Our Birth Experience!

This took me a long time to complete actually a couple days! I know it is probably the longest blog on blogger but it is something that I wanted to have documented and to share it with all my readers. I will cover our entire labor experience so it will contain the good the bad and the ugly! But of course in the end it is fully of happiness because we have our sweet little miracle Alayna.

So here is the play by play………….

On October 16, 2012 Maria had an appointment with her OBGYN to discuss if she was going to be induced on October 16 or wait another day on 17^th. The doctor said that today (Oct. 16) was going to be the day we would start inducing you!!! Maria cried tears of happiness because she had been suffering from Pupps. If you have never heard of this I understand because it only happens to 1% of pregnancies. Pupps is basically hives that start out on your tummy and spread to your legs and arms. To me it looked liked poison ivy. All I know is that it was awful for Maria. She basically hadn’t slept for 4 days due to extreme itchiness especially at night. So just imagine going into labor exhausted!! The Pupps did go away after Alayna was born though so thank God! But anyway that was one of the reasons Maria was being induced but the other was for preeclampsia. We were told to arrive at the hospital at 4 pm that day to start the induction!!!

We left the doctor’s office and made a few stops to pick up the last important items. Then we packed up the car. I of course brought my VEST and nebulizer machine so we had a bunch of stuff. It literally looked like we had our entire house with us. That’s what happens when you stay a few nights away from home with a CFer!!

Before we left for the hospital we dropped JJ off at our local veterinary office where he would be watched and taken care of. A BIG THANK YOU to our vet because they really didn’t have to do this!! Our other dog Mia, was dropped off at Maria’s parents house. Thanks for taking care of Mia! So then it was off to the hospital!!!

We arrived at the hospital at 4 pm and were directed to our labor suite. This was the room where Alayna was going to be born in. Walking into that room felt like a dream though. We were almost at the finish line of our pregnancy journey. Maria got her gown on and the nurse asked her a bunch of questions and started an IV and drew a few vials of blood. Then she left and made a call to our OBGYN to discuss how they would start to induce labor. Well since Maria’s cervix was not very ripe they call it. They had to administer a drug before pitocin would be given. The doctor ordered a pill format called cytotec. Maria did some research after she took the pills and supposedly this pill can induce labor very SOON and cause extreme contractions. Uh Oh!!! Alayna would be on her way soon.

So in the mean time, nothing much was going on just sitting and waiting around for something to happen. But there was something that was really bothering her and that was the IV they placed. First, they placed the IV on her arm and she said it was bothering her and was painful to move around. She told the nurse that they should move the IV to her left arm since she is right handed to begin with. So they moved the IV to the left arm and re taped it again. Then after 15 minutes the IV was bothering her again. This would occur again and again. I think we had 4 or 5 different nurses come in and try to re-tape it again and again with different tapes and ideas. Thank god the last nurse talked to a few people in the hospital and found a way to tape the IV down so it would stop irritating Maria. To be honest I have no idea how they changed it but we were just glad it was better.

The waiting game continued and continued until Maria said I just felt a pop inside of me!!! She said hurry get me out of bed I have to go to bathroom. As she got out of bed there was liquid on the floor that followed her to the bathroom. We called the nurse and asked what that liquid was and she claimed “I think your WATER BROKE!!!!” What really!?!? So at 1 am on October 17, 2012 we entered labor.

The resident OB doctor was called in to exam the dilation but it was to painful for Maria to be examined. The next step was epidural time. For some reason they make the husbands wait outside when they give the epidural. I was told for sanitary purposes. I waited outside in the hallway for 15 minutes. The epidural was placed and started working immediately. There is obvious a reason why God created drugs and that was for people to not have to experience pain. Maria’s advice to anyone that is considering an epidural is to take it because the pain is awful!

The OB resident came back to the room to perform the examination and check for dilation. She stated that “You are 3-4 cms dilated!!!” What really!?!? WOW that’s all I could think. I started thinking wow this could be a fast labor but I always heard with the first child it took the longest. Maria and I were so excited and thought Alayna was going to be with us very soon. But guess again more waiting.

I want to state that through our entire stay at the hospital we talked about our journey to get pregnant with IVF and the PGD (pre genetic diagnosis). If anyone is new to this blog click on the tab IVF to get our full pregnancy story. It was really gratifying telling our story to everyone we met and they really could not believe how far we had come to get our little miracle Alayna. All I can say is that if you are determined enough and can bear through the emotional roller coaster dreams do come true!!

The nursing staff shift was over and we got a new nurse who was a real sweet lady. I think the previous nurse we had actually assigned the nurse to us because she was going through some infertility issues. Anyone that has gone through fertility issues we automatically connect with. You instantly just have this bond with them because you know what it’s like to try and start a family. We showed our nurse my blog and told her our entire IVF story and she said she would follow my blog. So if you are out there reading this thanks for following along and keep your head because miracles do happen!

