Christian's Birth Story - Chapter 8 ... Welcome Christian!

The young girl knew that her doctor did not want her to go more than a week late.  It came as no surprise to her when she was still pregnant at her 40 week appointment and still only 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced that her doctor said they would schedule her to start the induction process on May 28th....a day before she would be 1 week overdue. 

The scheduled induction brought about many feelings. The young girl had hoped that she would go into labor on her own and be able to labor at home for awhile before actually going to the hospital. She also REALLY didn't want to have pitocin as she had heard that it would make for a longer, harder and more painful labor...not exactly part of her birth plan...But the real goal was really just to have a healthy baby and a healthy mama! :)

The young girl continued with trying to induce labor over the next week, but had no such luck. She tried it all. Finally, on Memorial Day - Monday, May 27th, the young girl woke up worried that her water had broke! There was a wet spot under her on the bed where she had been sleeping. She called the doctor and waited and waited for the on call doctor to call back. Her doctor seemed to be on vacation and hadn't told her!

The on call doctor eventually called and told the girl she needed to go to labor and delivery because if her water had indeed broke, she would need to be induced today and not wait until tomorrow. Luckily it was Memorial Day so the young man was also already home and able to go with the young girl.

They arrived at labor and delivery and the young girl was taken to a room to be monitored. They hooked her up to a machine and monitored baby's heart beat and movements as well as contractions. The young girl was still having mild contractions, but after a cervical check, she learned that she still wasn't progressing. They also ran some tests and discovered that the fluid that she had leaked in bed hadn't been her water breaking. Embarrassing! She must have wet the bed or it could have just been cervical mucous she was told.

The young man was really disappointed as he had hoped that it would be the day they would meet their little boy. The young girl comforted the young man reminding him that tomorrow the induction process would start and they would soon be meeting their baby boy!

The next evening came and it was time to call to make sure there was room for the young girl at labor and delivery. The young girl was so nervous and didn't want to call, so the young man called instead. There was room and the young girl was to come right away! The young girl immediately burst into tears! She was so scared and excited all at the same time! She cried off and on the whole way to the hospital, but shortly after arriving she began to calm down. Her blood pressure was actually really elevated when she was first checked because she was so nervous!

By 9pm the young girl was all checked in and had her first dose of cytotec inserted. The gels would be reapplied every 4 hours (1am and 5am).

By 1am the young girl was having pretty regular contractions, but nothing strong enough that she couldn't sleep, so sleep she did! By 5am baby wasn't responding well to the contractions so the next dose of cytotec was delayed until 6am so that baby could be more closely monitored. The nurses warned the young girl that if baby's heart rate started to drop too much they might rush in and have the young girl put on an oxygen mask. The young girl decided she should wake the young man and let him know what was going on so he wouldn't be too alarmed if anything should happen. They both went back to sleep and by 6am everything looked good so the young girl received her last dose of cytotec and was having pretty regular contractions that she was starting to actually feel so she was done sleeping! 

Over the next few hours, the young girl was able to shower and freshen up for the long day ahead. By 9am the contractions were starting to hurt. The couple decided to walk the halls and every 3 minutes or so the girl would need to stop for a contraction. By 10am she was feeling them pretty good and they were fairly regular, but the nurses started pitocin anyway. She was still only 1.5cm dilated, about 80% effaced and baby was at 0 station, so she hadn't made much progress as she was about 1cm dilated and about 75% effaced when she came to be induced. 

Over the next few hours the contractions became VERY strong. For awhile they were pretty regular, about 3-4 minutes apart, but then they started to really blend together. The young girl was having a hard time telling when one contraction started and one ended. The nurses were also having a hard time picking this up on the monitor. Since they couldn't really tell how regular the contractions were, they slowed the pitocin down, as they had been doubling the dose every hour, but the girl was still on a very low dose! 

The girl was starting to be in extreme pain but kept telling herself that it would only get worse. The nurse would ask her pain level and she would say maybe a 3...then a 4...and finally was nearing a 5 or 6. It hurt too much to sit or lay down so the girl stayed on her feet where she could keep moving. The pain of the contractions really surprised the young girl, as she had thought the pushing would be most painful. She expected bad period cramps for contractions and had had some REALLY bad period cramps so thought she would handle contractions just fine. 

The young girl had planned to get an epidural at some point and had discussed this with her nurse early on. She had asked the nurse how far she should try to progress before asking for the epidural and how long it would take to get it once she asked. The nurse encouraged her to try to make it to at least 4 cm and said that once the young girl asked, the anesthesiologist would be able to come right away and it should be inserted fairly quickly. The whole process should maybe take a half an hour. 

By 1pm, the young girl was exhausted and in terrible pain that was bringing tears to her eyes. The young man hated seeing the young girl in so much pain (yet somehow looks quite happy in this picture he snapped during a contraction...)

