it is still overnight hours technically by hospital standards, we get to use the emergency room entrance.  Mark drops me off, some guy wheels me in and the ER staff calls up to the L&D floor and lets them know they are bringing me up.  I get up there and start the registration process which is much faster this time since I had pre-registered.  They ask what room I want which seems like a funny question, but being a midwife patient I have the option to use the water birth suite, 1 of the 2 bathtub rooms or a regular L&D room.  I ask for the water birth room but they say it is still being used so they will put me in Tub room 1 instead.  G was born in Tub room 2. 

I get in the room and put on the lovely hospital gown and get to the fun task of being monitored for a little bit so they can see my progress.  They asked me details about my birth plan and actually noted them.  The first detail was no IV with a drip, but I would take a saline locked IV just in case it became necessary in an emergency and that was put in.  My contractions were every 2-3 minutes still and when they checked I was already at 6.5 cm.  SCORE!!!  Good thing we didn't wait as it would have been awful trying to drive in morning rush hour.  


Harris Methodist Hospital
Fort Worth Birthing Tub

The nurse left the room for a few minutes and since it was the 6 AM shift change came back in with my new nurse, Gina, and told me that she had the tub half filled so I could go ahead and get in.  I was a little confused because I never heard the water running.  Turns out we were moving to the water birth suite.  YAY!!!  We head right down there.  I put a sports bra on and get in the tub.  Candys, the midwife, is already in the room.  Mark finds a comfy spot on the sofa and I do my thing in the tub. 

The water birth suite is actually 2 rooms adjoined by a door in the middle.  The traditional bed is in one room, the water birth tub is in the other room.  The tub is so large it needed its own space, but you still need a bed for post delivery time or if you decide to actually deliver in a bed once the time comes.  You really never know what will feel right until you try it.  Overall, a very nice and relaxing space.

This time I had back labor.  Wow, I never understood how painful that could possibly be.  All my pain with G was in my stomach which was awful enough, but this was awful too, just in a totally different way.  Maybe about 7:30 Candys asks if she can check me.  I let her and she says I'm at a 9.5 and she doesn't feel the water bag so she thinks at some point it must have broken and I just don't realize it.  Other than a tiny little piece of cervix left in the way, she says it is fine to push whenever I want to and see if that helps it go away.  I push here and there and about 7:50 I am all clear at a 10.  Time to start pushing for real, as I wish of course, no pressure.  At 8 am I feel this pop and Candys and I realize my water just broke.  Time to get this baby out so I start pushing and at 8:12 on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 our little Blake Cash King was born.  I pulled him from the water and laid him on my chest.  How amazing is that? 

Blake Cash King

He felt so tiny to me and he had a head full of dark hair.  The cord was really long so we just waited there, still attached to each other for awhile until the cord had stopped pulsating.  When it had stopped Candys clamped 2 spots on the cord and told me I could cut it since Mark didn't want to.  I never thought of that possibility, but I did it.  Again, how amazing is that? 

We waited for the placenta to be delivered but it didn't seem to want to come out so I got out of the tub and walked into the bedroom part of the suite to deliver it there.  It took a little time, but finally came out.  Mark was in the rocker holding the baby at this point.  Once I am relatively all cleaned up I get Blake back in my arms. 

At this point I had asked to hold Blake for an hour or 2 until we had at least breastfed and got to snuggle before they did anything to him.  They were fine with that, so as I'm nursing Blake I keep telling Gina and Mark that my back is killing me.  It feels like I'm still in labor and my stomach is cramping.  I'm not sure how long this goes on, but finally I just can't stand it and Mark can tell by the look on my face that something is very wrong with me.  Gina asks if she can take Blake and start his round of vitals and I let her. 

Mark and I are both shocked to discover he is 21 1/4" long and weighs 9 lbs 6.8 oz.  Yikes!!!!  I honestly did not believe it, but I  guess it has been awhile since I have held a baby. 

I am still in significant pain, feeling basically like I am still in labor.  I guess Gina got the hint because she left the room and came back with Amy, the midwife, who was now on duty for the next 12 hours.  Amy immediately checks me and finds that I'm hemorraghing and have tons of large clots in me.  She calls for all the nurses on the floor.  Mom, dad and G happened to have just arrived in the parking garage as this is happening.  Mark tells them they need to wait to come up and then I guess decides he needs mom in there with me instead of him so they head up.  The nurse tells Mark they will take the baby to the nursery so he checks with me on what rules the nursery needs to know.  The only one I get out is that Blake can only receive formula by a cup (not bottle) if absolutely necessary.  I forget the don't give him a bath thing, but really the formula thing was most important to me.  There are nurses and chaos going on all around me at this point.  The room is full of people.

