Willow's Birth Story

I've told this story a number of times now, and each time I still can't believe that it happened to me.  In the end, while I didn't want Willow to arrive early, I'm so happy about how everything turned out.

So, some background... and sorry if any of this is TMI... but over the last month I have had a couple UTI's (bladder infections).  The doctors just put me on a generic antibiotic and both times it got better... I was still on the second round of antibiotics up until the day before she arrived. So Tuesday I went to work and felt fine, but throughout the day I was getting some signs that I was losing my mucus plug. Kinda freaked out, I called the clinic and they said to just keep my appt in 2 days and call if I was in any pain.  Wednesday morning (February 15th) I was getting much more definite signs that I was losing my mucus plug and I totally freaked out...still no pain, but enough preterm labor signs to call the on-call doctor at 7am.  He said to go right in to the clinic to get checked when they open at 9am.  In the meantime, Paul and I decided that 'just in case' we would write out our birth plan and at least write a list of things we needed to pack for the hospital.  So we did that, and then went in to the clinic at 9am.  They are always so good at seeing us quickly for an emergency! We saw Dr. Hwang, who I hadn't met before, but we both really liked. her.  She checked me and assured me that I wasn't dilated at all and it didn't look like I was in labor. They hooked me up to monitors for 30 minutes and didn't see any patterns of labor, baby was healthy. So she told me to go home and I could go back to work if I was feeling up to it.  At this point, I was having twinges of pain that felt like UTI pain, but happened sporadically. I tried to time them but it was so mild I kept forgetting when to notice that they stopped.  So I called in 'pregnant' to work (first sick day EVER) and stayed home and drank cranberry juice and laid down and just tried to relax. Paul went to work as usual.

2:00pm: ALL OF THE SUDDEN, the 'twinges of pain' I was experiencing went from a level 4 to a level 9 on the pain scale.  Gripping kind of pain. And in between these spasms of pain, my baseline pain was a level 5.  There was no relief! I knew something was wrong, but I still didn't think it was labor because there was no break between the spasms! And it felt like a really really bad UTI.  So I called the on call doc again and he said go to the hospital to get blood work and make sure I wasn't in labor.  I called Paul and he came home from work, we grabbed 4 random items and threw them in a bag, and off we went to the hospital.  The only way I could cope with the drive was to put the seat all the way back, facing backward and grip the headrest.  I wanted to use my hypnobabies techniques but I didn't think was in labor, I didn't think that the pain was something my body was supposed to be feeling. I thought I had an infection, and that's what I told the nurses when we arrived at the hospital (around 3:30). "I'm not in labor, I just have a UTI and need to get some blood work done".  They still convinced me to get into a wheelchair to go up to the L&D unit.

3:45 - 4:30: The nurses got an IV in me, got some samples for culturing, gave me some Fentanol (which was effective for about 10 minutes), and then around 4:30 they checked me since I was showing 'some patterns of contractions that may be labor'. Sure enough, I was 2 cm dilated.  I watched the hairs stand up on Paul's arms, as we both realized that we were having a baby NOW.  Through out all of this, Paul was a rock. He was calm and confident and kept reassuring me that we would get through this and get it figured out, even though he was somewhat freaked.

5:15ish: The nurse checked my dilation again (note this is 45 minutes after I was 2cm), and I was at 7cm. Wow! At least all that work wasn't for nothing! I was trying my best to relax through the contractions and between them, but I kept feeling gyped that I didn't get a break between contractions, it still was about a level 5 between them.  As they got closer together, I contemplated an epidural... this isn't what I had in mind, but it was happening so fast I didn't think I could handle it. So the anesthesiologist came in and he is explaining how an epidural works and the risks, etc, and I can't even process anything he's saying except that he must be an idiot if he thinks I can understand any of that in the state I'm in.  He gets gloved up and has his mask on, and the nurse checks me one more time.... 9cm.  "So I'm in transition? I'm almost there?"  After a moment of deliberation I decided to just go for it, no epidural. BEST decision I ever made (also because it wouldn't have had time to take effect!).  The nurses at Lutheren, by the way, are AWESOME!.  So encouraging and really helped me have a healthy birth! Once I was at 10cm and started to push, I thought I was going to burst a blood vessel in my eye or something... how that doesn't happen at most births, I don't know. Anyway, the doctor from my OB group that was on the floor was Dr. Hwang from the morning, but she was tied up at another birth.  I pushed for about 20 minutes, and I think Dr. Hwang showed up when the baby was crowning. A few pushes later and Willow Jean Hulse was born at 6:39pm!!! It was WONDERFUL to hear her cry (they actually recorded it for me, I listen to it a couple times a day!). They just put her on my chest for a few seconds, then they had to take her to the NICU since she was a preemie.

Our doula arrived shortly before the birth and helped so much with getting me through the last part of pushing.  She stayed after and helped us adjust and figure out the first part of breastfeeding.  Kira arrived about 10 minutes after the birth... she went to our house and found the 'hospital bag' list and got as many things as she could find to bring to us.  She was amazing, I think she did better than Paul would have done finding that stuff... although some of it was obsolete since we were past the 'labor' part of our hospital stay.  Friends brought us food and visited, and we just spent those two days in the hospital getting adjusted to the fact that WE HAVE A BABY.

Willow was 5 lbs even, 18 inches long.  Breathing well, didn't need oxygen.  Held her temperature on her own outside the incubator.  Blood sugar was mostly good.  She only received breast milk, we shelled out $20 for 4 oz of donor milk (twice).  Since her stats looked so good, they discharged her from the NICU and let her room in with us about 24 hours after her birth.  They said if blood sugar and everything else (SO MANY TESTS) looked good, she could go home in another 24 hours, when I would be discharged.  Since she passed her tests with flying colors, she was discharged on February 17th in the evening.

We were pretty unprepared for her arrival, but it turns out we were just prepared enough.  What a baby really needs is food, warmth and love, and luckily we could give her all of that.  No, we didn't have curtains or blinds in the nursery. The kitchen was a mess. No food in the house.  We didn't have any clothes to fit a preemie.  But we had everything that we really needed, and with the help of our friends and family we got adjusted to life with a tiny, perfect baby.  She is gaining weight well, almost back up to her birth weight and still has 4 days to go until she is 2 weeks old.  She sleeps like a champ, and is still figuring out breastfeeding and eating.  She spends most of her time swaddled up and in someone's arms, which is exactly where she belongs.