Birth Story

On July 11th I had been having contractions all through church. At home, I tried laying down to take a nap but was unable to sleep through the contractions. I took a bath, ate some chocolate, nothing helped. So we decided to go to the hospital yet again (I think this was our 4th or 5th visit). I called my sister to see if she would watch Benjamin. After dropping him off, my contractions had completely stopped. We decided to leave him there and go home to wait and see (I "wait and see" should be the title of my entire pregnancy). I went to bed planning to go get Benjamin in the morning.
I awoke at 5 am having THE STRONGEST contractions EVER. When Josh got up to go to work, I told him I had a feeling we were going to have our baby that day. He called his boss and said he was going to stay home with me for a while. We watched a movie together and the contractions slowed down a lot. We went for a walk and by the time we got home, I was ready to go to the hospital.
On the drive to Ogden I tried to breath through the pain. Josh kept trying to talk to me; I don't remember anything he said. At the hospital I explained, in between contractions, what was happening. The nurse checked me and said I was only at 3.5 centimeters and we would just have to wait and see. An hour later I was still at 3.5centimeters and they had not been able to get a hold of my Dr. The nurse told me that she thought I was dehydrated and that is what was causing my contractions. She left the room. Josh left to call his boss and let them know he might still be able to go in. Minutes later the nurse came in and asked me if I had moved the monitor. I told her that I had just been laying there (as if I could have moved during those contractions). She said that my baby's heart rate had dropped considerably during my last contraction. As she stood there, I had two more contractions and Brianna's heart rate continued to drop each time.
The nurse left just as Josh was returning. I explained to him what was going on. Soon the nurse returned to my room with an IV and a bunch of meds. She asked, "You know what this means, don't you?" I said no and she replied, "We are going to have a c-section today at 1:30. At this point it was almost noon. She explained that she had talked to my Dr about the heart rate and he told her he would be there at 1:30 to do a c-section.

It only took 4 tries to get an IV in (this is actually pretty good for me). The anesthesiologist came and asked several questions while the nurse finished preparing me and Josh got changed and ready. My Dr came in and told methat he really hoped this time would be better than my last c-section. I felt so comfortable knowing he would be doing the surgery. I LOVE myDr. He has been my OB since I was 18 and he is amazing!!!
In the Operating room, theanesthesiologist administered the spinal block andright away my feet started getting warm and numb. I had already told the anesthesiologist about my panic attack when Benjamin was born so he was ready. As the numb feeling moved up, my lungs went numb. This caused another panic attack as I felt like I couldn't breath and also the feeling of being held down made me claustrophobic. They gave me some meds to help me relax and the alarms settled down. The Dr talked to me through the entire procedure which also helped me relax
It wasn't long before we heard a little squeak and the Dr said, "Now wait a minute. No crying before you're even born." I guess she was crying before he even pulled her out. They then lowered the curtain and said "here is your baby girl." Boy was she MAD! Josh got to go in and watch as they cleaned her off and did everything else they do. He brought her back in and she quieted down as I stroked her little head. All I could see was her head as I was still on the operating table. I cried; she was just so perfect.