Our Isabelle Rae is now 1 week old and what a week it has been!
I have been wanting to write down Izzie's birth story for a few days now so I don't forget the details. Her birth I want to remember all of the details, the night of her birth is the part that I don't care to remember all of the details from, but I will get more into that later on in the story.
I chose to be induced at 39 weeks, because we knew the baby was really big, I was so swollen and miserable, and my family was flying in to help with the kids. I'm so glad I chose to be induced, because we got to the hospital and my blood pressure was high and my blood results showed I was borderline pre-eclamptic. So waiting another week or until Izzie decided to come on her own could have had complications. My Dr and nurses mentioned how it was a good thing she was born when she was and not later.
My parents flew in on Wed, July 6th and we were scheduled to be induced Thursday morning. We had to call into the hospital at 6:30 am and be at the hospital at 7:30. We got into the hospital and got into our room right away. I had already preregistered so we didn't have to do any paperwork which was nice. They started my IV right away and started fluids going. My Dr came in within the first 30 minutes and broke my water. Once my water broke, things started moving on their own. They gave me a tiny bit of pitocin, but my body was ready and knew what to do. I started out dilated to a 3 when I got there. After about an hour of being on Pit, they checked me and I was at a 6. I wasn't feeling too much pain, but all of a sudden it hit strong. I was waiting for my epidural, but there was an emergency with another patient, so it took a while for me to get my epidural. It was about an hour or intense contractions back to back and darkness. I was in so much pain I couldn't open my eyes. Jayden was great and was there through every contraction with me. Once I got my epidural I felt so much better and couldn't even feel my contractions anymore. I went from about an 6 to fully dilated in about 2 hours and then it was time to push! I didn't have to push at all with Lily, in fact the nurse delivered her, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this delivery. They got everything set up and my Dr got in position. I pushed for about 10 minutes and out came Izzie! It was so suspenseful waiting to find out if it was a boy or girl. The Dr. wanted Jayden to announce so as soon as she came out he yelled out, " It's baby Izzie!" It was such a great moment. The Dr. then put her on my chest and she looked so beautiful. I finally got to meet her after not knowing if she was a boy or girl for 9 months! I loved not finding out and it made it so special.
So delivery was great! Now for the not so great part of the story. I will try not to be too gruesome, but if you don't like blood, probably don't read this next part. About an hour after delivery, I was nursing and doing skin to skin with Izzie. All of a sudden I felt a huge gush of blood. I started to get reallllly light headed and I could smell blood really strongly, which is such a weird smell. I told Jayden to run and get the nurse that something wasn't right. Jayden had to do everything he could to have me stay awake and to not pass out. It was such a bad feeling. The nurses came in right away and there was blood dripping and pooling on the floor. I hate even writing about this part, because I hated that feeling and I don't like reliving it in my head. The nurses gave me some oxygen and I was able to stay awake. The bleeding stopped and they measured the blood to see home much I hemorrhaged. then the Dr came in and pulled out a ton of huge clots that were baseball sized. After she did that it seemed like the bleeding was under control. Everything calmed down for a little while. My parents, Drew, and Gavin and Lily were all waiting in the waiting room so we told them to come in and say hi. I was pretty emotional when I saw my family and the kids come in and couldn't help but break down. I had been looking forward for the moment of Gavin and Lily meeting Izzie, but I was so out of it that I don't remember it much. My Dr. came in again when my family was there and I started bleeding some more and she had to pull out some more clots. We had my family say goodbye and I tried to rest while we monitored my bleeding. My Doctor told me not to eat anything because I would maybe be going in for surgery. This is right after I had just eaten a whole sandwich. So I freaked out a little bit, because I know it can be dangerous to eat before surgery. A little while went by and I kept on bleeding so my Dr told me our best option would be to go in for emergency surgery. I broke down and started crying and freaking out. I was so scared. The Dr told us she was going to get her team ready and the OR ready and we would have just a few minutes to ourselves. Jayden was able to give me a Priesthood blessing and I was still scared, but immediately felt at peace and calm. At this point I was so exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally that I was looking forward for them to put my to sleep so I didn't have to think and stay awake. The nurse came in to give me a shot to help the bleeding. After about 5 minutes of the shot I had a really bad reaction. I couldn't breathe without feeling like I was going to hyperventilate and all of a sudden I felt so nauseous and I told Jayden to get my a barf bag. I then threw up my sandwich that I had just eaten and everything went blurry. I was trying to hard to not pass out again. I remember thinking how the last few hours had been hell and I just wanted to get to the OR and go to sleep. They told me to kiss Jayden and Izzie as they were wheeling me out of the room down to the OR. I was trying to stay awake and I remember it was all blurry but my Dr was running in front opening the doors and they were pushing me really fast. The OR staff was ready and opened the door. They transferred me to the operating bed and gave me oxygen and told me to think about Jayden and Izzie. That's when they put me to sleep. The next thing I remember is them saying my name in the recovery room and I started to wake up. It took me a while to wake up all the way and my vision to clear. They said that the surgery went well and I was doing well. I was so relived to wake up and to have it over with. My Dr ended up doing a D&C and when she went in there was part of my placenta that hadn't detached and that was causing the bleeding. My uterus also wasn't contracting and shrinking properly so she put in a uterine balloon. I had a blood drainage tube that measured my blood output and I also had a catheter in for the night. Once I got back to my room, Jayden was there with my Dad and I was so grateful to see them and to know everything went well. It was so good to see and hold Izzie again. I was pretty out of it that night, but we got through the night and I was able to get some sleep. In the morning my Dr was able to take out the balloon, tubing, and my catheter. My bleeding had stop and the surgery had worked! if the surgery hadn't have worked, I was going to have to have a hysterectomy. I'm so grateful that it all worked out ok. I was really weak the next day and really sore. They had to push down on my uterus to get the clots out the day before so I was really sore. The next day was just spent relaxing and recovering the best I could. My family came back with Gavin and Lily and I was able to enjoy the moment a lot more that day. 2 days after Izzie was born I was able to be discharged and go home. My blood levels dropped pretty low and they gave me the option of having a blood transfusion but also said that since I am young I would rebuild my blood pretty quickly. I ended up losing over half of my blood, but I decided not to get one unless it was necessary. So my Dr sent me home telling me I had to take it really easy and not to do much so I can heal properly. It felt really good to come home. The first two days I was so tired and noise and light hurt my head, but I am feeling a lot better now. 3 days after we came home, our AC went out and we had to stay at a hotel for 2 night, but thats a story for another time!
Anyway, I'm impressed if anyone has made it this far in the story, haha, because it's a long one! I am SO SO SO grateful that Izzie is perfectly healthy and our perfect rainbow baby. She has brought so much joy and light to our home the last week when everything else wasn't going well. We are all smitten with her and love her so much!
Izzie weighed 9 lbs 3 oz, 19.5 inches long, and was born at 2:02 pm.
I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father was watching over us that day. It was an incredibly scary, but also peaceful and spiritual experience for both Jayden and myself. I am so grateful for my Dr and for excellent medical care.
The first family photo of the 5 of us
