November 23, 2007 Black Friday to Blue Friday

My daughter, Shanna and I were ready to do some Christmas shopping on Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving has become a family tradition to get out there in the early morning hours and try to catch the best deals. This year a lot of the stores were opening at 4am. Walmart was one of the first on list and it opened at 4am. Alarm clocks were set to go off at 3:30 am so that we could get up and get ready to head out the door. Clothes were already laid out so all I had to do was jump in them, wash my face, comb my hair and head out the door.

When I received a phone call at 3:30 am from my daughter it didn't seem unusual. Just to tell me that she was up and ready to go. But when I heard her voice on the other end, my eyes popped wide open. She told me that she thought that her water had broken and was asking me questions. Well the only problem with this is that none of the women in this family has experienced the water breaking before the doctor broke it. I asked her if it was clear and she said yes. We then talked about the fact that she wasn't having any contractions yet and decided that we would head out shopping and see what happened next!!! Die hard shoppers are we. The doctor was called and she wished us luck on our shopping expedition. Told us to call her back when the contractions were closer.

She headed to Toys R Us with her sister in law, Emily and I headed to Walmart. We both had our list of the items that needed to be picked up. I was in and out of Walmart in about 10 minutes and $300.00 dollars later. Got most of my names marked off the Christmas list! YAY..........Shanna didn't have as much luck there. Everything was gone in 3 minutes flat and the line was so long. She didn't even pick anything up but that's ok.

We then met up at Target parking lot, talking all the way there on the phone. The line was actually wrapped around the building so we waited in the car until they all moved inside. We then went in and got what we wanted. Total confusion. Lines going every where. They made you stand in a line that was wrapped around the whole inside of the store just to check out. Someone was on our side and we got in the best line that was actually going to the check out.

Shanna was still leaking amniotic fluid but not real bad. Contractions were now starting to come and were 5 minutes a part. She was a trooper and still wanted to go on. It was now around 7:30 am. We decided to head over to McDonalds to get something to eat and then head to the hospital. We called the doctor back and told her that the contractions were 3 minutes a part and that we were heading to the hospital. She said she would inform them.

Our bellies were finally full and Shanna was doing great, breathing through every contractions. She was so ready to have this baby.

We arrived at the hospital and the doctor had not called ahead like the said she would. They went ahead and let Shanna in and hooked her up to be monitored. I think it's some kind of Murphy's law that says when the monitor is hooked up to your belly that you should stop having contractions.........and that is just what happened. Contractions were 3 minutes a part and then there were none. All morning long she was in a good steady pattern but once we were inside the hospital there were not contractions. We waited until 11:00 when the doctor finally showed up to see Shanna. I think we arrived at the hospital by 8:30am. I was getting a little concerned because they haven't even admitted Shanna to the hospital yet until the doctor could access her. We knew her water had broken but the nurse couldn't do anything until the dr. showed up.

Once she showed up and accessed Shanna, she was admitted and started on IV fluids. Shanna was still at 3 cm which she had been for the past week. They also put her on the nasty pitocin to get the contractions back in a good steady pattern. The doctor broke the rest of the bulging bag and the contractions actually started back on their own before the pitocin could kick in. She was having really strong contractions every 2 minutes that were lasting about a minute and a half each and this was before the pitocin got in her system. I was really worried about how bad it would be once the pitocin kicked in.

Thirty minutes later the pitocin started up and Shanna was in real bad pain. She was a champ though and was breathing through each and every one. We asked for the epidural but the nurse wanted to hold off and gave Shanna some medication through the iv. The medication put Shanna to sleep and she actually rested for 30 minutes without waking up during the rough contractions. After the 30 minutes wore off she would feel every single contraction but still breath through them and mostly keeping here eyes closed during the whole process.

After about an hour of really feeling the contractions again Shanna once again aske for the epidural. I told the nurse that she couldn't handle it any more and wanted to go ahead and call the doctor. It was now around 1:30. Shanna hadn't even had a whole bag of IV fluid and they really needed her to be well hydrated before they gave her the epidural. Not much longer and they would call the anesthesiologist. The nurse started forcing the fluids much faster but along the way had turned up the pitocin also. Shanna was in a lot of pain and I was right there coaching her along. She was a true champ and was waiting patiently through all of the really strong contractions.

