Laikyn Ann
3.3.2016
4:48pm
7lbs 11oz
20 1/5 in.
So a few weeks ago, I spent a few hours typing up her birth story and then I lost it! I cant find the file. :( So sad. I feel like I will be missing some details writing it again because it is seriously easy to forget those little things, especially 3+ months later. But here goes round two of her birth story!
It was quite the adventure getting our little sweetheart here.
If there is one thing I have learned about pregnancy and delivery #2, is that each time it is COMPLETELY different. (Oh and it's hard both ways, unmedicated and medicated.)I went in fairly confident that I could handle this. But boy oh boy, it kicked me in the bum this time!
After a few weeks of being checked and not progressing we decided to have my membranes stripped to kind of kick start my body. Not that I was worried about going over, or we were feeling rushed, but my Doctor suggested doing it the day before my due date. We scheduled to come in three times to have it done. My mom decided to come down that morning and be prepared to stay overnight because we were hoping to meet this little girl soon!
So March 2nd, the first appointment to have my membranes stripped was at 8:30am. It was definitely not a comfortable thing to have done...and thats where the uncomfortableness started and didn't end until she was born the next morning. Contractions started about an hour later and were fairly consistent and painful until we went back for the second round at noon. Cooger was still with us at this point. We had just gone to a few stores in between instead of heading home so the binky was at home. He was soooo tired and just screamed the entire way back in the car to the doctors office. I was trying to relax and breath through each contraction, but I was quickly loosing it with Cooger screaming in the background! So after the second stripping, we headed home and I decided to call Scott to have him come home. I was feeling a little stressed. Right after, of course the contractions simmered. I tried laying down but was feeling a little too anxious so I quickly got up and started packing last minute things in our bags.
Scott got home around 2:00pm and left to drop Cooger off at Grandma and Grandpa Wuthrich's house. The house was quiet and Scott was home so I finally felt some relief and was able to relax a bit.
The last appointment for membrane stripping was at 4:00pm. The contractions after that were still there, and some were pretty painful but they definitely slowed. At each appointment, I was given the same news that my body wasn't progressing at all. I was dialated to barely a 2 and about 75% effaced. So it honestly just felt like I was putting myself through torture! Wearing my body out with contractions that weren't doing anything or getting us closer. I was feeling really disappointed, and stressed. I started feeling pressure that everyone was just waiting on me, and I started feeling guilty that I sent Cooger away too soon.
(I feel like a huge battle of Motherhood is guilt. There are so many things to do, and to do right that it can be hard to feel like you are doing good. That was one of my biggest battles this time around.) Mentally, I was struggling. I was wanting it to go a certain way and it wasn't.
We got home and the contractions started simmering. So before dinner, Scott and I decided to head outside for a walk. We ended up walking about a mile.
When we got home, we ate dinner, turned on a movie and settled down a bit. During the movie, I tried keeping myself busy by folding some laundry and doing last minute stuff. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before so I started feeling really tired. The contractions were present but not consistent. About 10 minutes or so after we laid down, which was around 10:00pm, I started feeling consistent and painful contractions.
About an hour later, I got up and jumped in the shower to see if the water would help sooth the pain. Being in the shower was a little rough because I couldn't get the back pressure that helps me.
It was about midnight when we decided it was time to head to the hospital. I tested positive for strep B so we wanted to make sure we had enough time to get there and get the ball rolling with antibiotics so I could get the two doses. The car ride felt long, even though it is only a 10-15 minute drive. And it took a little bit to get inside the hospital once we were there.
I know some women who can be dialated to a 4 and don't even feel it. For me, that is the longest and hardest part. I had to stop a few times and breath through the contractions, leaning against a wall with my mom or Scott putting counter pressure on my lower back.
Finally, we got checked in and taken to our room.
By then, my pain level was at about a 9. I was trying to walk through the contractions, which helped somewhat. But by this time, I was completely exhausted. I could hardly keep my eyes open.
I really wanted to do this un-medicated like I did with Cooger. But the thing I wasn't keeping in mind was that this experience was completely different!!
