Adley’s Birth Story

It was at our 20ish week anatomy scan that we found out our daughter had a two-vessel umbilical cord. Typically, umbilical cords have one vein and two arteries, and mine only had 1 artery. A doctor came in and told us, saying this presents in about 2% of pregnancies. Usually everything is fine, but it can affect the growth in the third trimester. Because of this, we would have another ultrasound around 32 weeks to make sure she was growing well. After researching this further, it seemed like most of the time, everything turned out just fine besides some women getting induced.

We had our 32 week ultrasound and everything was looking good. The home stretch was on its way with a due date of November 30th, 2018.

That home stretch didn’t last long.

It was Sunday night, October 28, 2018. After church, I had the desire, motivation (and the need was there) to clean our house. It was a small, 1300 sq. foot house and we loved it. We could use one plug to vacuum the whole house. With some vacuuming, dusting and laundry done, we were starting off the week well.

My husband and I went to bed that night around 10:45/11, just like any other normal night. Not even five minutes into turning the light off, I felt a gush of something coming from me. I quickly turned the light on, pulled the blankets off and went right to the toilet where water continued to steadily come out. I knew it was my water breaking.

This wasn’t supposed to happen yet! I had just passed 35 weeks. It was too early. We tried not to panic but didn’t really know what to do either besides call the hospital and see what they’d say. We didn’t even have our bags packed.

My husband called and then we had to wait for the on-call nurse to call us back. They didn’t call back for a little while, so I just started directing him on what to pack, knowing we would probably be going to the hospital regardless. He also called his brother to see if they could help with Elisha.

The nurse finally called and said we should come in. Thankfully my husband’s brother was able to come over and spend the night to watch Elisha for us.

On the way to the hospital, I didn’t even know what to think. I wasn’t too scared, but I didn’t know what to expect either. I wasn’t contracting nor having any other signs of labor.

We reached DuPont Hospital, got in to triage, and I was hooked up to monitoring. I was only 1 cm with a favorable cervix (meaning it was already in a good process of softening and thinning). Because my water had clearly broken, and I was only just past 35 weeks, I was admitted. This was all around 12 am heading into Monday, October 29th.

After that, all the things took place. I didn’t know what was okay, necessary or needed, so I let what happened happen. Continued monitoring, IV placement with fluids (which again took forever to place), and antibiotics. Because I hadn’t gotten tested for Group B Strep, I needed to get the antibiotics in me in case I had it. And that had to be in my system for a certain amount of time before I had the baby, which meant I had to have them going for a while before they started Pitocin to induce labor.

The antibiotics started at 1:30. I tried to rest and sleep, but that only works so well when you’re in this kind of situation. At 4:30 they started Pitocin. Thankfully, the midwife I had been seeing was actually able to be at this birth. She came in sometime around 5/5:30. I was so thankful to see her and hear her encouragement.

I don’t know how much Pitocin they gave me. I didn’t even know to ask how much they were giving me and how often they were increasing it. I do remember the nurse coming in regularly and futzing with the IV bag. And I know that contractions started within 20 to 30 minutes of starting the Pitocin and were continuing to increase in consistency and intensity on a regular basis.

I did some laboring on the birth ball, but when you’re hooked up to everything like that, it’s really hard to move. No tub. No shower. And mostly bed, especially when the contractions got more and more intense.

At one point, probably around 7/7:30ish, when contractions were very regular and rough, and I had been laboring for a while, I had the nurse check me. I was only 5 cm. Ugh. I still had a long way to go and that was tough to take in. Then the peanut ball was recommended to me. Oh, the peanut ball. What an effective, horrible thing you are.

A peanut ball can be used in different ways. I used it to put between my knees and open my pelvis. So much pain through each contraction. But I knew I was getting closer and closer with every contraction. It didn’t take too long before I started feeling more pressure and more urge to push. After some help from my midwife to remove the lip of cervix that was remaining to be fully dilated, by 8:30 I was ready to start pushing. I was so ready for the agony to be over. As I pushed with all of my might, as the tears started coming just ready to be done, and with the directed help and perineal support from my midwife, at 8:42 AM, my very small 4 lb. 12 oz. and 18” girl was born. Our little Adley Kay.

Due to her being early, a NICU nurse and others were in the room to make sure she was okay. My midwife cut the cord quickly, which happened to be only 7 inches long, and the nurses took her to a nearby cart to make sure she was healthy and not needing extra support.

By the grace of God, she was just fine, and I was able to hold her quickly on my chest. She was so little and had the faint look of a porcelain doll. My midwife said she was glad she was out. With the 2 vessel and short umbilical cord, more complications could have occurred that could have been much worse.

It had been a whirlwind of barely 10 hours. From nothing being suspected, to my water breaking to having our baby girl 5 weeks early. Good thing I had just cleaned the house.

While we are so thankful our little girl was healthy as early as she was, it was still a difficult start. Between keeping her body temperature up early on, tackling high bilirubin levels for over a week with a photo therapy light and lots of heel poke blood tests, and feeding issues that turned into exclusive pumping, our work was cut out for us for a while. These details will be covered in future posts and blogs. But to say the least, it was an emotional journey.

When I look back, I still wonder how things could have been different. If I had known what questions to ask and if there were other possibilities of how to tackle the situation at large, could things have been better? But I also see our little miracle girl. Tiny, though strong and healthy. And I thank God that nothing worse happened in the process.