Cambria's Birth Story
Monday, December 2nd
I
was getting a little nervous and paranoid that fetal movement had
decreased but I kept telling myself that I was crazy. However, I
couldn't get it off of my mind. The next morning when I woke up I
noticed she wasn't moving like she usually did each morning. I finally
mentioned it to Nate, and he recommended I call the doctor on call to
see what I should do. I called and he told me I should go in to labor
and delivery and have a non-stress test done. He also said I could wait
for my doctors office to open and go there. Since he didn't make it
sound super urgent, I held off and waited to see if I could feel baby
move more. After talking to my sisters-in-law, I decided to go a
couple of hours later. Of course baby girl started moving like crazy
when I was in the waiting area at the hospital. I always feel dumb when I
think something is medically wrong and it's all of a sudden better when
I decide to go get checked out. But when it comes to my children, I'd
rather be safe than sorry so I am glad I ended up going. They took me
back and hooked the monitors up to my belly. The nurse ended up
telling me that my baby was doing awesome so I was a happy momma. Then
my nurse asked if I was feeling "those contractions?" I had no idea I
was having contractions so I got pretty excited. After they were all
finished they discharged me and I called Nate on my way home. I told him
all was well and that I was having contractions, too! He first thought I
was telling him the baby is coming haha. I told him what the nurse told
me, it could be days before anything happens. So I headed home to my
boy and went about my week. Literally, a week...
Monday, December 9th
My
due date arrived! My mom was in town and Landon her and I went to do a
little bit of shopping, then came home to make almond roca. Making
almond roca is something we have done for years and I'm excited to make
it with my kiddos when they get a bit older. I was so happy making it
(my first actual time) with my mom in town, learning the technique so I
can keep the tradition going. Later that night, my mom was in bed and
Nate was waiting for Jared to come over to play a game. As I was sitting
in the living room, I felt a little bit of fluid, but nothing major. I
told Nate and we both looked at each other like we didn't know what to
think. Was it my water breaking? There wasn't enough for me to really
think that's what it was. I wasn't getting a strong feeling that I
needed to worry about it so I went to bed.
Tuesday, December 10th
That
morning I woke up (7:00am) and as I got out of bed, standing up I felt
more fluid...this time there was a little more. Enough to (sorry for the
imagery) run down my leg and on to the floor. I woke up Nate and
told him. He told me to call the doctor on call and explain my
situation. Days before, I had been researching what other symptoms
come before you go into labor and nothing from that list had happened,
besides this little bit of fluid. So I still wasn't convinced. Per
the doctors orders, I went in again to get checked. This time I was asked
to change into a gown since it was more than just monitoring the baby.
It was a little awkward because I went in to the bathroom to change and
when I came out there were two other couples waiting to change. I'm
pretty sure somebody got flashed from my backside because I wasn't
expecting anyone to be waiting. Ha! Anyways, the nurse went over several
questions and then started the tests. Yes, tests, plural. Three to be
exact. I never knew it would be so difficult to determine if my water
had broke, so then I didn't feel so stupid that I didn't know.
(8:50am) The first test was a strip that was supposed to turn a certain
color, it came back undetermined. (9:05am) The second test was I guess
just an exam, came back negative. At this point the nurse told me I was a
2+ and 60-70% effaced. I was also able to feel my contractions mildly
now, as I watched the screen to confirm that's what I was feeling. The
nurse then called my doctor (9:10am) to see if she wanted her to do the
third test. She did, so it was a swab test that had to be sent down to
the lab (9:45am). (10:15am) The nurse came back in and told me "the
third test came back positive, you're going to have a baby today!" So I
texted Nate that we were going to have a baby today. I called him to
tell him what to bring to the hospital and we were rollin!
Side
note: the reason it was so hard to determine if my water actually broke
was because it broke at the top. The nurse explained it like this:
imagine if you took a filled water balloon and punctured it at the top.
It's doesn't typically burst open like it would if it were punctured at
the bottom, where gravity is trying to pull all the water downwards.
Hence, the slow trickle of fluid I experienced.
(10:50am)
Nate couldn't leave the house right away because we had our shutter guy installing the last couple of shutters, of course. While Nate waited for him to finish, and got my stuff gathered and Landon taken
over to his sisters house, they got me settled into a room and got my IV
in. That was the worst part for me last time so I got pretty nervous
when my nurse brought the stuff in. I told her how much I hate the IV
and she said nurses hate doing it, too. She said she wished she didn't
have to do it. But she was super sweet
and spent a quite a bit of time checking for a good vein in my arm to
try and avoid having to put it in my hand. She tried my arm but
unfortunately she couldn't get it to go into my vein so she tried the
inside of my wrist, just along the side where my thumb connects. She got it and even with two sticks, I didn't feel
like this IV was as bad as last time. That was a good start.
