Lexi Grace Sealy - Birth Story - Part 1

Well, its no secret - Matt and I were not necessarily planning on having another child.  But I am so thankful that God's ways are not our ways and the last day in May we found out I was expeceting baby #4.  We both were not sure what to say at first.  My immediate thoughts went to my health and if I would be able to handle this.  My pregnancy with Libby definitely took a toll on my body and we were currently in the process of visiting various doctors and making plans for surgery to remove some lumps I have in my arm.  So I, among many others - including my doctors - were concerned for my health.  But we know that God has a perfect plan and this was not a mistake.

Let's just say that it was a LONG 9 months, especially the last month.  The last three weeks I was having pretty consistent contractions off and on each and every day.  Sometimes they would keep me up and were a bit painful, but mostly just uncomfortable.  Once I passed the 37 week mark, I was more than ready to have baby girl out of me.  But, I did not want to be induced, and they don't induce just because a mom is uncomfortable, anyway. 

Because I was having such a hard time, and with my consistent contractions, my mom made the decision to fly out earlier than we had been planning in order to help me with the house and kids as well as to be here when Lexi was born for sure.  So Mom came and I was able to just focus on resting and gearing up for the birth.  At each dr. appt. I had them not only check if I was dilating, but also to strip my membranes.  That always seemed to work in the past.  Each day I would wake up, hoping that "today would be the day."  But the days came and went, and nothing happened.

As my due date approached, I literally thought I was going to be pregnant forever.  Literally.  There were times that I would be on the verge of tears because I was so uncomfortable and in pain.  I wasn't sleeping and was starting to have some interesting symptoms that scared me a bit.  I was experiencing extreme weakness in my legs, to the point that I could barely walk at times.  I was really unsteady on my feet and often felt like I was just going to fall over.  Also, I was having increasing numbness in my legs, particularly my left leg.  This is always scary to me as that can also be a sign that my spinal tumor could be growing again.  I tried not to talk about it much or tell my mom or hubby that I was worried, or just how weak I really felt (although they both aren't stupid and were probably pretty clued in to it all).  So I would just pray and pray that God would allow this baby to come so I would not only have our precious girl in our arms, but also we would then be able to determine if the weakness and numbness was because of the pressure of the baby being so low (she was very, very low), or if it was something to do with my back.

Well, a few days before my due date, I was up at night timing contractions as they were closer together than before and much more strong and tight.  We were about to get up and head to the hospital in the night when they stopped altogether.  I was pretty disappointed, but fell asleep due to exhaustion and slept the rest of the night.  But by morning they started up agian so we decided to just go to the hospital to be checked and be sure nothing was happening.  It was Saturday morning, January 14. We got to the hospital and found that the dr. on call was the one whom I for sure did NOT want to deliver my baby (long story, but he just isn't one of my favorite doctors).  But we were there, so I figured - oh well!  They hooked me up to the monitor and we just sat there for half an hour to see if I was contracting and how the baby was doing. 

Baby was just fine and I was contracting pretty consistently.  But when they checked me, I was still the same as I had been the last two weeks (almost 2 cms dilated and about 60% effaced).  So, the dr. had me walk around for an hour to see if that helped.  I was worn out and walking was really hard, but I was trying to push myself because I so wanted to have her out!  But after more than an hour, they checked again.  Nothing.  So I was sent home to rest.  Dissapointed again.  I wanted to cry.  "Lord, I don't think I can go much longer!" was what was constantly in my prayer.  But God promises us that when we are at our weakest, He is at his strongest.  And He was definitely giving me the strength to get through the days, even though I sometimes didn't "feel" like He was.

The next few days were much of the same stuff.  On Wednesday, January 18, I went in for a non-stress test as it was my due date.  Again, the same dr. from Saturday was on.  Stink.  But he was actually pretty nice that day (or at least I got along with him better, I suppose!).  After 20 mins. on the monitor for the non-stress test, he checked me and..... no change. So he sent me home to rest.  Again.  This was getting old.  Since I was now past my due date, they wanted me in every three days.  So I was scheduled to come back on Saturday, January 21. 

