Audrey's Birth Story: Part 1

Oh man.

Here goes.

Disclaimer... there's gonna be lots of lady bits talk.

This is a birth story after all so it's kinda hard to avoid. 

If your sensitive nature can't take it, I'd avoid my next 3 blog posts.

YES.

I said 3.

Lacey has never been the person to take the easy road.

So the story begins...

Lacey was 5 days past her due date and had just scheduled her induction with her OBGYN  for the following week.

Dad, Mom and I had decided to head down and spoil the snot out of the very tired and overly pregnant Mama before she had little Miss Audrey since she now had an official eviction notice that would place her arrival 2 days before we would have to head home!

When we arrived we forced Lacey on walks, and to yummy labor inducing meals, and more walks.

I took her for a pedicure, and then a manicure 2 days later, and then more walks.

There was shopping included so she couldn't complain THAT much.

She did though.

She was 41.5 weeks pregnant so I'll cut her a little bit of slack.

She ended up making it to induction day with zero contractions in sight, so Brandon, Lacey, and I packed up and headed to the hospital for the evening.

The plan for induction was to check Lacey in, have medication applied to encourage ripening of the cervix (AH!), dilation, and contractions to get labor going.

They gave her some ambien to take that evening so she could get some sleep before they woke her up in the wee hours of the morning and started pitocin!

The medication they applied is called Cervadil, and this particular kind was in the shape of a small piece of paper that is wrapped around the cervix.

Once it was placed, they told Lacey that she was dilated to a 3.

For those who may be unaware, you need to be dilated to 10 before you can start pushing.

 

Lacey's OBGYN came in and did a small ultrasound to ensure the baby was head down and ready for her big entrance.

See that beautiful round noggin!

That's my niece!

I stayed for a while to chat and watch the worst episode of Grey's Anatomy EVAR.

Nothing like taking your mind off of pain by watching Shonda Rhymes kill off all the characters you love.

That's another story.

Shonda Rhymes is the WORST.

Anyway, Lacey had been complaining of discomfort from the cervadil and was having a really rough time trying to get comfortable.

Cramps and nether region pain is fairly normal when you're in labor, but she described it as shooting pain and that wasn't something that I'd ever experienced with that particular medication.

She tried taking her ambien to see if it would help her sleep through the night and I headed back to their house to take care of the dogs and get a few hours sleep before heading back in the early morning to photograph Audrey's birth!

When I arrived the next morning at 6am our family friend Cherri had arrived as Lacey's doula and was showing Brandon some pain relieving moves and helping coach Lacey through contractions.

I got her labor mix up and running and spent the morning photographing Lacey and Brandon while they walked the halls and worked through her contractions.

The OBGYN showed up mid morning and checked Lacey again for progress.

He had a pretty hard time finding her cervix which caused a lot of pain, but eventually told her that she'd dilated to a 4 and that everything was working the way it should be.

Lacey was working through her contractions and walking laps around the hospital like a pro.

It was so wonderful to watch Brandon be the support that she needed and be so attentive to her needs.

Cherri was amazing to have there.

She put everyone's hearts at ease.

Lacey's friend Heather stopped by hoping to see baby and bring her a hat!

Lacey, unfortunately, was still VERY pregnant.

Mom and Dad arrived for the day around lunch and got straight to pestering and joking.

The head OBGYN came in to check on Lacey's progress mid afternoon and reported no change, after much difficulty finding her cervix again, and said they'd check again in a few hours.

She was having strong contractions, they just kept calling them ineffective.

Which is frustrating to the woman having them.

So we walked some more halls, and spoke lots of words of encouragement.

Mom cried.

The usual.

At 4 pm, both the head OBGYN and Lacey's OBGYN came in to check her.

This time, they found her cervix quite easily.

Audrey had gotten into position and was pushing on all the necessary parts.

Unfortunately this made it possible to notice that she wasn't dilated to a 4 like they had previously told Lacey.

She was only at a 1.

The doctors took about thirty minutes to discuss amongst themselves what options Lacey would have.

After 12 hours on pitocin your body is more susceptible to bleeding issues during labor and they weren't willing to take that risk.

Since they had attempted to break her water earlier in the day and it hadn't worked, she had the option to stop the induction and head home for a few days to recover before trying again.

They phrased it as an option.

It really wasn't.

All the while, Lacey's contractions were exceptionally painful and a reminder that she wouldn't get to hold that sweet little bundle and that her family would be heading home without getting to be there for the birth.

These were the hardest images to capture by far.

They unhooked her from everything, and we worked through the last of her contractions while packing up the room.

Those last were very intense, and compounded with lots of crying and crushed hopes.

We headed home that evening and Lacey's contractions slowed.

Her and Brandon were able to go to sleep at home.

My Mom and Dad went to the movies for the night, to give them a bit of space.

While Lacey and Brandon slept I talked with Paul about staying a few more nights so that I could be there when Audrey arrived and my parents purchased me a plane ticket back home.

Mom and Dad were headed back to Oregon the next afternoon.

Lacey woke up around 7:30 from her nap and came and snuggled me in their guest bedroom.

I let her know I'd be staying and we watched some friends to take our mind off of the last day.

She fell back asleep around 9pm and Mom and Dad got back at 10pm.

We all hunkered down for the evening in low spirits.

It had been an incredibly hard 24 hours and our hopes weren't too high.

We all stayed at Lacey's that night.

Mom and Dad took the guest room and I stayed on the couch.

Brandon was the only one to get the 1am wake up call from a very in labor Lacey!

To Be Continued...