The young man encouraged the young girl to ask to be checked again to see how far she had progressed. The next time the nurse came in, the nurse told the young girl that she didn't have to wait for permission for the epidural...she could have it whenever she was ready! The nurse could tell the young girl was in extreme pain as she wasn't smiley and chatty any more. Later, the girl saw a pain chart and realized that her pain had actually been more of a 10! Not the 6 she kept telling the nurse...

So the nurse checked the young girl and she was indeed dilated to 4cm and ordered up the epidural! YAY! Relief was on its way! 

By 3pm the epidural was inserted and the girl was finally able to rest and relax! She was so tired! Right after getting her epidural, the young girl's doctor came to break her water. Her bag of waters was very thick and hard to break. Her doctor also checked the young girl's cervix and she was now dilated to 5cm, 95% effaced, and baby was at 0 station. The pitocin was then turned off as baby had started to not respond well to the contractions and an internal monitor was inserted to track the young girl's contractions. 

The young girl had started to get the shakes before getting the epidural, but after the epidural they increased a ton so she was covered in warm towels. She also was given an oxygen mask to help get more oxygen to the baby and help him handle the contractions better. 

The young girl then laid in bed and rested for about 2 hours before she started to feel a lot of pressure in her bottom. She called for the nurse who then checked her again! She was 10cm dilated and100% effaced already! Baby was also at a +1 station and was getting close to being out! The young girl thought, "Boy, that was easy!" and was somewhat glad she labored for as long as she did (even if it was only a few hours) without the epidural so she could feel like she actually had to do some work, but was super thankful for that epidural! 

The nurse said that she would call the young girl's doctor and see if he wanted the young girl to start pushing or wait and labor down (let the contractions continue to push baby lower). The young girl's doctor said to start pushing!

 The young girl had been most nervous about pushing and asked the nurse, "What if I can't do it?" to which the nurse confidently replied, "You CAN." 

By 6:45pm the young girl was pushing, but by now her contractions were getting hard to read again and she of course couldn't feel them because of the epidural. Over the next 45 minutes or so, the young girl pushed only a handful of times. The nurse would count down from 10 and the young girl would push. She would do this about 3 times per contraction. Eventually, the young girl's husband did the counting...but he counted SO slow! The young girl yelled at him and said he needed to count much faster or she would never be able to push that long! As the young man counted down during each contraction, the young girl could tell when baby boy was starting to crown just by the waver in the young man's voice. After her last contraction, the young girl had finished pushing and a few minutes later, out popped her baby boy! At 7:36pm on Wednesday, May 29th, 2013, Christian James Foote made his grand entrance into the world! 

This may explain why Christian's heart rate kept dropping during contractions...there was a knot in his cord! Praise the Lord he was born strong and healthy! My doctor said this was only the 3rd time he had ever seen this, so its not very common!

His first bath before heading to our Post Partum room.

All dressed and trying to get warm in our new room.

This fleece swaddle is a miracle/life saver! All new babies NEED them!

Daddy's first time holding Christian. 

Special message from puppy Baxter :) ... (and Uncle Pat!)

Thursday morning - May 30th

Saying his prayers, thanking God for bringing him safely into his mommy's arms :) 

And Christian and his Mommy and Daddy, and puppy Baxter too, lived...

HAPPILY EVER AFTER! 

But it was just the beginning... :) 

To read Christian's entire Birth Story click the links below:

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

Chapter 2 - Mommy and Daddy Meet

Chapter 3 - First Comes Love

Chapter 4 - Then Comes Marriage

Chapter 5 - Mommy and Daddy Get Married

Chapter 6 - Then Comes a Baby in a Baby Carriage - We're Pregnant! 

Chapter 7 - Growing a Baby

Christian's Full Birth Story

Christian's Birth Story - Chapter 7 ... Growing a Baby

It wasn't long after finding out that they were expecting Baby Foote come May 2013 that the young girl started to feel very sick. She was very confused how this "morning sickness" seemed to last ALL day nearly EVERY day! How sneaky to make her think it would only be in the morning....

It wasn't long before the young girl realized that she should always carry a "puke bag" with her as her nausea could come on out of the blue! She even found herself throwing up in the parking lot at a work event where everyone could see her. "This baby is going to get the guilt trip someday!" the young girl thought. 

The nausea lasted until the young girl was about 22 weeks pregnant. Even after that she often felt sick, but the vomiting had at least ended. The young man felt very bad for how sick the young girl was, but at least she never had to be hospitalized. She did often find herself hunched over the toilet bowl, though. One morning, as the girl was leaving for work, she actually gave the young man a kiss good bye and his morning breath sent her running for the toilet! 

