Brody's Birth Story Part 1

This is the story of the birth of our sweet Brody, but before I start let me tell you about some of my medical history. I've had high blood pressure my entire life, even as a kid. Both parents have it and my grandparents (I think on both sides), so it figures I'd be the one of two Welch offspring who'd get the trait. My sis was blessed with the better traits--tiny bod, tiny nose, no migraines, no headaches everyday, no hypertension and she even got the skinny genes. I'd been diagnosed with high BP at a young age (though didn't start taking meds until 2009-ish).

I was the prime candidate for pre-eclampsia. Throughout my entire pregnancy, my doctor was concerned and warned me that'd I'd most likely develop it. I was even a participant for a pre-eclampsia study that the hospital was conducting at the time. They had to draw blood every time my BP was up. But I got $25 for each poke! Ayeee!

Fast-forward to 30 weeks: I was working and we were about to move into our remodeled house so my stress was high. My doctor put me on bedrest. "You will have this baby somewhere by 37-39 weeks," she said. "It's too risky for you to go full-term."

Not only did I have weekly appointments with my doctor, but now I had to go to a specialist  (located in the same building thankfully) to get weekly sonograms to check on Brody's progress, ensure everything was developed before delivery and that if I had pre-eclampsia it wasn't affecting him. I did receive a steroid shot to help his lungs mature faster (and ensure they were fully-developed).

36 WEEKS: Doc said, "We will have this baby next Wednesday."

37 WEEKS, Tuesday, Feb. 21: I'm supposed to spend the night at the hospital to get some pill-thing inserted in my cervix which is supposed to help soften my cervix to prepare it for labor and improve my chances for a smooth induction the next morning. My doctor said I couldn't eat past lunch, and I was supposed to be at the hospital til 8 p.m.

We took the dogs to mom's house and while I'm sitting on the couch chatting I start having contractions (though they were braxton hicks). Klay and mom watched my stomach contracting. "We should probably get going," Klay said.

Klay was hungry and went through Whataburger en route to the hospital. I'm in a pissy mood because I'm starving and can't eat while the smell of french fries wafts in the air. Seriously, dude?

When we get to the hospital and they hook me up to machines, the nurse starts looking at the papers coming out like receipts assessing them closely. "You're definitely having contractions alright. But they aren't consistent, so are more likely braxton hicks," she said.

I asked them if I could eat, and they said it was fine since I wasn't going into labor. I ate some hospital food. It was the best damn burger I've ever eaten or it tasted like it anyway. I was just so hungry.

They inserted the vagina pill and repeatedly interrupted the tiny amount of sleep I was getting in the middle of the night to take my BP.

5 A.M.--I start putting on makeup before they took me off to the delivery room. I wanted to have some make up on so I didn't scare my child once he got a glimpse of me. They came in and prepped me to head downstairs.

6:30 A.M.--I now have my own room in Labor & Delivery. It's big and spacious, and this is about to get real. I start to get nervous.

7:30 A.M.--Pitocin was administered and I start having contractions. OUCH. Some visitors (Klay's dad, Susan and Nanny come in to see me).

9 A.M.--I'm given magnesium. This is to prevent me from seizing if my BP starts to rise. Side effects, include: headache, fever symptoms, vomiting, and a catheter pre-epidural, which means I felt it, plus it slows down labor. I immediately have a headache (which later develops into a migraine) and once the catheter is inserted and the nurse leaves the room, I lose it.

"I can't do this. They have to find another way to get him out. Not a c-section and not vaginal, I can't do this. I can't, I can't." I'm sobbing hysterically to Klay. It was all so real, and the catheter was so uncomfortable. On top of all of that, I'm burning up, feeling nauseous and having contractions.

2 P.M.-- The doctor comes in checks my cervix. OH MY GOD. OUUUUUUUCH! "This will be the most painful check of the day," the doctor says. She wasn't lying. It was excruciating. I was dilated to a 2.

She breaks my water with some sort of rod, through the tiny space where my cervix was opening. POP! I hear like a flood coming out. Britney and Klay who are in the room don't even notice as they talk to the doctor hounding her with questions. Despite me wanting to press further without an epidural my doctor goes ahead and orders one.

"You're in pain?" she asks.

"Yes," I reply.

"Then, why not? It will make you feel a lot better, I promise. I'll order it. There's no reason for you to be in pain and uncomfortable. That's what these drugs are for."

15 minutes later... A guy comes in and gives me a whole lot of info about the risks (which scared the hell out of me), how still I had to be, orders everyone out of the room and told me to sit up. I still have a catheter in, my legs and entire body are shaking from adrenaline, I've got the worst headache and I'm extremely nauseous.

