This is a very long post about Curtis being born. Ever since getting pregnant with Magnolia I loved reading birth stories. There is something SO special about a baby being born and I think each story is so beautiful and miraculous. So here is my story...
The whole giving birth story began about 30 weeks into my pregnancy. From then on every dr. appt. would start out with them taking my blood pressure then telling me it was high. They would have me sit for a bit, take it again and say it was still high. Then they would take it at the end of the appt. and it had dropped enough to make them happy. At about 35 weeks my dr. asked me to start taking my own blood pressure at home to make sure it didn't get too high and stay too high. At 36 weeks we took a trip up to Provo for Christmas and one night when checking my blood pressure it was 160/105 and stayed that high after resting for about 30 minutes. My dr. had told me that if it got that high to head to the hospital so that is what we did, drove right on over to UVRMC. It was high when I got there and after a few hours of rest it was back down to a good enough level. After a blood test, 24 hr. urine sample, and getting very good at answering questions about if i had blurred vision, headaches, or excessive swelling (answering no to all of those) we were told that all levels looked good and just to take it easy. What a relief, I was worried a bit about having to deliver that early.
We got home to Richfield from Provo on December 27-my birthday. I had a dr. appt that afternoon and what a special little birthday present she gave me by putting me on bed rest! That night I was a little anxious and sad just thinking about what we would do for the next possibly 3 weeks while I'm on bed rest, especially with Mags. I got out my scriptures because they always calm me down and bring me peace in stressful times. I opened up to Alma 60:21-24. I laughed and laughed. Usually the scriptures calm me down with spiritual goodness, this time it was laughter, either way they did their job! I was 36 weeks and 4 days along at this point. My midwife was just hoping the bed rest would at least get me to 37 weeks (the hospital in Richfield is so small that they won't deliver before 37 weeks). I was hoping for this too because I really LOVED my midwife down here and knew it would be a great experience to have her helping me deliver this baby. She told me that I needed to check my bp often still and to go to the hospital if for more than 6 hours it was above 140/90. Well Clancy and I checked it many times on the 28th and not once did it go below 140/90 no matter how calm and still I was it would not get any lower.
At 6pm on December 28 we drove across the street to the Richfield hospital. They got me in a room and started monitoring me. My blood presser was about 160/90 and after 2 hours of being in the room without Maggie or Clancy there and with the lights dimmed my blood pressure was still going up. At one point it was 165/95. My amazing midwife came in at around 8 and talked me about going up to Utah Valley, she was worried because it wasn't dropping at all and they would have to give me medication soon if it wouldn't go down. She called my dr. in Provo (who delivered Maggie, who had been with me the first half of Curtis' pregnancy, and who had seen me the previous week at UVRMC) They decided I needed to be transferred and I needed to come by ambulance in case I needed the medicine or if things got ugly really fast, which they could have.
I called Clancy and told him we were going up to Provo in about an hour and to pack everything for us to have this baby. Talk about stressful! But Clancy is a rock and stayed calm. He ran around our house dumping things, cleaning things, getting things for him, me, curtis, and maggie. Then around 11 pm a sleepy maggie and Clancy came to the hospital gave me a kiss as they wheeled me onto the ambulance and jumped in the car to follow the ambulance up to Provo.The drive is about 2 hours long and let me tell you an ambulance ride is not comfortable at all. This was my first time being in an ambulance. If I am ever in one again I hope the hospital is much closer. I had to lay on the stretcher, on my back, all strapped down, and 36 weeks of baby pushing down on my back as we bumped along for 2 hours up to Provo. We go there and they wheeled me up and started getting me all hooked up and asking all those questions again while Clancy dropped Maggie off at the grandparents house.
At this point it is 1 am on December 29. They get me hooked up and my blood pressure is still high, has come down a bit and I'm still not having any signs of toxemia, except the high blood pressure. All of December 29 they monitor me and check my blood levels over and over. Still nothing in the really scary zone but things are getting worse and on their way to the scary zone. At 6 pm on December 29 at 36 weeks 6 days pregnant they start prepping my body for labor. I'm only dilated to a 1 and they need to get me farther along with some drugs. Here is where the timeline gets a little foggy but I'd say around 1 or 2 am on December 30 they start me on pitocin, Then around 4am I get an epidural, I'm dilated to a 4 at this point. Around 6am I ask the nurse to help me turn so I'm laying on my left side instead of my right. She checks me and I'm only dilated to a 6. She leaves and talks to my dr. on the phone that he can go ahead and go to his church meeting because I'm only a 6. A few minutes after she leaves I start to feel a lot of pressure and am feeling heavy contractions but only on the left side of my body. I wait about 15 minutes to see if the epidural will kick in soon on that side. Then I call her back in and I'm now dilated to a 9 and my water broke! No wonder I started feeling some pain!
