Birth Story

The moment finally happened. . . we had our precious angel on November 17th, 2011. I am going to share our birth story, and it will be long mostly because I want to remember all of the details.

Just arrived at the hospital!

On Wednesday, November 16th we checked into the Intermountain Medical Center at 9:00 pm to start our induction. My body wasn't ready to have a baby, so we checked in Wednesday night to start the induction with a "cervial rippening" to help ready my cervix for dilation. When checking into the hospital I was dilated to a 1 and about 50% effaced - not very favorable for the beginning of an induction. We checked into our room, and when the nurse came into our room she called me Amanda. I corrected her, and she said, "Oh, you go by Mandy?" and I said, "No, Mandy is my name, it's not Amanda." After I said that she started asking me what my birthday was, and all sorts of questions. Come to find out she had my correct file, but the patient information sheet that the front desk had printed for her was for an Amanda Godwin who was due around the same time as me. Totally weird! Then she realized that we were in the wrong room because this room had a regular hospital bed, not a delivery bed. I was worried that this was going to be the start of an extremely long, scary experience from the way it was starting. Our nurseended up being FABULOUS! Her name was Nicole, and she made me feel very comfortable after we switched rooms and started the process.

They started giving me the cytotec to help my cervix thin out so that it could begin to dilate at 10:00 pm. Every three hours they came into our room to give me another dose, and they offered me an ambien to help me sleep because they said that I would be cramping and uncomfortable because of the cytotec. I took the sleeping pill, and ended up sleeping great the whole night (which my doctor wasn't very happy about the next morning - he wanted me to be up all night because that would mean that something was happening with my cervix). At 8:00 am on Thursday, November 17th Dr. Froerer came in to check me, and I was still dilated to a 1 and 50% effaced, so he decided to break my water. I was so overwhelmed when he broke my water that I started bawling! Not really because it was painful, but because him breaking my water surprised me. It was a complete gush of warm fluid that I couldn't control at all! I felt like I had wet my pants, but with buckets and buckets of water. After Dr. Froerer broke my water they started me on Pitocin to help increase my contractions. Once they did this, I could feel the contractions getting stronger and stronger as the hours passed. I knew that I was going to be getting an epideral, but I didn't want to get it too early because I wanted to still feel in control for a while, so I waited until 11:00 am before getting it. By this time my contractons were painful enough that I was very uncomfortable, and I had to really focus and breath through each one.

Anxiously waiting to become new parents!

Waiting to deliver!

Matt's dad was the first visitor to arrive at the hospital. He showed up at around 9:30 am, and my parents showed up at around 10:30 am. It was nice to have people come to the hospital to show their support for us during this exciting time. Matt's mom and step-dad showed up a little bit later as well. They all spent their entire day at the hospital waiting on the arrival of this little miracle.

My cute mom showed up to support us.

At 11:00 am the anasthesiologist came in to give me the epideral, which made me nervous, but he ended up being amazing! The worst part was getting the numbing shot before the epideral. When he put the epideral in he said that I would feel a ZING on one side of my body, and this was just a way to see that he had hit the right spot. When I felt the zing I completely jumped! It felt like the whole left side of my leg had been struck by lightening. It was a crazy sensation!! Once it kicked in I felt so much better, and I couldn't even feel the contractions after that. We put a movie in, "The Pursuit of Happiness," and I was finally able to relax and take a little bit of a nap.

My mom, and Matt's mom and Boyd

Watching the monitor of contractions and Maelynn's heartbeat.

My mom bought Maelynn a darling newborn outfit for us to bring her home from the hospital in. Darling!!

At about 2:00 pm the nurse checked me again, and I was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced, which was such good news to me that things were actually progressing. I felt like I was going to be at a 1 forever, and it was not a good feeling. Dr. Froerer came to check on me around this time, and he was frustrated that I wasn't making faster progress, and started preparing me that I might have to have a c-section (which was not what I wanted to do). He said that the baby wasn't in the birth canal, she was off to the side so her head was cocked a bit to the side, so she wasn't really helping me dilate at all. The nurse that I had at that time was Donna - LOVED HER!! She suggested to Dr. Froerer that we put a belly band around me to help center the baby and push her down. Dr. Froerer liked that idea, so she put it on and check me again - HUGE difference! She could actually feel her head putting pressure on my cervix getting things ready to go. At around 4:00 they checked me again and I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced - the band was working!! I felt so much better knowing that I had made it to a 4, because they said that was the hard part and dilating the rest of the way would be much easier.

