Madden's birth story

I feel like I could copy and paste Owen's birth story into this post, change out Owen's name for Madden, switch a few dates around and Madden's birth story would be complete. Both of my pregnancies were very similar and my labor & delivery experience with both boys is so similar it's kind of freaky!

I had a pretty good feeling I was going to have this baby at least somewhat early. For over a month before Madden's birth day, I had cramping off and on and knew my body was already starting to prepare. At my 35 week appointment on Thursday, March 2nd, I was dilated to a 2 and 50% effaced. The whole following week I continued to cramp off and on and at my 36 week appointment on Thursday, March 9th, I was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. My doctor guessed I'd have the baby within the week and said he'd be shocked if I went two more weeks.

The next night, I figured it would be a good idea to finalize my hospital bag. I remember sitting on the floor of our bedroom pulling out a little onesie one of my best friend's, Katie Swick, made for Madden and getting this overwhelming feeling of excitement to meet the baby. (She was one of the very few people who knew his name beforehand). It was a tender moment I want to remember!

On Wednesday night, March 15th, I had a terrible night of sleep and even woke up with some contractions in the middle of the night. They went away after a little while so I ended up falling back asleep.

Thursday, March 16th
That morning, I woke up excited for my doctor's appointment because I knew that I had definitely dilated and progressed some more. After getting ready for the day, I was walking around my house and thought I felt just a little water leak out. I knew better than to write it off because of my experience with Owen so I decided to pay attention and see if it happened again. I figured I had my check up a few hours later that day anyway, so I would have my doctor check at my appointment.

Before my appointment, Owen and I went over to my friend Lindsey Minson's house to play along with my friend Amy Keller. As I was sitting on the couch talking, I felt a little more water leak out and thought I for sure didn't imagine it that time.

I arrived at my appointment at 9:15am and by 9:30am, I was lying on the bed during my ultrasound when I felt even more water leak out. I remember looking over and saying, "yup, some water definitely just leaked out."

The baby had a strong heartbeat during the ultrasound which gave me a sense of relief and during my exam, my doctor told me I was already dilated to a 4.5. He then told me he was going to check to see if it was my water leaking and sure enough, his swab turned blue indicating amniotic fluid. I had dejavu at his next words which were: "Time to head to the hospital. You're having this baby tonight."

I immediately texted Brad who was working in the dental clinic and told him that we needed to head to the hospital. He called me soon after and I told him that my water was definitely leaking and we were going to have a baby that night. He met me at home and we got everything ready to go. My friends Amy & Lindsey and my sister-in-law Kylie were life savers and took care of Owen for us until my parents arrived the next day.

Here's a picture Brad took right before we left for the hospital. 37 weeks, 1 day along! 

By the time we got to the hospital, it was around 11:30am. We walked up to the check-in desk and the lady at the desk just looked at us with a rude expression and said, "what are you here for?" I just looked at her with a confused look and responded, "to have a baby?"

After she realized I was indeed on the right floor and about to have a baby, she checked us in and proceeded to take the worst possible hospital picture of me for my wristband. I didn't know counting to 3 before taking a photo was that difficult!

Triage
We arrived in triage around 11:45am and hung out there until a delivery room opened up. I remember at one point Brad looking over and saying, "So, are you in labor?" and me shrugging, "I guess so." I just seemed out of place next to all of these groaning women with pained expressions waddling and being pushed on wheelchairs down the hall. I was almost dilated to a 5 but barely in any discomfort. It just didn't seem right!

Delivery room 

Around 1:20pm, my delivery room was ready so we gathered my stuff and walked on over. Luckily for Brad, March Madness was in full swing so he had plenty of basketball to watch while we sat around waiting.

Around 2:00pm, the nurse started me on Pitocin and I was feeling like a hot shot because it had been 15 minutes and I still wasn't in any pain. But that's when an alarm went off indicating my nurse forgot to take off the clamp and I hadn't been receiving any Pitocin up until that point...

Around 4:00pm I asked for an epidural because even though I still wasn't in pain, I didn't want to push my luck. Getting the epidural was by far the worst part of my whole delivery experience. I hate those things, but oh do I love them!

Right after I received the epidural, my doctor came in to examine me. During my exam, he moved the baby's head slightly and the rest of my water spilled out. Apparently his head was corking it off which is why I had only been slightly leaking up until that point!

It was around this time that Brad and I made guesses about the baby's weight and length. Brad guessed 7lbs 3oz, 19 inches and I guessed 6lbs 11oz, 19 inches. 

6:30pm rolled around and my nurse came in to check on me.  She told us that I was dilated to a 6.5-7!

Baby time! 

Just before 8pm, my nurse came in and told us that if I had any urge to push to let her know. Not even a few minutes passed before I got the feeling that it was time to push and I told Brad to call the nurse back in right away. Sure enough, she examined me and I was dilated to a 10 and ready to push! It was around this time when my body started shaking and my teeth started chattering uncontrollably. It was the weirdest feeling and I could not control it for the life of me!