I lean up clenching on to a pillow and he sticks the needle in my lower back, and BAM! it's done. Didn't hurt a bit. "That's it?" I say. I immediately feel relief. A few minutes later, I can't feel a thing.

6 P.M.--I'm dilated to a 4, not much progression. My doctor puts some device up my GOODS to try to measure the severity of my contractions. This device helped me somehow because I immediately had stronger contractions. And they were consistent and progressing within minutes. "I'll come back in a couple of hours, and if you're not close, we will talk about other options," the doc says.

So here I am laying in the hospital bed in pain with wet rags on my face, oxygen mask on (Brody was doing better with extra oxygen), but also with a migraine, throwing up and burning up (from the magnesium). I'm just hoping this kid would be pushing his way down and out of my body. After the painful cervix checks from the doctor, and putting devices up in places to monitor my contractions, I was ready for people to leave that part of my body alone (stop sticking things up there) and eager to push this kid out.

8:20 P.M.--My doctor checks my cervix one last time to see if there was any progress, (thankfully I couldn't feel it due to the epidural). "You should be something more," she said.

I stared up at her face trying to gauge her reaction. Please let me be at a 10, please Brody, do it for mommy! Gazing at her face, I thought I saw a glimpse of disappointment. He didn't do it, I thought.

Then very softly, she said, "Ten."

Read part 2 of Brody's Birth Story here.

 

Oh, how time flies.

I can't believe it's been so long since I've last written.

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, but I've just been an extremely busy, tired, exhausted mommy taking care of her wonderful, playful son.

If some of you are wondering why I stopped blogging, there are lots of reasons. However, to keep it simple, I'll summarize briefly.

1. Depression: Yes, it happened to me. When you hardly ever, ever leave the house and all you do is take care of your baby all day, and constantly struggle to keep things the way you like to (i.e. clean your house, cook, take care of yourself and everything else in life), it's almost bound to happen. I DID try writing a couple of blogs (some are still saved in my drafts), but they were just so negative. So, I kept them to myself. 


2. Busy: No explanation needed here. I was busy with work, my son and other things to keep up with it...


3. Tired: Sort of goes with along with the "busy" excuse, but after chasing a crawling, standing, and now walking kid around all day, I was pooped by the time Klay got home from work. It even makes me exhausted thinking about it.


4. Lazy: I got a little lazy too. I didn't quite have the motivation to keep writing. And, even when I thought about updating it, I thought I'll do it a little later. I'm sure the laziness had a lot to do with the three previous "excuses".

So, WHY NOW you ask? Well, I miss it. It was fun sharing and documenting all my experiences with Brody. They are not only his first experiences of life, but mine as a mother too. Plus, when Klay tries to talk about when Brody started doing something, or when we struggled with this or that, he normally gets the timing wrong. Let's just say I have a back-up reference for all of my arguments! =)

But besides all of that, Brody is turning the be O-N-E this month. I can't believe it. It's almost been one year since I gave birth to my handsome, little boy. I honestly don't know where the time went...

So, in honor of my return to blogging, I decided to share something personal with all of you... I'm expecting again! Can you believe it?

Ok, ok. I'm JUST KIDDING. No, seriously I am. My uterus is nice and empty, just the way I like it. I'm not ready for another kid to karate chop my bladder just yet; my bladder still hates me from the last one.

But, I had to keep you interested. =)

I did gain a new niece though. My sister's newest, Swayze Jo Clark, arrived last month! She's a beauty, and big sister Presley is so proud. It felt strange sitting at the hospital, the same hospital Brody was born, waiting for her make her debut and thinking about how that was me and Brody almost a year ago.

Ok, for now, that's all I'll mention. I imagine I'll do a "What You Missed" blog pretty soon.

Hope all is well with everyone! Stay tuned...

Sending my best wishes to all the parents out there,

Cass

PS. I'm wanting to rename my blog. I just threw this title together when I started last year. I've never liked it, and I'm ready for a change. Any suggestions?

Mommy Mistake = 911

Ok, guys. I've not posted lately because I've been trying to decide whether or not I wanted to blog about my most recent major incident with Brody.

I struggled with the decision to post or not to post, because of the pure humiliation and embarrassment of what happened over two weeks ago. Plus, I needed a little time to try to begin to forgive myself.

As parents, we are all bound to make mistakes. We are only human and aren't perfect, no matter how hard we try. So before you read this, I want to express how embarrassed I am to share my story. However, I chose to write about this incident because I have some dedicated readers out there (and on my best day, I had nearly 260 views on my blog from all over the world) and I do feel an obligation---a good obligation---to write about my trials and triumphs as I explore my new life as mommy.

