Kristy and Bryce: Baby Time!

On November 7th I had to work and I began feeling achy and was contracting. I thought I might be getting sick but I felt fine apart from the body aches. I called my doctors office since it was Friday and we were coming up on the weekend. He said to try and take it easy and drink plenty of water and if I was still contracting to go in and get checked. I knew that would be hard since I was at work and had to be on my feet all day. I took Tylenol around the clock to make it through my shift. All of my patients were really good and my charge nurse was trying to take it easy on me because she could tell I was miserable but it was still the worst shift of my life! When I finally got off work I burst into tears. I was just so miserable and didn't feel good. I was so glad I didn't have to work Saturday but I was supposed to work Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday so I was really hoping I would feel better by then. I was trying not to use my PTO because I needed to save it for maternity leave. But I knew I would have to call in sick if I wasn't feeling better on Sunday.

All day Saturday I tried to take it easy but I still had body aches and had fevers too. I continued my Tylenol around the clock and tried to drink lots of water. Throughout the day I lost my mucus plug. At the time I wasn't sure if that was really it or not but I suspected that's what it was. I was having contractions on and off but I thought it was helping to rest and drink water. That night I woke up at 2 AM because of contractions. I started to time them and tried to drink water. My contractions were anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes apart and weren't going away. I woke Bryce up at 3 AM and told him I thought we should go to the hospital just to get checked and make sure everything was okay. I hadn't packed a hospital bag yet but I told Bryce not to worry about it because I was sure that they would check me and send me home.

So we went to the hospital. I was 36 weeks and 3 days pregnant. We got checked in and I told the nurse about me being sick and thinking that I may have lost my mucus plug. She did a test to see if I was ruptured and checked me and said I was dilated to a 2. (I was dilated to a 1 at my 36 week appointment) I told her I was supposed to work at 6 AM and she told me there was no way I could go to work and that I would probably have to go home on bed rest. A few minutes later she came in and said I was ruptured! My water had broke! I had no idea so it must have been a slow leak. She said "How's November 9th for a birthday?" We were shocked! That is not at all what I expected. I was still having fevers and body aches and I really didn't want to have a baby while already feeling like crap but at the same time I was relieved to be done. I called the Med/Surg floor and told them I wouldn't be coming to work and that I was having my baby. I sent Bryce back to the apartment to pack me and Stockton a bag. So much for not needing a hospital bag! I began to text my family at 6 AM to tell them I was having the baby!

At about 9 AM Dr. Bilanzich came in and checked me. He said that I still had a bag of water. He ruptured it and broke my water the rest of the way. I thought it was weird that I wouldn't have known that my water broke. That explained it! They did blood work and the results came back that my platelets were low. They were 70,000 (normal is between 150,000 and 450,000) and they were concerned and did additional blood work to try and figure out why my platelets would be low. They told me that I may not be able to have an epidural since my platelets were low. They don't like to do an epidural for platelets under 100,000 because of the risk for a hematoma in the spine which could cause paralysis. On top of all that they were concerned that I may have HELLP syndrome because my platelets were low. HELLP sydrome is a life threatening severe liver disorder which is thought to be a type of preeclampsia. They told me that if I had this they would have to transfer me to St. George. My liver function test came back normal and they did a platelet function test which came back good. So I didn't have HELLP syndrome and the platelets that I did have were functioning properly. My doctor said he thought I had a virus that was making me have fevers and body aches and my platelets were just low because of the virus that I had. They gave me antibiotics and told me that because I was sick they would have to take Stockton to the nursery and he would have to be on antibiotics for 48 hours because he could get sick from me. This is not at all how I thought this day would go.

They gave me fentanyl a couple of times for the pain since they weren't sure about giving me the epidural. The anesthesiologist came in and said that my blood work came back fine so I could get the epidural but with low platelets it is more risky for getting a hematoma but he said he felt comfortable giving it if that's what I wanted. I already didn't feel good on top of being in labor so I did want the epidural. They gave me the epidural at about 12 or 1 PM. After that I felt pretty good. They started Pitocin to help move things along but they weren't able to give it very fast because of Stockton's heartbeat. He wasn't tolerating it very well. I slowly progressed. Bryce's Uncle Loyd and Aunt Donna came to visit for a minute. They thought we would have already had the baby but things were moving slowly. Then my parents, Jason, Breanna, and Peggy came too. It was good to have them there to pass the time. The nurses would turn me from side to side so that my epidural would work good on both sides. But the last time my nurse turned me Stockton's heart was affected and wasn't getting enough oxygen. By this time I was almost completely dilated. They turned me every which way to try and get Stockton's heartbeat to improve and called the doctor. They put me on oxygen to try and get more oxygen to the baby. His heartbeat did improve and we stayed in that position until the doctor could get there. I was afraid after all this time we would end up in an emergency C-section.

Dr. Bilanzich came running in throwing a gown on. He had sped all the way to the hospital for us. By this time I was ready to push. My epidural was pretty heavy I couldn't feel my legs at all but I could feel a little pressure when I had a contraction so I knew when I needed to push. I had to get an episiotomy because of Stockton's heartbeat but I was just happy not to have a C-section by this point. I think I pushed only 4-5 times and Stockton was here. The cord had been wrapped around his neck which is why he was giving us all a scare! They put Stockton on my chest and I couldn't believe he was here. I was so happy to see him all I could do it cry. They were trying to suction him out while I held him because he wasn't breathing real well. They took him from me to better clean him up and suck him out. He gave a better cry and I was relieved. They measured him and weighed him and then rushed him to the nursery. Our family was out in the hall and just caught a glimpse of him on his way to the nursery. It was late so all of our family went home. I ate some dinner and waited for my epidural to wear off. Bryce went to the nursery while I finished eating and I met him in there. Stockton had to be on a CPAP machine for about 12 hours to keep his oxygen levels up but was doing well.

Stockton Bryce Twitchell was born at 8:56 PM and was 6lbs 6oz 19 inches long.
He is so cute! We are already in love with this little boy!