The Sherlock Home: Kinley's Birth

Last time at our house as a couple

Ready or not . . .
We saw Dr. Turner for our last office visit on Monday, April 9. She gave us all the instructions we needed for checking into the hospital Tuesday night. I was a mix of nervousness, excitement, and disbelief that the day was already here! My mom and Bob left their house around lunch time to head down here, and I finished up all the little last minute things I wanted to get done before it was time. I had spent the previous few days getting the house clean, and all the laundry done. I guess that's one good thing about a scheduled induction . . . you know how much time you have to get things done.

After my mom and Bob arrived, we just sat around visiting for a little while, as I tried to get my nervous stomach to subside. I was nervous about how things would go, and how I would handle the pain, and when we would get to see our baby girl. We decided to go have pizza (one of Kinley's favorite in-utero meals) before we headed to check in. Dr. Turner said I couldn't eat after midnight, but I could have whatever I wanted before we got to the hospital, so I wanted to take advantage. I had no idea how long it would be before I could eat again! After dinner, we all headed to the hospital to get checked in.

At the hospital . . . it kinda looks like we're moving in!

We were scheduled to check in at 8:00 p.m. and we arrived about 15 minutes early, so they told us to have a seat in one of the waiting rooms. Then we sat and waited for about 45 minutes! My anxiety was pretty high at that point. I just wanted to get things started. Finally, my nurse for the night, Joni, came to get me, and got the ball rolling. I got changed into the gown and settled in bed. She started getting all my vitals, and hooked me up to the fetal monitor. She explained the process I would be going through during the night, which was the same as what Dr. Turner explained to us. Joni checked my cervix, which was still closed, and inserted the first Cytotek pill. We hoped it would start things on the right track. Shortly after that, my mom and Bob left and we got settled in for the night.

It didn't take too long for the Cytotek to start causing contractions. Around 1:40, I started noticing contractions right in the middle of my belly. They looked stronger on the monitor than they felt to me. They weren't really painful, just a little uncomfortable, and enough to keep me from really being able to sleep. They had given me an ambien around 10:00, which I thought would knock me out for sure. It did make me sleepy, but once the contractions started, I had a hard time getting comfortable. The biggest problem was the necessity of the fetal monitor. They had to keep tabs on the baby, to make sure she was tolerating things well. I was most comfortable laying on my side, but Joni was having a hard time keeping tabs on the baby's heartrate with me in that position. Laying on my back was the best position for the fetal monitor, but the contractions felt much worse, and Kinley was pushing pretty hard on my bladder in that position. So, in addition to being uncomfortable, I had to get up and go to the bathroom pretty often. This entailed: unplugging the fetal heartrate and contraction monitor, unplugging the blood pressure cuff, unplugging the IV from the wall and wheeling it with me . . . going to the bathroom, and then getting it all plugged back in again, and getting the monitors positioned again. Super annoying! And this was happening about every 45 minutes.

Joni came back in about 3:00 to put in the 2nd Cytotek pill. I was still having a hard time getting comfortable, and wasn't really dialated, even though I had been contracting for a few hours. Around 4:00, Joni finally told me that she could give me some pain meds in my IV, without me having to get an epidural yet. If only I had known that a lot sooner!! She gave me something in my IV that hit me immediately! I had quite a conversation with John after that!! He was a pretty good sport, and although he was laughing at me, he just played right along. Finally, I was able to sleep, though. That medicine knocked me out enough, that even though I wasn't in the most comfortable position, I was able to get some sleep. Around 7:15 that morning, they came in to start the pitocin.

Throughout the night, my blood pressure was creeping up a little bit more every time they checked. Joni thought it was a combination of my discomfort and inability to sleep, but they were starting to get a little concerned about it. Once it got to morning time, they tried to contact my doctor and couldn't get a hold of her, but they talked to the other doctor in the practice, and she told them to start me on magnesium for my blood pressure.

Around 8:30, Dr. Turner came in to check on me. Her plan was to break my water at that point, to get things moving further along. Unfortunately, my cervix wasn't hip to that plan, and she wasn't able to do that. I was still barely dialated at all, but we were hoping the pitocin was going to do the job. Throughout most of the morning, I felt really "foggy". I was just kind of out of it, and my head felt real sluggish. Everything started to kind of blend together. I thought it was the after effects of the pain medication, but what I learned later is it was probably the magnesium. I just felt like I was in this fog that I couldn't shake. About mid-morning, I asked Rae (my new nurse for the day) for another dose of the pain medication so I could sleep. I really didn't feel like I needed the epidural, because I wasn't in a lot of pain, but I was still just having the same discomfort. Rae was a little more patient about the monitor, though. She let me get comfortable on my side, and then worked really hard to pick up the baby's heartbeat so I could stay there. She kept telling me she wanted me to be as comfortable as possible. She asked several times if I wanted the epidural, and seemed surprised every time when I said "no." I just figured it was going to get so much worse, and I didn't want to jump the gun. The monitor showed I was having some pretty strong contractions, but it still didn't feel all that bad to me. Around 10:30 in the morning, they told me Dr. Turner would be back to check on me sometime around lunch (between noon and 2:00). I just tried to sleep as much as I could.