Even with taking medication to help make her feel better, the young girl found herself very sick. Many smells bothered her...from the smell of the young man to raw meat and chinese food. They all made her want to cry because they made her feel so sick! She would often get very upset with the young man when he would wear cologne or bring home chinese food...ESPECIALLY when he would make chicken speidis or reheat them in the microwave!

The young girl had now been working at her job as an Employment Counselor for just over a year. The young couple knew that once their little bundle of joy arrived, the young girl would become a stay at home mom. However, they decided for the girl to start staying home much sooner. 

Managing around 100 clients who relied on the young girl for their childcare and several other support services, the young girl found her job to be quite stressful, which only added to her nausea. Every Sunday night, the young girl would have a panic attack hoping that she could make it through the upcoming work week without needing to take a sick day. Finally, the young girl's doctor recommended she stop working if the couple did not need the extra income. With much debate, the young girl stopped working at 15 weeks pregnant. What a relief! 

Around this same time, the couple learned about Intelligender Gender Prediction testing and decided to take a test at home! They were eager to find out if they were having a boy or girl. The test claimed to be 90% accurate if taken with the first mornings urine, but they still weren't going to be positive until their gender ultrasound. 

At this point, the young girl had had several dreams about having a baby girl, so she was certain she was having a girl! The young man still was rooting for a boy! They both just really prayed for a healthy baby, though. When the Intelligender Test revealed that they were having a boy, the young girl didn't believe it. 

A few weeks after taking the Intelligender Test, the young couple flew to New York to spend Christmas with the young man's family. Since they had just gotten engaged in New York City the year before, the couple had planned a "Baby Moon"to New York City on their way to upstate New York. They would finally get to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and would go ice skating again! 

The young man had a few tricks up his sleeve yet again! Once they were on the plane to New York City, he gave the young girl a card with a riddle in it! After a few guesses, the girl learned that they would be having a gender ultrasound done in New York City that night!!! The young man had planned for them to visit GoldenView Ultrasound for a quick gender scan, have the baby's gender written on a Rockefeller Center post card, and for the couple to then go to the ice rink to reveal the gender!

The young girl was in tears! How special! But she also became immediately nervous! This would only be the beginning of nervousness over ultrasounds! She always worried that they would find something wrong with their precious baby. 

Seeing their baby on the ultrasound screen made everything seem so real! The cute little baby even sucked his thumb through most of the session. So precious! While baby was being a little shy at first and crossing "its" legs, it later become extremely obvious to the ultrasound tech as to what the baby's sex was. She wrote it on our post card and printed several pictures for us, even noting on a few how she knew the sex. 

The couple then headed off to the ice rink in eager anticipation! As they walked to the rink, they chatted about what they thought they saw. The young boy was certain that Baby Foote was a boy and the young girl thought that's what she saw too, but also thought it may have looked like a girl...she wasn't as positive as the young boy. 

As soon as the young couple arrived to the rink, they found a spot with a great view of the rink and the tree and pulled out the postcard....

They were having a BOY!

Up until this point, the couple had decided that if they would have a boy they would name him Levi. However, after confirming they were indeed having a boy, the young girl decided she wasn't so sure about this name, but instead loved the name Christian. The young man agreed....Christian was it! 

The New York trip and special ultrasound surprise were amazing and made for the best Christmas ever! The young girl was super exhausted and had sore joints and feet from all of the walking, but it was definitely worth it! 

Right after New Year's, the couple had their anatomy scan at their doctor's office and it was again confirmed that they were having a boy. However, at this scan the couple also found out that the young girl had a low lying placenta. Her doctor later told her that this was not much of a concern, as it often moves up by 28-32 weeks so they would just do another ultrasound then to be sure. Otherwise, if it doesn't move, the girl would need to have a c-section. Not really a huge deal. 

In February the young couple took a trip to Chicago for the young girl's great aunt's funeral. She had come to the end of a long battle with cancer and would be greatly missed. While they were in Chicago, however, the young man had found another GoldenView Ultrasound location and the couple decided to have a 3D/4D ultrasound done and they were so glad that they did! Again, it became even more real to them that they were having a baby as they saw his sweet face on the screen! 

At the second medical ultrasound a few weeks later, the girl's placenta had moved up. However, they now were concerned that the baby boy had too much fluid on his kidneys which could be a soft marker for down's syndrome. The young girl became very nervous, but knew that their baby was in God's hands and they would love him no matter what. They were very blessed to find out at their third ultrasound, though, that the fluid levels were normal! Baby boy was strong and healthy! Praise the Lord! 

