McKenzie Lawton is here! (Birth Story & PIP)

outrunthemoon · April 2012

To round up what had been happening Friday I started my bloody show. Saturday my friends insisted we get a pedicure to "get things going" Sunday I had started contractions but nothing was able to be timed. Eventually I called the Doc and he said if I wanted to get checked out he was on call at the hospital and to come on down. Which I did, they checked me and decided my contractions weren't close enough (they were anywhere between 5 and 10 min apart) and I was only 1 CM dilated.

So I went home got some ice cream and continued to time the contractions. They stayed between 4 and 10 min. I decided to go to bed and get some rest. Around 3 AM I woke up nauseous, ate some crackers and started timing once again. They were about 3-4 minutes apart for an hour. Off to the hospital we went.

When we arrived they checked me and I was still only 1 CM but the contractions were close enough they kept me. They had me walk around the hospital for an hour and checked again...still not making any progress. We waited around for hours and my contractions kept getting worse and worse but still no progress.

We decided to start Pitocin to see if that helped. Eventually my contractions were so bad that they allowed me to get an Epi at 2 cm. Unfortunately the Epi didn't take how it was supposed to. For some reason it wasn't working well on my left side. I was in so much pain, I don't know how I thought I ever was going to do it without the epidural. I'm so glad I took it. We had to keep adding to the epi but within an hour or so it would fade off. It was very frustrating.

But eventually I was told I could push. With an hour of pushing, an episiotomy and a full head of hair, McKenzie made her appearance. She weighed 8 lbs 2.9 oz and measured 21 inches. She was very loud, making her entrance well known. lol

Unfortunately after I hadn't eaten since 3 AM and had only 3 hours of sleep I was so dizzy and out of it I couldn't keep my eyes open. We tried to breastfeed but she wasn't about it at all. So we let in the family. After our parents & siblings came and went I fell asleep and they took McKenzie to take a bath. I woke up later to find out she is now in the Special Care Unit. I guess when I fell asleep they noticed her breathing was labored and it seemed like she had a lot of fluid in her lungs.

She has been in the SCU since a little after midnight and is still there. Dr said it's nothing to be worried about and it's something that happens a lot. He just can't give me a timeline of when she may get out. I've only seen her twice since she was born and only got to hold her for the moments before they took her to bathe her. We went and visited her in the SCU but I lost it seeing her all strapped up. I haven't been back since this AM, I just want to hold my baby and cannot wait until I'm able to again. DF ran into the doctor before he left to run some errands and feed the cat and the Doc said she is doing better since we saw her this AM. So here's hoping she will make a quick recovery.

And now what you all really wanted to see...
(this is the only picture I have of her without all the tubes strapped to her)

eta: I just realized I put 8.29 lbs instead of 8 lbs 2.9 oz