So all through the last few weeks of my pregnancy with our son I kept having elevated blood pressures and they were starting to really worry about if he would make it to term or if they would need to schedule his arrival early. At most of my appointments if I laid down for a while then my blood pressure would get into an acceptable range. So, as the weeks passed they just kept a closer eye on me and then baby boy decided that he didn't want to flip and wanted to remain in breach. Which of course complicated things for me and my stress levels and worry over him. Then he turned and then turned back. He just wanted me to worry about him and myself and how things were going to go. So, after talking to my doctors, Brett and I sat down and started making multiple plans for the many different possible deliveries of our son.
During all of this though we were still trying to figure out what our sons name would be. We each had our names we liked and couldn't agree. Then finally we agreed on naming our son Bryce Joseph Lehrschall (Bryce after Brett's best friend of 20+ years and Joseph after Brett's middle name). Having finally agreed on a name made his arrival a little less stressful as at least we would know what his name would be.
So as time got closer and closer to my due date my doctors kept checking on his position and with 1 week to spare baby Bryce turned head down and so we were good for delivery, but the doctor did say that whenever we got ready to deliver they would do an ultrasound just to be sure he didn't turn back again. So having a plan all set made things seem a little less crazy.
So, just before my due date the doctors and I discussed how long we would let me go past my due date because of my having larger babies. We decided that they didn't want me to make it to 41 weeks, but we wouldn't schedule anything for sure until I hit 40 weeks. They were pretty sure I wouldn't make it to 40 full weeks as I was at 3cm dilated by 39 weeks. However, Bryce had other plans.
So on the 16th of May (1 day after my due date) I went in and they went ahead and scheduled my induction for Wednesday morning and then the doctor offered to strip my membranes (in his experience labor starts within 48 hours). So I said lets try it and if nothing else I was being induced on Wednesday, so at about 2:30 in the afternoon they stripped my membranes which was uncomfortable, but I just hoped that it would help get labor going. BOY DID IT GET LABOR GOING!!! By the time Morgan got home from school at 4:30 I was having contractions every 8 minutes and they were lasting about 1 minute long. Then by 5:30 I was having contractions every 5 minutes and they were lasting about 1-1.5 minutes. So I got up with my friend who was going to drive me to the hospital since Brett was at class and she came over. She got me and the 3 girls all loaded up in her van and drove us to the hospital and I called Brett on the way. She dropped me off at the Rex Birthing Center where Brett was waiting. Brett and I said goodnight to our girls and they all headed to our friends house for the night and next day or two. So, now it's about 7pm and they hook me up to the monitors and take blood work and check my cervix. I am still at a 3, but he has moved down a bit. However, hours later at 11 pm they came in and said that because the contractions aren't getting any stronger or closer together they are going to give me a percocet to help me relax between contractions and send me home until things really get moving. So we get home just ahead of midnight and go straight to bed. Our girls thankfully our still at our friends house and my brother in law who was staying at our house to take care of our dogs is in Morgan's bedroom. Brett and I know that we will probably be heading back to the hospital within a few hours but figure we might as well sleep and I can at least rest a little. So at about 1:30am (it was light flipping a light switch it was so quick) my contractions go from 3 minutes apart to about 1.5 minutes apart and are lasting about the same so I am getting no relief. At 2:15 I wake up Brett and tell him we need to head to the hospital. At 2:20 as I'm waiting to talk to my doctor my water break in our bed. I quickly tell my doctor that "things are worse and my water broke" he says he will see me in about an hour when we get to the hospital. So I head into the bathroom to change into dry clothes and to grab some towels to sit on in the car. While in there I joke with my husband " Watch this guy do the same thing to me that I did to my mother and be born in the van on the way to the hospital". I was soooooo wrong. As I am trying to walk out of our bathroom Bryce crowns. I turn to my husband next to me and simply say "Call 911, the baby crowned!" To which my husband replied "WHAT!?" I simply say, "You HEARD me". He quickly calls 911 and gets me to our bed.
It is now around 2:25 am. The 911 dispatcher starts talking to him and I hear my husband say "My wife is having our baby....the baby is crowning!" As I am yelling in pain and pushing his head out I then hear Brett say to the dispatcher "The head is out......(then in an almost whisper) his face is blue. The cord is around his neck! What do I do?" The dispatcher tells him how to loosen the cord and get the baby breathing and thankfully it works. Bryce starts breathing as I finish pushing him out (it is now only about 8:35) and then Brett had to yell to his brother to bring in a wash cloth and towels (which his brother throws to Brett from our bedroom doorway). Then Brett yells to Brian to go out to meet the Fire fighters and EMS (which Brian happily agreed to do).
