Madelyn Faye’s Birth Story

Madelyn’s due date was Sunday, September 20th.  Matt and I headed to my 39 week doctors appointment on the morning of Monday, September 14th.  I figured it would be my last “routine” doctors appointment before the baby was born and we would probably discuss when we might have this baby if she doesn’t come on her own.

On the way to the appointment, I looked at Matt and said, “I’m so glad I’m not having this baby today.”  I was so exhausted because I had actually been up most of the night with a terrible head cold.  I didn’t get any sleep and felt exhausted.

When we got to the doctors office and the nurse checked us into our room, we listed to babies heartbeat and checked my vitals.  Babies heartbeat was abnormally high coming in around 203!! The nurse checked my blood pressure and it came in high too.  She left the room and Matt and I could tell that something wasn’t right.  I mention to him that I thought there could be a chance that the doctor comes in and tells us we’re going to have this baby today or definitely soon.  I think we were both a little nervous, but tried to keep the mood calm until we heard from the doctor.

My Doc walks through the door and the first thing he says is that he’s already called Labor and Delivery and we are moving towards having this baby today! What??????? No, I’m not ready.  I’m exhausted. I can’t have this baby today.  My hospital bag isn’t packed.  I don’t have anything for the baby with me.  Is the baby okay?  Why is her heart rate so high??  My Mom’s not here.  Am I having a C-section??

All these things are running through my head as a few big alligator tears start rolling down my cheeks.  I was half scared and half shocked.  If this had been Brody, I would have been jumping for joy that I got to have the baby a week early.  This time, I wasn’t ready yet!  Especially under these abrupt circumstances.

They pushed us out the door and off to Labor and Delivery we walked.  Matt helped keep me calm as my heart was racing.  They quickly put us in a room and hooked me and the baby up to monitors.  Thank the Lord that we were quickly relieved with results showing both my blood pressure and the babies heart rate both going back to normal numbers.  The nurse was so calming and I was so grateful for her.  They still had to send some blood work out to test for preeclampsia or any other abnormalities that would cause us to need an emergency C-section.  The nurse also let me know that I did have a little bit of a fever and that is what probably caused the babies heart rate to be so high.  She also happened to be moving around in my belly like crazy that morning when the nurse was listening, so who knows what it really was…

I stayed pretty tense until those results came back.  At this point it is probably around 1pm.  The nurse comes in and lets us know that all the blood work came back normal and we won’t have to have a C-section.  We were still having this baby today though!

We started Pitocin at 1:45pm and I am only 1cm dilated.

My Mom was in New Orleans and we called her that morning and let her know we were having the baby today and she jumped in the car hoping to make it in time for the birth.  It’s only a 3 hour drive, but at that point we weren’t sure if they would be rushing me in for a C-section or not.

Matt and I just tried to relax for a few hours and let the pitocin do the work.  My Mom arrived at the hospital that afternoon and my MIL was at our house watching Brody for us.

The doctor came in at 4:45pm and I was 3cm dilated.  He broke my water and I immediately called for my epidural.  I started having contractions after my water broke, but they weren’t immediately as painful as they were with Brody.

I got my epidural at 6:15pm and just like last time, it was not painful at all.

At 8pm, I had dilated to 5cm.  My brother had come up to the hospital at this point and brought a few beers for him and Matt to enjoy while watching a little Monday night football.  Honestly, this didn’t bother me at all and I was happy for everyone to just be chill and calm.

At 9pm the nurse decides to check my cervix again and she couldn’t believe I was already to 10cm!  My doctor had gone home for the night, but thankfully he didn’t live too far away.  They prepped me to get ready to push for this baby and at 9:35pm she was born!!

I worked a lot harder for this delivery than I did with Brody.  My pushing game was not on point this time and it took me a bit longer.  Not to mention that Madelyn was almost 1.5 pounds bigger than Brody, so that may have had something to do with it!

It was an incredible experience once again.  I had both Matt and my Mom by my side during delivery and my doc was a rockstar.  It was not the day we had envisioned for ourselves, but we couldn’t have been happier to welcome our beautiful baby girl to the world!!!

You can read Brody’s birth story here.  It’s quite lengthy.

In honor of Madelyn’s arrival, I have a very special giveaway for all of you today!! Head over to my instagram page (@HomeofMalones) for a chance to win this fabulous Nylon Kate Spade Diaper Bag.   Details are on the post and it’s super easy (FYI it’s not a LOOP giveaway).  Don’t worry if you don’t have a need for a diaper bag personally, because I promise you a friend or family member would be happy to take it off your hands 🙂