Side note: Lucky for me my best friend Tricia is a labor and delivery nurse at UVRMC and was scheduled to work that morning at 6 am. We had talked the night before and I had told her if she was comfortable with it I would love to have her help with delivering my baby.
My nurse runs out of the room to call my dr. back to tell him to get out of his meeting and hurry over. Clancy who had been in and out of sleep is now up and trying to get everything ready too-like getting out of his pajamas and getting a little something to eat. (Clancy has a condition where he gets really light headed if he hasn't eaten in while, he sheepishly told the nurses this as he's peeling an orange while his wife is about to have a baby! We didn't want him passing out during deliver though!) Now my nurse, another nurse, and nurse Tricia are running around the room. They are all just busy little nurses pulling things out of drawers, looking at my chart, putting oxygen on me. Then it gets quiet and calm. It's just my main nurse in the room. Every sound we hear my nurse says, that's got to be him! I have her check me again because I am feeling a lot of pressure and feel like he is coming out. She reassures me that he's not out at all but that he is right there all ready as soon as I give a little push.
Then in comes the Dr. and nurse Tricia. Ready set push! I pushed 3 times then the dr. unwrapped the umbilical cord that was around his neck, then one more push and Curtis Clancy was born December 30 at 7:27 am. A very small but very healthy and strong little boy! I held my sweet boy and was able to take the whole experience in. Next Tricia took him to check him out and clean him off while I delivered the placenta. I loved watching Clancy's face as he went back and forth between me and the baby. I just see so much love in him. Then I just got to hug and snuggle my tiny 5 lb. 6 oz. 18 inch long baby boy. I love him so much.
Extra tidbits:
* For me when I see my babies (with Maggie and Curtis) it's like I'm just meeting them AGAIN. I feel like I've already known them and got to know them while they were inside of me growing, now I just get to see what they look like.
*With Maggie's birth I felt like this song played when she was born: Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap
With Curtis it felt like this song: Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles
*Curtis is named after his ancestors. My maiden name is Curtis so there is a whole line of family he is named after! Just some funny added things to Curtis' name-Clancy has a good friend who was also his mission companion named Curtis Rasmussen. My midwife's last name is Rasmussen. Also he already has some nicknames: brother, curtis boy, my boy, and squeaker.
*Even though I had a midwife I was always planning to have Curtis at the hospital. Sometimes people associate midwives with home births but that's not always the case.
*Curtis was born in the same hospital I was born at
*Curtis has some webbed toes! The two next to the big toe on both feet are fused together. This runs in my family on the Jefferies side- My brother has them and my grandpa had them. One foot it is fused almost to the top, the other foot it is about half way down. Let's sign this boy up for a swim team!
* Really I can't believe Tricia was able to be there. Many of you know we have been best friends for our whole lives, no exaggeration there. Thank you to her and all of the other drs and nurses!
*This was not the only scare we had with this pregnancy. At 6 weeks I had a lot of bleeding the dr. told me it sounded like I was having a miscarriage, we had an ultrasound done and saw that little heart beating but I had a subchorionic hemorrhage. For a few weeks I was on modified bed rest. At 8 weeks there was more bleeding and another ultrasound but there was that beautiful little heart still beating.Then at my 20 week ultrasound found I had a low lying placenta so another ultrasound would be needed at 28 weeks. At that ultrasound that issue was all better. Then at 34 weeks I was measuring small so I had another ultrasound to check him and all looked good! In total we had 5 ultrasounds with Curtis and only 1 with Maggie. He sure took us on a roller coaster ride of a pregnancy!
*I was asked many times if I was really nervous or scared during all of this. Honestly I was not and I am one of the biggest worriers I know but this is why- A few weeks before the whole birthing story started I asked Clancy for a priesthood blessing. I felt like I needed some extra strength and courage to get through the last part of this pregnancy. In this blessing I felt so much peace and a few things were said that played over and over in my head during all of this. One was, "There will be no major complications." I felt and KNEW right then that there would be some minor ones. I just knew it.
