Cooper Kyle Ensign

So remember I had high blood pressure & planned to check it Sunday (May 8th) morning? Well I did & it was high. 149/106 high at 7:00am. I hadn't slept great that night because I was worried about my BP & I still had that feeling that Cooper was coming sooner that we imagined (I'd always felt like he would come earlier than his May 29th due date but I didn't think it would be this early!) I started to freak out a little about my BP but decided to lie back down for a while & check again. At 7:40 my BP was 166/105. Regardless of if the BP cuff I had was a little off-that is CRAZY high! I woke Kyle up, took his BP & it came out normal. I felt like it was time to call Dr Nix to see what she said. (I'll try to keep the details to a minimum so this isn't the longest post known to man)

Here's how our day went:

8:00am Call & speak with the on call nurse who happens to be Mary Daker-midwife. I'm told to pack my bags & get to the hospital not right this second but quick.

8:15-9:15am Have a freak out/crying moment with Kyle (I'm the only one crying but Kyle's freaked out too). Mary told me to bring Coopers bag too. (Thank goodness I had packed it the day before!) After quick showers, tidying up the condo a bit (just a bit), loading up the car, & a quick family prayer-we were on our way to the hospital.

9:30am I'm admitted to the hospital & assigned a gown (ha!) & a room. I'm hooked up to crazy monitors: BP, heart rate, Cooper's heart rate, contraction detector, etc. Blood drawn & in the lab.

10:30am After about an hour of monitoring & being told by the nurses that I would probably just be sent home on bed rest-EVERYTHING changes. Kyle had been keeping an the monitors & an eye on Cooper's heart rate & we'd just noticed that his heart had slowed down when the nurses come running into the room & tell me to roll over on my side, then over to my other side. I had been having a contraction for 9 minutes! (I felt the tightness but no pain-just felt like the normal braxton hicks I'd had before. Oh & contractions are supposed to last more than a minute or two.) When I would lay on my side it helped Cooper somehow. After a quick shot of something to stop the contraction- Cooper's heart rate went back to normal while my BP shot up!

11:00am Dr Nix comes in & tells us the news. She was ready to send me home & put me on bedrest until that contraction hit & Cooper's heart rate dropped. Since that craziness happened, I was dilated to a 3 & at 37 weeks (that day)-we were going to have a baby! (another emotional moment for me-I'll never forget looking at Kyle across the room! Wild!) Dr Nix wasn't certain that I'd be able to have a vaginal birth-it all depended on what Cooper could handle under stress so I had to be prepared for a C Section-just in case. All this time we thought I'd be sent home but boy was this a change!

11:30am Moved to a delivery room. Hooked up to quite a few IVs: Magnesium (for my High BP so I didn't have a stroke or something), Pitocin (to induce labor), & fluid to keep my hydrated. Not to mention I got a catheter...fun.

12:15pm Dr Nix came in to break my water & confirmed I was still dilated to a 3. (Having my water broken didn't hurt but it I did feel like I was peeing)

12:45pm The Anesthesiologist came in & I got an epidural. I still wasn't feeling the contractions really at this point but we had to have the epidural in place in case an emergency C section was necessary. The epidural itself didn't hurt at all but I did jump when he was numbing up my skin.

1:15-6:45pm The waiting game. I was nervous that the epidural would slow down the whole laboring process but I was wrong. I felt like everything went way fast-or at least faster than I anticipated! During this time Kyle ran home to get some clothes (I was freezing him out. I had the room so cold because the magnesium made me so hot), I texted family/friends to let them know what was going on, & I took a nap. It wasn't much of a nap though because I was constantly getting checked on by the nurses (they were very nice) & my BP cuff went off like every 15 minutes). To help with Cooper's heart rate I had to lay on my side the entire time. (5:00pm Dilated to a 7) Near the end I had been on my right side for over an hour & a half therefore the epidural had drained mostly on my right side. I was able to feel the contractions on my left side! I'm sure it wasn't like if I hadn't had medicine but was a pretty painful ache that hit with each contraction. I was still able to move myself around in the bed-a surprise to the nurses-so I'm not sure how strong the epidural actually was.

7:00pm Mary (midwife) came in to check on me again (she'd been in several times). I found out I was dilated to a 10 & ready to push! eek! Next thing we knew bright lights were turned on, nurses & medical equipment came out of the wood work, I was laying on my back with my knees were to my chest, a mirror in place at the end of the bed & Kyle was by my side.

7:17pm I began to push. As I pushed with each contraction Cooper's heart rate went down. Mary had Dr Ech come in at the very end because she wasn't sure if they would have to use forceps or a vacuum... Mary had to do an episiotomy because Cooper was coming out fast & we didn't have time to wait. I knew I didn't want those to be used so with the last contraction I gave it all I had & it worked.

7:37pm Cooper Kyle Ensign was born a healthy boy. I pushed for only 20 minutes & he was here-Mary & the nurses were pretty impressed I suppose because they kept talking about how quickly it all went. I get emotional now just thinking of that moment that he was born & the moments that followed. It seems so surreal that I could do something so incredibly amazing as bringing a sweet baby boy into this world. (I know I didn't do it alone)

Kyle cut the umbilical cord & looked on while the nurses took care of Cooper. It was so sweet watching Kyle as he looked at his son. Soon after I was able to hold my baby boy for the first time. I'll admit-I did ugly cry & it was caught in pictures but it was totally worth it! :)

Next thing we knew we were left alone in the room with our little Cooper. It was kind of odd when we realized we were alone. Everything leading up to his birth was fast & kind of intense. Now we were at this moment of looking at our baby. It was a sweet moment to just be the three of us.