Mom comes into the room and Mark takes off to the tub room to hang out with G and dad.  We were really lucky to have gotten the water birth suite since it had the 2 rooms or the guys would have hd to go to the family room down the hall.  I'm pretty much out of it from the pain at this point.  Amy was telling me that I was losing a lot of blood and most likely would need a transfusion before this was all over.  I consented and the next thing I know I'm being given Pitocin, benedryl, tylenol and an antibiotic by IV, a shot in my right leg, a shot in my left leg, a catheter, other creams and pills put in other places and another IV was started in my right hand to receive the blood.  Meanwhile Amy is literally pulling clots from my body.  All of this made me horribly nauseous. 

At some point the blood man arrives with 2 units of blood and they put that on the fast drip into my body.  I sleep through most of it because of the benedryl, only waking right before the 2nd bag is complete about 2 hours later.  I wake up freezing and ask for more blankets.  Apparently the L&D floor had been hopping the last 24 hours so blankets had to be stolen from the L&D OR room which took awhile.  Mark finally comes back in and we ask for the baby.  I seem stable enough, still pale, but stable, so Gina goes to find out if they have a room on the maternity recovery floor ready for me.  It is lunch time up there so Gina comes back with Blake.  No one had met him at this point.  Mark's mom shows up just at this very moment so everyone comes into the room.

 

 

Everything at this point is a little fuzzy.  Mark's mom, my mom and my dad all take turns holding him.  G went up to each person as they held him and pointed and said brother.  When G and Blake were in the bed with me, G was already giving him kisses and hugs.  So sweet.  I know that I am starving at this point.  It is early afternoon and I haven't had anything but 1/2 a slice of toast to eat since we had Chilis the night before.  Mark's mom had brought blueberry muffins and some apple pecan cake.  G took the muffins and I took the cake.  Yum. 

Mark's mom

Rachel's mom

 

Rachel's dad

Lunch time for the nurses upstairs was finally over so they wheel me to my recovery room with Blake in my arms as it should be.  Both moms, Mark, my dad, and G all make their way upstairs.  I have finally freed up the water birth suite for another momma to be.  I honestly felt a little bad that I was hogging it for non birthing reasons, but at the same time I needed to get better so I could actually live to be a momma to my own babies.  Live.  Who knew that word would ever be part of this birth story?

On Thursday morning on the recovery floor Blake starts receiving all his 24 hour tests like the TX blood test that looks for a ton of abnormal illnesses that almost no one ever gets, the Pulse-Ox heart test, hearing test, jaundice screen, blood sugar screen, and who knows what else.  He finally had his circumcision late that afternoon.  He was gone for a very short time thank goodness.  I handled it much better this time, but could even tell the Pedi on call was a little disappointed that another baby was being snipped which doesn't really help out a momma that isn't really ok with it to begin with.  But either way we both survived that experience.  I realized that night that Blake had his last diaper change at noon that day.  By early Friday morning I was getting concerned,  He was super red, which indicates excess red blood cells which can lead to jaundice and knowing what I learned with G is that they need to get enough liquid in them to pee regularly so they can dump the excess bilirubin from their body.  I was concerned he was going to end up jaundiced so I asked the nurse for a bottle of formula and a medicine cup so I could give him a little, not even an ounce.  Friday morning I finally got to change his diaper again.  I know I will be changing his diaper a million times over the next few months, but still it was something to get excited about. 

I end up with awful headaches once on the recovery floor pretty much right away.  I kept asking for tylenol or ibuprofen which they gave to me as needed.  Neither of them helped.  The headache continued.  Mom stayed the night with me on Wednesday since Mark had to go to work on Thursday.  I knew I wasn't leaving on Thursday and so much had to be done to me and Blake that I told mom they could just stay home with G for the day.  I got the catheter out late on Thursday afternoon and was finally free from the bed to walk around a little. Mark and G came to visit late in the evening but then left me for the night.  Mom offered to come stay with me, but being free from the bed I decided to go it alone.  Friday afternoon Amy comes to check on me and tells me that the last time they checked my blood, my levels were still low (in the 7 range) and with the headaches and the fact that I still looked so pale indicated that I needed more blood.  We were going to need to stay another night and receive 2 more units of blood.  Blake had already been discharged from the hospital so the nurse asks me if I want to have him readmitted or just keep him in the room and not have him be a patient.  I ask for him to not be readmitted.  It just seemed easier than having to go through the discharge procedures again. 