Dr. Turner came by again around 2:30. I was only dialated a centimeter, which is not the news she or we were hoping for. She had 2 surgeries that afternoon, and said she would call back to check around 4:30 or 5:00. If I wasn't dialated to 2 or more, she wanted to take me for a c-section at 5:30. I started to get a little upset about that, because I really didn't want to have a c-section. I knew that my body should be able to handle delivery, it was just a matter of being able to move things along quickly enough.

By 5:45, I was still only dialated a little more than a centimeter. They could barely feel the baby's head, so didn't feel it was safe enough to break my water. Dr. Turner was ready to take me for a c-section, but I really didn't want to give up yet. John and I pushed the issue a little. She told us that she just didn't think my body was ready, since we were trying to do this a few weeks early, and she didn't think I was going to make enough progress. I was already receiving the maximum dose of pitocin they could give. My blood pressure had been holding steady enough that she agreed we could stop the magnesium (which is used to stop pre-term labor) and see if that would help at all. We asked for a couple more hours, to see if we could make more progress. I wanted Dr. Turner to be able to deliver the baby, and I was starting to wonder if I could make it through another possible 12 hours or more of labor. Rae also came to put a catheter in, which I was hoping to avoid, but at least I didn't have to keep getting up and down to go to the bathroom.

Around 7:00, my contractions were getting pretty uncomfortable. I was having a hard time getting comfortable in the bed again, with that darn fetal monitor, and just kept shifting around more and more. About 7:30, I was trying to sit up more in the bed, and all of the sudden felt this huge gush of warm fluid. My water had broken on it's own. We called the nurse in - Rae was still there, but getting ready to leave, and Jennie, my new nurse, came rushing in with her. They confirmed that it was my water that broke, and the fluid was all clear. We were really hopeful that it was a sign that things were moving along. Rae really wanted to know if I was more dialated, but Jennie wanted to wait until the last possible second to check to give me a chance. We had until 7:45 to call Dr. Turner. At 7:45, Jennie checked me, and I still wasn't any more dialated. We knew what that meant, but I cried about it anyway. I was so disappointed that I couldn't do what my body was designed to do. I felt like such a failure at that point. My contractions were getting a lot stronger, and just right on top of each other, so I really wanted to ask for more time, but I knew that all day long I had only gotten to 1 centimeter, so it wasn't likely to go much beyond that. My body just wasn't ready yet.

John all suited up for my surgery

Wheeling me out of my room down to the operating room

So, John started getting suited up for the surgery, and everyone quickly began working to get me moved to the operating room. You can tell the staff is very trained at what they do, because it all was like clockwork and they had me moved very quickly. As my doctor was prepping for the surgery, I was in the operating room, getting the spinal block. From what I have heard, it was good that I didn't have an epidural, because the spinal block is so much better for the c-section, and if I had already had an epidural, I wouldn't have had the choice to switch. I was nervous about the big needle, but didn't have a choice at this point in the game. Jennie, my nurse, was really good at getting me to relax and get in just the right position. I was already all numbed up and down on the bed with the drape hung when they brought John in. He had a seat right next to my head. My doctor was telling me that I was going to feel some tugging, but I didn't feel anything at all. It didn't seem like any time at all, and we heard this little gurgling cry. Our baby girl was out!

The first glimpse of our Kinley

They quickly got her over to the warming table, and starting working to get her cleaned up. John took video the whole time. I just kept asking if she was ok. I could hear her kind of gurgling, as they were working to get her lungs cleared out. I knew that the biggest concern with delivering her so early was that her lungs might not be developed enough. I finally got a "she's perfect" response! She was a lot smaller than we expected (from the measurements at my last ultrasound). We were expecting an 8 pound baby, easily, but she was only 6 pounds, 10 ounces. A tiny little thing! The nurses got her wrapped up and John brought her over to me. I will never, ever forget seeing her for the first time. It was the most amazing moment of my life!

Our 1st Family Picture

Instant love for my baby girl!

We were able to get a quick family picture, and then John was able to walk back to our room with Kinley, to greet all of our family that was waiting! I was stuck on the table while Dr. Turner got me all closed up. Unfortunately during this time, I got sick (I had also thrown up twice during labor in the afternoon). The anesthesiologist was by my head the whole time and gave me this suction tube kind of like what the dentist uses to suction saliva. It was pretty awkward, but at least I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours, so there wasn't anything in my stomach but water.

They got me back to the room by 9:00, which was only 25 minutes after Kinley was born. My mom and Bob were there, along with John's parents and Todd and Kassie. They all got to hold her and "ooohhhh and aaahhhh" over her. The nurses took over and worked on her. They were going to bathe her and then let me try and feed her, but her temperature was a little low, so they let me feed her first. She latched on pretty quickly, and fed on both sides. There was a lactation consultant right down in our wing at that time, so she came in and helped me with the feeding. Then, Kinley got her first bath. She cried most of the time, but we expected that. I hated that I couldn't really move, but they quickly got her in my arms!

We are more than thrilled to have our baby girl here with us! Kinley Grace was born on April 11, 2012 at 8:34 p.m. She weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces and was 18.5 inches long. We feel so blessed that God picked us to be her parents!