The Daltons: Kylee's Birth Story

Friday, April 5th, I was 38 weeks pregnant. Like normal I posted a belly picture to keep my family and friends updated on my pregnancy. Earlier that week I noticed I started to look different in my face. I asked Scott if he thought I looked swollen but he said I just looked exhausted. When I posted my 38 week picture my mom and sister noticed I looked sick and swollen. My mom and I talked that morning and she said to keep an eye on it, especially because I was having headaches for a few days. My sister called my mom and told her I looked sick and needed to get looked at. My mom told me to go to the hospital and get my blood pressure checked because I was having 2 of the 4 high blood pressure symptoms my doctor told me to look for. Pre-Eclampsia stinks!

You can't see it that well but my eyes and face are swollen.

I got to Orem Community Hospital about 3 pm and the nurses, who were awesome and funny, told me I was not going home without a baby. My blood pressure monitor went off every ten minutes and my diastolic (bottom number) ranged from 98 to 107. That is HORRIBLE!! My last test the nurses wouldn't even tell me what the results were because it was that bad. I did blood work and a pee sample and then they checked me and I was at 1cm and 60%. The on call doctor was going to induce me unless things went south they would do an emergency C-Section. Scott had planned to get off work early that day to go to Circleville but when he called and checked up on me I told him that our baby girl was going to be here tonight or tomorrow. I just cried because I was so nervous and scared. The nurses had to use this little machine on my belly to wake up and move Kylee so they could keep track of her heart beat. It was scary when they couldn't find it or find a good spot for my monitor. I just wanted her to be healthy and I was just scared of what was to come. Scott got to the hospital right as they were about to take me to my labor and delivery room. Can I just say my hospital was amazing. I loved all my nurses! Scott called my brother to come to the hospital to help him give me a blessing. Then Scott and Josh just hung out with me for a little bit longer while the nurses got me hooked up to monitors and an IV, which the nurse tried putting in my wrist but I was to swollen. She kept trying and it hurt SO bad! She finally put it in my right hand but every time my blood pressure monitor went off my wrist would hurt so bad because of her multiple attempts at putting my IV there. My brother ended up leaving later that evening and Scott hung out with me and updated my family and his family. Scott left later to go get my hospital bag, car seat, get his Tdap shot, hair cut and some dinner and I just hung out in my hospital bed with shock and excitement.

The nurse came in about 6:30 pm to start inducing me. They had me on Cervidal for 12 hours. It didn't start to effect me until the middle of the night. I was in so much pain. My contractions were killing me. I was super thirsty so my nurse brought me a large cup of water and I chugged it.. I guess that is a big no no. I unhooked all my monitors and hurried to the bathroom and barfed lots of water. The nurse told me to make sure I sip the water from here on out. Around midnight I was in so much pain that the nurse was giving me pain meds through my IV every hour that I needed them, which was every hour. As soon as she would give it to me I would get dizzy and then it would stop and because I was so exhausted I would fall fast asleep. I always woke up hurting about 20 minutes before I was allowed to get more medicine. I really didn't want to keep getting pain medicine but I was hurting! Finally it was 6:30 am, on April 6th, and my nurses took out the cervidal. About 20 minutes after it came out I got super sick and went to the bathroom and barfed some more. When I was walking back to my bed the nurses were walking in to start me on Pitocin. I sat on my bed and all of the sudden water was all over. I was like either I just peed myself, but I just got done going, or my water broke. They were a little shocked because they weren't expecting that to happen on its own. So I smelled the fluid and it was not pee. They checked me and I was at 2cm.

As soon as my water broke I was in the worst pain ever! No position felt comfortable and I was hyperventilating and trying not to cry. My monitors weren't tracking my contractions right and they were struggling to keep track of Kylee's heart beat so they inserted monitors inside me to keep a better eye on us. To find Kylee they had to use the machine again that moved her around in order to get her heart beat. They even tickled Kylee's head. Yes, it was weird, but whatever they needed to do in order to get Kylee moving. Once they got the monitors inside me they realized my contractions were every 30 seconds. They were like no wonder why you are in so much pain. My contractions were stressing Kylee out and my nurse just stared at the monitor the whole time. I thought it was weird. She didn't tell me much because I was already struggling with the contractions and breathing. My nurse left to go talk to the doctor about what to do because Kylee was struggling and she went to go get the anesthesiologist to give me my epidural because I was struggling. It was getting close to an hour of horrible pain and Scott asked what he could do to help and I just said go find my epidural. Well I could see his feet in the door way and thought to myself, he isn't doing crap. haha So I paged the nurses station almost in tears. Finally the anesthesiologist came in and had tons of questions. I just wanted to yell at him to hurry but I didn't. They sat me up and I was hurting so bad. My nurse kept saying "Krista, you need to breathe, you need to relax". Once I would get relaxed I would start freaking out again. I had Scott rub my back but that just hurt worse so I told him to stop. Then a nurse walked in and tried touching my back and I about freaked out. I was hurting so bad.

