Malakiya Jay- Birth Story

Welcome back friends!  I am excited to get back into posting more regularly. Of course, with two littles we’ll see how that actually goes! Please note that there are pictures included in this blog post. 2 of them are of the c-section happening… and some are cute (The 2 good ones are taken by Tessa Jayne Photography). You have been warned.

If you were following along through my pregnancy, you know that we were due November 16th, but had a planned c-section for November 13th, and Malakiya showed up on Friday November 10th! They say if you want to make God laugh, you make a plan…

Leading up to the big day, at our doctors appointment  her heartbeat had once again dropped too low and I was put on a monitor for about 30 minutes. At the end of the test we (my OBGYN and I) reviewed a few things and she sent me home, reminding me that if I felt something was wrong I should just go straight to the hospital and get checked.

Well, Friday morning I stopped feeling movement. I felt the odd thing here and there but I knew that it had decreased from the day before. I came home from a meeting to my Mom and told her my worries and we agreed I should go in to be better safe than sorry. My (step) Dad drove me to the hospital and came in with me which was a blessing, he helped me remain calm. I explained what was happening, my concerns and they hooked me up to a test where sure enough, her heart beat was fine and she was kicking, I just could not feel it for some reason. I felt things were fine so my Dad left at my insistence (I figured Neil could just pick me up in a few hours on his way home from work), and I waited to see one last doctor. Fully expectant to go home that night.

When she came in, heard the story and looked at results, she was unhappy with sending me home.  It became clear that if I went home and something WERE to happen I may not notice because I could no longer feel her as I should. We decided then and there that surgery would happen that night  and they moved me to a more permanent room.

Talk about EMOTION OVERLOAD!

Neil went home after work to spend some time with Zoe and pick up my hospital bag and then came to me around 6, surgery scheduled for about 8.

Then at 7pm, I went into labor. Yep! This baby was coming Friday whether we wanted her to or not! It was destined to be her birthday (assuming I wouldn’t have had 68 hours of labor like last time. Yes you read that right, you can read THAT story here… but finish this one first). An hour and a half later when it was time to go to the operating room I had to stop walking 3 times because my contractions were so painful. Ha! Neil and I had a good laugh about the timing of Malakiya.

Now, if you don’t know anyone who has had a c-section, let me fill you in a bit. A Scheduled c-section is a lot different than needing one after laboring and trying for a vaginal delivery. I went to the hospital days before and met with someone who walked me through the entire process. No make up, jewelry, nail polish for the day of. Shower the night before and the morning of, making sure to scrub down every part of me. Take these certain pills the night before and day of. Etc. However, since we were not planning on Friday, I missed a lot of these steps.

When you go in for a c-section, they take the women first and leave your partner behind for a good 20 minutes (THE LONGEST 20 MINUTES).  Neil stayed in the ‘recovery room’ in his newly acquired scrubs while I walked into the operating room without him. I had already taken some meds they needed me to take, I hadn’t eaten since 8 hours prior, and I was oh so nervous, just wanting it to be over and hold that baby girl in my arms (have you seen the movie “click”? Most days I don’t want to fast forward a moment, but I could skip through surgery and have no regrets…).

Nurses had tried 3 or 4 times to find my veins for IV in the afternoon, but had no luck. So when I went in to the operating room, the anesthesiologist had to numb my hand and  poke around to find a vein (FUN). Before he numbed my hand however, he slapped it HARD to get blood flowing, and this is where I broke down. I began to UGLY CRY. Obviously I was also overwhelmed at my current reality, I wanted Neil holding my hand and instead I was leaning into my wonderful nurse, Heather, and crying in her chest as I got poked some more. Heather did her best (thank you kind stranger) to keep me calm, but I could barely breath and anxiety crept in real quick. Needless to say, a lot of deep breathing was needed to get me through just the simple IV.

Then, sitting on the table where I would be operated on, I put a pillow at my belly and they told me to arch my back as much as possible. This is so he can find the right place to give the spinal tap.  But side note* It’s hard to arch your back when you have a HUGE pregnant belly in the way, talk about uncomfortable!!* He numbs your back, which probably hurt more than the actual spinal, and then he goes for it. The needle comes out and they told me to quickly lay down before I lost all feeling in my legs. But I already had. They lifted them for me, and strapped them to the table (this is so they don’t fall off the table mid-surgery).

