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| 32 Weeks, After our Dr. appt |
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| 39 Weeks and 3 Days |
FAST FORWARD! I actually started this blog months ago, and then Morgan was born and it didn't ever get finished. :) What an amazing journey this has been for all of us. I can not begin to express the gratitude and love that we have for Bridget and her family. Bridget, you change lives by creating life, thank you. When we arrived in Boise we were already full of anticipation to actually get there and feel 100% certain we would not miss the birth, and that we did not. Not even close, we had 3 weeks of waiting on Morgan to get acquainted with the city. Which has great parks and a beautiful downtown. We had emotional ups and downs, fortunately for me my parents were able to bring Jaiden and Olivia up for a week so we could all be together.
Towards the end Morgan was head down but face up which wasn't allowing labor to progress. Bridget ended up carrying Morgan longer than any other pregnancy she has had, 39 weeks and 5 days. Our doctor encouraged us to get induced towards the end to nudge Bridget into labor. The day we were supposed to go in for our induction Bridget received a phone call from St. Lukes Labor and Delivery telling her NOT to come in, they had too many women laboring ahead of her and were short staffed. The nurse told her to call back around 10 am to see if any rooms opened up, but that we would probably just need to reschedule for the following day. My Mom, seeing the sheer panic and disappointment in Cody and my eyes didn't skip a beat to shove us out the door to do something fun and took the girls on their own adventures. We golfed and talked about looking forward to the next day!
We were scheduled to be induced at 630 am on Friday, May 5th. Bridget checked in at 6:00am and Cody and I arrived around 7:00am, shortly after the gazillionth IV attempt on Bridget. When we arrived our names were on the board and our room was 2409, it was FINALLY so real an overwhelming calm feeling just took over. Walking across the room to hug Bridget I passed the sterile delivery tray and tools and felt pure joy, that tray was there for our baby. Our baby that we are hours from meeting. The last couple of weeks Bridget had dilated by 1 cm each week. When we checked in that morning she was about 4-5 cm dilated and still face up. They started her pitocin through an IV at a very low dose only bumping it up once within the 1st hour of our arrival. All it took was a little kick start and Bridget's labor took off at a nice, non-invasive, comfortable speed. Through labor Bridget had her husband Shawn who lovingly held her hand and was great support and Cody and I. My Mom brought the girls by the hospital around 10:00am and they came in and said hi and took a look around. Shortly after they arrived Dr. West broke Bridget's water and her comfort started to be compromised. They kicked all of us out and placed her epidural. Unfortunately, the girls had sports tournaments very early the next morning 2 hours on the other side of Bozeman where we live and were facing an 8 hour drive home already. My Mom and the girls left at 1:30pm right after we ate lunch in the cafeteria. Since it was Cinco De Mayo the hospital staff was celebrating with a taco and burrito bar. It was quite festive and it was fun to see everyone enjoying each other. We said some tearful good-bye's to the girls and my Mom and they were off!
As soon as the girls took off we rushed back upstairs to find Bridget dilated to 7cm! Bridget's epidural wasn't working as well as she would've liked so Shawn asked that the anesthesiologist to come back in and get her pain under control again. He came right in and made Bridget comfortable again. We also think this is when Morgan slipped into the face down position and labor took off. As the last hour progressed I watched our nurse Kelli stick very close to Bridget's side. Bridget is a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for. Throughout the whole labor when asked how she was feeling, she'd always say, oh ok. Only 1 time did she say she was in pain and even that time she down played her pain level. Thankfully her husband was there to be her voice of reason. Kelli kept asking Bridget if she felt any pressure and Bridget would say she wasn't having any more than usual but wasn't quite sure. Kelli was keeping her phone close and waiting for Dr. West to call and check in. When he called, Kelli told him she thought he should come over and check B. About 15 minutes later Dr. West arrived and was ready to check B. The 4 of us and Kelli (who hadn't left Bridget's side in over an hour) had just been hanging out in the room talking and planning our next vacation together. Dr. West checked Bridget and said the most exhilarating words I could've heard, "Alright, on the next contraction how do you feel about pushing?"
