Alanya and Andy Wyne: January 2015

I think it's high time I post that we actually had our baby! I've been busy... lazy... not very motivated... oh wait, I had a baby... that's the right excuse. Okay, now onto the details.

July 9th

I went in for my 36 week appointment. Dr. Hodges was supposed to take out my cerclage but was only able to clip it. He kinda laughed and said, "Well, I'll see you either tonight or tomorrow." He obviously didn't think I was going to make it much longer before I went into labor. It was Andy's birthday and we went out to dinner but stayed close by just in case. I was having contractions the whole time and almost had Andy drive me back to the hospital. He had one more day before he was done with the semester so I waited things out and figured they would probably send me home anyway. I did end up going to the hospital the next day after he got home from school and as I suspected they sent me home. Contractions but still only dilated to one cm.

July 16th

I went in for my 37 week appointment hoping, praying, pleading that this was my last appointment. I had been so uncomfortable that I could hardly stand it. I was SO swollen that I refused to take pictures of me at all. SO SWOLLEN! I can't even emphasize that enough. My whole body just ached that I couldn't even sleep at night. When the nurse, Ericka, tested my urine she found protein. I was hoping that was enough of a sign for preeclampsia that they would send me to the hospital. No go. Then when Dr. Hodges came in he said I was measuring about 41 weeks. We kind of bantered back and forth and he would laugh and say, "I'm sorry." I got mad and said, "No you're not! You're not sorry if you say that with a smile on your face!" He would laugh again and then look at Andy (who was also laughing) and say, "Sorry, you're going to pay for this later aren't you?" Then my not so shining moment came when I said, "Stop it! I will find something in here to make a shiv and I will cut you." Thank goodness my doctor knows me well enough to know I was kidding. I was still super mad, but kidding about wanting to cut him. I asked Dr. Hodges if the baby was still breach. (Side note... I was bribing my friend to break my water. She refused because she said I was too dang swollen to have a prolapsed cord be on her conscience.) Anyway, Dr. Hodges said he was unsure because there was too much fluid. At that point he wanted me to have an ultrasound to see how much fluid there actually was. My luck was that all the techs had gone home for the evening so I had to get it done in the morning. They scheduled me to go in first thing and then see Dr. Hodges afterward. When I asked if I could just go to the hospital and have it done he told me no since I would have to wait for a long time and even if there was too much fluid they would need to wait till 38 weeks. Needless to say I was not happy and then I asked for sleeping pills so I could get a few hours of shut eye that night.

July 17th

I went to Meridian for my ultrasound and the tech asked, "Do you have gestational diabetes?" I said, "No. I passed that test." She then replied, "Your baby is measuring 9 lbs. 10 oz. and you have a ton of fluid." I seriously wanted to cry at that point. I kept thinking, "I can't have a 10 pound baby!" While I was waiting to see Dr. Hodges I texted Andy and he was in just as much shock as me. I was finally able to see Dr. Hodges and he said, "You have so much fluid that if your water breaks you will have a prolapsed cord. So I'm sending you over to have an amniocentesis done to see if the baby's lungs are mature enough to deliver." I was kind of surprised and said, "You mean... like today?" He laughed and said, "Yes, today." I replied with a grin on my face, "Can I hug you now? I'm sorry I threatened to cut you." He laughed and said, "I deserved it. I'm sorry I was such an ass to you yesterday." I was told to call Internal Fetal Medicine and then they would set up a time for me to come in that day. I waited quite awhile and no one would call me back. So I called for a second time. Still no response. Finally when I called a third time the lady told me there must have been a miscommunication. They were waiting for the order to come through and said that sometimes it can take up to 24 hours to get results so don't plan on anything till the next day. I was close to tears at that moment and so frustrated. I went to pick up Katie from swim lessons and then stopped at Sarah's house to vent. While I was there Ericka called me and said, "Bryan is not only going to get cut but he doesn't get to speak now. He was supposed to tell you to go to triage not Internal Fetal Medicine. They have been waiting for you. So go to the hospital and they will do the amniocentesis there." My day started to look up again as we drove to the hospital. When I came in the nurses said, "Oh, you are the one we were looking for a few hours ago." They checked me in and told me that they were still waiting to hear from Dr. Hodges. He was in the middle of surgery and was going to come see me when he was done. At about 5:00 pm Dr. Hodges finally came to see me. He said, "So, we're not going to do the amniocentesis. I was consulting with Dr. Lee and he and I both agreed that if we did we would get a negative result no matter what. You have so much fluid that it would dilute the results. So we are going to go ahead and just do the surgery...I'm going to be the one holding the shiv this time." Again I said, "Today?" He laughed and said, "Yes. Tonight. Right now. But you also need to be prepared that she may spend time in the NICU if her lungs aren't mature enough." I was prepared but not worried. I had already received the steroid shot a few weeks before and I wasn't too concerned. The nurses, anesthesiologist, and lab techs all came in at once and prepared me for surgery. The nurse said, "Okay. Our goal is to get you in the OR by 5:30." I was all for that and my expression showed it!

The Birth!

