Welcome To This Big World

Thursday evening Jordy and I headed up to the Clarksville Little League Park to watch the HYR All Stars play. We started off sitting out along the right field line. An umpire came around selling 50-50 raffle tickets. He said they were 5 for $1 or your wingspan for $5. I convinced Jordy that he needed to buy his wingspan and then count and see if he got a good deal. He ended up with about 35 – 40 tickets. About 10 minutes later, one of our numbers was called over the intercom system. He won the raffle. I looked over at him and said, “Today must be your lucky night. Your baby just might show up, too.”

I am used to being up close at the ball games because we are usually on the field coaching. In fact, I had really wanted to coach this team, but was worried that it was too close to the time the baby was supposed to arrive. I didn’t know how I would feel. We moved to the bleachers to get a better view. As we were watching the game, I asked Jordy if he would go get me a Mountain Dew. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “there is no way I am going to try to make that baby come early.” I told him he was crazy. I drank caffeine throughout most of the pregnancy. He got me the drink.

The game was really intense. The score was 2 – 1 in favor of HYR. We were nervous, because in the past, it always seemed that there would be one bad inning. The 7th inning was starting to look like it could be the problem inning. There was only one out and Clarksville had runners on 2nd and 3rd base. I was jumping out of the bleacher cheering. The coaches were arguing with the umpires over various calls. It was a great game! I kept commenting to Jordy that we should be the ones on the field coaching and that we would have been just fine. We were excited when Clarksville pulled off the win. One of the parents turned and looked at me and said, “If that didn’t just put you into labor, I don’t know what would.” I just laughed and reminded them that I still had 18 more days.

Jordy and I left and headed for our car. We hadn’t been gone from the field for 1 minutes before I felt my water break (at the time, I wasn’t exactly sure that was what had happened). I said, “You’re not going to believe this, but I think my water just broke.” The bathrooms at the field were already closed, but my cousin, Trina, lives right next to the ballpark. I told Jordy that I was walking over there and he should go get the car to pick me up.

I never felt any contractions, so after I left her house, I did not know what to do. You hear of people having their water break and then being in labor for a long time. I called my mom and she did not answer her phone. I knew she was at the boat. I had told her to call and check on me that night because I knew she did not get a good signal on her phone. I sent her a text that said, “I think it might be time.” She called me back about 5 minutes later. She never got the text, but had a feeling that something was going on.

I told Jordy that I wanted to go home and take a bath and we would go from there. While I was taking a bath, Jordy called the midwife. I could not believe that he actually got to speak to her at 10pm. She said that she was already at the hospital for another birth and that we should take our time, but come on in. She said that if it was my water that had broken, she was going to speed things.

We gathered our bag (which we happened to have packed just 5 days ago), called our parents (obviously I had already called my mom like 3 times at this point), and headed to the hospital.
Since it was after hours, we had to go to the emergency room. They took me upstairs and confirmed that my water broke. In order to avoid a dry birth, they said it was important that I deliver within 24 hours. Therefore, they decided that they would start me on pitocin. At this point, I had yet to feel any contractions. However, they were visible on the monitor.

They monitored the baby’s heart rate and the contractions for a couple of hours. Each ½ hour they were to continue increasing the pitocin. Finally, I began to feel contractions. The nurse kept asking my pain level. I thought it was about a 4. She continued to ask if I was ready for the epidural and said that she was going to leave it up to me to let her know when I wanted it. She said that my pain level would definitely go much higher. At the time, I didn’t believe her.

Around 4am the nurse told me that the antisetiologist was on the floor giving an epidural to a patient down the hall. I did not think I needed it at this point, but I was not sure how much longer I could wait. Plus, I heard horror stories about requesting the epidural and having to wait for hours. I knew I did not want to get in that situation. I rated my pain at a 6. The nurse said it should take about 30 minutes. About 15 minutes later, the nurse returned with bad news. An emergency C-section had just come in and I was not going to be getting the epidural until she delivered. At this point, I just about lost it. I truly think it wouldn’t have been so bad if I had not been expecting the epidural, but the thought of waiting another hour was too much to bear.

They gave me Demirol. It did not numb the pain. In fact, it just made me feel drunk. I felt like I was talking out of my head. Jordy says at one point, he thought I was going to throw my popsicle at him.

Finally, at 7:30, my epidural came through. I cannot tell you how great it was. My legs were tingly and numb, but all of the pain went away.

At one point, the nurse came into the room and said that the baby’s heart rate was not doing what it was supposed to be doing. They were concerned. They had to back off the pitocin. I was a nervous wreck. The nurses did a great job of describing everything. I had to wear an oxygen mask for part of the labor. I can remember my mom asking lots of questions. I can remember wondering why they didn’t just go for the C-section and get her out. I know a lot of people do not want a C-section (and that includes me), but my only concern was if the peanut was going to be okay. Our amazing nurses were able to regulate her heart rate. This happened several more times throughout the afternoon, but each time she was okay.

My midwife had told me that I would probably be pushing for an hour. I kept telling everyone. When it came time to push she said, “Honey, do you want to push for an hour?” I said, “No. I don’t think I can.” She said, “there is no way you are going to be pushing for an hour, unless you just want to.” I probably only had to push through 7 – 10 contractions before she arrived.

At 12:34 pm, Kaylea Jordyn Struck came into the world weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces and she was 20 inches long. I thought for sure that I would cry, but I couldn’t. Instead, I was in total shock and awe that this little person had been growing inside of me for the past 37 weeks. Holding her for the first time was overwhelming. We will never forget the day she came into our lives.

I always knew Jordy was going to be a great dad, but seeing him with Kaylea this past week has been amazing. I didn’t know I could love him anymore than I already do, but there is just something about having a husband that is a wonderful father.