Sadie

I just keep getting further and further behind on this blog, but I really want to keep it going.
I love looking back through my posts and seeing how we've grown over the years. Since I don't know if I'll ever catch up by trying to post in chronological order, I'm just going to jump to the biggest event in our lives since I last posted.

Sadie was born, at 8:55am on November 6th.
Her birth was quite eventful and something that I really don't want to forget. I've recorded all of my boys births so that I can remember them, and I want to do the same for her. Hers is a little longer than everyone elses, but hers was also much more complicated.

I was about 31 weeks along when I started getting pain in my side. It started while I was at work one night and progressively got worse through the morning. I went home and went to bed after my shift. I was able to sleep through the pain, it wasn't that bad and I had had a difficult shift at work, but around 11 in the morning it woke me up. It continued to get worse and I couldn't get comfortable. I talked about it with Kyle and I texted my OB, and my doctor said that I needed to go in to  labor and delivery at Utah Valley to have it checked out. The pain felt exactly like a kidney stone, but it wasn't in the same place I had experienced all my previous kidney stones. It was below my right rib towards the front of me instead of in my back. We went to L&D and by the time the nurses got me back to a bed the pain was so bad I was sobbing. They got me hooked up to all the monitors and gave me some pain medication. Not long after, my doctor showed up. He didn't have to come and see me, but he was so kind to come to the hospital and see what was happening and make sure that I got comfortable.
It took quite a while to get my pain under control and in the meantime they were waiting for ultrasound and blood test results. While we were waiting and I was getting pain medication, the baby's heart rate dumped. She took her dear sweet time to recover, and scared me and all of the nurses. But she got better and I was getting more comfortable. All my test results came back and they couldn't figure out what was wrong except for the possible kidney stone.They considered sending me home, but then Sadie had another huge dip. And then another one. All of her dips were really low and she didn't recover quickly, which made all of us nervous. Sometimes she would dip after a contraction, but most of the time it seemed to just happen randomly. At this point I was getting comfortable (and tired from being up the previous night working) and while I don't remember much, I do remember that it was discussed to possibly deliver her that night if she continued having problems. They had the neonatalogist come to speak with us about what to expect if we had a 31 week baby. Throughout the night we got some answers about me (it did end up being a kidney stone) but no answers as to what was causing Sadie to have problems. I was admitted to the hospital for 11 days where I watched her heart rate constantly. Being in the hospital on bedrest is no fun. I can't believe how some women are there for weeks on end. Every day I was told that Sadie just had to go 48 hours without a dip and then I could go home. Sadie never made it that long. I think her longest stretch was 22ish hours without one. But then she'd have another and me and the nurses would reset the clock on when I could go home. Kyle tried to bring the boys to visit me everyday and it was the biggest highlight. I hated seeing them leave and I cried myself to sleep many nights. I got caught up on all the Netflix shows I could. I tried to read, but I'd fall asleep. And I didn't sleep well at night because I would roll over and Sadie would come off the monitor...so a nurse would come in to fix it. It was a long 11 days and when my OB said that I could go home I was thrilled. He had consulted with perinatologists and other OB's and neonatologists who all felt I would be okay to go home as long as I was on bedrest. Since she looked amazing the most of the time, they felt comfortable with it as long as I went in to get stress tests 3 times a week. After being stuck in the hospital with constant monitoring and not seeing my family for more than 10 minutes a day, bedrest at home was a piece of cake!


I went home and stayed on bedrest for 6 weeks. I had so many people who brought meals and movies and books to me. Many calls were made and prayers and fasting offered on our behalf, all of which were greatly appreciated. Neighbors took the kids to school, or grandparents took the kids for days at a time. My boys were taken care of by grandparents during the day and Kyle at night. He was so good about helping with everything to make sure I stayed off my feet. I couldn't have done it without Kyle or my parents or in-laws. Everyone was so great to help our family.

For the most part, Sadie did well at all of my appointments. There were a few times where she didn't behave, and a couple times where I had to have extended monitoring (4-5 hours at a time in L&D) but I was allowed to go home every time. It was a waiting game to see if she would make it to 36 weeks and we hoped she would make it to 37. It was a long 6 weeks on bedrest and constant focusing on whether Sadie was moving enough and making sure that I wasn't moving at all.
After 6 difficult weeks, my OB made a strong push to have her delivered early and the perinatologist agreed. my 37 week mark rolled around and my good friends at work scheduled my induction so that I could come in on their shift. Kyle and I headed into the hospital around midnight to be induced. I got my epidural and got comfy and Kyle and I settled in expecting an exciting night. After watching Sadie's heart rate for so many weeks, I knew that she typically had more dips with my contractions. I didn't expect to be able to labor for very long before we would call for a c-section. However, her heart rate did great with pitocin and I started to progress.
Just before 6am, I was dilated to a 5. And that's when her heart rate dropped. She went from 130's down to the 60's. And over a VERY long 18 minutes climbed slowly back to her baseline. During that very scary time my fantastic friends/nurses got me prepped for a c-section. My doctor came in and checked to see if that's what I really wanted. I didn't want to watch any more of those dips and since I was only at a 5, chances were good there would be more. Also, there was no way to tell if Sadie would handle that kind of delivery.

So we headed back for a c-section. The delivery was so completely different from my past three. I would definitely say that c-sections are not fun and I would prefer the other method of getting babies out! I'm so grateful that c-sections are available though and I don't regret having one in the least. While they were trying to get her out (which took a while), the doctor who was assisting asked if it was my first c-section. I thought it was an odd question, since he was down there and should have been able to see whether or not I'd been cut open before. But didn't pay much attention to it. I had no idea how uncomfortable this part was going to be. Or how very painful the recovery was going to be...it's a good thing this little cutie was there to distract me from it all.

Sadie was stuck. It was very difficult for the doctors to even get her out and when she finally did come out, her entire head was bruised. She took a little bit to get riled up and scream, and after she did they decided to take her to the Level 2 nursery for a little CPAP to help her out. After an hour of CPAP she was doing a lot better and she was able to come out and I could hold her. We were lucky that so many good nurses, respiratory therapists and doctors were there to take care of the two of us. My friends/co-workers ended up staying 4 hours past their shift to help me deliver and to make sure that we were okay before they headed home. I can't say how grateful I am for my good friends. I was also really grateful that our pediatrician was rounding on patients that morning and took the time to come in for the delivery as well.

My OB came in a while later to talk to me about the delivery. The reason the other physician asked about a previous c-section was because I had what is called a uterine window. It's where the uterus thins out so much that you can (sometimes) see the baby inside. It's usually associated with prior c-sections and if it ruptures it can cause some serious problems/death for both moms and babies. It was a really good thing that we didn't continue with labor and that I had a c-section! And it was probably a really good thing that I remained on bedrest at the end of my pregnancy (I usually start contracting all the time when I get farther along). I was also encouraged to wait at least a couple years before having another child. If we have another, the baby will be born at 37 weeks by c-section again. At first I was told that we should really consider having Sadie be our last baby, and I had a really hard time hearing that (even though we had considered it ourselves). But after some thought my physician told me that we have no way of knowing how many women who do not have c-sections have uterine windows. It's possible that I've had one since I was pregnant with Porter. If we are lucky enough to have another baby though, we'll take some precautions and do stress tests and another early c-section delivery.

All 6 pounds, 9 ounces of her. She caused a lot of fuss before she came, but we are so glad she's here. She has been the most pleasant little baby and we love having her in our family.