Second I was told, "This baby boy will be born ready to live." That phrase went through my mind so many times that I didn't even have a moment to be scared. I knew what the outcome would be. I knew he would be okay.The priesthood is real and our Heavenly Father knows and LOVES us.
Boy did he come out ready to live! We are so glad he is a part of our family. Love you Curtis boy!!!
*This post is 8 weeks overdue but because he was born 3 weeks early I'm going to say this post is only 5 weeks late!
At 6pm on December 28 we drove across the street to the Richfield hospital. They got me in a room and started monitoring me. My blood presser was about 160/90 and after 2 hours of being in the room without Maggie or Clancy there and with the lights dimmed my blood pressure was still going up. At one point it was 165/95. My amazing midwife came in at around 8 and talked me about going up to Utah Valley, she was worried because it wasn't dropping at all and they would have to give me medication soon if it wouldn't go down. She called my dr. in Provo (who delivered Maggie, who had been with me the first half of Curtis' pregnancy, and who had seen me the previous week at UVRMC) They decided I needed to be transferred and I needed to come by ambulance in case I needed the medicine or if things got ugly really fast, which they could have.
I called Clancy and told him we were going up to Provo in about an hour and to pack everything for us to have this baby. Talk about stressful! But Clancy is a rock and stayed calm. He ran around our house dumping things, cleaning things, getting things for him, me, curtis, and maggie. Then around 11 pm a sleepy maggie and Clancy came to the hospital gave me a kiss as they wheeled me onto the ambulance and jumped in the car to follow the ambulance up to Provo.The drive is about 2 hours long and let me tell you an ambulance ride is not comfortable at all. This was my first time being in an ambulance. If I am ever in one again I hope the hospital is much closer. I had to lay on the stretcher, on my back, all strapped down, and 36 weeks of baby pushing down on my back as we bumped along for 2 hours up to Provo. We go there and they wheeled me up and started getting me all hooked up and asking all those questions again while Clancy dropped Maggie off at the grandparents house.
At this point it is 1 am on December 29. They get me hooked up and my blood pressure is still high, has come down a bit and I'm still not having any signs of toxemia, except the high blood pressure. All of December 29 they monitor me and check my blood levels over and over. Still nothing in the really scary zone but things are getting worse and on their way to the scary zone. At 6 pm on December 29 at 36 weeks 6 days pregnant they start prepping my body for labor. I'm only dilated to a 1 and they need to get me farther along with some drugs. Here is where the timeline gets a little foggy but I'd say around 1 or 2 am on December 30 they start me on pitocin, Then around 4am I get an epidural, I'm dilated to a 4 at this point. Around 6am I ask the nurse to help me turn so I'm laying on my left side instead of my right. She checks me and I'm only dilated to a 6. She leaves and talks to my dr. on the phone that he can go ahead and go to his church meeting because I'm only a 6. A few minutes after she leaves I start to feel a lot of pressure and am feeling heavy contractions but only on the left side of my body. I wait about 15 minutes to see if the epidural will kick in soon on that side. Then I call her back in and I'm now dilated to a 9 and my water broke! No wonder I started feeling some pain!
Side note: Lucky for me my best friend Tricia is a labor and delivery nurse at UVRMC and was scheduled to work that morning at 6 am. We had talked the night before and I had told her if she was comfortable with it I would love to have her help with delivering my baby.
My nurse runs out of the room to call my dr. back to tell him to get out of his meeting and hurry over. Clancy who had been in and out of sleep is now up and trying to get everything ready too-like getting out of his pajamas and getting a little something to eat. (Clancy has a condition where he gets really light headed if he hasn't eaten in while, he sheepishly told the nurses this as he's peeling an orange while his wife is about to have a baby! We didn't want him passing out during deliver though!) Now my nurse, another nurse, and nurse Tricia are running around the room. They are all just busy little nurses pulling things out of drawers, looking at my chart, putting oxygen on me. Then it gets quiet and calm. It's just my main nurse in the room. Every sound we hear my nurse says, that's got to be him! I have her check me again because I am feeling a lot of pressure and feel like he is coming out. She reassures me that he's not out at all but that he is right there all ready as soon as I give a little push.
