Cannon Hal- A Birth Story

Cannon Hal: A Birth Story On Friday, December 22, 2023, I had my 37 week appointment with Dr. LeBlanc. She checked me and I was 1 cm. dilated. At this point, I wasn’t feeling any contractions so I was surprised and hopeful that I would go into labor on my own. I was scheduled to be induced at 38 weeks due to the blood thinner injections I was taking and I did not want to be induced. All I had known was 2 very good, spontaneous labors and was really wanting to duplicate that success. She also told me that I was only 50% effaced so she might have me come in the night before my scheduled induction to start medication for that. We scheduled another check 2 days prior to the induction just to make sure. On Wednesday, December 27, I went in again and was still at a 1 cm. and only 70% effaced. I was really hoping there would be progress because I had been feeling mild cramps and thinking things were happening. She hooked me up to the monitor and while there were small measurements on the paper compared to the normal none, she said I wasn’t contracting. She told me to go ahead and plan on coming to the hospital Thursday night to start the induction. We went home a little bummed because we were hoping we were going to be told to go across the street to the hospital because I was in labor! Thursday morning we went to the hospital with all 3 kids in tow for my pre-op appointment. We signed consents and they told us to be back at 6 pm, but also to call around 5 pm if we hadn’t gotten a confirmation call just to make sure they had a bed available. Apparently it was a very busy time in L&D. We left around 3 pm and went to lunch at Mod Pizza for the last time as a family of 5. After that, I stayed home to rest and Crockett met his mom to drop off the kids. When he got back to me it was after 5. We had both thought there was no way they would actually have a bed for us at 6 because we had waiting almost an hour for our pre-op appointment and the hospital hadn’t called us to confirm availability. I took a shower and then finally called them around 5:30. Of course, they told us to be there at 6 and make sure I ate before getting there. We hurried up and packed and stopped for fries and a smoothie on our way. We got into our room at 7 pm and just hung out while the nurses had shift change. My sister came to visit and we played games for a while. Around 9 pm I finally had an IV and they started the medicine to soften my cervix. At 1 am, I was still a 1, but they said I was softer. They started Pitocin hoping to speed up contractions. I slept through the night as much as I could with the nurses coming in to increase my Pitocin and move my monitor. Every few hours Cannon would move and they couldn’t record his heart rate. At 7am I was almost a 2 and maxed out on Pitocin. Within 20 minutes my doctor came in and broke my water. There was so much fluid! (My high-risk doctor, Dr. Rowe, would have been very upset with me.) They also began to prep me for an epidural. I wasn’t in too much pain yet, but the hope was that breaking my water would set things in motion soon. Luckily, my sister works at this hospital in the OR and she was able to get the best anesthesiologist to leave the OR and come do my epidural. He was amazing! I had so much anxiety about this as last time I was in labor this is where my only hiccup came in. The pain was minimal, and he was very quick. The only problem was that my nurses immediately had me lay on my left side and I remember thinking this is not good for making sure the meds get to both legs. I was right. I fell asleep almost immediately and within an hour I woke up in major pain. I could feel the contractions, but especially in the right side. I begged the nurse for meds. She called the anesthesiologist to come give me another dose and as we were waiting, I was feeling the urge to push. The nurse didn’t quite believe me but checked me anyway was I was complete! They called for my doctor, and I was panicking because at this point I was still in excruciating pain and feeling the contractions. My doctor was prepping, and I finally got another dose in my epidural, but I was in position to push and still didn’t feel relief. At some point after the first few pushes the pain subsided and I was able to focus on the right movements. At 10:59 am, Cannon Hal was born with the cord pretty tight around his neck, but thankfully healthy. He was 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 inches long. We were only in the hospital with him one night before being sent home. His bilirubin levels were normal and his PKU test came back normal a week later; a first for our boys! I recovered really well and pretty quickly again. Within a few days I felt normal again. Breastfeeding was a challenge the first few days, but we finally have figured it out and gotten into a rhythm. He is sleeping very well during the day and not so well at night. We were shocked by this surprise pregnancy and so very grateful for a healthy quadruple rainbow baby.

Laken Lane: A Birth Story

On Tuesday November 19, 2019 I saw my doctor for my 38 week check up and she told me I was 1 cm dilated and scheduled me to be induced Monday, November 25 when I would be 39 weeks. She said that because of my blood clotting disorders she wasn't comfortable letting me go past that point. (Plus, baby was already measuring 6 pounds 14 ounces at 36 weeks!)

Wednesday evening Crockett suggested we go for a walk to try to get things moving. We walked almost a mile and when we got home I was feeling a lot of strange things, but the baby was moving like crazy and had been having Braxton Hicks contractions so it was hard to tell what the pain was from. I went to bed around 10 pm and woke up at 11:30 pm with cramps. This wasn't completely abnormal for the end of my third trimester so I managed to get back to sleep not thinking much of it. At 2:30 am I woke up again and the cramps were stronger and I was nauseous. I went to the bathroom and felt horrible. I ran a warm bath because that really helped me last time I was in labor, but the bath didn't help at all because I was in more pain from the nausea than the cramps.