Brett has me covered with a blanket and towels on Bryce as the 2 Firemen walk in our room and say "Good job dad, but we will take over from here". They turn and find that Bryce is already born and they then say "Even better job dad, we will finish up". They then finished unwrapping the cord from around Bryce's neck and then start clapping the cord as EMS is only a few more minutes away. EMS arrives about 3 minutes later and the firemen show the head EMT the what they had done and ask what needs done next and he instructs them to cut the cord and then he turns to me and asks "How are you doing mom?" I reply that I am doing better now that the baby is crying. Once the cord was cut the firemen gave Bryce to the female EMT and she very quickly bundled him up in a bunch of towels and says "He is gorgeous mom. You guys did great. He seems about 9lbs I would guess." I am crying I am just so relieved at this point that things went as well as they did and that Bryce seems good.
The Lead EMT then tells my husband to get me some pants to just get me out to the ambulance (as they can't get the stretcher in and down our hallway. They then help me get dressed and out to the ambulance where they give me Bryce to hold for the first time (it is now around 2:40 am). Brett then asks if I want him to ride with us and I tell him that we will need the van so if he wants to just head up in our van soon I will be fine.
Bryce and I got to have a first together by riding to the hospital in an ambulance (I have never been in an ambulance before) and we also had our first time nursing in the ambulance on the way! When we got the the hospital they wheel us in and take us up to the the birthing center where all the nurses who had seen me earlier are shocked that I am coming in on a stretcher holding my baby. The nurse I had earlier that night and my doctor are extremely apologetic about having sent me home, in fact they are both almost in tears about it. They then start checking on me and the baby and I still needed to deliver the placenta so they got to work. As the doctor gets me ready for the placenta delivery they tell us that baby Bryce weighs 9lbs 5oz. Then the doctor tells me that I have no tearing (which is shocking with how quickly I delivered unexpectedly at home and with such a big baby). Brett gets there and he is able to give the nurse all of the info about the cord and things that I didn't see and conform my approximate time of birth. After they finished taking care of me and Bryce they finally get us in to our room and it is like 4am.
We all sleep really well for a few hours before calling the girls to tell them that their brother was born and that they will get to meet him later that day. We got to enjoy a few visitors during the next day, including our girls who got to meet their baby brother for the first time.
We got a few phone calls from people congratulating us and seeing how we are doing with the unexpected delivery at home. We were all doing well and looking forward to being able to go home on Thursday. I was not happy about telling Morgan that I would be missing her Mother/Daughter night at church, but when I told her that my mom and Brett's mom were going to go with her since I couldn't be there helped her take the news. She was still a little upset that I couldn't go, but was excited that her grandmas were going to be there.
Wednesday we got a few more visitors and our baby boy was loving all the attention. Then Thursday morning as we are thinking that we will need to start packing things up to head home they are doing their last checks on things for Bryce and they then discover that his bilirubin levels are higher then they want. They think that due to bruising in his face they didn't notice his jaundice earlier. So, they inform us that we will be staying for longer so he can undergo light therapy. So we start him with what they call a bili-blanket and we are praying that that will do the trick and we will be able to go home on Friday.
Poor little guy hated that mask and kept taking it off and hated having to be on that blanket. I held him all night Wednesday night to keep him on the lights and to keep him from taking his mask off. It was a long night with the bright blue light in my face all night, but we made it through. They came in fairly early to do another bilirubin level check and we were hoping for good news. However, when the doctor came in we knew it wasn't good news. She told us that his level had gone from 13 on Thursday morning to 17. She told us they were going to start a more intense light therapy and hopefully it would work and if it didn't then he would need to go to the NICU for blood transfusions. We instantly started praying and asking everyone we knew for prayers for our little Bryce. Brett knew that our girls would take the news really hard so he decided that he would go to our friends house and tell them in person. So he headed out and asked me what I needed from home. I told him "I need you to bring BJ (who Bryce is named after) and give Bryce and I both priesthood blessings." Brett said that he would see me after lunch time.They then got Bryce all set up on his new lights and I prayed constantly for my little boy. I also prayed for myself that I would be able to handle whatever happened with him.
Brett went to have lunch with Morgan and give her the bad news, which she cried when it was just him and he told her that baby brother was still too sick to come home yet. Then he and BJ came up to the hospital and gave me and Bryce blessings. Then Brett asked if I was okay if he went and stayed with our girls that night (they were begging him to stay with them since mommy and baby brother couldn't come home) and I said that was fine.
Saturday morning when they checked his bilirubin levels they were very shocked by them. He had gone from a 17 to a 9 in 24 hours. They said that they had never seen a baby make that drastic of a recovery that quickly! I was so relieved. We FINALLY were headed home. We would however have to take him in for another check first thing Monday morning to make sure his levels continued to go down. We were so glad to be going home!
We did make our 1 stop on the way home so that he could meet Brett's grandma (we did this with all of the girls).
Then we made it home!!!! So happy to be home!!! Then the girls came home from our friends house and we were a happy family all together again!!!!