Once my epidural was in, which it did not hurt me, I finally relaxed and was in heaven. It was amazing. They were like now you know what natural child birth is like. It was horrible. My mom says pain from being induced is always worse than going into labor naturally. It was now about 8:20 am. The epidural also helped my contractions go from every 30 seconds to every 2 minutes. The baby was still a little iffy. Before I got my epidural I was at 5 cm. Yep I went from 2 cm to 5 in an hour. While my nurse was watching the babies heart rate I told her my crotch tickled. She said why does it tickle. I said I don't know but it does. With every contraction it would tickle. So she checked me and was like um you are at a 10 and 100% and the baby is ready to come. She left to go tell the doctor and he came in and said yep you are ready to go. He left Scott and the nurse with me to start pushing. At 9:42 am I started to push. The first set of 3 nothing. The second set of 3 she started to come. The third set of 3 a little more. Then the first push of the 4th set she crowned and the nurse told me to stop. She told Scott to hold my knees and she went and got the doctor. Everyone came in and got ready for Kylee to come. Once the doctor was ready I pushed two more times and out she came. Scott cut the umbilical cord, which was very tiny. They took her right away. At the time I didn't know that they had to resuscitate Kylee. I laid in the hospital bed thinking why isn't she crying, now I know why. Then I finally heard her cry and I saw Scott smile. While the doctor was stitching me up, he had to cut me because he thought Kylee would be bigger and because she was in stress he needed her to come asap, I just sat and watch Scott and the nurses and thought to myself, I can't believe she is here. When they weighed her they were shocked and then put her back on the scale and they said she is a little one. Once my placenta came out the doctor said it was horrible and it was not doing its job.

I came to the hospital at the right time because my blood pressure was horrible, my umbilical cord was horrible and my placenta was horrible. They said they don't know what a few more days would have done to Kylee. She might not have made it if I went to much further in my pregnancy.

Once they got Kylee all checked out they brought her to me for Skin to Skin and I just cried. Scott and I made this adorable heatlhy baby. She was perfect. Tiny but perfect. She was amazing and the moment was amazing. Scott and I had a baby and she was healthy.

Kylee sure didn't know she was little. She came out latched on and has been latched ever since. At the hospital we did have to supplement with formula because she needed more food than she was getting from me at the moment. Her blood sugar was low so we needed to feed her as much as possible to keep her numbers up. Kylee hasn't had formula since the first night home. One feeding her first night home we had to top her off with a bottle. But she has been bottle free since. Momma has the goods and it is making her nice and healthy.

In order for Kylee to come home with Scott and I on Monday her blood sugar levels had to be above 50 and her test early in the morning was under 50. They tested her one more time a few hours later and it was above 50 and the doctor was fine with her coming home with us, only because she was latching so well. They sent us home with little bottles just in case she stopped breast feeding. But she didn't. When my milk came in that week it was a struggle. I was so glad my mom was here to help because it took us both to get her to latch. E-cups full of milk and a 5lb 4oz baby, ya it was struggle but I wasn't giving up and it paid off.

When we took her back to the doctors that Wednesday she had gained half an ounce and her doctor was very excited. She has been doing well ever since. My baby is sure making up for the lack of food she was getting inside the womb.

When I went to the hospital and they told me I wasn't leaving without a baby my mom, dad, and sister got a plan together to come to Utah to be here for me. They left at midnight and drove all night and would have made it if I didn't deliver so quickly. I was so happy to have my whole family there to welcome Kylee Desirae into the world. It meant so much to me! I love my family. They would do anything for me and I would do anything for them.

I love my little family and I am so blessed for Scott and Kylee. They are everything to me! I am so happy and so in love!! I don't know what I would do without them.