Makenna's Birth Story

Makenna Charlotte Froese was born on Tuesday, November 11th at 10:56pm. She weighed 7 pounds and 9.4 oz. My labor was long and progressed slowly but ended with a BANG! For those of you who haven't heard "the story" let me give you a rough summary. I may give more information then you want to hear, so if you want you can skip ahead to the next paragraph, it will spare you the gross details.

On Tuesday morning at about 2ish I got up to use the bathroom. Near the end of my pregnancy the bathroom and I saw each other a lot. Let's just say it was not unusual. I did my business and went back to back. An hour later, back up again. I noticed that my underwear was significantly wet this time and I thought maybe I was loosing some bladder control. It crossed my mind that maybe I was leaking amniotic fluid. I said "um" out loud and awoke Drew. He asked me why I said "um" so peculiarly, and for whatever reason I felt it unnecessary to explain and told him it was nothing. I went to the bathroom did my business, changed my underwear, and went back to bed. Well, actually we were both wide awake at this point. So, we turned on Modern Marvels on the History Channel and attempted to go back to sleep. Well about 30-40 minutes later, I felt something warm and went to use the bathroom again. This time way more than I bargained for came out and it was slightly pink. I woke Drew up yelling something in excitement from the toilet and began to freak out slightly.

I knew it was amniotic fluid, but I wasn't experiencing any kind of contractions. My experience went against everything that we had learned in our preparations for birth. My water didn't break, it was leaking...and I wasn't experiencing ANY contractions. Just to be safe, I contacted labor and delivery. They told us to come in right away. We thought for sure, since there was no pain and it was just a leak, they would send us right home.

We arrived at the hospital at 4:45am and were sent into an observation room. The nurse pressed on my stomach, and a rather large gush of warm liquid came out. It was A LOT. Some very, very light cramping began but it was nothing more than "Aunt Flow" if you know what I mean, ladies. Drew and I were both awaiting the words to go home and wait it out.

Well, thank goodness I took a shower because we ended up having to check in. The words we heard were "you're not leaving until you have this baby". WHAT!?! Well, as it turns out, if your amniotic fluid leaks/breaks prior to contractions starting (real labor) there is a high risk that bacteria can infect the baby. The doctors want to get the baby out ASAP. If this same thing happens for the next kid, I will definitely eat something prior to going to the hospital because once they check you in, they do not want you eating anything. They graciously gave me a cup of orange jello. It was quite a yummy breakfast.

My labor progressed extremely slow. So slow in fact, I had to take potocin which speeds up the process. It also makes labor pains very intense. I went in with the mindset that I would try to go without any pain meds but I wasn't opposed to them. Well, it was a good thing, because at about 4.5 cms of dilation (which came at about early evening) my body began to push the baby out. The doctors and nurses seemed to think that I had some kind of control over this. It was right at that point that I decided to have an epidural. Wow! What a difference. I will request this miracle worker for every delivery here on out. I was a totally different person and could feel very little pain. Which was fine with me.
I finally reached 10cm at about 10ish. This was after a fake out by the nurse who had checked an hour earlier and told me to start pushing. She grabbed the doctor and everyone came in prepping for the baby. Then...the doctor checked and said I was only 9 cms. She predicted another hour more. Anyway, about an hour later I was ready to go, just like she predicted. Here's why it ended with a BANG! The doctor came in, along with 3 other nurses, and verified the 10cms. She looked at the baby's heart rate and told us she didn't like how it was dropping so significantly, and she wants to get the baby out now. We began to panic a little bit. After delivering this news, she proceeded to leave the room along with everyone but the one fake-out nurse from before. Drew and I looked at each other and wondered where everyone went. A few minutes passed by and no one was in the room. The fake-out nurse looked at Drew and said grab her leg. She proceeded to grab the other leg and told me to push. In a panic, realizing there was still no one in the room but us three, I yelled...are you going to deliver this baby??! Right after I yelled at her, the doctor and delivery nurses came in. The doctor reprimanded her right in front of us and said that by me pushing, it was causing Makenna's heart rate to drop further. She explained that they were going to put a vacuum on her head and pull her out as I pushed. They needed to get her out fast. Things and contraptions dropped down from the ceiling...it was a whirlwind.

Her head began to crown and Drew saw her dark hair. Unfortunately that was all he saw because he felt light-headed and weak in the knees. He encouraged me from the sidelines in a chair. After three solid pushes (as they pulled) she popped out. They placed her right on my chest and cleaned her up. She cried for only a few seconds and then seemed quite content as we just cried and admired this beautiful gift that God had blessed us with. She was, and still is, the most beautiful baby we have ever seen. Drew was able to cut the umbilical cord without fainting, I was so proud of him. He said it took 3 cuts to finally break through and compared it to cutting poultry. Her heart rate had dropped because her umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around her neck.

It took them an hour to clean me up. She was a great distraction from all that they needed to do to make things back to normal. Our entire family had been waiting since about 8 in the morning, out in the waiting room. Apparently driving all of the nurses crazy. They finally got to come in a few at a time and hold their granddaughter and niece. It was an experience that I would not trade for anything in the world.