I started this blog so people can read, laugh and share our journeys as parents. But I also decided to start this blog, because I wanted people to really learn from my mistakes. So, here it goes...

About two weeks ago, Klay and I met my mom at Walmart to buy flowers for our garden. We are no experts on plants, so we inquired mom's help. We were about to check out when Brody got fussy; it was time for him to eat. Klay told me to just head out to the truck and feed him because we had to get home ASAP to drop of the plants before heading out to Dallas for my doctor appointment.

I complied and took Brody out to the truck. I unlocked the door, put his car seat in the truck (but not in the base) facing toward the driver's side passenger door because I was going to walk to the other side to feed him.

I'd forgotten that Klay's new truck has an autostart. So proud of myself that I remembered, I started it up to get the truck to cool down a bit faster. I grabbed my bags and sat them in the truck and shut the door.



Uh-oh, I thought and started yanking on the handle to the LOCKED door.

Ok, so I've NEVER once locked my keys in my car, and the first time I do it, my three-month-old is in the backseat.

I immediately start panicking. What do I do? My phone is in the car. I can't call Klay or anyone for help. Decision time: do I leave my child in the locked car that was running, though the keys weren't in the ignition, to go get Klay and get help or do I stay there until Klay and Mom get out to the car? Luckily, I turned around and saw Klay heading out the doors and over to the car.

I start hollering at him to hurry and get over there and then quickly tell him what happened. His immediate reaction: "I'm breaking the window."

A week before, when Klay first got his truck, he was looking at the manual and found the number for OnStar. He told me, "OnStar can unlock your car remotely, if you just call this number." I said, "Put that number in your phone cause it'll be good to have."

I told Klay to call OnStar first. The car is still running, and Brody has AC, but it's not going to last forever. As some of you probably know, autostarts eventually shut off if you don't put the key in the ignition.

Mom comes out, with a Walmart associate who's helping her carry out five trees she bought, and I run over and tell mom what happened. I ask the Walmart employee if they know if they have someone in the auto/mechanic department that has something they can jimmy the car door open with. She runs in to seek help.

Meanwhile, I'm bawling and hysterical. I can hear Brody crying and I can't get to him---THE WORST FEELING EVER.

Klay gets mad because OnStar is no help, saying something like we aren't in the system (it's not a new truck, we bought it used). THEN, the truck cuts off.



I'm saying "call someone, call someone!" Mom, then, dials 911.

Now I really have the water works going. I'm sobbing and so distraught, I start throwing up in the parking lot. Klay starts looking around for a rock to break the window to his new truck, when four managers from Walmart come outside, along with a Walmart mechanic. They immediately start working on jimmying the lock.

A few minutes later (I'm not really sure how long this took cause it seemed like forever), the fire department arrives and they give it a go. Brody is now calm and looking around like what's going on guys? He's interested in watching all the people surrounding the windows trying to get into the truck.

Finally, they are successful and unlock the truck. I'd say it took them at least 7-10 minutes to get in the truck. I told mom that the whole ordeal had to of lasted 30 or more minutes, but she seemed to think it was less, saying it just seemed longer to me.

When I got in to my baby boy, he was cool as a cucumber. Smiling at me as though he wanted to let me know he was ok and not to worry.



Klay and mom hugged and thanked everyone for all of their help and rapid response. I tried my best to pull myself together to thank everyone, but I was still a mess. Felt like I deserved and earned the title as the "Worst Mom of the Year." So, special thanks to Terrell Walmart staff, managers and employees and Terrell Fire Department. We are forever grateful!!!

I did end up making it to my doctor appointment and my blood pressure was 142/108. That should tell you what kind of state I was in.

So, here I am, telling all of you about this horrific incident. I never want anyone to have to go through that. I've been so upset with myself for allowing that to happen. I could have understood if I'd been rushing, but I wasn't. It's taken me a while to truly TRY to forgive myself. But I figured the best way to start forgiving myself is to write about it and try to prevent others from doing the same thing.

As a parent, brother, sister, grandparent or friend to any child, please learn from my mistake. Every time you buckle a child in, think of me and Brody, and ask yourself "where are my keys?" If your rushing to get somewhere, slow down, make sure they are buckled in right, and that you have the keys on you at all times. Thankfully, it wasn't crazy hot outside that morning, but summer is almost in full-swing, and it's getting hotter by the day. So, keep your keys on you!

Wishing you many more successful days as parents/grandparents and no days like this incident,

Cassidy