The young girl continued on with a normal, healthy pregnancy, although her swelling continued to increase. At her 38 Week appointment her swelling had really gone up and her blood pressure had also increased so her doctor was worried she might be developing pre-eclampsia and sent the couple for a biophysical profile ultrasound and told them she might be sent to be induced right away! The young girl was extremely nervous! She wasn't prepared to have the baby yet! She wasn't due for 2 more weeks! Luckily, baby was strong and healthy at the ultrasound and left to cook a little bit longer. 

The young girl was very patient and not any too eager for baby boy to come too soon. She wanted him to be good and ready, and to be honest, she was pretty nervous so in no hurry! However, after all the talk of inducing early, she started to get more anxious for the day to just come! 

With her due date approaching, and the young man's birthday approaching too, it was time to start trying to get this baby out! The young man was very hopeful that he might get to share his birthday with his son...but his birthday came and went...and no baby :( 

The young man, who isn't much of a walker, started taking the young girl on LOOOOONG walks. She would have some mild contractions but they would always stop when they stopped walking. Eventually, the young girl's due date came and went...still no baby...

And the story continues....

Christian's Birth Story - Chapter 6 ... Then Comes a Baby in a Baby Carriage - We're Pregnant!

About a week after getting home from their honeymoon, the young girl kept finding herself super tired. She was confused how such a relaxing trip could have left her so tired so she forced herself to stay up until her normal bed time every night and wouldn't allow an earlier bed time. 

As the due date for her period drew closer, the couple decided that they should take a pregnancy test, just for fun and to practice for when they really needed to take one! Of course, it came back negative. A few days later, though, they decided to test again...still negative. 

On September 15, 2012, the couple went out to dinner to celebrate exactly 4 weeks of marriage! They were chatting away and talking about all that the last 4 weeks had brought. All of a sudden, the young girl realized that her period was a day late, but she was sure it was probably still coming because she was never that regular. Then the young girl realized that she wasn't experiencing any of the normal PMS type symptoms that she normally would be at that point. The young man immediately said that the young girl needed to take another test. The young girl was hesitant, and didn't want to be disappointed yet again. But she decided to take another test as soon as they got home...

And it was POSITIVE!!! 

The young girl was in shock and the young man turned as white as a ghost! He was so excited and so shocked and scared all at the same time, as was the young girl! The young man immediately insisted that the couple go to the store and buy more tests, as this was their last test. They needed to be sure that this was an accurate reading. 

So to the store they went! The young girl was so embarrassed going in to buy just a pregnancy test and told her young husband to be sure to flash his ring to the cashier A LOT! The young girl was shaking she was so nervous!

Once they got the tests, the young girl immediately took 2 more as soon as they got home. They BOTH were positive again!!! 

Right away, they got on the phone and conference called both their moms! They knew right away what the couple had to share and were so excited!! 

Next it was time to call the dads...who also were VERY excited! 

And the best friend...a text message for her at first and this was her response :) 

Just to be sure, the couple decided the young girl should test again first thing in the morning...POSITIVE again! 

But still...JUST TO BE SURE...they went to urgent care Sunday afternoon and had a blood test done.

Apparently at home tests are quite accurate and it is highly unlikely that you will get a false positive. As soon as the couple told the doctor that they had gotten several positive test results at home, the doctor confidently said, "You're pregnant" before even giving the young girl the test. 

And sure enough...the blood test came back POSITIVE! They were having a baby! 

 Waiting in the doctor's office...SOOOO nervous! 

And the story continues.... 

Christian's Birth Story - Chapter 5 ... Mommy and Daddy Get Married!

Even before getting engaged, the couple talked a lot about having kids. They both couldn't wait to be parents! The young girl had dreamed for years about being a mom and finally that dream was going to become a real possibility! 

Having studied Marriage and Family Therapy, the young girl had read and discussed a lot about the benefits of waiting to start a family, but the young girl and the young man knew that they likely would not be able to wait! Plus, the young girl's mom had tried for several years before getting pregnant with the young girl, so they didn't want to wait just in case it might take awhile. So it was decided, the couple would not take any preventative measures to keep from having a Baby Foote sooner rather than later! 

August 18, 2012 took forever to roll around, but soon enough it did! The wedding day was perfect and God was at the center of the ceremony. The young girl and the young man even got to take off on a cruise to the Bahamas the day after they were married! They felt so blessed and had a truly amazing time! They ended their honeymoon in New York with the young man's family for a chance to celebrate with all those who could not make it to Minnesota for the ceremony. 

While in New York, the young man and the young girl did a little special shopping! They bought a Syracuse onesie (the young man's favorite team from his home state)! They didn't think they would get to use it any time soon, but wanted to be sure to have one for when the time would finally come...whether it be a boy or a girl! 

And the story continues....

Engagement Pictures

Wedding Pictures

Honeymoon Pictures

New York Pictures

Just bought the Syracuse onesie!