I guess for legal reasons the pediatrician decided to keep Blake as a patient.  He was still quite red indicating he was still at a slight risk for jaundice so they officially kept him for that reason which meant he got one more blood test on Saturday morning and a bilirubin check too all which were normal so he was quickly discharged early Saturday morning. 

Mark was still at work on Friday afternoon when Amy had decided I needed to stay so mom got G down for a nap and came up to the hospital to watch Blake for me.  They were going to give me Benadryl again before the blood and I knew I would be fast asleep for a couple of hours and didn't want Blake to go to the nursery, plus I needed someone to stay in the room and watch for signs that I was rejecting the blood.  Mom makes it there before they start anything.  It took awhile for the orders to show up in the computer and since it wasn't an emergency necessarily they took more time getting the blood.  I fall asleep soon after the Benadryl is injected and mom takes over with Blake.  I had given her and my nurse Theresa the ok to give Blake an ounce of formula by cup if they needed to and so before I woke up mom held Blake while Theresa fed him.  Apparently my little heart breaker winked at the nurse 3 times while she was feeding him. 

I woke up before the first bag had even finished and now it was the nurse shift change which meant bag #2 wasn't going in until the nurses had switched, had time to make rounds and then get to the fun task of the nitty gritty.  Mark finally came up to the hospital with G so I could see G and he could switch spots with mom for the night.  Mom took G back home with her shortly after. I finally finished bag #2 around 11:30 pm so I had to wait 6 hours until they could do the blood test to see if it changed my levels.  Early Saturday morning they did the blood work.  At the nurse shift change I made sure to ask Theresa if my blood work had came back and sure enough I was .1 higher than when I was admitted to the hospital to have Blake, so 8.5 instead of 8.4.  Most likely the midwife was going to let me leave.  Jennifer, a midwife to be, was on duty that day.  She was the one that had done my membrane sweep in the office on Tuesday.  After a riveting discussion on birth control (clearly a discussion that needs to be had at some point, but not necessarily that day LOL), she finally gave me the ok to go home. 

Breaking Free!!!!

 

We have been home for a week now and both of us seem to be doing good.  It has taken me a week to write this. 

G asking me if Blake is biting. 
No baby he is just eating :)

 

 

G loves brother and wants to hug us both constantly.

 

Look at that head control at only 4 days old. 
All that weight lifting I did while I was pregnant. 
Blake is already practicing his pushups.

Having a 2 year old and a newborn is certainly a lot of work.  Blake already had his first appointment with his pediatrician, Dr. Nussbaum, who I love!  We don't agree on vaccination completely, but her love for kids is so apparent and she is respectful of our opinions as the child's parents so she works great for our family.  She said he looked perfect to her.  Got his first shot though.  With all my issues it made it even easier of a decision to postpone the Hepatitis B vaccine in the hospital.  I had to spend so much time away from him at the beginning as it was that I didn't want that shot to hinder our nursing relationship any more than was necessary and that is a known side effect of that vaccine.

He has had newborn pictures with KT Photography and was an angel the whole time.  We will be waiting ever so patiently for our pics to come in. 

Grandma and grandpa Barkema got to spend a whole week with him and just left this morning.  They took care of us for an entire month.  I have not had the opportunity to be so lazy in such a long time, but now I'm probably too good at it.  We'll miss them!

It is nealy impossible to get a 2 year old to cooperate
at any given moment and for G, it is hardest when a
camera is involved.

 

Ultimately the birth itself was better than I imagined.  Every birth goes so different even for the same mama.  I was pretty sure he would come fast but not that fast.  Just glad he is the picture of health and am enjoying watching G become a sweet big brother.  He is doing amazing at his new role: more love than jealousy.  I'd say that is a success. 

My little helper who wants to push the buttons for me.
"I DO IT!!!!" 
This could get interesting.

Barring any uh oh's Blake will be our last baby.  I had bleeding issues with G and had to have a D&C 8 weeks postpartum and then this drama immediately following Blake's birth have led me to believe that birthing babies is no longer safe for me and that is ok.  I am happy being the mom to two boys.