(12:10pm)
My nurse had to start me on pitocin. Since she was giving me pitocin I
asked her if that meant she was inducing me, she said no it was just to make my contractions stronger and more regular. I also asked her if it was too late to eat anything. Unfortunately I hadn't eated since dinnertime the night before. She said it was too late, and for the future, ALWAYS eat something anytime before you go to the hospital. Ha, good advice :) (12:30pm)
Nate then headed to the hospital. When he walked in the room my heart just
melted as I noticed the 8ish gallon size bag full of my favorite ice he
stopped and bought from a restaurant by our house. It's the little
things, or big things I should say, that he does that make me feel like
the luckiest girl in the world to be married to him. He is so
thoughtful, generous and selfless.
At this time I reminded Nate that I was mentally preparing myself for it to possibly be a boy, because I didn't think the ultrasound tech spent as much time in that area during my ultrasound at 20 weeks. So, next to where the nurse wrote " it's a girl" on the white board, Nate wrote "maybe."
At this time I reminded Nate that I was mentally preparing myself for it to possibly be a boy, because I didn't think the ultrasound tech spent as much time in that area during my ultrasound at 20 weeks. So, next to where the nurse wrote " it's a girl" on the white board, Nate wrote "maybe."
(12:40pm) The nurse came in and checked me and I was at a 4, and a bit later (1:15pm) my contractions had become pretty strong. I asked for my epidural, which was the next thing
after the IV I was dreading. Last time, the doctor could not get the
epidural in and was literally forcing it in like you would a nail with a
hammer. I was bawling. This time, everything went smoothly (1:45pm) and I
didn't shed a tear, I was so grateful.
Things
continued to progress. I was at a 5+ (2:30pm) then a 6 (3:30pm) which was
when the nurse had me lay on my side with one leg resting up on a
stirrup. She said this position usually speeds things up. This was also
about the time I began to get pretty itchy from my epidural. I wasn't
itchy last time but I did get nauseous last time. No nausea this time. The nurse
checked me again (4:30pm) and I was between a 7-8. She came in again (5:15pm) and checked, I was a 10! She had me try and push one time before the
doctor came in and said "I can see the baby, it's time for the
doctor." I couldn't believe that happened so quickly. Last time I pushed
with the nurse for at least an hour I think before the doctor ever came in.
The doctor arrived and the pushing began. I kind of forgot how to do it so when they told me to push and started the counting, I started laughing and pushing and asking how haha. The whole experience was so different from last time. This time there was lots of laughing and joking around, I felt so comfortable like I was just hanging out with my friends. I only pushed through about 3 contractions before she was out, I was so confused. I kept asking, is that really it? She's already here?? This time I kind of decided halfway through that I wanted a mirror but things happened so fast there was no time. I'm kind of glad that was the case because I really don't like seeing that kind of stuff, I think I was just in disbelief that she was already coming out that soon.
Our beautiful baby girl was born at 5:39pm. They placed her on me and I was so happy. I felt so blessed to have my family of four. Mommy, daddy, brother and sister. But then more confusion set in when I saw her head of brown hair haha. I wasn't expecting brown at all. After Landon being born with a full head of blonde hair and me having blond hair I thought for sure she'd have blonde, too. She also had more olive skin rather than fair. If I hadn't pushed her out myself I would have questioned if she was actually mine. But of course she was!
She is beautiful and I am so excited so be her mother. She is the daughter I always hoped for, the sister to my favorite baby boy Lanny. I love every 21 inches of her, from head to toe. 9 pounds and 2 ounces, which again, another surprise. I thought she would be smaller than Landon was at 8lbs 9oz, but she had to surpass apparently.
I got to nurse her soon after she was born, and I think it went fine. After, they transferred us to the postpartum ward where we were able to have visitors. We had my mother-in-law bring Jimmy Johns because I had missed sandwiches so much during pregnancy (I read somewhere that lunchmeat can be harmful.) It was the best turkey sandwich I had ever eaten! Probably because it had been a full 24 hours since I had eaten a thing. It was so good, I had them bring another one the next day :)
That night we decided on Cambria Jade, two names I have always loved! And she sure does get lots of compliments on it :)
Wednesday, December 11th
Speaking of the next day, sometime in the afternoon we could hear some type of announcement going on on the speakers outside our room. Nate opened the door to try and make out what they were saying and this is what we heard: "Code: Active Shooter. Please stay in your rooms." The nurses at the nurse station then told Nate to close our door and stay in our room, that we are on lock down. Um...scary!? Yeah, that's exactly the situation I want when I've got my brand new baby.