The anesthesiologistfinally was called and we started to sit Shanna up in the bed to get her ready to receive the comfort that she had been hoping for. It was around 2:20 pm and the anesthesiologist was in the room. What a wonderful sight she was.

Shanna then told the nurse that she needed to go to the bathroom first and that she felt like she had to push. The nurse was going to wait until after the epidural to check her but decided that she might need to do that before the epidural. Shanna layed back down and the nurse checked her.........The look on her face and the shake of her head brought panic and fear to my heart. Yep, my little girl was 10 cm and no time for an epidural. I was mad!!! I was hurting so bad for my baby girl had to go through all of this pain, medication free.

Our little light of hope, the anesthesiologist headed out the door without administering any medication to my daughter. Shanna was going to have to pull up all of her strength from the bottom of her soul and push through the pain all by herself. She was so scared and the look in her eyes just about made me loose it. I was one mad mama and then they told Shanna that she had to breath through the contractions because the obgyn was not here but at another hospital.

They didn't want to give Shanna any more medication because of the huge job that she had before her. They also wanted to make sure that the baby could breath on his own when he was delivered because the medication would be in his system and they were afraid that he would be to sleepy to actually breath.

After waiting through 15 minutes of contractions for the doctor to finally arrive and deliver my grandson, I followed those nurses out into the hall way. They were secretly discussing where the doctor was. I told them they had 5 minutes and I meant five to have that doctor here or they better find another doctor because she was going to start pushing even if I had to deliver that baby myself. The thing about this is that I meant every word that I said and they knew it. My brave daughter had gone from 3 cm to 10cm in less than 3 hours. I was so scared for her and so mad that I couldn't hardly see straight.

One thing about me is that I hold it together. Always have. I am one of those moms that takes care of the situation at hand and then if I need to I will loose it afterwards. I was struggling to keep from shedding tears of frustration for my precious daughter. She was in pain and no one was doing anything to help her. Just telling her to breath through the urge to push and the pain was so hard. The pleading of help and the look in her eyes was enough to rattle any one.

Well true to my word those nurses started filing into Shanna's room. They started setting up the bed and getting her in position to bring the baby into the world. It was now 2:50 when they came in.

I looked at Shanna and told her how much I admired her for her strength and that she could do this. I would be right here with her through the whole process. She pushed one time and the nurses asked her to stop. There was the baby's head. They called in the waiting dr that we had never even met. His name was Dr. Mojick and was from a totally different practice. At this point we didn't care. That baby was coming and my daughter was in so much pain. It was now 2:55pm on Friday afternoon.

Now was the time for Shanna to show everyone what she was made of. They were telling her about pushig through the pain and the burning and we were going to have a baby. Five minutes of pushing and little Brayden was born at exactly 3:00 pm on the dot. I was so proud of Shanna and everything that she had to endure. She was the real champ and she did it. She had an all natural birth which is totally beyond my imagination. But she did it. Not rips and not tears. Not even the first stitch was given to her.

Little Brayden weighed in at 7 lbs and 13 ounces. He is 20 1/2 long. So far he has been one of the best babies. Doesn't even cry when he is hungry but just starts to whimper. He is nursing like a little champ and caught on real fast. His head was a little bruised because he came out of the birth canal so fast but it seems to already be going away.

Everything happened so fast that even when I think about what happened yesterday it makes my head spin and all the emotions of the moment come flooding back to me. I always want to keep my children safe from harm and pain and this was beyond my control. But in the end all was well and we now have little Brayden with us. I told those nurses that Shanna's body works fast once she hits a certain mark of dilation. Which is usually 4 cm. I just hope that if Shanna has any more babies that they will listen to me next time.

Evan, the babies daddy was there during this whole process and he also did wonderfully. He has such a weak and nervous stomach but was there for her through out the whole process. Heck, he didn't even get sick until after his child was born and had held him in his arms. I say that is a good thing.

So that is how our Black Friday turned into a Blue Friday. Such a joyous occasion and we even got our shopping done.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know we have so much to be thankful for on this wonderful day.

Loving hugs,

Grandma to Dylan and Brayden

Meet baby Brayden. He's just a few hours old.

Dylan and Brayden

Mommy and Brayden doing wonderfully.