Saturday, July 19, 2014

And then there were four

The Taylor family has grown! On June 15th we welcomed a special surprise delivery just in time for Father's Day. Pierce Thomas Taylor joined our family weighing in at 6 pounds 14 ounces and was 19 1/4 inches long. He was 2 weeks and 1 day early which was a welcome surprise given that I had been battling preterm labor for weeks. 

As with Bennett Grace, it was not an easy road to add Pierce to the family but after several months of infertility treatments we found out we were pregnant! At first we kept it to ourselves and made our big reveal to the family and friends on Thanksgiving. Bennett Grace joined in the fun and wore a big sister shirt! 


Early on my pregnancy was a breeze! No morning sickness like with BG and I wanted to eat everything in sight! I absolutely knew this was a boy from the beginning but in December we had an ultrasound and the tech thought it might be a girl. I knew she was wrong and sure enough a couple weeks later we found out we were expecting a little boy!!! He was breech for the majority of the pregnancy so it did get a little cramped but was otherwise uneventful.


Soon after we found out the news, our family welcomed the birth of Collier Marie (my sister Lauren's little girl). BG loved having a cousin and it was great practice for baby brother :)


Surprisingly my blood pressure stayed in check this go round, however at 33 weeks to the day I began having regular contractions at work and landed in labor and delivery. At first they thought I may be dehydrated but after a bolus of IV fluid and a second bag of fluid they were still coming five every ten minutes. They started me on a low dose of Procardia (which I previously took for blood pressure issues with BG) but the contractions kept coming through the night and into the morning. They continued with another bag of fluid and upped my Procardia dose and they were able to spread out the contractions so we cautiously were released. I had regular ultrasounds and fetal monitoring and at 36 weeks the doctors thought he was up to a weight that would be safe to deliver if it should happen and I was allowed to stop the meds!! We held our breath for one full week until we were officially full term (37 weeks) the following Monday!

Off the medicine, my contractions were few and far between and they scheduled my repeat c-section for June 23rd. So thinking we were in the clear, we decided to head to the lake house for Father's Day weekend on June 13th. We had a great weekend with family and went out on the boat and enjoyed the day. On Saturday I made sure my dad kept the boat close to home in case of any baby action, but thankfully nothing. I don't know if it was mother's instinct or what but on Saturday night I asked Sean if he thought we should head home or wait until morning. He asked if I was feeling ok and I told him I was and he said we could stay because it was late and leave early on Sunday (Father's Day) morning. 

During the night I got up to go to the bathroom every 15-30 minutes but didn't think anything about it. By morning I realized something was off. I called down for my mom but caught Lauren coming up the stairs. I told her I thought my water may have broken and told her the reasons for my suspicion. When I was talking to her I felt a small gush. By then my mom and Sean had come up to check on me and were aware of what was happening. In a whirlwind we packed up and headed toward the hospital. I kissed BG goodbye and cried as we pulled out of driveway. I called the OB on call on the way to the hospital and was thrilled to learn it was the assisting physician who delivered BG and whom I had seen several times when I was having issues with my first pregnancy. I felt very comfortable with her and it relaxed me a bit for the ride. 

The over an hour ride to the hospital was a blur. I remember calling my best friend Heather who was on vacation and telling her that today was the day. (She was due the week before me but had her little one very early at 34 weeks and spent some time in the NICU. Her one request was for me to NOT have the baby while she was out of town. Oops) 


Before I knew it we were pulling up to L&D. They took me straight back to pre-op because I required a c-section. They processed my admission and the nurse checked me and she could not confirm my water had broken. She did the test twice and a very uncomfortable exam and still couldn't tell. She called down to the on call OB, who was convinced my water had broken from my description. She headed over to examine me herself. A quick ultrasound confirmed my fluid was very very low and surprise he had flipped to head down! She did a quick check of me as well which confirmed my water indeed had broken and probably the night before which is why I was up all night! 


We had previously discussed our birth plan and were in agreement that a repeat c-section was the safest option given my prior delivery issues. So they prepped me for surgery. My epidural catheter would not thread so they boosted it and went up a level. It still wouldn't thread. I got very sick feeling and my BP got very very very low. They had to lay me down to finish the epidural. Needless to say I did not look good and was on the verge of fainting through the entire delivery process and into recovery. They had to keep pushing meds to keep my BP up and the anesthesiologist ended up putting in a second IV in my other arm in the OR during my c-section. He was very nice and stayed by me the entire time and gave me a play by play of the surgery. My OB made it in to assist which was great! They brought Sean back and it took forever to get Pierce out! He flipped back to breach during delivery and kept moving away from the doctors. They eventually were able to get him out. He did not come out screaming like BG and I was worried but they assured me he was ok and soon after I heard him cry! Relief. We had our baby boy finally. Prayers answered!!


2 comments:

  1. Loved reading this! :) I can't believe I'll be writing Liam's birth story soon!

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  2. I love reading birth stories! It is fun seeing how different everyone's experience can be. I am glad it had a happy ending.

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