I then had the feeling that I needed to get an epidural. The thought quickly came and stuck which was weird because I hadn't even thought that during Coog's labor or during pregnancy in preparation. I pushed it aside and breathed through a few more contractions. The thought came again, and so did the tears. I turned to my mom and told her. Honestly, in the moment, I felt defeated. Like I had failed. It wasn't until later that I came to the realization of a few things. Number one, I needed the epidural for this labor. Sure, I could have handled the pain for a few more hours and delivered naturally. I know because I've done it before. BUT, we ran into some complications, and mentally I needed the epidural so it wouldn't have been so completely overwhelming physically AND mentally.
The epidural was not as awful as I thought it would be, but it still wasn't comfortable.
I loved being able to set it how I wanted it. Even after the epidural, I still felt a lot. My pain level was about a 6 but I knew I wanted to be able to still feel and push. I felt when every contraction started, when it peaked, and when it ended. I could still somewhat move my legs and slightly adjust myself with some help.
So once the epidural kicked in, I closed my eyes to relax a little bit. It was the first time since the night before that I had closed my eyes and felt relief.
Not too much time past before our nurse came in. Poor Laikyn was in distress and they could tell by her heart rate on the monitor. They like to see fluctuation on the line, especially during the contractions, but Laikyn's heart rate was pretty flat. The nurses and Doctor were starting to get pretty concerned. If it didn't change quickly, they were preparing to do an emergency c-section. My anxiety went through the roof. I asked Scott to give Laikyn and I a Priesthood Blessing.
We asked the nurses if they could find someone else in the building to be apart, but it was a pretty quiet night I guess (especially it being about 2am at this point). So Scott decided to just do it by himself. There were only the 4 of us in the room and it was such a special experience. I knew our Heavenly Father was watching over the two of us.
After the blessing, I felt some relief. We had the idea to play some music to see if we could get her moving.
Side note: about two days before this, I woke up with a song in my head. As Scott was getting ready, I put it on my phone for him to listen to. This song is so special to us but we hadn't thought about it for a while. It played in special moments while we were dating, and it was our wedding song.
The song I had remembered a few days before suddenly came to my mind. We played it and watched as her heart rate moved and fluctuated the way they wanted it to. I felt like it was her saying, "I'm okay mom!" (cue the tears...for everyone)
We played a few more songs which she responded to.
The nurses and Doctor felt better and we continued to wait.
Not long after this, I felt the sensation. You know what I mean if you have had a baby. The sensation that you really really need to go to the bathroom, but really its just baby coming out!!
I told my Mom and she got the Doctor. Sure enough I was a 10 and ready to go!!!
We got me all situated and ready to push.
I pushed hard about 3 times and for about 3 to 5 minutes.
I really loved where my epidural was at this point because I was still able to exert energy and push and I could feel what was going on. It just didn't quite have the "ring of fire" intense pain.
At about 4:50am she was here!!!!
(counting from I started the real contractions, not just latent contractions, to when she was born was about 7 hours)
When she came out, we discovered that the cord was tightly wrapped around her neck three times. She was a blueish color. The Doctor reacted quickly and cut the cord because it was too tight to just lift over her head. She was immediately rushed to the respiratory nurses. They worked on her and she quickly started breathing and crying. They did what they needed to do to help her, but because she was in distress, was running a fever, and didn't get the second antibiotic dose, they needed to take her to work on her more to make sure everything was okay. Initially they said it would be a few hours.
Oh man. I wanted to hold her so badly!! I didn't get that chest to chest with Coog immediately so I was really hoping to be able to do that with Laikyn. Before they whisked her off, with Scott, to the other room, I got to look at her and touch her little hands. She was beautiful!!!!! Perfect little features, fingers, toes and lots of dark hair!!
It was emotional not being able to hold her and saying goodbye so quickly but about 45 minutes later she was able to come back because she was doing so good!! I finally got that skin to skin and got to breastfeed her for the first time. I was surprised at how natural that felt again. I LOVED it.
