Every precious child needs a "birth story"... Here is the story of Keelie Kate Baker.Our second daughter, Keelie, was born at 1:49pm on Saturday October 8th at University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas. She weighed 6 lbs. 14oz. (the smallest of our children) and was 19 1/2 inches tall. This little girl was destined to enter our lives on this day.
Although my original due date was October 14th, I simply could not wait. I was uncomfortable and emotionally frustrated. I had been dilated to a 3 for over 2 weeks. Every day I went to work, people would comment about how "ready" I looked. Even Dr. Casanova informed me he did not think I would make it to my due date. The problem however, was that since I had taken maternity leave for Ambry a year ago (yep, just a year- yikes!), I had not yet met the 12 month mark to be able to use additional FMLA leave from work. This meant that if I had my baby on or before October 7th, potentially I could lose my job.
Therefore I was clearly praying that my sweet baby would be born on the 8th. I told everyone I knew that the 8th, would be the perfect day-plus it is one of my favorite numbers! (I'm so glad Keelie is already following her mother’s instructions).
Around noon on October 7th, I started having some serious contractions. I didn't want to get too excited, but it was fun stressing out my students when I asked them to time my contractions as an assignment. I even got a little over dramatic with my relaxation breathing just to watch their reactions. At this point, I didn't really think I was in labor. However, contractions continued throughout the school day at roughly 8 minutes apart.
When I got home that afternoon, my contractions had stopped. I was bummed, but tried to stay patient. I knew the Lord would bless us when our baby was ready. However, just in case, I tried to clean the entire house and did a double check of my hospital bags. I really wanted it to be the 8th. Contractions came back that night every 20 minutes. I was so confused!
With both of my other kids, once the heavy contractions came- they kept coming. This time was weird. I truly could not tell what was happening. I tried to sleep through the night, but I began to worry. At one point, my contractions had been 4 minutes apart for over an hour, and then, they just stopped. Around 6am, I woke up Brandon in tears. I did not think I was in labor, but started to panic something might have been wrong (clearly there were lots of hormones at work). I decided to contact the on-call doctor and explain my situation. I told her I was having infrequent contractions, but that I already felt like I needed to push. She casually invited me to come in. I was bugged! I did not want to go to the hospital early (especially if I wasn't in labor), but I felt so comfortable I wanted to make sure everything was okay.
Thus, we called the grandparents, packed up the kids and loaded the car. This car ride was much easier than last time, since my contractions had nearly stopped again at this point. Brandon gave me a wonderful blessing and I tried to start my relaxation and hypnobirthing- just in case. I was still pretty sure I wasn't in labor. We called our doula to notify her we were coming in anyway. She was already at the hospital working with another patient.
By the time we checked in at the hospital, things had drastically changed. Contractions had all of a sudden gotten very intense every 2 minutes. I was going to be pretty mad if they sent me home at this point. By the time they actually checked I was dilated to a 5 and 90% effaced. Woo hoo! If we followed the same standard as when Ambry was born, this meant I would have a baby in less than five hours (I was predicting around noon).
I always get annoyed with nurses during labor. While I understand that they mean well and have a job to do, very few of them are use to moms who request a natural birth. Once we got set up in our room, we turned on the music, turned down the lights and started to relax. A few minutes later, the nurse told us that our doctor was not available today (we're pretty sure he had tickets to the Texas Tech game) and that the on-call doctor would come in and see us soon. I had to assure the nurses several times that I did not want medication.
Soon, our doula came by and helped us get comfortable. I was kneeling over a birth ball while the nurses continued to bug me with straightening the monitor every 10 seconds. Ugh. There was nothing to indicate there was a problem, so I wanted to rip the dang monitor off of me and relax already- it was an empty plea.
Eventually, the OB resident came in to check on us. Imagine our surprise, when we saw that it was our next door neighbor! We have lived next door to her for over five years. Due to her medical training and scheduled, we rarely saw them, but it was fun to see a familiar face. She asked if it was okay to check us. She ended up doing our entire delivery. It was a fun bonus!
Again, this labor was so different from the others. After the intense and close contractions came back, they stopped again. I was not progressing like I had hoped. Thus, we worked on changing positions, walking around, deep breathing, lunges, everything. I swear I must have gone to the bathroom 2-3 times an hour, just since me helped relax me…plus it got the stupid monitor off for awhile. After 2-3 hours of this on again off again pattern of contractions, I had only dilated to a 7. At was at this point, I got frustrated.