My doctor arrived shortly after and immediately threw a pair of scrubs and gloves at Brad and told him to get dressed because he was going to catch the baby. The look on Brad's face was priceless and I'm still not sure which one of us was more nervous for the delivery!

I only pushed for about 10 minutes and before we knew it, Madden David Earl was born at 8:25pm. He was 8 pounds and 20 inches long. (yes, 8 pounds 3 weeks early...)

I remember being nervous that I wouldn't feel that same overwhelming feeling of love that I had when I met Owen for the first time but I had nothing to worry about because I felt that same feeling when they put Madden on my chest for the first time. He was perfect and beautiful and I was so happy to finally be holding him in my arms!

Soon after Madden was born, Brad and I got to spend some one on one time with him. One of my favorite things in this world is seeing Brad hold our babies for the first time! It was also around this time that Brad finally got around to telling his family that we had a baby. (Don't worry, my family was kept in the loop the whole time). He thought it would be funny to just send a picture of the baby without any warning. I'm not sure they were quite as amused as Brad was...

Pictures with Madden soon after birth

Around 10pm, we both realized we were starving and my awesome friend Amy Keller brought us McDonald's. I ate McDonald's after having Owen so it's sort of tradition. And that meant Amy was the very first friend to meet Madden!

A few hours after birth 

A few hours later, we got situated in my recovery room and that's when things started to go downhill. While holding Madden, I noticed he was starting to behave the exact same way Owen did a few hours after birth. He was grunting, his nostrils were flaring, his ribs were retracting each time he took a breath. It was obvious he was having trouble breathing.

I pointed this out to the nurse who said to "give it time" and to call her back in 15 minutes if I thought he was still having trouble. But, we learned our lesson the first time around with Owen and insisted that something was wrong and that she take him to get checked out. Not long after, she came back to our room telling us that Madden's body temperature and oxygen levels were too low and that he was taken back to the nursery. My heart sank at this because it was history repeating itself!

After he was taken back, I tried falling asleep since I was exhausted but ended up just lying in bed worrying for a couple of hours. After giving up on sleep, I climbed out of bed and walked back to the nursery to check on him. They had just finished taking some chest x-rays and were in the process of running a few more tests. One of the nurses told me he had spit up a bunch of fluid, so I was hoping that would help him breathe a little easier. But after his oxygen levels didn't improve, they admitted him to the NICU.

NICU stay
The next morning, we were told that his chest x-rays showed retained fluid in his lungs and he was experiencing TTN (Transient Tachypnea). TTN is when a baby's lungs don't dispel all of the fluid when they're born, and the leftover fluid makes it really hard for them to breathe. It normally happens in babies born before 38 weeks and usually babies who have it start improving within 24-72 hours.

We were pretty familiar with this diagnosis since Owen experienced the same thing (among other things). Fortunately, Madden was only in the NICU for a few days unlike Owen who had been in there for two weeks recovering.

This is how we found Madden the next morning. It seriously broke my heart and also brought back so many memories from 2.5 years ago.

Madden remained on oxygen the whole next day (Friday, March 17th) but we were happy to hear it was a pretty low level. We were also told that his CBC test came back normal. One of the craziest things was Madden's first nurse was one of the same nurses who helped Owen during his stay. 

My parents arrive

I was so grateful when my parents arrived the day after he was born. Here are some pictures of my mom meeting Madden for the first time!

On Saturday, March 18th we were excited to find Madden off of oxygen and IV. He looked like a completely different baby without any wires attached to him! We had another repeat nurse from Owen this day who even recognized Brad and me. She had remembered us because her nephew is named Owen and she said other than our Owen, she hadn't met another before. 

Owen meets Madden for the first time

Our first picture as a family of four! (We'll definitely need a better one of these in the near future)

Here are pictures of Owen hanging out in my hospital room, drinking my chocolate milk from lunch

My dad meeting Madden 

On Sunday morning, March 19th we were excited to find out if Madden could come home. We hit a little bump in the road when they told us that about an hour into his car seat test the night before (which is done with babies with breathing issues), his oxygen level dropped but he had self-recovered. So, we waited around until the doctor's did their rounds to see if they would give him the go-ahead to go home and luckily they did! We were told he would be good to go around noon that day. 

Madden's going home outfit courtesy of one of my best friends, Amy Keller! 

As one of the doctor's was giving Madden one last exam before discharge, we were talking and she had said something really interesting. After asking me questions about my first baby and how he had also come early and experienced TTN, she told me that in some women it's just genetic that we have little boys early (in my case, water breaking at 37 weeks both times) who experience issues with TTN. So, if we have another little boy then I guess we'll be prepared at 37 weeks and expect more breathing issues. No fun!

Madden all ready to go home

So happy to be home!