They had to take her away again to run some test. Scott went along and we got ready to move to the other room.
So during delivery, I was running a slight fever. So as a precaution, they put me on antibiotics for 24 hours. It felt weird walking down the hall with the IV pole.
Laikyn had a fever as well and had to be on antibiotics for 5 days. We were hoping it would only be the 48 course, but her test results came back low so they needed to keep those antibiotics going to make sure that she was okay. She wasn't necessarily sick, but they did that as a precaution and to help get rid of anything that might have been present in her body that could quickly turn and make her really sick.
I had a really hard time honestly. I wanted to be home with her, and I was REALLY missing my Coog boy. Plus, being in the hospital for 5 days honestly felt like forever. I have a greater respect for those that are sick and have to be in the hospital for extended periods of time. It is hard! So after the 48 hours, I was technically discharged. LDS Hospital lets Mom's stay in their room for free as "Extended Stay Mom's" if their babies have to stay longer in the hospital. That was such a blessing to be able to do, so we had a room to go to and didn't have to go home without her at night. Scott stayed with me two of those extra nights, and then my mom came up for one as well. They would check on her every few hours and she had the antibiotics twice a day (10am and 10pm) One took about an hour, and the other one about a half hour. Both required an IV which was a nightmare for her for the five days. She had 5 different IV's put in, one even in her head. So sad to see.
So the morning of the 5th day they ran the initial test again and we waited anxiously to get the results. If they were bad, we would have to stay another 9 days!! But if they were good we could go home that night.
We gave her a blessing and prayed so hard that the results would come back good so we could all go home. And they did!!! We were soooo happy!
We packed up all our stuff, ready to go, and waited until 10pm for her last dose. The nurse was able to start it a little early which was so nice, so we were finally out the door by around 10pm when all was said and done.
It was such a good feeling driving home that night.
We are sooooo grateful that Laikyn made it here safely. It was not completely ideal, but we were so watched over and blessed during this experience welcoming Laikyn into the world. We are so grateful for our amazing Doctor, and all the nurses that took care of us both!!
Now we are snuggling up this sweet, happy, beautiful, dark haired baby girl!!!!
Love you baby Lakes!
Welcome to the world!
It was quite the adventure getting our little sweetheart here.
If there is one thing I have learned about pregnancy and delivery #2, is that each time it is COMPLETELY different. (Oh and it's hard both ways, unmedicated and medicated.)I went in fairly confident that I could handle this. But boy oh boy, it kicked me in the bum this time!
After a few weeks of being checked and not progressing we decided to have my membranes stripped to kind of kick start my body. Not that I was worried about going over, or we were feeling rushed, but my Doctor suggested doing it the day before my due date. We scheduled to come in three times to have it done. My mom decided to come down that morning and be prepared to stay overnight because we were hoping to meet this little girl soon!
So March 2nd, the first appointment to have my membranes stripped was at 8:30am. It was definitely not a comfortable thing to have done...and thats where the uncomfortableness started and didn't end until she was born the next morning. Contractions started about an hour later and were fairly consistent and painful until we went back for the second round at noon. Cooger was still with us at this point. We had just gone to a few stores in between instead of heading home so the binky was at home. He was soooo tired and just screamed the entire way back in the car to the doctors office. I was trying to relax and breath through each contraction, but I was quickly loosing it with Cooger screaming in the background! So after the second stripping, we headed home and I decided to call Scott to have him come home. I was feeling a little stressed. Right after, of course the contractions simmered. I tried laying down but was feeling a little too anxious so I quickly got up and started packing last minute things in our bags.
Scott got home around 2:00pm and left to drop Cooger off at Grandma and Grandpa Wuthrich's house. The house was quiet and Scott was home so I finally felt some relief and was able to relax a bit.
The last appointment for membrane stripping was at 4:00pm. The contractions after that were still there, and some were pretty painful but they definitely slowed. At each appointment, I was given the same news that my body wasn't progressing at all. I was dialated to barely a 2 and about 75% effaced. So it honestly just felt like I was putting myself through torture! Wearing my body out with contractions that weren't doing anything or getting us closer. I was feeling really disappointed, and stressed. I started feeling pressure that everyone was just waiting on me, and I started feeling guilty that I sent Cooger away too soon.
