Savela Family Scoop: Labor and Delivery!

Since so many of our family and friends have asked about how our delivery went down, I thought it would be easiest to write it all out here! My due date was May 21st. At my routine appointment two weeks before my blood pressure was slightly elevated. This can be a sign of preeclampsia, so I had some testing done to rule it out. All of my results came back normal, so there was no concern of me having preeclampsia. Sometimes your blood pressure can elevate towards the end of pregnancy when the placenta is not as effective at delivering nutrients and your body needs to work harder. Since my testing was normal, my doctors just wanted to monitor my blood pressure every few days until I delivered. The 21st came and went and my blood pressure was still the same. On the 24th I had a regular check-up scheduled, as well as a non-stress test. The non-stress test is routine for being past-due to make sure the baby is not in any distress. My MD appt went well and my blood pressure was 126/78, which was lower than than it had been the previous appointment. My doctor had set an induction date for 5/26 because they did not want me going past 41 weeks. After that appointment I went directly to my non-stress test. There my blood pressure was elevated to 135/96. I explained that I had just had my blood pressure done in the office and it was much lower. After setting me up on the monitors for the non-stress test, they took my blood pressure again and it was the same. They started the test, but called my doctor in the meantime. In just the few minutes I was on the monitors, the baby had already met the criteria she needed for the entire 30 minute test. However, after speaking to my doctor, he decided to start the induction immediately because of blood pressure concerns. Addison and I were completely shocked! We knew it was a possibility that I would be induced that day depending on the testing, but when it actually became a reality we were completely surprised.

I walked right over to Labor & Delivery and they assigned me to Room 13! This was approximately 2:30pm. Within an hour my induction was started. They used a medication called Misoprostol to help soften the cervix. I was already 2-3cm dilated, so they were hoping this would help me dilate further without needing pitocin. This helped to increase my contractions, but I was still feeling fine. At 7:30pm they checked to see how the medicine was working and they were pleased with the progress at that point. The Misoprostol takes 6 hours to work fully. At 9:30pm they checked me again and decided to start Pitocin. At this point, my contractions were stronger, but I was handling those just fine. The real problem at this point was back pain. Since my blood pressure was elevated, I was only allowed to stay in bed and roll from side to side every half hour. When you have back pain with labor, the worst thing to do is stay in bed laying down. They only turned the Pitocin one for a half hour because the baby started have decelerations (drops in her heart rate). At that point I was dilating nicely, so they decided to just see if I would progress on my own. By 10:30pm the back pain was really unbearable and my nurse suggested using an analgesic for pain relief through my IV. I decided to get that and it worked great....for about a half hour. That medication makes you very groggy, so I took advantage and took a nap. Afterall, I had worked that morning, so I was very tired! I fell asleep fast and slept great until 11:00pm. That is when my back pain started to come back with each contraction. In between contractions I would fall back asleep since the pain was gone. I wasn't sure how long I was sleeping for, so I started looking at the clock each time I woke up. I was shocked to see that I was only sleeping for 1-2 minutes at a time!! At midnight, the back pain was back completely and worse than before I had the medicine. I tried to stick it out for another hour, until I ultimately decided to have an epidural. At 2:30am I got the epidural. The relief was almost immediate and I was so happy with my decision to have the epidural. By 6:30am I was fully dilated and my nurse had told me I could have the baby within the hour! Well for some reason that I don't remember (possibly shift change of the nurses), I didn't begin pushing until after 7:30am. I pushed until shortly after 9:00am, but did not make much progress. There were a couple factors playing into this: A. My epidural left me with essentially no feeling whatsoever from the waste down and B. This phase of labor left me very nauseous. During that hour and a half plus of pushing, I ended up vomiting and passing out 3 times. At this point, they decided to give me a break so I could rest a little bit and get some more energy to continue pushing. They also decided to turn my epidural off so I would have more feeling. I slept for a little over an hour and when I woke up it was time to start pushing again. Shortly after 11:00 I began pushing again. Since my epidural was off, I slowly began to feel more. The worst part about this, was my back pain returned full force and was very uncomfortable. I continued to push, passed out and vomited a few more times, and was making progress over the next three hours. At 1:45pm my doctor came in to check my progress and he gave me the promising news that within the next 15 to 20 minutes of pushing I should be just about ready to deliver.

He left and on my very next push the nurse immediately called the doctor back in. He was very surprised, but I was ready to deliver then and there. They called in the rest of the necessary staff, and within minutes I gave one more push and our little bundle made her entrance. With my last push, the doctor informed me that the baby had the cord wrapped around her neck. This changed a lot of our plans. We wanted to have delayed cord clamping. We would have waited until the cord stopped pulsing to cut it. This gives the baby the most amount of blood possible and helps to avoid low blood counts later. We also wanted immediate skin to skin contact. However, with the cord around her neck, everything became a rush. The doctor was able to unwrap the cord before she was fully out, but the Pediatrician had to take the baby immediately. Addison was able to cut the umbilical cord and able to announce the gender! It's a GIRL!! Both were very special experiences for him! We were both in shock that we had a little girl. We were both so convinced we were having a boy!! We had a name picked out either way and we announced that she would be named Kinley Anne Savela.

They were able to suction and clean up the baby, gave her a little oxygen, and put her under the heating lamps. She quickly began breathing and let out a little cry. Addison and I were overjoyed! They weighed her and she was 7lbs 4oz. They brought her over to me and I immediately fell in love. She snuggled right up to me and was so peaceful in my arms. A few minutes later I asked what time she was born...1:57pm. Addison looked at me and reminded me that 1:57pm was the time my alarm clock went off every afternoon at work when I took a nap during lunch throughout my pregnancy. It was very ironic! For the next couple hours we were just in so much shock and amazement at the little life we created. We were moved over to maternity and that is where we would stay the next 2 days.

Once there, Kinley had her first bath. My nurse went over lots of information with us. We then had a little time to just bond with Kinley by ourselves. Later that evening our parents came to the hospital to meet Kinley. The next day we had lots of visitors and we were overwhelmed with the food, gifts, and company we received. Kinley met: Grandma & Grandpa (Christine's Parents), Papa and Hulla (Addison's Parents), Lindsay, Michael, Annie, Katty, Emily, Healy, Dana, Lillyanna, and Auntie Paula all in her first day of life. We are very fortunate to have such great family and friends to share this experience with. Despite the pain of labor and delivery, we couldn't be happier with the perfect little girl we got out of it. We were amazed at the kindness and helpfulness of all of the nurses, doctors, and staff we had while at the hospital. Stay tuned for more updates. There will surely be stories, pictures, and memories to come!