About an hour later our nurse came in and briefed us on the situation. She told us that there was a lady on the first floor that had threatened her doctor to kill him, and herself. It turned out that she didn't even have a gun. Thank goodness. But really, there wasn't even a second that I was panicked. I felt peace, and knew we were going to be fine when we heard the announcement.
That night we were really hoping to get discharged, since our insurance sucks so bad we didn't want to pay for another day. But, unfortunately with Cambria's weight, the pediatrician made us stay another night so they could monitor her blood sugar in case it spiked. It never did, but that wanted to make sure of it.
The doctor arrived and the pushing began. I kind of forgot how to do it so when they told me to push and started the counting, I started laughing and pushing and asking how haha. The whole experience was so different from last time. This time there was lots of laughing and joking around, I felt so comfortable like I was just hanging out with my friends. I only pushed through about 3 contractions before she was out, I was so confused. I kept asking, is that really it? She's already here?? This time I kind of decided halfway through that I wanted a mirror but things happened so fast there was no time. I'm kind of glad that was the case because I really don't like seeing that kind of stuff, I think I was just in disbelief that she was already coming out that soon.
Our beautiful baby girl was born at 5:39pm. They placed her on me and I was so happy. I felt so blessed to have my family of four. Mommy, daddy, brother and sister. But then more confusion set in when I saw her head of brown hair haha. I wasn't expecting brown at all. After Landon being born with a full head of blonde hair and me having blond hair I thought for sure she'd have blonde, too. She also had more olive skin rather than fair. If I hadn't pushed her out myself I would have questioned if she was actually mine. But of course she was!
She is beautiful and I am so excited so be her mother. She is the daughter I always hoped for, the sister to my favorite baby boy Lanny. I love every 21 inches of her, from head to toe. 9 pounds and 2 ounces, which again, another surprise. I thought she would be smaller than Landon was at 8lbs 9oz, but she had to surpass apparently.
I got to nurse her soon after she was born, and I think it went fine. After, they transferred us to the postpartum ward where we were able to have visitors. We had my mother-in-law bring Jimmy Johns because I had missed sandwiches so much during pregnancy (I read somewhere that lunchmeat can be harmful.) It was the best turkey sandwich I had ever eaten! Probably because it had been a full 24 hours since I had eaten a thing. It was so good, I had them bring another one the next day :)
That night we decided on Cambria Jade, two names I have always loved! And she sure does get lots of compliments on it :)
Speaking of the next day, sometime in the afternoon we could hear some type of announcement going on on the speakers outside our room. Nate opened the door to try and make out what they were saying and this is what we heard: "Code: Active Shooter. Please stay in your rooms." The nurses at the nurse station then told Nate to close our door and stay in our room, that we are on lock down. Um...scary!? Yeah, that's exactly the situation I want when I've got my brand new baby.
About an hour later our nurse came in and briefed us on the situation. She told us that there was a lady on the first floor that had threatened her doctor to kill him, and herself. It turned out that she didn't even have a gun. Thank goodness. But really, there wasn't even a second that I was panicked. I felt peace, and knew we were going to be fine when we heard the announcement.
That night we were really hoping to get discharged, since our insurance sucks so bad we didn't want to pay for another day. But, unfortunately with Cambria's weight, the pediatrician made us stay another night so they could monitor her blood sugar in case it spiked. It never did, but that wanted to make sure of it.
Thursday, December 12th
We got to go home! I was so excited to see my baby boy, I missed him tons! We didn't have him come to the hospital at all because he had a bit of a cold. So this was Landon's first time meeting his sister :) It was wonderful. He was so interested in her and wanted to just be by her and look at her. He has been such a great big brother, he loves his sister so much. It fills my heart!
I am soooo grateful to have my healthy little family. We feel blessed beyond belief. I couldn't ask for anything more, I love my family with all of my heart. Cambria is such a wonderful addition to our family and she just brightens our day. Landon can't get enough of her, he is constantly going up to her and kissing her, hugging her, and bringing her things voluntarily. It's the sweetest thing ever :)
I am also so grateful for my amazing husband, Nate. He is so good to me and knows exactly what I need during this whole process. He is the best daddy I could ask for, for my kiddos. I am so excited to see us all grow as a family!
I am also so grateful for my amazing husband, Nate. He is so good to me and knows exactly what I need during this whole process. He is the best daddy I could ask for, for my kiddos. I am so excited to see us all grow as a family!
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