Around 3 am I was feeling super sick and the cramps were becoming more regular so I woke Crockett up and started timing the contractions. They were 5-7 minutes apart. My doctor had told me to come to the hospital as soon as I thought I was in labor because second babies tend to come fast so I told Crockett I thought we should go ahead and go. I called my sister to come stay at our house (her kids were already sleeping at my house) and called my mom so she could start the 1 hour drive to the hospital from her house. We got to the hospital around 5 am; they checked me and I was 1.5 cm dilated. I was settled into a room but not admitted until I was determined to be in active labor. They told me to walk for an hour and they'd see where I was.

My mom and I walked around the labor and delivery floor for about 30 minutes while Crockett got some sleep. I was able to walk and talk through the contractions and they weren't that bad. After 30 minutes I felt like I needed a rest. My plan was to sit for a few minutes and then I'd keep walking. As soon as I sat in the bed I felt sick again. I went to the bathroom feeling horrible and when I came out i immediately vomited. I stayed in bed for the next half hour and didn't walk again. I thought it would slow my progress, but I didn't care because I was so sick.

After being there an hour the nurse checked me again and I was 3.5 cm dilated! They officially admitted me and called for my epidural. At that point the pain wasn't unbearable, but I was afraid it would take a long time for the anesthesiologist to get to me so I wanted it sooner rather than later. He came in around 9:30 am and gave me one of the worst experiences of my life.

They cleared the room of everyone except my two nurses and the doctor. He started the procedure of inserting the catheter and I was immediately in excruciating pain. It was shooting down my left side, then my right side, and finally the middle of my body. It took him almost 15 minutes to do it and even when he was done I was in pain. I laid down and started to feel the medicine taking effect. I also started feeling really dizzy. As my blood pressure plummeted to 60/30 I lost my vision and hearing. They immediately flipped my bed upside down and started moving around quickly. When I started to regain my hearing I heard, "Is the baby ok?" and then silence. Someone was shaking my belly saying, "Come on. Come on." Apparently the baby's heart rate also got dangerously low. As my blood pressure started to return to normal so did his heart rate. They finally brought my mom, sister, and Crockett back in the room and I explained to them what happened.

The transition nurse came in to introduce herself at this point. As soon as she said her name (Lakin) Crockett and I looked at each other and immediately knew we wanted to change the baby's name from Rowan to Laken. We couldn't believe we were actually considering changing it after all these months of calling him Rowan, but we did!

After this I labored painlessly until 2:45 pm. My nurse checked me and determined I was 8 cm. dilated and saw that my water had broken. They called for my doctor to come. About 5 minutes later I told her I felt pressure and she checked again. I was complete and ready to push! I waited for the doctor for a few minutes and as soon as she got there they had me all ready to go. I pushed 3 times for a grand total of 6 minutes and Laken Lane was born at 3:16 pm weighing 8 pounds 3 ounces and measuring 19 inches long.

I labored for a total of 13 hours which was only 4 shy of last time, but I'm grateful for another "textbook" labor. Everything went very smoothly and my recovery has been super fast. I was up and on my feet after only 2-3 days of walking funny. :) Thankfully I didn't almost pass out when going to the restroom for the first time either. My nurses were great. Laken did have to have 12 hours of photo-therapy due to jaundice our second night in the hospital. That was a ROUGH night, but he's been clear ever since then.

I'm so incredibly grateful to the Lord for giving me not 1, but 3 answers to prayer. My beautiful girl and 2 precious boys are more than I deserve and more than I could ever have hoped for. There were so many days, months, and years that I thought motherhood would never be mine and here I am with these blessings. Laken is the final piece to our story and I'm so glad he is here. It was a long road to get here. His story has been blessed from the beginning and my heart could just explode with the love I feel for him. From a first round fertility treatment success to a perfect labor and healthy baby boy; he is another miracle.

Denton- 1 month

Weight:  10.3 pounds

Length:  21.5 inches

Wears: Newborn and 0-3 Months

Loves: Sleeping on his tummy, looking at bright lights, being rocked to sleep, & eating.

Eats: Every 1.5-3 hours at night and 2-4 hours during the day

What's new: Denton had his first bath at home and didn't seem to mind it. He still doesn't really cry; he just does 1 or 2 squawks to tell us he needs something. He and I are doing really well with breastfeeding and I'm so thankful it's going smoothly. He sleeps almost all day because he's allowed to be on his tummy as long as I'm watching him. Nights are harder because he's in a lot of pain when he's on his back. He has acid reflux and gets really bad heartburn. He started prescription meds for it so hopefully those will start kicking in soon. This month Denton's Aunt Dee and Uncle Jeff came to visit and he spent several days with all his grandparents right after he was born. Lately he's been getting a lot of big sister time too as we've been keeping Andi home while the flu spreads through her class at daycare. He smiles in his sleep and makes the most precious coo noises.