(I feel like a huge battle of Motherhood is guilt. There are so many things to do, and to do right that it can be hard to feel like you are doing good. That was one of my biggest battles this time around.) Mentally, I was struggling. I was wanting it to go a certain way and it wasn't.
We got home and the contractions started simmering. So before dinner, Scott and I decided to head outside for a walk. We ended up walking about a mile.
When we got home, we ate dinner, turned on a movie and settled down a bit. During the movie, I tried keeping myself busy by folding some laundry and doing last minute stuff. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before so I started feeling really tired. The contractions were present but not consistent. About 10 minutes or so after we laid down, which was around 10:00pm, I started feeling consistent and painful contractions.
About an hour later, I got up and jumped in the shower to see if the water would help sooth the pain. Being in the shower was a little rough because I couldn't get the back pressure that helps me.
It was about midnight when we decided it was time to head to the hospital. I tested positive for strep B so we wanted to make sure we had enough time to get there and get the ball rolling with antibiotics so I could get the two doses. The car ride felt long, even though it is only a 10-15 minute drive. And it took a little bit to get inside the hospital once we were there.
I know some women who can be dialated to a 4 and don't even feel it. For me, that is the longest and hardest part. I had to stop a few times and breath through the contractions, leaning against a wall with my mom or Scott putting counter pressure on my lower back.
Finally, we got checked in and taken to our room.
By then, my pain level was at about a 9. I was trying to walk through the contractions, which helped somewhat. But by this time, I was completely exhausted. I could hardly keep my eyes open.
I really wanted to do this un-medicated like I did with Cooger. But the thing I wasn't keeping in mind was that this experience was completely different!!
I then had the feeling that I needed to get an epidural. The thought quickly came and stuck which was weird because I hadn't even thought that during Coog's labor or during pregnancy in preparation. I pushed it aside and breathed through a few more contractions. The thought came again, and so did the tears. I turned to my mom and told her. Honestly, in the moment, I felt defeated. Like I had failed. It wasn't until later that I came to the realization of a few things. Number one, I needed the epidural for this labor. Sure, I could have handled the pain for a few more hours and delivered naturally. I know because I've done it before. BUT, we ran into some complications, and mentally I needed the epidural so it wouldn't have been so completely overwhelming physically AND mentally.
The epidural was not as awful as I thought it would be, but it still wasn't comfortable.
I loved being able to set it how I wanted it. Even after the epidural, I still felt a lot. My pain level was about a 6 but I knew I wanted to be able to still feel and push. I felt when every contraction started, when it peaked, and when it ended. I could still somewhat move my legs and slightly adjust myself with some help.
So once the epidural kicked in, I closed my eyes to relax a little bit. It was the first time since the night before that I had closed my eyes and felt relief.
Not too much time past before our nurse came in. Poor Laikyn was in distress and they could tell by her heart rate on the monitor. They like to see fluctuation on the line, especially during the contractions, but Laikyn's heart rate was pretty flat. The nurses and Doctor were starting to get pretty concerned. If it didn't change quickly, they were preparing to do an emergency c-section. My anxiety went through the roof. I asked Scott to give Laikyn and I a Priesthood Blessing.
We asked the nurses if they could find someone else in the building to be apart, but it was a pretty quiet night I guess (especially it being about 2am at this point). So Scott decided to just do it by himself. There were only the 4 of us in the room and it was such a special experience. I knew our Heavenly Father was watching over the two of us.
After the blessing, I felt some relief. We had the idea to play some music to see if we could get her moving.
Side note: about two days before this, I woke up with a song in my head. As Scott was getting ready, I put it on my phone for him to listen to. This song is so special to us but we hadn't thought about it for a while. It played in special moments while we were dating, and it was our wedding song.