Then in comes the Dr. and nurse Tricia. Ready set push! I pushed 3 times then the dr. unwrapped the umbilical cord that was around his neck, then one more push and Curtis Clancy was born December 30 at 7:27 am. A very small but very healthy and strong little boy! I held my sweet boy and was able to take the whole experience in. Next Tricia took him to check him out and clean him off while I delivered the placenta. I loved watching Clancy's face as he went back and forth between me and the baby. I just see so much love in him. Then I just got to hug and snuggle my tiny 5 lb. 6 oz. 18 inch long baby boy. I love him so much.
Extra tidbits:
* For me when I see my babies (with Maggie and Curtis) it's like I'm just meeting them AGAIN. I feel like I've already known them and got to know them while they were inside of me growing, now I just get to see what they look like.
*With Maggie's birth I felt like this song played when she was born: Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap
With Curtis it felt like this song: Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles
*Curtis is named after his ancestors. My maiden name is Curtis so there is a whole line of family he is named after! Just some funny added things to Curtis' name-Clancy has a good friend who was also his mission companion named Curtis Rasmussen. My midwife's last name is Rasmussen. Also he already has some nicknames: brother, curtis boy, my boy, and squeaker.
*Even though I had a midwife I was always planning to have Curtis at the hospital. Sometimes people associate midwives with home births but that's not always the case.
*Curtis was born in the same hospital I was born at
*Curtis has some webbed toes! The two next to the big toe on both feet are fused together. This runs in my family on the Jefferies side- My brother has them and my grandpa had them. One foot it is fused almost to the top, the other foot it is about half way down. Let's sign this boy up for a swim team!
* Really I can't believe Tricia was able to be there. Many of you know we have been best friends for our whole lives, no exaggeration there. Thank you to her and all of the other drs and nurses!
*This was not the only scare we had with this pregnancy. At 6 weeks I had a lot of bleeding the dr. told me it sounded like I was having a miscarriage, we had an ultrasound done and saw that little heart beating but I had a subchorionic hemorrhage. For a few weeks I was on modified bed rest. At 8 weeks there was more bleeding and another ultrasound but there was that beautiful little heart still beating.Then at my 20 week ultrasound found I had a low lying placenta so another ultrasound would be needed at 28 weeks. At that ultrasound that issue was all better. Then at 34 weeks I was measuring small so I had another ultrasound to check him and all looked good! In total we had 5 ultrasounds with Curtis and only 1 with Maggie. He sure took us on a roller coaster ride of a pregnancy!
*I was asked many times if I was really nervous or scared during all of this. Honestly I was not and I am one of the biggest worriers I know but this is why- A few weeks before the whole birthing story started I asked Clancy for a priesthood blessing. I felt like I needed some extra strength and courage to get through the last part of this pregnancy. In this blessing I felt so much peace and a few things were said that played over and over in my head during all of this. One was, "There will be no major complications." I felt and KNEW right then that there would be some minor ones. I just knew it.
Second I was told, "This baby boy will be born ready to live." That phrase went through my mind so many times that I didn't even have a moment to be scared. I knew what the outcome would be. I knew he would be okay.The priesthood is real and our Heavenly Father knows and LOVES us.
Boy did he come out ready to live! We are so glad he is a part of our family. Love you Curtis boy!!!
*This post is 8 weeks overdue but because he was born 3 weeks early I'm going to say this post is only 5 weeks late!
7 comments:
Beautiful story, Katie! Thanks for sharing. Glad that everything worked out well, kind of scary!
I loved this! You are my favorite, so positive and strong. Also I totally understand your birth story fascination. I think it may stem from the countless hours of A Baby Story that we used to watch. :)
Great story! but, does he share a birthday with his cousin? LOL
I am so glad everything went well for you! What a crazy rollercoaster indeed...He looks so handsome. We miss you guys and hope you are doing well. :)
loved your story! I also think birth stories are amazing an dI love to read them. I am super glad Tricia was there for you, I think that would be amazing. We've had a major crowd for both births so this time we are going with more intimate and having it just be James and I. We will see which way I prefer, haha. I'm so excited for you and for baby curtis that all was well. thank you for sharing your awesome story!
I love this! He is so perfect! And I seriously love his name. What a darling!!!
So glad you took time to write this all down, and I think Curtis will be too. Your family is such a great example to us, we love you!
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