The next days were, again, the same discomfort and impatience.  I will admit that there were times when I was probably pretty unplesant to live with.  I would just outright tell my husband and mom, "I'm in a bad mood today."  But they were so understanding and put up with me!

So Saturday came and I was feeling more contractions than normal - and they were much tighter than normal.  We got up, I had a very light breakfast and Matt and I headed out to door to get to my 10 a.m. appt.  As we were walking out the door, I had Matt grab the bags "just in case."  I'm so glad I did that!  We said our quick goodbyes to the kids and headed to the hospital for my non-stress test.  On the way there, Matt told me he wanted me to be firm and totally honest with how terrible I felt.  He hated seeing me this uncomfortable and wanted me to feel better and wanted to push for the dr. to do something to help labor progress - or start - soon.  I agreed.

We got there and I got set up on the monitor.  I was excited because the dr. that was on call that day is one that I LOVE and the one who delivered Leila.  He is a wonderful dr. and loves what he does, and is quite compassionate to how the patient is feeling.  So I definitely started praying hard that I would deliver before shift change the next morning! 

It was about 10:30 a.m. Baby was moving all around - so much so that it was really hard to keep the belts on to hear the heartbeat.  My contractions were still there - consistent as before.  The resident that was there checked me and there was no change.  But I just explained to the dr. how hard of a time I was having, how I was some concerned about my legs, and I was just so uncomfortable.  Once he found out about the other health issues I have, he immediately started checking things out and agreed that we needed to focus on my well being. 

So, to summarize the day, he and the resident spent lots of time going over my charts, looking back at my MRI from the previous year, and on the phone getting consults from several other drs.  During all this time, Matt and I were just sitting in the labor and delivery room, wondering if today was going to be the day.  We had a wonderful nurse looking after me and we spent a lot of time talking and chatting about all kinds of things.  This particular nurse spends her free time knitting hats for all the newborns.  I love that about our hospital - each baby gets a unique, handmade hat instead of those silly mass-produced ones that is standard in most hospitals!  She asked us if there was any specific color of hat we wanted, to which we told her we would love a red hat.  Leila had a pink one, Libby a purple one.  Each girls hat matched their going home outfit, so I wanted Lexi to have red as "her color."

Anyways, we really enjoyed this nurse (we had her before when I was in with Libby - just not during labor).  I think it was around 3:30 p.m. when the dr. came in to discuss what all he thought was the best thing for me at this point (we had been talking some about this all throughout the day).  He said that, since I was past my due date, and the baby was just fine, there was not benefit in her staying in there any longer.  He was more concerned with me and my health.  He felt that, due to my back issues, it would be best for me to deliver in a larger hospital where there were more specialists on call, particularly a neurosurgeon (due to my spinal tumor).  Also, being in a bigger hospital, there would be an anesthigiologist right there in the unlikely event that I would need to have an emergency c-section.  Matt and I agreed, although it was not my first choice by any means.  I wanted to deliver at MY hospital, near MY dr., near MY kids.  I love the relaxed feeling our small hospital has.  And I didn't want to go far away from my kids.  After all, the next day was Libby's 2nd birthday and I wanted to be near her to celebrate with her. 

While waiting for all the details to be worked out, I just sat there in the hospital bed, fighting back tears.  This was not how I wanted my last delivery to go.  I was not in active labor, so most likely I was going to have to be induced when I got to the other hospital.  I wanted a fast labor.  I did NOT want to be induced.  It seemed all the things I had been praying not to happen were coming true.  Didn't God care what I wanted?

But I tried to put on a brave face and just be thankful that this would soon be over. I now needed to focus on being ready and rested for the delivery. Now, due to the fact that I was overdue, contracting quite regularly, and tend to have fast labors, I was going to be sent by ambulance with on OB nurse to the Saint John hospital, 2 hours from our town. Matt would follow in the van. Then, when we got there the OB on call would decide whether to induce that night or in the morning. So we got all set, the ambulance driver and other EMT came and I was put on the stretcher. The OB nurse got all her gear ready(should I have to deliver on the side of the road!!!) and I kissed Matt goodbye and off we went! I was really trying not to cry because I wished Matt could go with me in the ambulance. But he couldn't so we left the hospital and headed out.

To be continued.....

Until next time....