Henlee Brielle Parkin
June 1, 2017
6 lbs. 8 oz. and 19" long
On the week of Memorial Day, exactly 2 years after we first
moved to Logan, my mom came up from Vegas to stay with us for two weeks, hoping
to time things right for when our sweet little baby would be born. My due date was June 4th, which was that
Sunday, and my mom was planning on leaving June 13th. We definitely hoped the baby would come
sooner rather than later so my mom’s time would be well spent, and get to
actually spend time with her new grand baby instead of waiting around, hoping I
would go into labor (my doctor wouldn’t induce me til the 12th, so
that would mean my mom would get next to no time with her, and not be there
with me and Hesston for that somewhat scary transition of bring a new baby
home!)
Luckily, that Thursday while I was at work, I was actually
texting my sister in law Jada about labor signs, because I noticed I was having
a lot more “period-like” cramps vs. the Braxton Hicks I had so much of
earlier.
She was saying, "Well it's June now...just so you know" (haha, I had been saying all along how the baby wasn't allowed to come in May cuz I wanted a June baby...and well, I got my wish!) By 1:00 PM that day, I could
tell I was getting more and more “cramps”.
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| Here's some screenshots of mine and Hesston's conversation right up until I went into labor. I love that Hesston was sending me ideas of how to induce labor, and I was still determined it was not the day, and that I was gonna make it 'til lunch...HA! I definitely got proven wrong :) |
While I was trying to close up
shop at my job, explaining last minute things to my personal trainers (I worked
at the employee gym at USU), I had such a strong and painful contraction that I
couldn’t even talk, and had to tell my trainers to give me a minute cuz I
couldn’t move or say anything until it passed lol.
They definitely were a little worried!
Luckily I had already called Hesston like 15
minutes earlier saying I think I needed him to come get me, and boy was I
right!
Luckily he showed up soon after that
last bad contraction, and we left my gym and headed for the hospital!
Luckily Hesston had packed all of our
hospital bags and car seat, but we did need to grab phone chargers, so I told
him I felt good enough to go home first.
I stayed in the truck while he ran in and grabbed the chargers (and my
makeup bag, cuz I could not live without that lol).
My mom came out and asked if it was really go
time, and I said “Yep!” I was definitely not loving the pain I was in haha.
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| Logan Regional Hospital {AKA the BEST place to have a baby!!} |
We drove to the hospital, which was about 10 minutes from
our house, and I had 3-4 really good contractions just in that short
drive!
I tried coping with the pain by
pushing my foot into the footrest of the truck, but it only helped a
little.
That epidural could not come
soon enough lol.
We got to the hospital,
went up to Labor and Delivery, and told them I was pretty sure I was in
labor.
They asked how far along I was,
and I told them 39 weeks and 4 days (they hardly believed me cuz my belly just
never got very big lol).
Anyways, they
got me into a room and had me get changed into a gown.
Hesston helped me in the bathroom, and soon
after, I got situated on the bed.
The
contractions were still coming on strong, and I just squeezed Hesston’s hand as
hard as I could to try and help.
I also
would squeeze the bed rail (I guess squeezing things with my hands is my pain
coping mechanism lol), but my hands were getting really tired, so I was
definitely asking for my epidural at this point.
My fear was that I would progress too fast
and not get it in time!
When they first
checked me to see how dilated I was, I was about 4 ½ cm!
Luckily, my epidural came within an hour
after getting to the hospital.
When I
was getting the epidural, I remember bending over while holding Hesston’s hand,
and he had to take his wedding ring off cuz I was squeezing his hand so hard
and it was hurting him lol.
My
anesthesiologist was really nice, and she said she had been doing it for over
14 years, so I knew I was in good hands!
And boy, she really was good at her job.
It really didn’t even hurt at all!
Probably because contractions are just so much worse haha.
The epidural first took on my left side, and
they told me it works by gravity so they had me roll over, and wait about 15
minutes before it took full effect.
My
right side went numb just like she said it would (thank goodness!), and I was a
happy camper from there on out! (Hesston jokes that I went from a “dragon” to
“high as a kite Bob Marley” after that HAHA!)
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| That epidural definitely worked some magic! |
For the next hour, we just had the TV on to kill time and to distract me
(we watched Family Feud the whole time haha), and I had my mom go around and
get some pictures of our hospital room, and a couple other fun pictures so I
could remember the details
J
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| The details board showing all the people involved, and the things I was wanting for my birth process |
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| Getting into the hospital bed! |
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| We're ready to go! |
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| The monitor showing my heart rate and contractions |
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| Baby's exam table |
Within an hour, they came and checked me again, and I was
already at a 7!
They then had Dr. Noorda
who was on call come in and break my water
(I remember being glad I was numb for that part cuz it kinda freaked me out
to think how close I was getting, and feeling the water gushing out would have
been a little scary!)
Anyways, now that
my water was broken, the contractions started coming really close together, and baby girl couldn’t catch a break.
Her heart rate went from being in the 150-190
range to only 60’s (ya, super scary!) Four nurses rushed into the room, and
Hesston started getting really nervous, and said that was the only time he felt
himself get lightheaded and tunnel vision like he was going to pass out.
