Rekindling the Blog: Ty's Birth Story
Posted by Kelsea , Tuesday, April 9, 2013 8:35 PM
So I haven't written on here since 2010?? Yikes!
Sitting here with a borrowed laptop on my lap I feel semi-uncomfortable.I am 30 weeks pregnant and my baby Reese has been doing jumping jacks. There are lots of people around me that are pregnant. I have been seeing posts on Facebook about everyone's pregnancy and birth experiences. 2013 is the year for babies! I get two new nieces (one of which has already arrived) and Baby Reese should be here end of May/beginning of June. I get asked all the time about what my pregnancies were like with Ty and Zak and how they compare to this one. How unique they each have been! Here are my pregnancy and birth stories for you to peruse and for me to keep on record. Please excuse the medical and/or womanly function references.
Ty Lev:
We found out we were pregnant with Ty on our 5 year anniversary (8/10/2007). We had been trying for about a year and I had taken two doses of Clomid and while on our anniversary trip to Washington DC, my period was late. I made a little side trip to CVS to buy two pregnancy tests, both of which gave me two double lines. I didn't believe it at first as if it were a surreal fluke but when we got home to UT we confirmed it. We had just moved to Tremonton UT after Brandon graduated from BYU earlier that year and he had started a new job at ATK. I saw Ty's heartbeat at 6 weeks and didn't wait to tell anyone. Our doctor was the only OBGYN in Tremonton, Dr. Starr. At first I was concerned about the lack of choices in providers but he (and especially the nurses) ended up being great.
I got all the way to 20 weeks with no morning sickness or ailments of any kind. I started showing in November and found out we were having a boy in December. I wasn't sure how to feel at first coming from a family of four girls, no brothers. Once we decided on his name, it felt more real and we planned his room decor and continued to plan for our budding families. One issue that happened was that my weight gain started kicking in and quickly. I gained 18 lbs in 4 weeks. Although I had no other complications, I began gaining a lot more weight and retaining tons of water. When I was well into my 3rd trimester my blood pressure was high and I was on watch every week for pre-eclampsia. My swelling was still bad and I had gained about 70 lbs. Ty's due date was April 12 but due to the signs not waning they set my induction date for March 31, 2008 at 7am.
My mom and Lori came to Tremonton for the big event as well as my sister Kylee and of course Brandon was there. I checked in at 7am and they started Pitocin. The IV was the worst part because my nurse couldn't find a vein. I still remember that as the most painful part. I was pretty relaxed and even though I was having contractions I wasn't feeling them. My nurse broke my water (with only her finger) and it was like Niagra falls. Once I was dilated to a 4 I got an epidural around 1pm. I didn't have any problems with it at all and I felt such a weird feeling in my legs! I was very relaxed but a little while later I had trouble breathing and my skin started itching. I was able to rest for a couple hours and they gave me an oxygen mask for a little while. In the afternoon sometime we started watching the monitor and I was having intense intense contractions that I couldn't feel. One actually made me throw up and Brandon grabbed an empty bucket labeled "Placenta" just in time. I was dilated to a 10 by 5pm and I started feeling intense pain again so they gave me a booster of the epidural. I started pushing at 545pm and pushed for two hours before Ty made his appearance. I had Brandon, Lori, my mom and Ky around the bed and Kylee was by my head video taping. The battery died right before Ty came out. I remember being very focused like I was having an out of body experience. I mustered strength I didn't know I had. Dr. Starr could tell I was starting to tire and offered to use the forceps and I didn't want that. I tuned into Ky's voice telling me to keep going. It helped a lot. The last push was of course the hardest and little Ty Ty emerged into the world. He didn't cry and several nurses came in and took him over to the infant receiving table to check his vitals. I began to worry because he wasn't crying. Dr. Starr was sewing me up from my episiotomy and told me not to worry or else he would be over there taking care of Ty. Ty was pinking up and breathing totally fine, he was just tired from being pushed out. He had a bruise on his little forehead. Ty weighed 8lbs 1oz and was 20.25'' long.
When he was all cleaned up they handed him to me and I was in such a daze I couldn't believe what I had just done. I remember being alarmed by the fact that he was rolling his eyes all around and that his little fingers and toes were cold. Let the worries begin! We decided to try breastfeeding and he latched right away. But an hour later they took him to the incubator because his extremities weren't circulating very well. By the time they brought him back to me e wouldn't latch anymore so it was a little frustrating cause I felt like I was doing it all wrong. We stayed in the hospital 2 nights and he went to the nursery and they formula fed him. We went home and had to rent a bili-blanket since Ty had jaundice. My mom stayed with me and was my crutch. My milk didn't come in until a week later. I rented a pump from the hospital and talked to a lactation specialist and nothing worked. After two weeks of frustration, we finally switched to formula and I felt so much better about it and enjoyed my baby more. My mom stayed for 3.5 weeks and when she left I felt like I was really on my own and very nervous about it.
When I try to reminisce about those first couple months there is little I remember and I wonder if it's because I was so oblivious and stressed. I want to remember him how he was as a chubby snuggly baby. Grateful for pictures!
Zakary Drew will be next....
Until next time...
