The Birth Story

Adelyn Nanette Armstrong

7lbs. 8oz. 19in.

May 21st, 2009.

We got a call from American Fork hospital on the evening of May 20th, telling us they'd like to start our induction at 7am the next morning. Sweet! Nice and early. I packed our hospital bags that night ( that's right, I waited until the very last minute to pack our bags. It was scheduled, so what was the hurry, right? I mean, I couldn't have gone into labor early or anything. I was so on top of it.) We went to bed, alarms set for 5:30 am. At 5:29 am, the hospital called and asked if we could be there by 6:30 am. What?! No, I can't be there, I was told 7... I'm just rolling out of bed, sorry, you won't see us until 7. We hurried to get ready, and headed out the door at 6:15 am. Frist stop, the hospital... nope, Gandolfo's. We needed a hearty breakfast sandwich to get us through the rest of the day without food. We arrived at the hospital at 6:45 am, 15 minutes early, score! We were lead straight to our delivery room, where I changed into my adorable and comfortable hospital gown, and hopped into bed where they strapped heart and contraction monitors onto me. Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump... ahh, the sweet sound of my baby's heart beat, strong and fast. I was feeling so nervous, not because I was going to have my baby that day, but because I knew the IV was just around the corner. Oh how I hate needles! Our nurse Hollie brought in another nurse to start my IV so she didn't have to be the bad guy. Fine with me, so long as this woman was fast and painless. No such luck, nurse 1 couldn't get the IV started, even after floating the needle around. OUCH! Nurse 2 was brought in. She was supposed to be the best on the floor. Awesome, just get it in, ok? Nope... two more tries in two more veins... OUCH OUCH! By this time I was in tears and pain. 3 tries and still no IV had been started. Hollie, our nurse for the day, decided to give it a go. She gave me half an hour or so, to recover from the previous failed attempts. Thank you Hollie. When she came back in, my heart raced, and I begged her to get it in, please just get it in. She went for the vein on top of my bone on my left wrist. On top of the bone... isn't that the most painful place to have a needle placed? Yes, yes it is. But she did it! 4th time's a charm!

After the IV drama I just hung out in bed, chatting with my mom and Matt. Matt put "You've Got Mail" on and I tried to relax (tried being the key word. I couldn't actually relax knowing I still had to get through the epidural). Around 8:30 am Dr. Mower came to break my water. What a nasty feeling. I had high hopes that this would make my labor progress, since I wasn't contracting regularly on my own yet. I was dialated to 2 cm when he broke my water. With pitocin and broken water, I was progressing pretty well. My contractions didn't get very strong until almost 2 hours after my water was broken. Then the pain started. I tried to hold out as long as possible, I couldn't decide which was worse, the pain of the contractions or the pain of a huge epidural needle. Contactions are way worse. But even worse than that, 4 IV pokes. When the contractions got to be more than I felt I could handle, I got my epidural. At that point, I was 4 cm. Epidurals are beautiful! I felt so great when it kicked it.

IV- check, Epidural- check. I could finally relax. The pain was gone, and I was sure I wouldn't feel anymore for most of the day. I tried to rest once again, and this time I was successful, until Addies heart rate started dropping. I knew that occasional drops here and there were fairly normal. But hers kept dropping really low, and way too often. I started to worry, and so did my mom. My nurse kept coming in, having me change positions to try and get more oxygen to the baby. Eventually she put the oxygen mask on me and turned off the pitocin, in hopes that Addie would stablize. She did for a few minutes, and I felt relief. And then the deccelerations started again, getting lower for longer periods of time. At this point I was 6cm and hopeful that things would progress quickly, so I could have this baby naturally. Hollie came in frantically with another nurse, and told me this was not good, and that even she was nervous. Que tears. Dr. Mower was called and got to the hospital a few minutes later with the news that a c-section would need to be performed immediately. More tears. I was terrified. Terrified to have major surgery, terrified for the safety of my baby, terrified of the recovery. I needed a blessing, something to soothe my scared and nervous heart. Matt was there, but he needed another priesthood holder. My doctor helped Matt give me a blessing and the whisked me away to the operating room. I cannot describe my fear. I was in an O.R. with doctors and nurses rushing around me, trying to get everything ready quickly. Matt came in just before they started and I felt a little better having him there beside me.

1:23 pm, I heard a vigorous cry, and knew my sweet little baby was just fine. She came out screaming and bright pink, the picture of perfection. Matt went to her side. She weighed 7 lbs. 8oz, and 19 in. Not the 8 or 9 lbs. we had in mind, that's for sure. I still can't believe how tiny she was, is. Almost a whole 2 lbs. smaller than our little tank Deano.

We didn't get the normal planned delivery we hoped for, but we got our healthy beautiful baby girl, and that's all that matters.