I was exhausted! It has been a LONG day!

At 6:00 they check me again and I was dilated to a 6 and 100% effaced (0 station). That belly band helped me dilate about 1 centemeter every hour, and it continued to work the whole night. By 9:00 pm I was dilated to a 9 and 0 station and they began prepping me for surgery. The baby was turned to the side instead of face down, so they rolled me on my side to see if gravity would turn her the right direction. By 10:00 I'd been in labor for about 14 hours and the baby started having a little bit of stress and her oxygen levels were low, so they put an oxygen mask on me. My mom and sister Lisa came into the room around this time, and I think I scared my mom a little bit because of the oxygen mask. I started crying when I saw Lisa because I didn't know that she was going to be at the hospital, and I thought it was really sweet of her to show up just in time for the delivery. At about 10:30 they were getting me ready to start pushing, my doctor had been called and was on his way to deliver the baby, but the on call doctor (Dr. Terry) was there to help me get started pushing. I had two nurses, Dr. Terry, and Matt in the room. Matt held one leg while the nurses helped with the other leg. My left leg was completely numb, so it was really hard for me to pick it up when it was time to push because I couldn't feel it at all. I'd been pushing for about 5 minutes when Dr. Froerer showed up. My contractions had slowed down a bit, so I had to wait about 2 minutes in between each push (which I kind of loved, but Dr. Froerer didn't love it). While I was pushing I remember hearing Matt making noises. I thought at first that he was laughing, but when I opened my eyes I saw that he was crying. Matt doesn't cry often, so it was really special to see that it was affecting him as much as it was affecting me. Once Dr. Froerer was there she was crowning, and I only pushed for about 20 minutes before Dr. Froerer looked at Matt and asked if he had his camera ready because the next push was going to bring the baby into the world. Matt looked very paniced because he had packed all of the luggage, camera included, while I was in labor. I said, "Go get my mom. She can take pictures for us." So the nurse went into the waiting room and asked my mom to come in the room. She was ready, camera in hand.

At 11:10 pm I pushed one last time, and Dr. Froerer set this beautiful baby on my belly. She only cried once or twice, then she turned her head and looked right at me. We made eye contact within the first seconds of her life! It was the most incredible moment of my life! Matt cut the umbilical cord, they wiped her off, and the nurse held her up for my mom to take a picture of, then they layed her right on my chest, skin-to-skin, and I was able to just hold my little baby girl for the first time ever. She was beautiful, completely alert, eyes wide open, and perfect! She didn't cry. She was just content. They let me hold her this way for quite a while before taking her to weigh and measure her. This was such a special moment. I felt like it was just her and I in the room alone with one another. Such an incredible bonding moment.

Maelynn's first picture - literally seconds after she was born.

This was right before she turned her head to look at me. Such a beautiful little angel!

The first time mommy got to hold her little angel.

7 lbs 6 oz

Her big moment!!

Getting checked out - she was so content and didn't cry much at all.

Maelynn Goodwin weighed in at 7 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20 inches long. She stayed awake for most of the night, and didn't cry at all. She was just taking it all in. Once Dr. Froerer was finished with me, we let all of the family into the room to see their new granddaughter and niece. Everyone was able to hold her and love her before they moved us into our new room upstairs. It was about 12:30 by the time we made it into our room for the night. We decided to let Maelynn go to the nursery to sleep since it had been such a long day, and we were both exhausted! They brought her back every few hours to feed her. Both of us had a fever that first night, but everything ended up being fine with both of us. Healthy baby and healthy mommy. I didn't get feeling back into my legs until about 3:00 in the morning, which made it hard to function, but I was glad that I had the epideral! It made for a painless delivery - not a quick one, but at least painless.

Daddy's first time holding his baby girl.

Wonderful Dr. Froerer - we love him!!

These were the awesome nurses that helped during delivery.

First family picture

 

New Mommy and Maelynn

  She is an amazing little girl! We are so lucky to have such an amazing baby. She is calm, quiet, and content most of the time. When she gets upset her cry is low and raspy. Sometimes she has a cry that sounds like "The Count" from "Sesame Street" . . . 1, ah, ah, ah . . . 2, ah, ah, ah . . . (so stinkin cute!!) We are in love!!

Maelynn and Grandma Pam

Maelynn and Grandma Kathy

Maelynn with Grandpa Steve

Maelynn with Grandpa Ben

Maelynn with Grandpa Boyd

The whole gang: Boyd, Ben, Pam, Lisa, Mandy, Maelynn, Matt, Kathy, Steve