Say hello to Briar Elyse!
In November 2021, our little baby mouse, Briar, was welcomed into the family after 25 hours of labor. She is perfect in every way. She was born at 6 pounds, 2 ounces, 19 inches long, at 37 weeks. Thankfully she was perfectly healthy aside from some jaundice from being induced early.
She has been the missing piece in our family. Even though we have only known her for a short while, it's hard to remember a time that she wasn't here.
At the hospital, both sets of grandparents were able to visit one at a time for a short while. It is easy to say that she's everyone's favorites. Ryan's mom also brought some preemie outfits, as the clothes I brought didn't fit her. Being a first time mom, I didn't realize just how tiny she would be being just a few weeks early.
We are completely smitten with her. The first night at the hospital we could hardly sleep because we couldn't stop staring at her and we kept jumping up to check on her at every little noise she would make.
Feeding was a struggle, just getting her to eat 15ml was difficult. We then found it was the bottle that was the issue and we were given a preemie bottle. From then she ate well enough to go home with us!
We love her so so much, and are so excited to have her a part of our lives. She is a dream come true. We are ready to learn and grow as parents to raise an amazing little girl.
From here on out I'll be talking about pregnancy and our birth story, so if any of those kinds of details gross you out here's a heads up :)
When I made it through the first trimester with ease and no morning sickness, I thought I would have an easy pregnancy. However, once the second trimester started, I was hit with a fatigue I had never had before. I was winded just getting out of bed, and felt tired and exhausted all the time. I also found out that Briar had a marginal chord insertion, meaning blood flow and nutrients possibly weren't getting to her as much as they need to for her to grow. From then to the rest of my pregnancy, I had once a week ultrasounds to closely monitor her growth. Then, the third trimester hit and everything went downhill for me. Not only was I constantly tired, but I was spraining my feet all the time, my joints were in constant pain, and towards the end my entire body was painfully itchy. There was no relief no matter the amount of creams, oils, and Tylenol I used. It turns out that I had Cholestasis, a pregnancy induced liver condition that was dangerous for both me and baby to continue the pregnancy to term. Finding out I had Cholestasis was terrifying to me. I already had severe prenatal anxiety due to pregnancy loss in the past, so I was unable to rest easy until my date of induction.
I was originally supposed to be induced at Thunderbird Hospital. My in-laws even drove in from California 7 hours away. However, because of the pandemic my scheduled induction was treated more as a loose suggestion. The day I was supposed to be induced, I never got the call to go in. It was supposed to be on a Wednesday. We waited around all day with no word. I then called the hospital and they notified be that they could not take me and I would have to wait for Monday, and even then it would be a maybe. I spiraled into a panic attack, because every day continuing the pregnancy was a greater danger to my baby. I called my OB office after they closed, and fortunately one of the techs called me immediately even after closing and scheduled my induction at another hospital. However, it wouldn't be until Saturday. Although this hospital was a smaller hospital and would guaranteed be able to take me. We wen't with it and got our spot secured. My in-laws pushed work back a few more days in hopes they would be able to meet the baby.
Saturday morning, we loaded up the car with our things and headed an hour away to the hospital and checked in at 9am. We had never been to this hospital, but immediately upon walking in the environment was completely different. It was calm, hardly anyone was in there, and we had personal attention from the staff. That was the moment that my anxiety went away, as I knew we were in good hands and what I thought was a disaster turned out to be the best thing for us.
At 11:30am, I was given Cytotec to start induction via dilation. I was also given a large lunch as from there I would not be able to eat. As the contractions started, I walked around the room and my husband and I laughed and talked. Once the contractions started to intensify, I decided it was time for my epidural. At 4:30pm, I was given my epidural. It was painful for me, especially the cold fluid going into my spine, but that fortunately did not last long and I was very soon numb.
Just 15 minutes after my dilation my blood pressure spiked and some tests were done. Thankfully my high blood pressure was short-lived, but they still needed to check regularly as things progressed. I received a catheter. At this point, my legs were starting to numb and I could barely wiggle my toes. That was a scary sensation because I did not expect to be completely numb from the waist down.
We started the peanut ball, but because I was completely immobile the nurses and my husband had to turn me themselves. The baby also started kicking away her monitor and moving far from it, so alarms were going off all the time and the nurses kept having to come in all night to fix it. On top of that, I had to be moved every 2 hours through the night, so I got little to no sleep. My dilation progression was also incredibly slow.
At 6:30am my water was broken and my epidural was turned up. From the moment my water was broken, dilation progressed quickly. Just 2 hours later I was at a 9.5. At 10am, I was dilated to a 10.
Unfortunately, at 11am, my epidural started to wear off where it was necessary. I still could not move or feel my legs, but I could feel my contractions. I felt ready to push at this time, but Briar was still too high for the nurses to allow me to.
Finally at 1pm, I fought to push and asked to at least try. The nurse didn't believe it would work so the OB was not in the room. I pushed once and her head was shown. The nurse then told me to stop, went to get the OB, and came back to deliver the baby with the OB. Just 10 pushes and Briar was delivered in less than 10 minutes with minimal tearing at 1:19pm. My husband also assisted the delivery! I was shocked at how fast it was from when I pushed.
I held Briar for a minute, then they did testing in the room. Everything went smoothly and well. They did diagnose her with mild jaundice, but nothing that required lights or the blanket. She was so easy to soothe after her heel pricks as well and hardly cried. She passed all other tests with flying colors.
Our first night with her, we could hardly sleep. We jumped up every time she made the tiniest whimper. We were completely absorbed in taking care of her and religiously marking her feeding chart. The next day, we took some newborn pictures of her at the hospital and announced her birth.
The previous day I had to take a mental health questionnaire. I answered honestly including all of my prenatal anxiety and depression, so they send a social worker to meet with us and provide some resources before going home. When I found out they were sending one, I was scared that they wouldn't allow me to take home my baby and I almost regretted answering honestly. However, it was not a scary experience at all and it gave us signs to look out for as far as postpartum depression and anxiety goes, and we went home with Briar full of knowledge and a hand to reach out to in case I start feeling a certain way. I share this for anyone out there who is scared about being honest about mental health. It isn't to "take your baby away" but to give you resources and knowledge to reach out and get help if it is ever needed.
We were discharged at 3:30pm, and started our lives as new parents with baby Briar. We are so excited to learn and grow as parents. Our hearts are so full and we are forever grateful for our miracle.
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