1st Blog - Trey's Birth Story

(MOM'S PERSPECTIVE)

This is the 1st blog for the Kirkland Family. Our sweet baby, Trey Kirkland was born Jan 14, 2010. His journey into this world started over a year ago when Tony and I were trying to get pregnant. I can't believe that he is finally here.

His birth story started on Wed Jan 13th. It was my last Dr. appointment and due to several things, we decided to set an induction date for Tuesday Jan 19th. This was 1 week before his EDD of Jan 24th. Before this appointment I had not had any contractions. It was clear that night that Trey did not agree with these plans. My contractions started at work around 7pm. While I was driving home, my contractions were not painful and came approximately 10 minutes apart. My mom was helping me measure them over the phone. Because it was late, I stopped at Sonic to pick up dinner and had a BLT and tots, a corn dog, and a lemon berry slush. Not very healthy I know, but very yummy. That night before I went to sleep the contractions seemed less regular. At 1 am I woke up with stronger contractions but still not very painful. Tony helped me measure the time between contractions which were about 6 minutes apart. At 2 am, the contractions continued and I moved to the recliner in the living room. Everything that we read said they needed to be 4-5 minutes apart for 1 hour before going to the hospital. Mine were becoming stronger and for the next hour were 6 minutes apart consistently. At 3 am I asked Tony to call the on-call doctor. While we were waiting for the call back, I proceeded to get dressed and get the rest of my bag together for the hospital. The contractions were getting stronger and more painful. When the on-call nurse called back she said I had 2 options: I could stay home and wait or go to the hospital. I was ready to go. When we got to the hospital, I went to triage. They hooked me up to monitor the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. Since earlier that day I had progressed from 2cm to 3cm dilation. Over the next hour, my contractions became increasingly more painful. I was asking for an epidural. I was admitted and sent to a hospital room. I had to have fluids via an IV and antibiotics for GBS strep before getting the epidural. My contractions were so strong and painful, and I was dilated to 6cm. Once the anesthisiologist got to the hospital, they immediately sent him to me. I was given the epidural while I was having contractions and would not have been able to make it without Tony's help. I was squeezing his hands so hard through every contraction. At about 7am my parents arrived and thankfully the epidural was working and I felt much better. I felt numbness but could still feel the slight pressure of the contractions. My body was also shivering all over - I could not stop shaking.

The doctor came in to check me again. I was dilated to 10cm. Every time I had a contraction the baby's heartbeat dropped off dramatically, but then resumed after the contraction was over. This was concerning to the nurses and the doctor. They kept coming in and having me lay on my side to reorient the baby. I was also given supplemental oxygen. At 9am the doctor proceeded with the delivery. Tony's parents had still not arrived. I was afraid they were going to miss it. The doctor was concerned that the baby had a cord wrapped around its neck. He tried to deliver via vacuum and forceps. If this didn't work, I was going to have to have an emergency C-section. During contractions, they had me push. The nurse encouraged me by saying "push like you don't want a C-section". I did not want one, but just wanted Trey to be OK. At 9:36am, Trey was born. Tony's mom came into the delivery room minutes before he was born. She just barely made it. Thanks to Dr. White for delivering our baby safely. The cord was wrapped around his neck twice. We were very lucky it was a very long cord. Trey was pretty small and measured 19in 5 lb 7 oz. This is officially considered low birth weight. His muscle tone was also low, but recovered after a few minutes.

After the family took many happy 1st pictures with Trey, the nurse had everyone leave so that I could try to breastfeed. While I was trying, the nurse checked his blood sugar a 2nd time (30 minutes after delivery per normal protocal). His blood sugar was measuring low, and she wanted to have it double checked in the special care nursery. Tony was able to go with the nurse and Trey. When they returned, Trey was not with them. He had to be admitted to the special care nursery (similar to the NICU) due to low blood sugar. It was less than 20.

Tony and I were very scared and sad. We were so worried about Trey. We weren't able to visit him for about an hour. When we saw him he was hooked up to an IV and his heart rate, oxygen saturation, and respiratory rate were being monitored. They took a picture of Tony and I to put on his crib. He looked so little. It broke my heart. I felt so helpless. Tony and I visited with him, talking with him and rubbing his cute little head. His blood sugar was increasing slowly which was a good sign, but we were not out of the woods yet. He was going to have to stay in the special care nursery for a minimum of 48 hours and this was pending his blood work. The grandparents were allowed to visit him, but not hold him. Tony and I visited him as much as possible and fed him. The nurses were very nice and helpful. They made the experience as comfortable and painless as possible.  (story to continue in next blog)

Mom