5:00am checked into hospital.
6:00am haylee and i were settling into L&D room. the night shift nurse hooked my up to BP and monitors, started my IV and gave me a COVID test.
7:00am the day shift nurse, amber, came in to check me for the first time that day. (2.5 cm dilated)
- i had been having prodromal labor two weeks leading up to this day. a couple days prior the contractions were getting intense anywhere between 2-12 minutes apart.
8:30am started some morphine, per my request to help mostly with nerves.
9:00am zachary showed up after getting kamille to school and the littles to his parents’. the morphine was working and i was pretty laid back at that point haha.
9:15am i was given a cervix softening pill.
9:30am all the sudden a loud alarm was going off and a voice over the intercom saying ‘CODE RED’ and some other things i couldn’t understand. our door was shut and the three of us (me, zach and haylee) were just looking at each other like WTF. panic started to consume me, even through the morphine. i was butt ass naked, hooked to an IV but walking to the door to see what i could see. haylee stepped out to ask the nurse and said the nurse did not look like she knew, which scared me even more. finally after a good several minutes of this, a nurse (not my main nurse) popped in to let us know it was a weekly fire drill. i was pissed bc they should have warned us, esp me being strapped to a bed on drugs… my BP was off the charts so that was cool… the alarms stopped. gahhh.
11:00am i had been given another cervix softening pill because i was still stuck at a 2.5. contractions were getting strong and steady though. haylee was massaging my lower back which reeeeally helped.
11:30am i went for a hallway walk w haylee and zach for about 10-15 min and came back to the room to rest.
12:00pm ordered epidural and waited on the anesthesiologist.
1:00pm anesthesiologist arrived and we began the epidural procedure. zach and haylee were allowed to stay in the room with me, which i think was a first. i liked them being in there.
1:30pm all went well with the epidural; doctor broke my water.
3:30pm nurse checked, 4cm dilated… finally some progress!
4:00pm nurse checked, 5.5cm dilated.
4:15pm nurse checked, 6cm dilated.
4:35pm 7.5cm dilated.
5:00pm doctor checked this time and i was 8-9cm. he said he’d reevaluate in 15 minutes.
5:15pm doctor and nurse came back in, he said still 8-9. as he was checking this time i felt a big contraction like a bulging pressure so i told him i felt like i needed to push. he said, ‘ok lets do a couple practice pushes, take a deep breath in… and PUSH!’ i did and he said it was time!
5:18pm they were all surrounding me… kamron (OB), amber (RN), haylee (doula), zach, mary (photographer) and the counting/pushing began. i think they said it was 6 pushes and…
straight to my chest, skin on skin, she was absolutely perfect. she latched for the first time just a few minutes later after i got a good long look at her and her daddy and i admiring her tiny little self…
i had a glorious couple of hours with p just bonding and holding her on my chest. somewhere in the mix, dad cut the cord (delayed a bit), they weighed her (6lbs. 6oz) and 19in long.
7:30pm we got word of the severe weather headed our way. as if the day wasn’t eventful enough, we were told to prepare to go in the hallway for shelter.
8:00pm tornado warning. the intercom announcement ‘tornado warning, take cover, this is not a drill…’. my sweet friend and night nurse tiffany, and zach wheeled me into the hallway with the other three moms/dads and babies. my legs were still number so my whole bed had to come with me… it was so scary but i was SO out of it from the shakes i had all day (side effect from epidural). it was as if i had been running a marathon and couldn’t even get too worked up over the storm. luckily it was over in about 15 minutes and we were cleared.
8:30 we were moved to the postpartum room. we spent the rest of the night relaxing and loving on poppy. we were discharged the next day after all her routine testing was done.
the hospital staff, my friend and doctor kamron torbati, his wife tiffany (postpartum night nurse) , amber (day labor nurse), other nurses (desirae and jordan), phil the anesthesiologist, shelly (baby nurse) all made my experience a wonderful one. couldn’t have made it without my amazing doula and friend haylee, zachary aka best husband and daddy… and my sis bringing us food to the hospital. also thanks to my in-laws for keeping the kids while we were in the hospital. poppy also tested positive for COVID antibodies in the hospital, which we received the results the following day. i was fully vaccinated at 34 weeks pregnant and was hopeful to pass them to her. this was definitely the little silver lining and glimmer of hope after being pregnant during a pandemic. we are so in love with our baby girl, she doesn’t even seem REAL. grateful for a beautiful birth and to be able to tell her story. she brought the fury of nature with her and survived her first tornado warning at two hours old. they say april showers bring may flowers, our poppy was always meant to be.
thank you for reading.
xo, katy
special thanks to my dear friend, haylee ortiz for attending my last two births. also, my amazing doctor, kamron torbati, the last three births. love you both so much.
all photos by Mary Rhae Photography