Ok so anyways, Maria was progressing along like a champ and by 6 am we were told that she was now 9 cm dilated. Oh Wow we couldn’t believe it!!! You need to get to 10 cm to start pushing for anyone who is unfamiliar with all the labor process. We then called both of parents to come back to the hospital as they went home to get some sleep for the big day. They all were on their way back to the hospital.

If anyone has been in labor before, I guess it takes a long time to get to 10 cm dilated. Apparently, that would be the truth for us. Maria finally reached 10 cms about 1 pm on October 17^th. So we were already 12 hours into full blown labor from the time her water broke at 1 am to now 1 pm. Our OBGYN came into the room and said “Ok it’s now time to start pushing!”

I began to prepare the camera and the video camera to capture when Alayna took her first breath of air while the nurse instructed Maria on how push. It all happened so fast like oh ok its now time to get this baby out so push push push. As the the nurse went over the practice pushes she told Maria that she was an excellent pusher!!! Really?!?!? My job in this pushing was to hold one of Maria’s legs and to help count to 10 in 3 sets. Remember Maria has basically not slept in over 4 days!!! So Maria pushed and pushed and pushed some progress was being made but Alayna wasn’t crowning yet! After 3 hours of non stop pushing, at 4 pm the resident OBGYN said we haven’t made much progress and it was time to call our OBGYN and see what he wanted to do next.

One thing to point out is Maria made it a point to tell all the staff that she didn’t want her epidural to run dry or wear off. Maria was completely exhausted and the epidural was starting to wear off and she was in excruciating pain all through her entire back and was screaming and crying in pain. Oh no it was happening what she feared! At this moment, I felt so helpless I couldn’t take away the pain or really do anything to calm her down. It was the worst thing I ever witnessed seeing Maria in such pain and misery. Words will never ever do it justice what I witnessed. But through all this pushing, I saw my wife’s determination even when she was completely exhausted and it was amazing how strong of a woman she really is!!! I cannot put into words of how remarkable you truly are to endure such awful pain honey!

So the nurse talked to our OBGYN and he said he would come down and take a look and see what the plan would be going forward. It took him a few good minutes to get down to our room while Maria was in the worst pain in her entire life. Finally, he arrived and said “Looks like we need to do a cesarean section!!!” Also, another thing to point out is that Maria was really hoping to push Alayna out because she didn’t really want to have a c section not because of the cut but because of the cleanser they clean you with. Maria had a previous laparoscopy and developed a severe reaction to the cleanser they clean you with before surgery. Her reaction was similar to her Pupps experience developing hives all around her stomach that didn’t clear up until well over a month after surgery. The OBGYN stated that they would use a different cleanser on her so she would avoid her previous allergic reaction. So looks like everything was going the wrong way for Maria. Epidural effectiveness was gone and now she was going to have a c section!!

I had to leave the room again while they attempted to place a new epidural and a spinal!! Ok so just think to yourself Maria was in the worst pain of her entire life and had to lay there still while people jammed two needles in her spine. All I could feel was horrible for her! I wish I could have done something to ease the pain but again I was helpless. I returned to the room and it seemed like Maria’s pain was worse!! Yea, I don’t know how to even explain this. She kept telling me that it felt like 5 needles were in her back from the spinal. We called the anesthesiologist in again and again and he reassured us that everything was placed fine etc. Again I felt another moment of helplessness.

Maria kept saying when I am going back to the operating room over and over but in more verbal words that I am not going to share. The nurse said we have 2 of the 3 operating rooms already in use! Really!?!? You got to be kidding me come on my wife is dying in pain!! They had to leave the 3^rdroom open for emergency c sections. Ok Maria said this is an emergency get this baby out now. The nursing staff informed us this was not an emergency at this time and we would have to wait until an operating room was open. Maria asked how much longer will I have to wait!?!? The nurse ran over to the operating room and found out that it wouldn’t be until 5:30 pm! WOW you got to be kidding me!!! Maria had to sit through the worst pain in her entire life for over 90 minutes!!! Those were the longest 90 minutes of her life and mine!

The OBGYN came back into the room and a little before 5:30 pm they started wheeling Maria out of the labor room and into the operating room. I was given my scrubs and was told to wait in the recovery room until a nurse would get me to go back to the operating room to be with Maria and witness the birth of Alayna.

I put my scrubs on as fast as I could and made little holes in the gown to insert my cameras to take those precious photos once Alayna was here. I waited and I waited! About 10 minutes went by and I thought to myself there is no way it should take them that long to get me back into the operating room. I left the recovery room and went to the nurses’station and asked “Why hasn’t anyone came to get me to go back to the operating room?” The one nurse kindly informed “No one told u? That your wife had to be completely put under anesthesia?” I responded “NO!!!!” She told me that Maria was able to feel everything and that the spinal and the epidural was not working!