I absolutely hate needles. And even this past year with how many times I've been poked I still hate it. I am better with them than before, but the epidural still freaks me out. As they took me into the OR and the anesthesiologist was preparing me for the spinal block I said, "Wait! I need someone to hold me tight." The nurse closest to me put her arms around me and I kept telling her to hug me tighter... tighter... tighter. Andy was finally able to come in and they were already on their way to delivering our little baby. Dr. Hodges was talking to me the whole time and when he cut me open he and the other doctor leaned over the blue sheet and said in unison, "No more babies!" Dr. Hodges told me (later) that he felt like something wasn't quite right so he slowed down. When they saw my uterus it was so thin they could see right through it! He could see our baby hanging out in amniotic fluid! Dr. Hodges just did a double swipe with his fingers and my uterus opened! Scar tissue was the only thing holding everything together. And there was so much scar tissue that Dr. Hodges didn't even want to touch it. He said it was rock hard! Then they broke my water and there was an overwhelming sound of, "WHOA!" in the OR. They filled 3 canisters of amniotic fluid. The anesthesiologist was doing the math and told me, "Oh my goodness! That's 10 pounds of fluid right there! That is the most I've ever seen! You just lost 20 pounds!" It had splashed onto Dr. Hodges' mask and it was so disgusting to see every time he leaned over to talk to me. I then said, "Now do you see why I was so uncomfortable?!" (As soon as they were done Dr. Hodges made a comment about my stomach being flat.)

IT'S A GIRL!

Yep, the many... many ultrasounds were all correct. It's a girl! Thank goodness the weight was wrong, though. She was born at 6:17 pm weighing in at 8 lbs 3.4 oz and 20.5 inches long. I looked over at her and said, "Oh my gosh! That is a big baby!" She looked huge to me and she was by far my biggest baby even 3 weeks early. She was healthy and her lungs were working great! She didn't spend any time in the NICU and we are so grateful. (Skip through these pictures if you have a weak stomach. There's blood and a lot of other gross stuff.)

Yep! It's a girl!

Daddy cutting the cord

This was the first time I did the skin-on-skin right after birth. I have to admit it was a little awkward. That may have been because I was laying on an operating table and my arms were strapped down.

The anesthesiologist kept asking if I was okay and I said, "Yeah, it's just so surreal." We waited so long to get her here I could hardly believe it was finally happening.

This picture was taken while we were in recovery.

While in recovery Dr. Hodges' old nurse, Jodi, came in to see us. She was our nurse when I had Katie and then she moved to labor and delivery. And then when I was in the hospital (antepartum) she was taking care of me. She was so excited she was able to see us before she went home. Her shift was over, but she was finishing up with a lady who was delivering and then ran over to see if we were done with surgery. It was awesome!

I wasn't recovering quite as quickly as they liked so they kept me in recovery for awhile. Finally about 10:00 they took me up to my room where our girls, my mom and Dale, Ashana, and Tanis were all waiting. They stayed for just a little while and then took the kiddos home to get some rest. We learned that night that I am more allergic to Morphine than we originally thought. I was itching so bad all night long that I couldn't sleep at all. None for me next time!

Our little girl was having a hard time keeping her sugar levels up and the poor thing was poked so many times on her heels we thought she would have permanent scars. At first she was doing great with nursing and then the dang nurse decided it would be best to give her formula through a syringe to help her sugar levels. Of course my milk hadn't come in yet and after that she really struggled with the nursing thing. It was so frustrating and it took so much longer than I hoped for her to get a hang of it. Then I lost some of my milk supply when it finally came in because she wouldn't nurse. Ugh!

Her sugar levels stabilized but till then she couldn't have a bath. This is what she looked like for the first 2 days of her life. Lots of crazy dark hair!

Dr. Hodges came in to see us and he looked so happy we couldn't help but document! I asked him if he used staples or stitches and he said, "Friends don't staple friends."

This was taken just after they brought her into me when she was given her first bath. Oh how I love the smell of a freshly bathed baby!

Remember the swollen comment? I had to wear compression boots to help prevent blood clots and this is what it did to my ridiculously swollen legs! And that was a good day.

Along with unstable sugar levels our baby had a bit of jaundice. The pediatrician kept telling me this was all normal with her being early but they would keep an eye on things. So while she was in the hospital she was in the bilirubin blanket and then we went home with one. She was in that for a week at home and we went back nearly everyday to check her levels and her poor heels didn't have a place to poke after awhile.

"I wish I was a glow worm. A glow worm is never glum. 'Cause how can you be grumpy when the sun shines out your bum!" (This picture is a little out of order, but it was so cute I couldn't resist.)

On a positive note... I recovered so much quicker with this c-section than my previous three. The first time I got out of bed I was able to stand up nearly straight. I was shocked and so happy. The nurses kept laughing at me and telling me I was so cute. They didn't understand how long it took me before to do that. By Sunday I was walking down to the nursery and back without holding onto anything. It was amazing!

While in the hospital we had a few visitors. The ones I can remember: (the previously mentioned) Sarah, Brandon, and BryLeigh Kruse, Becky Klotthor, Mindy Bullock and girls, Carleen Tanner, Amy Knight, Brigetta, my mom came another time... and I'm sure there were more but I was on some pretty heavy narcotics so forgive me if I don't remember.

Sunday Andy drove to American Falls and dropped off our older girls at his sister, Sarah's, house so they could attend the family reunion that started the next morning. Then he drove back to the hospital and we were released. Just before we left we filled out all the paperwork for her birth certificate and officially gave her a name. We were debating between Maggie and Riley. And the winner is....

Maggie Malynn Wyne in her going home outfit!