The song I had remembered a few days before suddenly came to my mind. We played it and watched as her heart rate moved and fluctuated the way they wanted it to. I felt like it was her saying, "I'm okay mom!" (cue the tears...for everyone)
We played a few more songs which she responded to.
The nurses and Doctor felt better and we continued to wait.
Not long after this, I felt the sensation. You know what I mean if you have had a baby. The sensation that you really really need to go to the bathroom, but really its just baby coming out!!
I told my Mom and she got the Doctor. Sure enough I was a 10 and ready to go!!!
We got me all situated and ready to push.
I pushed hard about 3 times and for about 3 to 5 minutes.
I really loved where my epidural was at this point because I was still able to exert energy and push and I could feel what was going on. It just didn't quite have the "ring of fire" intense pain.
At about 4:50am she was here!!!!
(counting from I started the real contractions, not just latent contractions, to when she was born was about 7 hours)
When she came out, we discovered that the cord was tightly wrapped around her neck three times. She was a blueish color. The Doctor reacted quickly and cut the cord because it was too tight to just lift over her head. She was immediately rushed to the respiratory nurses. They worked on her and she quickly started breathing and crying. They did what they needed to do to help her, but because she was in distress, was running a fever, and didn't get the second antibiotic dose, they needed to take her to work on her more to make sure everything was okay. Initially they said it would be a few hours.
Oh man. I wanted to hold her so badly!! I didn't get that chest to chest with Coog immediately so I was really hoping to be able to do that with Laikyn. Before they whisked her off, with Scott, to the other room, I got to look at her and touch her little hands. She was beautiful!!!!! Perfect little features, fingers, toes and lots of dark hair!!
It was emotional not being able to hold her and saying goodbye so quickly but about 45 minutes later she was able to come back because she was doing so good!! I finally got that skin to skin and got to breastfeed her for the first time. I was surprised at how natural that felt again. I LOVED it.
They had to take her away again to run some test. Scott went along and we got ready to move to the other room.
So during delivery, I was running a slight fever. So as a precaution, they put me on antibiotics for 24 hours. It felt weird walking down the hall with the IV pole.
Laikyn had a fever as well and had to be on antibiotics for 5 days. We were hoping it would only be the 48 course, but her test results came back low so they needed to keep those antibiotics going to make sure that she was okay. She wasn't necessarily sick, but they did that as a precaution and to help get rid of anything that might have been present in her body that could quickly turn and make her really sick.
I had a really hard time honestly. I wanted to be home with her, and I was REALLY missing my Coog boy. Plus, being in the hospital for 5 days honestly felt like forever. I have a greater respect for those that are sick and have to be in the hospital for extended periods of time. It is hard! So after the 48 hours, I was technically discharged. LDS Hospital lets Mom's stay in their room for free as "Extended Stay Mom's" if their babies have to stay longer in the hospital. That was such a blessing to be able to do, so we had a room to go to and didn't have to go home without her at night. Scott stayed with me two of those extra nights, and then my mom came up for one as well. They would check on her every few hours and she had the antibiotics twice a day (10am and 10pm) One took about an hour, and the other one about a half hour. Both required an IV which was a nightmare for her for the five days. She had 5 different IV's put in, one even in her head. So sad to see.
So the morning of the 5th day they ran the initial test again and we waited anxiously to get the results. If they were bad, we would have to stay another 9 days!! But if they were good we could go home that night.
We gave her a blessing and prayed so hard that the results would come back good so we could all go home. And they did!!! We were soooo happy!
We packed up all our stuff, ready to go, and waited until 10pm for her last dose. The nurse was able to start it a little early which was so nice, so we were finally out the door by around 10pm when all was said and done.
It was such a good feeling driving home that night.
We are sooooo grateful that Laikyn made it here safely. It was not completely ideal, but we were so watched over and blessed during this experience welcoming Laikyn into the world. We are so grateful for our amazing Doctor, and all the nurses that took care of us both!!
Now we are snuggling up this sweet, happy, beautiful, dark haired baby girl!!!!
Love you baby Lakes!
Welcome to the world!
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