Kent & Stacey: Brody's Birth Story

I woke up Friday morning for work and began getting ready. While I was doing my hair I noticed that I had abnormal cramping and some spotting. I began to panic as I thought something was wrong. I woke Kent up and then called my mom for help. She informed me that I should call my doctor to make sure everything was ok. My doctor's office wasn’t open so I called the hospital. The hospital informed me that as long as I was feeling some cramping along with the bleeding that I would be fine and they hoped to see me soon. I went to work and the day went on without too many contractions.

The next morning we woke up and walked around the neighborhood with my parents in hopes to induce labor. As the day continued contractions seemed to get a little harder and closer together. We drove to Southern Highlands to look at some model homes in hopes that more walking would bring this baby sooner. I had a couple hard painful contractions, but they weren’t close enough to go to the hospital. As the night went on my contractions got closer and more painful. I paced our downstairs for about a half hour and around 8 or 9 at night we headed to the hospital. Before we left Kent gave me a blessing that I could make it through this and that our baby would be healthy. They took Kent and I into triage and hooked me up to check my contractions and the babies heart rate. The patient across the room from me moaned in pain the ended up pulling her IV out. The nurses seemed to be a little annoyed with her because she was from out of town and had no ride home (she was a prostitute). After a little while the nurse came in to check me, but she wasn’t able to accurately get my dilation. The physician then came in and explained to me that I wasn’t having contractions and that they were just early labor pains and that they would be sending me home. I left feeling so discouraged on how I was ever going to make it through labor if that wasn’t even a contraction. I could tell Kent was feeling the same way and was a little annoyed that I wasn’t being very tough. We headed home.

I went home and sat in the tub while Kent and my parents went to bed. I sat in the tub and that didn’t seem to ease any of the pain. After a couple of hours of getting in and out of the tub, trying to get comfortable in bed, and sitting on the toilet I still had no luck in easing the pain. At some point I began to feel very nauseous and ended up throwing up everything that I had eaten. I spent hours over the toilet and eventually around 3 in the morning I called the hospital and explained to them that I couldn’t keep anything down. The nurse told me to come in and they would check me and if anything they would hook me up to an IV so I wouldn’t get dehydrated. I was so discouraged from the night before that I didn’t want to get sent home another time. I waited a couple more hours continuing to find a comfortable position in the bath tub, on the toilet, or in bed. The most comfortable position I found was bent over the toilet with a pillow supporting my belly. Finally, I knew something was wrong when I kept feeling the urge to push, like I needed to go to the bathroom. I faintly said Kent’s name because I didn’t want to startle him. He came in the bathroom and said, “it’s so hot in here, you’re going to pass out.” I couldn’t get myself up off the floor so he helped me to the bed so I could get dressed. I could barely walk and I had to lean over the bed to be remotely comfortable. Kent helped me put on my clothes and we left to the hospital around 6:30 Sunday morning. As each contraction came I would squeeze Kent’s hand and turn my head to handle the pain. It was interesting how as each contraction came my body would naturally push and I had no control over it. Once we got to the hospital they put me in triage again and hooked me up to all the monitors. The nurse said, “I’ve been waiting for you since you called this morning.” As I laid on my side to make it through each contraction I noticed that the babies heart rate was changing as the contractions were coming. This nurse checked me much quicker and immediately said, “well you’re at a 9.” She immediately went to the back room in a panic and the next thing I knew I was being wheeled to the delivery room. I remember the nurses being in a panic and everyone kept saying this baby is coming quick. As I got to the delivery room and moved to the other bed my water broke. It felt like somebody had popped a water balloon on me. Within minutes the anesthesiologist was in the room and I was being hooked up to an IV and the epidural was being put in. I was the most worried about these two, but everything happened so quick that I didn’t have a chance to be nervous. My legs began to feel as if they were asleep and the nurses began the paperwork. I was then informed that I was actually at a 10. Within 15 minutes I was no longer feeling that sensation to push, I could hardly feel the pressure from my contractions. Within an hour they had me begin practicing pushing before the doctor could get there. We began making predictions on when the baby would arrive. Our times ranged from 9:15 to 10:00. After awhile, pushing became frustrating to me because I no longer felt that uncontrollable urge to push. I think this is part of the reason it took me so long to push the baby out. I could tell the doctor was getting frustrated with me. The baby’s head would make progress and then it was as if his head would suction back up. Eventually, they ended up turning the epidural off so I could feel my contractions. Kent was so good at my side holding my hands or legs and counting for me. We did 3 sets of 10 second pushes. My mom was also in the room helping hold my legs and giving me water. My dad waited outside the room for hours with little updates. After two attempts at vacuuming him out with no luck Brody Leroy Schank made his debut at 12:00 PM on May 17, 2015 weighing 8 pounds 4 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long.

They quickly took him to the corner of the room to clean him. They brought him over to me to look at and said they would be taking him. I didn’t quite know what was going on at the time. I noticed that there was poop on my leg, but I had figured that it was mine. Kent and Brody left the room. My mom stayed with me as the doctor stitched me up. Kent came back as I was still getting stitched up. He explained to me that Brody was taken to the NICU because he was stained green and wasn’t a normal color. Come to find out, he had pooped shortly after my water broke and could have meconium in his lungs. Kent explained that in the NICU they pumped his stomach while he sat back and cried because he couldn’t help our baby boy. After I was stitched up Kent and my parents came in the delivery room with me. I was shaking uncontrollably for 20 minutes due to the epidural wearing off and my hormones. Shortly after I threw up the water I had drank. After I was finished in the delivery room they wheeled me in my bed into the NICU to see my baby. I was only able to put my hands in the incubator and touch his little body. He had a tube down his throat so they could continue to pump his stomach and an IV in the side of his head to give him sugar water and to give him his antibiotics. Once I was in my recovery room the pediatrician explained to me that they would be keeping him for 2 days till the results were back that would clear him of the meconium in his lungs. If it didn’t come back clear they would be keeping him from 5-7 days. I was told I wouldn’t be able to see my baby again until later that night when I was able to be wheel chaired into the NICU. Later that night Kent wheeled me into the NICU to see our baby. Luckily the nurse was at his side and his IV had come out of his head and we were able to hold our baby for a half hour. I will never forget the first time I was able to hold him. It was frustrating to have to work around all the tubes and wires attached to his tiny body. The next two days Kent and I spent as much time in the NICU as we could. Unfortunately, the test results didn’t come back in time on Tuesday for us to take Brody home. I was discharged on Tuesday and we weren’t able to take our baby home with us. I cried on our way home. The next morning Kent dropped me off at the hospital to spend the morning with Brody while he went back to work. Brody’s cultures came back negative and we were finally able to take Brody home Wednesday afternoon.