Every woman has a point during labor when she wants to quit or give up. This was my point. I was exhausted and disappointed. I kept watching the clock- you should never count time during labor. Due to my frustration, it was hard to relax and stay focused. My water still had not broken (although it has never broken until actual delivery) and our neighbor (Dr. Wiggins) suggested we should try to break it to speed up labor. At first I was nervous to have them rupture it manually, so I spent a good twenty minutes lunging up and down on the bed to try and break it on my own. I almost laugh thinking back on how funny I must have looked. The doctor and nurses were great about letting me do things my way.
After trying unsuccessfully to get my water to break, I was very unsure what to do. Since I had never experienced it in the past, I was scared to have it break unnaturally. However, I appreciated that the doctor and nurses never pushed the issue. It was only after gentle counsel from my husband and doula that we decided to try something new.
Around 1:30pm, Dr. Wiggins broke my water. I was still at a 7. Several minutes later, I had a huge urge to push. We called the doctor back in. Before checking me, she said “it’s okay, we still have time, just relax and breathe”. I persisted. I really wanted to push. (It’s not healthy to push too early). Everyone kept telling me to breathe through it and not to push. Around 1:45, the doctor checked me again and said “whoa, she’s at a 10. She’s ready. Lets get prepped for labor. As soon as they got the lights set, and while the nurses were prepping for delivery I yelled “I have to push”. At this point Dr. Wiggins was still getting her robe and gloves on. She said “maybe if we lift up her leg, it will help her push” and as soon as she lifted my leg, I let out a huge breath and with one big push (ready or not), her she was! The doctor and nurses were stunned. She was here. We all cried. I was so happy. Keelie had a huge head of dark brown hair like her daddy and was extraordinarily healthy. They immediately placed her on my chest and let me hold her. Brandon cut the umbilical cord.
Ahhh….it was so nice not to be pregnant. It was instant relief. Everyone joked about how fast it was. Literally, they almost didn’t get make it in time. If only I would have know 4 hours ago that breaking my water would have worked this fast! We delivered the placenta, I had a few stitches, and they got Keelie all sucked out and wiped off. Then, we had roughly an hour alone to sit quietly together as a new family and reflect on everything we were thankful for. It had been a hard and surprising pregnancy. It had been a unique but relatively easy labor- up until the end. We knew we had a huge journey ahead but when you are holding a brand new child in your arms, all you can think about is love! We were truly blessed.
After our time together, we were eventually moved to a recovery room. Once again we got the special VIP treatment by getting one of the largest rooms, only reserved for private insurance patients. Since it is the county hospital, doctors told us the average age of a mother who delivers there is roughly 16. Many nurses talked about laboring with 11 and 12 year olds. It really put things into perspective for us. We were so glad to be married and to be prepared for this child entering our lives. Our gratitude is endless!
Recovery went great! Judy and George brought the kids up to visit. Taylor was excited and Ambry was a little confused, but all in all, we were a happy family. Brandon enjoyed watching a Tech game and World Series game from the comfort of our room while I rested as much as possible and we both enjoyed some one on one time with our newest baby.
We loved our doula. She was a great support and very encouraging about hypnobirthing. Apparently she has started to hear a lot about it here in Lubbock and even got a special request for the method from another patient. She is starting to read about it and even invited Brandon and I to be guest speakers during a parenting class in January.
I was up and ready to go less than 24 hours after birth. It took some convincing, but since we had a connection (wink wink), we were able to discharge a little normal than usual. It all felt so surreal. I was in shock that we had THREE kids- three! Whew. I still couldn’t believe it.
Over a month has passed since that sacred day. Despite battling an array of ear infections, colds and sore throats, we are all doing great. Ambry loves her sister more than words can express. She kisses her literally 50 times a day- thus the reason for all the sickness spreading around. Brandon is a wonderful support and provider. Taylor has matured quickly and is doing great taking on the extra responsibility. I am enjoying time at home as new mom for a few more weeks. It’s quite the adventure caring for a 14-month old and 5 week old at the same. Yet, I cannot not think of anything else that could possibly bring me this much joy!
