John and Annie
The birth went quite well, despite the fact it didn’t go quite as we’d planned. I was in labor for 10 1/2 hours. We arrived at the hospital about 4 hours into it. Things were going well up to that point. About a half hour later, my surges went from every 5-6 minutes to every 2 minutes and increased in strength from about the 40th to over 100 (according to the monitor – not sure how they measure that) in about 20 minutes. It was a “Wham!” type thing, and it shocked me. I wasn’t breathing very well at that point, and they gave me some oxygen. I asked for the epidural, and they gave it to me. I fell asleep for a couple hours. When I woke up, the nurse came and checked me. I was complete, so I pushed for about ten minutes, and out she came! It all went well, and the baby is so healthy.
So, we had a girl. We named her Elizabeth Lucy. She is so sweet. She was born May 13th. I am exclusively breastfeeding her. Breastfeeding was probably the hardest part – I didn’t get the latch right the first few times and I got a couple of blisters and some cracking. It was so painful, but I persevered (thanks to the support of my husband) and now I am so happy I did. She is growing well, and is so healthy. We took her to the doctor once, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t sick because I was exclusively breastfeeding. (It turned out to be just a little tummy trouble because I’d eaten cauliflower.)
John and I chose to deliver at American Fork Hospital. It was great! The nurses and other staff were so supportive and helpful. They were so kind and understanding about everything. Obviously, after I had the baby, I was bleeding all over the place (like a really heavy period or something) and they didn’t say a word. They were just really helpful about cleaning things up and taking care of us. The only thing I would’ve liked better at American Fork is a big birthing tub. I think sitting in warm water would have helped, and maybe I could’ve done it completely natural. They do have a tub you can sit in, but it’s not huge. But I liked the fact that it was a secured unit, and that it had a small NICU, just in case. So that’s why we chose American Fork.
My doctor is fantastic! I can’t believe I was able to get such a wonderful doctor (James R. Nelson in American Fork). He supported us in what we wanted to do. At my appointment at 38 weeks, he had us scheduled as the last ones of the day. He then sat down with us for a full hour, and went over everything in our birth plan with us, and we discussed it together. I couldn’t believe he would take so much time with us, especially when he is so busy. But he did. It was important to us, so it was important to him. And then, when I went back for my six week check-up, he talked to us for another twenty-five minutes about how we felt about the birth – comparing our desires and expectations with what actually happened. He is a fabulous doctor, and really cares about us. I have to warn anybody wanting to get in with him, though, that I was very lucky. I was one of two new patients he was taking. And I had to be due after May 1st, and I was (barely – May 7th). He rarely takes new patients, and I can see why. He has a full practice, and nobody leaves once they have him as their doctor because he is so great.
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