All I could think at that moment was Oh my God! I wasn’t allowed to be there for my wife when she was going through the worst pain in her entire life and how I wanted to be there when Alayna took her first breaths. Not only did I want to be there for my wife, but the doctors told us if Maria had to be put under anesthesia it could be dangerous to the baby! So now I was a worried mess just sitting there alone in the recovery room not knowing how my precious girls were. All I could think was I just want them both to make it through this c section.

Not more than 5 minutes went by and I heard a baby crying and I knew in my heart that was our little miracle Alayna! But those 5 minutes were the longest 5 minutes of my life. Soon after I heard that beautiful little cry, a nurse came out of the operating room and said would you like to come back and see your daughter! I grabbed my camera and headed back to the operating room and saw Alayna for the first time. I do not really know how to describe seeing her for the first time but it just felt like I was living in a dream. I touched her little arm and took a few photos before I had to leave the operating room no less than 30 seconds when I arrived. I thanked God that Alayna was delivered safely and my focus then turned to my wife.

Before the nurse came to get me to go back to the operating room she said that both mom and baby were doing fine. But I just couldn’t help but worry. I waited back in the recovery room and a few minutes later the nurse brought Alayna to me all bundled up and I got to hold her for the first time. At that moment, I became so emotional tears started flowing and I cried tears of happiness for about an hour straight. Alayna was so alert when she was with me. Her big beautiful eyes were glued to me and her tongue she kept sticking out. She would make these cooing sounds and yawns. I will remember holding Alayna for the first time for the rest of my life. The only thing though that was missing was Maria in this moment and I wished so bad that she could have witnessed that with me.

The OBGYN met with me in the recovery room and we talked about the c section. He informed me that Maria did really well through surgery but there were a few things. She lost a quart of blood due to all the cutting they had to do and then he mentioned something that almost made me fall out of my chair. He asked “Didn’t Maria have a clamp put on her left fallopian tube?” I said “Yes!” He then replied“Well that clamp is NOT on the fallopian tube it’s on a cluster of veins!!!!” Really! That’s all I said. So if you remember from my IVF post. If you don’t I will explain. Maria had some fertility issues before we even started this IVF process. The first was her right fallopian tube was blocked and full of scar tissue. So they did a laparoscopy to remove the right fallopian tube and part of the right ovary. During this surgery we both talked about placing a clamp on the left fallopian tube to prevent pregnancies due to the increased risk of our children being born with CF as Maria is a gene carrier. We even wanted them to remove the left fallopian tube but the doctors were against it. So they placed a little clamp that looks like a staple on her left fallopian tube. As you can see during her laparoscopy the doctor made a BIG mistake by placing the clamp on veins! I will post more about this in another post because this news sent the both of us into emotional nightmares worrying about Alayna having cystic fibrosis.

Maria was finally wheeled out of the operating room but she was still out of it. We stayed back in the recovery room for a good 5 hours until they allowed her to go to room where we would spend the next 4 days in. They made sure that Maria wasn’t bleeding internally so no blood transfusion was needed. Thank God!

Finally, Maria was able to see Alayna for the first time about almost midnight on the 17^th. So just think you’re a new mom and haven’t seen your baby for almost 6 hours!!! But I will always remember seeing Maria hold Alayna for the first time because it made our journey finally complete!

All three of us left the hospital healthy on Saturday October 20^th and were on our way home. It was the end of pregnancy journey and the new beginning of our life with Alayna.

Before I end this post I learned a lot about my wife Maria. She has shown me that she is stronger and tougher than anyone else I have ever known. Witnessing her through this labor was something that I will never forget. She never gave up once during all those hours of pushing and she was so determined to deliver Alayna. Maria suffered from extreme exhaustion but she never once ever said I cannot do this anymore. All I can say honey is that I look up to you on your courage and dedication. We both experienced a living nightmare through our labor experience but I now know we can get through anything together! I know this maybe be our only pregnancy due to our awful experience during the labor but it is something I will cherish for the rest of my life! I love you Maria!!! You are my soul mate!!!

So thanks for sticking this post out and for those of you who did read the entire post THANK YOU!!!

This post was meant to document our labor process and share it with you all. I know there are people out there who read this that will be delivering soon so just know that everyone's labor is different!!! Also, be prepared to plan for the unexpected!!!

Here are some photos......................

Before the delivery a happy wife!

The two of us in Maria's hospital bed!

This was the first ever photo Alayna had taken by anyone!!

Look at these huge feet!! So adorable!

Peacefully sleeping!

Hospital photoshoot she is a little doll!

Hi gorgeous!

Alayna sitting in daddy's hand!

Mommy kissing Alayna!

Family Photo Time!









On our way home as a family for the first time to start our new chapter in life!!!