I don’t remember feeling overly nervous, I
knew I was in good hands, but they put an oxygen mask on me, explained what was
happening, and gave me a shot of a drug that slows down labor.
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| A slightly blurry picture, but it's one of the few I got with my amazing nurse Alysha! |
The nurse said she knew it seemed
counterintuitive to want to stop labor, but the baby needed to get a break from
all the contractions that were coming one on top of the other.
Within what felt like only 5 minutes,
things seemed to be ok again, and luckily baby’s heart rate was back where it needed to
be.
It was only an hour after they broke
my water (so about 6:00 PM) when I was dilated to a 10!
Since I had the epidural, they make you wait
an extra hour (called “rest and descend”) so that gravity can just work on
helping the baby slowly come further into the birth canal.
At 7:15 PM, the nurse came in and said we could start trying
a few pushes!
They put the leg stirrups
up (which kind of freaked me out, again just realizing how close we were to
having a baby!), and with the help of Hesston and my mom, the nurse coached me
through the contractions (which had to be seen on the monitor since I couldn’t
feel a THING! Haha) I would push for 10 seconds, 3 times whenever I would
have a contraction).
It was pretty
tiring!
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| The nurses had to help slide me up the bed and get me into position since I was too numb to do it myself haha |
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They had told me that I had 3
hours to push, and then if baby wasn’t here yet, it would be C-section time.
I of course took that as a challenge, and
said to myself “no way am I having a C-section, I am stronger than that!”
So I pushed and pushed (which really was
quite difficult since like I said before, I was NUMB as can be and couldn’t
feel anything lol).
I didn’t think it
would take me as long as it did, but I pushed for a solid hour before they even
contacted the doctor.
As I pushed with
the nurse, Henlee got closer and closer to crowning, and they could see her
hair!
It was funny because the nurse said
“looks like we’ve got some dark hair!” and Hesston looks at me jokingly, saying
“Annalisa, is there something you need to tell me?” Lol…he’s a total blondie,
and my hair isn’t much darker.
The nurse
assured him that it’s probably only because it’s wet so it looked darker than
it was.
Of course of all days, I went into labor on a Thursday, which
was my doctor’s only day off.
So I was a
little bummed when they said Dr. Fowers wasn’t going to deliver me, and they
don’t even contact them to let them know!
(Otherwise they would never get a day off, which makes sense).
They just use whoever is on call.
Lucky for me, when they told me it was Dr.
Blackett on call, I was super relieved!
Everyone I have ever talked to LOVES Dr. Blackett, and so I felt very blessed
that I at least got to have her.
And she
really was so great!
Such a sweet, kind
doctor, I honestly would have loved to have her as my doctor in the
future.
Anyways, at about 8:40 or so
(about an hour and 15 minutes from when I started pushing), Dr. Blackett got
into position!
Luckily, all of my
pushing had paid off, even though I could never really tell if I was doing it
right lol.
Baby girl was close!
I only pushed for another 15 or so minutes,
and as she was getting really close to having her head out, the nurse told me
to give it all I got!
Again, the
competitor in me was ready to just beat the clock and get her out, so I pushed
really hard!
Dr. Blackett said “hold on,
slow down just a bit!”
I got a little
too gung ho and got a nice little 2
nd degree tear haha.
Once again, SO grateful for that wonderful
epidural lol.
With just a few more
“gentler” pushes, baby girl’s head popped out, and it wasn’t much longer til the
rest of her body came out too!
I
remember it being the weirdest feeling of “emptying” my body as Dr. Blackett
pulled her out!
But it was such a neat
experience!
Seeing my baby for the first
time was very surreal, and they laid her on my tummy right after she was born.
Henlee cried a bit as I held her on
me and that’s when the emotions hit, and I was trying to soothe her and tell
her “mommy’s here” and just stroke her head…definitely got the tears flowing
lol.
Once the umbilical cord had a chance to empty the blood back into baby
(known as delayed cord clamping…having that extra cord blood helps babies recover
faster), Dr. Blackett asked Hesston if he wanted to cut the cord at that point
(I’m glad they let him decide in the moment…he wasn’t so sure about it in the
beginning lol) But he felt good, and decided to cut it!
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| So glad we got a picture of daddy cutting the cord! |
They then took her over to the table to get
her measurements, and do the other necessary treatments on her.
We had all made bets on which day she’d be
born, her weight, and her height, and Hesston bragged that he got two out of
three lol.
ALL of us guessed too low on
her weight...she was a six pounder like I thought, but none of us guessed as
high as 6 lbs. 8 oz!
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| Getting her first shots :( |
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| But daddy was soon there to comfort her :) |
They brought her
back over to me, and let me hold her on my chest skin to skin for a nice long
time.
They give you two hours in labor
and delivery to just spend time with baby before getting moved to the
Mother-Baby unit, which was so nice!
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| Baby was excited to meet Grandma! |
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| Testing my legs out post-epidural...glad it wore off fast! |
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| Heading to Mother-Baby Unit! |
The whole experience of giving birth to my first baby was so special to me, and I could not be more grateful for how everything turned out. I was blessed with the nicest hospital, the kindest and most skilled nurses and doctors, the most supportive husband and mother, and the most beautiful baby in the world! I am such a lucky girl, and honestly can't wait to do it all again ;)
