Taylie's Birth Story

It was Thursday, July 15th, at 8:00 in the morning when Jason and I were packing up the girls to head to my OB appointment to see what was going on before deciding if I should be induced the next morning. (I would have been 40 weeks on Saturday) The night before Elizabeth and I went for our nightly 45 minute walk around town and even went to the park to swing to try to get things going. I would contract here and there and thought they felt a "little" different, but nothing too painful. I slept great that night and woke up well rested. I noticed I was contracting throughout the morning as I prepared breakfast and got ready, but nothing I thought was labor. I was anxious for my appointment to decide when we'd meet our little one. To my surprise, I had been in labor and was already 5cm+ dialated. We quickly made phone calls to friends and family as we walked over to the hospital.




I checked in around 10:30 and we just hung out for a bit while antibiotics ran through my IV due to me testing positive for Group B Strep. I have never tested positive until this pregnancy, which is no big deal usually because only a small percent of babies catch it from their mom during delivery. Soon my water broke on it's own and labor picked up. I got an epidural, but could tell I was much more numb on my right side, but the relief was still welcomed. Jason's parents arrived along with Brenda and my dad. I was pretty comfortable with the epidural until around 3:00 when contractions were back to back and I could feel most everything again. Then while a nurse was in there, I noticed a gush, and without letting me know what went wrong, she knew I most likely had a placenta abruption. Within 15 minutes, it was time for her to be born and after two pushes, Dr. Clark said I needed to stop due to her umbilical cord tightly wrapped around her neck. He couldn't loosen it and had to cut it. At 3:36pm, Taylie Mae was born. You hope to hear your baby cry as soon as they're born, but we heard only a short faint cry. She was on my chest for only a few seconds before they took her away to be checked over. She was blue and limp and was soon taken away to the nursery. Brenda and Jason would go and watch through the window to see what they were doing to her in the distance. I just remember them coming back to me and telling me they had four people working on her and I thought, that can't be good. Due to my placenta tearing and her not getting nutrients and the cord wrapped so tightly around her neck, she needed oxygen and an IV started, along with many tests run. Macey and Kelsey, along with other family, were only able to meet her through the nursery window before leaving to go home. Hours later, Jason and I were able to see our baby girl. We could only touch her at this time since she was under an oxygen hood. While we were in the nursery we received her test results that showed she had an infection. She got Group B Strep from me.


The next morning, we went to go see Taylie and they told us that her CRP (infection level) had gone even higher. It started at 23, which was high, but now it had gone up to 99, which shocked all the doctors and nurses. She was taken off the oxygen and breathing well on her own, but we couldn't touch or stimulate her much, because she needed her energy to fight the infection. They also had to put a small tube down her throat since she was getting too much air in her stomach. This was irritating to her and causing her to constantly gag and spit up.

Later that night, the nurse came into our room and said Taylie was awake and doing well enough for us to hold her. I held her and she was so alert and just stared up at me. She was just precious. Jason held her and also attempted to give her first bottle with water. She was so weak, she hardly knew what to do. After only a few cc's, she was done. Another round of lab results came in and they weren't good. Her CRP was up to 121. Her doctor had never seen a newborn's level get to 99, so 121 was scary to us all. We just prayed her antibiotics were working and the next day, her levels would lower like expected.

That night I was discharged as a patient, but since Taylie was still in neonatal care I was able to a "boarder" mom and still have my own room. We could sleep there or come and go as we pleased. That night, Jason and I both decided to stay the night.

Morning came, and we were anxious to get more test results. When the results were in, Taylie's doctor came literally running into our room to tell us the news. Her count was down to 80!!!! We were all relieved, and knew she'd be just fine. She just needed more days on antibiotics to be fully infection free. During the night, they tried another bottle of water and she threw it all up. I had been pumping and been storing everything for her so that day they decided to try my milk instead of water and she did great so onto milk she went. That night we decided to come home to sleep since we were hardly sleeping at the hospital. I never thought I'd be going home without my baby. Both Jason and I agreed though, that it was easier to leave knowing that her levels were getting lower, and we knew she'd be home soon.

The next few days we spent going back and forth to the hospital as she improved little by little. I would stay most of the day, while Jason would get out a bit when I had visitors. We still couldn't have Taylie in our room and only Jason and I were allowed in the nursery to see her.



Then her bilirubin level got to 17.8 so she had to be on the biliblanket and under the lights all of Monday so we couldn't even hold her in the nursery besides feedings. I was able to nurse her for the first time on Monday and it went pretty well considering she had many things hooked up to her still. I was relieved since I had fears she would never nurse.

On Tuesday morning, Jason and I along with Macey, got to the hospital early. We were excited to see she was not under the lights anymore and they had her all ready to be brought to our room. She could finally meet her sisters! Macey was so anxious to hold her and held her right away with a big smile on her face. Later that day, Kelsey was able to meet and hold her along with Jason's family. Her CRP was getting lower still and she was nursing great so we got word that she'd be able to come home Thursday.



On Wednesday night we got some surprising news, Taylie could go home already! After seven long days in the hospital, my baby girl was coming home with us :) We felt blessed to have such a great doctor and caring nurses taking care of Taylie while we were there. We were all treated so well, but now we're home and we like it that way! Welcome home Taylie Mae.