WHAT?! Somehow we all just fell into line, the nurse handed me one of Bridget's legs and asked if I was comfortable supporting it, which OF COURSE I was. Cody was right behind me and at Bridget's shoulders. Shawn was on the other side holding her hand and other leg. Our nurse Kelli was on the same side as Shawn. Dr. West gave Cody a tiny infant hat to put on Morgan when she was born as everyone was setting up. The nurses and Dr. West had the bed broken down, birth tray, tools and everything ready for Morgan's arrival within 2 minutes. Right before the start of the next contraction Dr. West told me to stand close to him because when Morgan comes out he's going to hand her to me. I had butterflies in my stomach and my knees were weak with excitement. On the first contraction, first push Dr. West pointed at Morgan's tiny head. Cody was so excited he joined me in holding Bridget's leg. On the second contraction, fifth push at 2:55pm after 8 hours of labor, Cody and I watched Morgan come into this world, forever changing all of our lives. Please join us in sharing Morgan's birth through our pictures, courtesy of Wild Native Creative Photography.
Picture Credits: Wild Native Creative Photography
Dr. West handed her to me immediately and Cody cut her cord. We all buzzed around the delivery room, Cody and I following Morgan; and Shawn, tending to Bridget, whom had some difficulties post delivery with hemorrhaging and nausea. Once Dr. West controlled Bridget's bleeding and the buzz started to die down a nurse retrieved Morgan and I and led us to the nursery where she was banded (Sigler,BG;CodyErin), given her Hep B immunization, eye goop, ankle monitor and fingerprinted. She weighed 8 lbs 14 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. We were then taken to the penthouse floors of the hospital where the mother's and newborn rooms were located. There was a beautiful downtown view of Boise from our room which was next door to Bridget. It was a relief and reassuring to have her next door. Staying in a hospital makes me tired. For the next 22.5 hrs, we know the exact hours we were in the hospital with Morgan because we had to repeat lab work that was less than 24 hrs old. We missed it by 90 minutes...anyhow. :) Both B and us had caring nurses that tried to make the 100 vitals they needed to record a little easier to take. We got to spend a little time with Bridget the Friday evening she was born but we were all so tired and Bridget still wasn't feeling well so we lounged in our rooms recounting the day, over and over and over and...over again. Really, we did, I finally had to tell Cody with one eye open, through drool that I loved how excited he was and that I loved to think about Morgan being born but from this day forward if we do not sleep when she sleeps, we will be very, very sorry. To this day Cody refers to her as the 'Dragon lady' which is a little mixture of 'Don't wake the dragon' and the attention she demands when she's awake. As you can imagine our night was pretty short and we had a long road ahead of us the following day, still coming off of the most incredible adrenaline high parents get to experience, the birth of their child. Initially we were told that we wouldn't be released from the hospital for 24 hours but our pediatrician said there was no reason for us to stay that long since we were driving home. The morning after Morgan was born, Shawn brought the kids to the hospital and we sat with them and Bridget for a little while. It was so special to have her kids be able to visualize Morgan and what their Mom had grown and done for us. We had a private, tender moment with Bridget and she gave us a special book for Morgan. It will be priceless to her when she's older. Morgan finished passing all of the necessary testing and we were packed and ready to start home by 12:30pm. Bridget had returned to her room and was napping when we slipped out of the hospital and down to our vehicle, where our whole world changed and turned upside down by one sweet baby girl.
Today, Morgan is almost 3 months old and is one of our greatest blessings. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for supporting us on this journey and loving us along the way. Cody and I had a dream a few years ago, we worked incredibly hard to see it through and when we kiss Morgan goodnight, she truly is our dream come true.
XO,
E
