Breanna's Birth Story

Breanna Rose Campbell

For those of you who wonder, she IS middle named after a Harry Potter character. Ron and Hermione name their daughter Rose :)
We picked the name Breanna initially from her original due date. Her due date was Feb 11, which is one of my favorite people in the world’s birthday, Breanna Mecham. And we really like the nickname Bre.

So there’s her name, onto the story!
No birth story is really for the faint of heart, though I wont get into any gross detail :)
On Tuesday Jan 29 my doctor checked me and I was 1cm dilated and 70% effaced. Not much going on, but after I got home I cramped on and off all day and just felt generally yucky. The next day I lost my mucus plug (at least the majority of it) and still felt crampy. Thursday I felt a lot better, though I continued to lose tiny bits of my plug. I was pretty grumpy that I was feeling too good :) I started walking the stairs at my house, bouncing on my yoga ball, and we went and walked the mall for a couple of hours. Friday went pretty much the same. Friday night we stayed up watching a TV show on Netflix for a while and when I stood up to go to bed, she kept jamming her head downwards HARD. It hurt really bad, but it didn’t look like she had dropped, it just HURT.

I woke up Saturday morning about 6:45 feeling my first real contraction (I had a lot of crampy braxton hicks contractions for weeks). They weren’t super strong, but painful enough for me to know they were real. Of course with Abby I had real contractions for like 3 days, so I didn’t know if it was actually going to happen that day or not. I had contractions all day, and kept myself pretty busy passing the time. The contractions did slowly get closer together and by the end of the day were stronger than they had been when I first woke up. Logan was supposed to be working until 9pm, but I really wanted him home by 6, and one of his co-workers was kind enough to fill in for him, and he got home about 6:30 pm. About the time he got home I felt the contractions get stronger, they were a lot harder to breath through, and quickly got more consistent, so they were about 5 mins apart, some less. Anyway, we were across the street at our neighbors, the Thompsons, so I told Logan we needed to go. We got home and I crawled into a nice warm bath for a little bit, while Logan quickly fed the kids (it was about 8pm by now) and put their pjs on them. I got dressed and curled up in bed with Abby until she fell asleep (about 10 minutes) while Logan cleaned up and grabbed the last couple things for our hospital bag and we left. The Thompson’s kids came over and spent the night with our kids and got them to church the next day.
We were on our way to the hospital about 9:30 pm. We got there and I told the lady at the ER desk that my contractions were 2-5 mins apart and this was my 3rd baby. They hurried :) Somebody was there to wheel me up to L&D within just a minute. We got up there and they got me settled and started asking the basic check-in questions and the nurse finally stopped and decided to check me because my contractions were so close together. She said I was a 5, or more, but she couldn’t tell fully because I started having another contraction while she was checking and it HURT.

My contractions were very quickly getting closer together and MUCH stronger. They started getting ready to hook me up to an IV so I could get a bag of fluid in me before the epidural. Well, the contractions were really starting to hurt, to the point where I couldn’t keep quiet during them, and would cry out a little bit. They got the needle in me and took some blood, but before they hooked the fluids up, they checked me again, I was complete! It had been about 10 minutes since they checked me before. A slight panic set in as the nurses were running around trying to get me prepped (we all knew at this point there was no way I was going to get an epidural, things were moving too quickly), and get the doctor there before the baby came. Every time I had a contraction I would cry out/scream. I was squeezing the life out of Logan’s hands and biting his shirt. I know I clawed the poor guy to death with my fingernails and accidently bit his arm instead of his shirt once--whoops! He told the nurse they must be pretty bad since I’d never squeezed his hands like that before!

Then I felt the change and the pressure started, but still no doctor! (we had called earlier and knew my favorite doctor from the clinic was on call--yay!) They sent him an emergency page and I had to stop from pushing through 3 or 4 contractions. They had Logan coaching me through my breathing so I wouldn’t push. That is the HARDEST feeling in the world. When you are in SO much pain and need to push, but can’t. Anyway, the doctor showed up finally, YAY, and as soon as I felt the next contraction I gave up and said I was pushing. Of course, since the doctor was there, they told me to go for it. I pushed and my water broke. It pretty much exploded like 3 feet and I barely missed the doctor (I think he was pretty happy about that, haha). I only had to push a couple of times before she was out, but those contractions were definitely the most painful thing I have ever had to endure. I don’t know how anybody could do a long labor without pain meds, it was hard enough with the short amount of time I had to endure it. Most of the experience is a blur now and I don’t remember most details. Anyway, the relief I felt when she came out was amazing! Oh it was fabulous. She was born at 10:18pm, so we were in the hospital less than an hour before she was born! The best part about it all was that I didn’t rip or tear at all so I didn’t have to get any stitches. The doctor worked the placenta out and they cleaned me up and Breanna up. She was perfect, with an apgar score of 9 and 10. She cried just a second and weighed 7lbs 14.5oz, was 21 inches long, with tons of dark beautiful hair.

The recovery has been great. I’ve been a little bit sore, but the worst part of it all has been the cramping that occurs when I’m nursing Bre, but that is good, so really, in the end, I’ll take it :)

Bre has been a great baby. The first 24 hours she pretty much slept and would hardly eat at all, though I continued to try and breastfeed her. Last night she started waking up more and has been eating great.

Honestly I’m pretty amazed by the entire thing. I never ever wanted to have to go through labor like that. I’ve always been a big fan of an epidural. But I survived, and my recovery has been great. I’m amazed Logan made it through :) He really was amazing through the entire experience. I think we were both a little in shock by the way things were going. But he followed the nurses and doctors instructions perfectly and was there for me every step of the way. I appreciate him and his role through the entire thing more than anything else. I could not have done it without him. I kept saying I couldn’t do it between contractions and he just kept saying I could and I had too :) He was perfect and he’s done amazing taking care of all of his girls. I love him more after going through the last few days with him :)

Emma and Abby love Bre and were excited for her to come home. They are both tired and worn out from everything being crazy, but they love giving her kisses and holding her.
We are excited to have 3 little girls and get used to our new crazy life!

*Logan's cousin's family came to visit in the hospital*

*The girls opening their presents from Breanna*

*Abby chilled at the hospital with me for a couple of hours*

*Going home outfit*

*Abby loves Breanna. Also loves stealing her binky...*

*Cuddles*

*My girls*

*My family*

*Going home!*

*Snuggling Daddy in their onsie jammies*

*Love how babies sleep!*

 

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