Audrey's Birth Story: Part 3

Portions of this final part will be told by Lacey, and other portions by me.

We all experienced a slightly different story over the next few hours and I want to make sure that it's depicted correctly.

Lacey:

They rolled me down to the OR where everyone was waiting.

It was incredibly bright and cold.

While they prepped my belly for surgery the staff introduced themselves and explained what they were there to do.

It got really quiet after everyone was introduced...

"Hi! My name is Lacey! I'm here to have a baby!"

Everyone laughed.

I was exhausted and hilarious.

Once I was all set up on the table they started to do the poke test to make sure my epidural was working correctly.

I could feel my belly about half way up which was too low to continue, so they continued to up my dosage with no change in feeling.

Eventually they decided that my epidural wouldn't be effective enough so they would switch me to a spinal.

As I hugged my new best doctor friend while they placed my spinal my legs disappeared!

The spinal had left me with zero feelings in either leg which was normal compared to the epidural which leaves you with no pain, but really heavy legs.

Once laid down again I informed my OBGYN that someone had chopped my legs off, and he joked that he could not confirm or deny that as my legs were currently hidden.

They brought Brandon in shortly after and he asked if I'd been making friends.

Apparently he'd been told of my awesome jokes.

They got started on the c section.

After a few minutes I started to feel a light burning sensation and brought it up to my anesthesiologist.

He offered me something to relax a bit more but made sure to tell me if the burning increased at all.

And it did.

They delivered Audrey and took her immediately to the baby station where I couldn't see her.

I hadn't heard any cry.

Then things went dark.

Brandon:

(as told to Velvet after! Please correct me if I'm wrong in any of this Brandon!!!)

They delivered Audrey and the first thing Brandon said was that she was black from head to toe and covered in meconium.

She wasn't breathing.

They vaccumed her lungs out 2 times and performed chest compressions on her for a minute and a half before she let out her very first week cry.

Once she cried they showed her to Lacey, which she doesn't remember.

They had to sedate Lacey because she was attempting to reach into her incision.

Her doctor and I had to hold her to the table until she was unconscious so that they could finish her surgery. 

The c section they performed went perfectly, Lacey's body just didn't take to the epidural or the spinal like planned because she burns through medication quickly.

While they finished up I went with Audrey to the nursery so that they could treat her for the same infection her mother was fighting and run all of the tests needed to make sure her lungs were functioning properly.

Velvet:

The doctors had told my parents and I that the csection would take around an hour, and since Brandon and I hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was now dinnertime my Dad and I decided to run down the street and grab pizza.

When we got back with 15 minutes to spare, Mom hadn't heard anything.

About 10 minutes later we saw lots of nurses running past Lacey's recovery room and heard a baby cry.

We weren't allowed to go to the nursery, but we could hear Brandon talking to his little girl from the hallway.

I was aware from previous c sections that generally the baby doesn't leave the OR without the Mother.

So to hear Audrey and not now where Lacey was was the longest 10 minutes I've ever experienced.

No one could tell us anything, and they were all too busy attending to both Mom and Baby to deal with the two crying women in the hallway.

When an attendant finally came to tell us what was going on we got to hear about all of the OR issues and Audrey's complications.

We got right to praying in that hallway and didn't stop until Lacey was rolled into recovery.

She was still asleep, and we were told she wouldn't wake up for a while.

So we surrounded her and held her hand and ran our fingers through her hair while we talked about her babies sweet cry down the hall.

Every time we said her name Lacey would smile in her sleep.

It was the sweetest most heartbreaking thing.

After about 15 minutes Brandon came into the room to tell us that Audrey was ok, and that we could go see her if we'd like.

He also informed us that Audrey would need to be transferred to a different hospital where they had a nicu to treat her.

I pretty much turned into one giant sobbing mess.

Lacey was ok, Audrey was ok, but they wouldn't get to meet one another.

Brandon stayed with Lacey while we ran down to the nursery to meet Audrey for the first time.

I took my camera so that I could make sure to capture all those sweet details a Mommy notices first.

She was absolutely perfect.

She needed an IV for her antibiotics and other medications to help her fight off the cold they had both developed during labor, and she was attached to all sorts of monitors.

We could touch her, but not hold her.

So we did.

We laid hands on that sweet baby and sang and prayed and cried and loved her as best we could.

Her Mom would sing "You Are My Sunshine" to her all the time, so when she started fussing I warble cried my way through it hoping to bring her a little bit of peace till her Mommy could do it herself.

We spent about 15 minutes just soaking her in before Brandon told us that Lacey had woken up, so I hustled back to her room with camera in hand.

When I asked if she'd like to see photos, she declined.

The nurse informed her it might be an hour or two before she could possibly see her, so she quickly changed her mind.

We layed in bed together and I scrolled through all of her perfect details with her wonderful Mom and we both cried.

The hospital ended up deciding to make room for Lacey to be wheeled down to the nursery so that she could hold her baby before she was transferred to the nicu at a different hospital.

We were all ecstatic.

So, two hours after Audrey entered the world, she finally got to meet her Mommy face to face.

The entire room was sniffles and quiet sobs while we watched and recorded.

She sang her songs, and she quieted down and just stared.

There will be a 4th part.

Mommy and Baby are both fine and healthy and loving each other every day.

Thank you so much for giving Lacey and Brandon support through their journey and reading their experience!