Just like that a blue curtain went up so I couldn’t see my lower body (chest down) and this is where it got scary.

I threw up a bunch into a tiny pail, Neil still not there, and suddenly the mood shifted drastically. It went from “hey what are you doing this weekend?” to “tell the doctor the heart beat is…” everyone went quiet, I heard whispers, and then I started feeling the tugging on my tummy. The doctor called “Is the husband in here yet?” And Heather left the room to grab him. I piped up because no one else was saying anything “No! He’s not here yet, where is he?” “He better get here soon, this baby is coming out NOW.”

What felt like an eternity later, Neil came in and sat down, held my hand, and the doctor pulled out Malakiya not a minute later.

I found out later that Kiya’s heart beat had dropped drastically low, followed by my  blood pressure falling off the charts. It quickly became a “one or the other” situation (Okayy, maybe that’s a little drastic, but the surgeon was worried for both of us and needed baby OUT to get us both stable). There was no time to prep me like they had planned, so I didn’t get the orange goop on my belly, they didn’t have time to put a clear drop sheet up so I could see baby when she came out (That’s how we did it with Zoe and it was amazing), and Neil barely made it into the room. Kiya was also breach which posed a fun little surprise and scare for the doctors.  It seems nothing about pregnancy/ birth can go easy for me haha.

After they made sure she was okayy, Neil was invited over and they began to stitch me back together. They send the partner with baby to the recovery room while they finish up on the women.

RECOVERY

As we waited in recovery for my numbing to go down enough for me to breastfeed (ever had your legs not hooked up to your brain? “wiggle your toes please…” “I’M TRYING” *whole leg twitches*).  The nurse noticed I was bleeding far to much. Instead of going up to our room right away, we were held in the recovery room in case I needed to go back into the OR and fix something. Heather ended up giving me some pills that made me shake uncontrollably for about an hour and a half, but stopped the clots and bleeding enough for me to be ‘released’. And upstairs we went! PRAISE GOD!

This time around we got a private room *PRAISE GOD SOME MORE* so it was just us with our own washroom. With Zoe, after 68 hours of labor and an emergency c-section, we got a room that had 3 other new parents in it…3 other babies to wake your baby up… and a chair for Neil to sleep in. This, was a HUGE upgrade.

My Mom ended up staying the first night with Kiya and I, so Neil could sleep at home with Zoe and bring her in the morning. Have I mentioned how amazing my Mom is lately? We stayed up most of the night, not because Kiya was crying, but because..who can sleep with a BRAND NEW BABY beside you!? It is super common for c-section babies to be full of mucus, so every noise she made we would jump and make sure she wasn’t choking on anything. She got sucked out once by the nurse, but she was fine.

Things seemed to be going so well, and then the headache came on. Ever heard of a spinal headache? I guess when he poked me for the spinal tap, he accidentally went through a protective layer of something and spinal fluid was leaking out of my brain, causing my brain to sag when vertical. This means that ANY movement was unbelievably painful. Laying down flat helped it ease, and so did coffee, but sitting up to eat, feed Kiya or just have a chat with someone was too much. I cried every time a nurse came in, they wanted me to shower so they could see the incision but I couldn’t stand long enough to do so, it was terrible. I don’t wish that headache on anyone!

On Monday afternoon we finally came home, headache in full swing, and by Wednesday/ Thursday it had mostly cleared (PRAISE GOD)! I could finally enjoy my little human again. And my other bigger, little human.  We are a family of 4.

__________________________

Yet again, it was not what I was expecting, but everything turned out fine. I’m glad Neil made it to the room in time, I’m glad I listened to my heart and went in Friday morning, I’m glad they were operating when her heart beat dropped out so they could get to her ASAP, I am just truly thankful. She’s perfect. And we are so in love.

Malakiya (Mala-kai-ah) – means Messenger of God.

Jay – Both Neil and my Mom’s middle name starts with a J and we wanted to honor them some how. Jay (this specific spelling) also means Rejoice! Which we love.

7lbs, 5oz. 20 inches long. 9:40 pm on November 10th, 2017.