Brinleigh Dilan graced us with her presence last Saturday morning, July 28 at 6:58 am weighing exactly 7 lbs. & measuring at 19 inches. My due date was July 26 & I woke up the morning of July 27 at about 6am with very mild contractions. I tried to continue sleeping which was challenging but I did manage to get some rest. Kolt came home from work around 8am & since my contractions were still short & not consistent, we both decided to try & get as much sleep as possible. We figured we might have a long day/night ahead of us. Later that afternoon I called the Doctor & told them about my contractions & they wanted me to come into the office to get checked. At 3pm I was 3cm dilated & baby's head was very low, sitting at about station 1 or 2. They say it might have been the weather that day, but apparently 4 of us pregnant women started to go into labor that same day. My doctor was not on call that day but was expecting to see me that night in the hospital to deliver our baby. At about 8pm my contractions finally broke me & became painful enough to make me cry. I hadn't been able to sleep for hours because the pain kept waking me up. I didn't think we should go to the hospital though because my contractions still were not consistently 5 minutes apart. The drive to the hospital is only about 5 minutes away. Kolt finally convinced me to go to the hospital & we started to get ready. By the time we left the house the contractions were about 5 minutes apart. By the time we got to the hospital & checked in, my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. They only have 1 delivery room but 2 or 3 of the other pregnant girls had already checked in. 1 had already delivered, 1 was in the process of delivering, & the other was not as far along as I was so she was most likely going to deliver after me. I was checked in right away but it took them a little bit to get me into my room since they were cleaning it from the previous girl that was in there. Shortly after we settled in, my doctor was notified that I had checked in & the anesthesiologist arrived to give me my epidural. This was the part that I was actually the MOST afraid of. Pshh, I'm not sure why because epidurals are probably the greatest thing ever invented. EVER! It didn't take very long & was not painful at all. Kolt was being great at supporting me through the contractions & letting me know the epidural process was almost done. It only took a few minutes for the pain meds to take effect & once they did I was on cloud nine. I couldn't feel the contractions & I was so relaxed that I was able to fall asleep in no time. When the nurse decided to check me a few hours later I was having a contraction every minute & a half, but of course I had no clue what so ever. At 3am they moved me from my room into the delivery room & called to wake the doctor up. She came in to check me & I was completely dilated. Once I started pushing they decided to turn down the epidural drip which made me feel more pain than I would have liked. After I was pushing pretty good they turned the epidural drip back up but it was too late. I could feel everything. I pushed through contractions which were still about a minute & a half apart for almost 2 hours, although it didn't feel like that long to me. The pain was absolutely horrible. At 6:58am Brinleigh was born. Kolt was adamant before the delivery about NOT cutting the umbilical cord. He didn't want anything to do with it. Once our little girl arrived, he changed his mind & decided that he wanted to cut it. It was very cute. I can only remember bits & pieces of the labor & delivery process, probably because of the combination of the epidural & exhaustion. Right after I pushed her out, all I remember is that I kept repeating "oh my God" over & over. I think the relief from the pain & the shock from pushing a baby out of my belly had stunned me so much that I wasn't sure what to do or say. Kolt was absolutely AMAZING through the entire process. I couldn't have asked for a better support system. He was very encouraging & kept me going.
My sister, Mandy, had arrived in Sitka the Monday before & so she was the first visitor we had at the hospital. She arrived at the hospital before I had even left the delivery room & gone back to our room. She brought McDonald's for Kolt & I & a balloon for little miss Brinleigh. My mom had left Arizona that morning to come to Sitka so she arrived on Brinleigh's birthday. Having Mandy & my mom in town while we were in the hospital was extremely helpful. They stayed at the house & took care of Gunner & brought us food when we asked for it. Mandy would come & sit with me & Brinleigh while Kolt went home to shower or take care of a few things. We stayed at the hospital for 2 nights after Brinleigh was born so we were discharged on Monday afternoon. Kolt & I were both very pleased with our experience at Sitka Community Hospital. It's the smaller of the 2 hospitals here in town & the furthest from our house. My doctor came in to deliver Brinleigh, even though she was not on call. I was especially pleased about this because she had been taking care of me since our very first appointment & she was also going to be Brinleigh's pediatric doctor. The nurses were amazing at checking on us routinely & being immediately available whenever we needed them. We received a lot of attention & help from everyone in the labor & delivery unit, to include a couple lactation consultants & the OB supervisor. My doctor also stopped in to check on us every day that we were there. Between having my sister & mom in town to help take care of things & our experience at the hospital & our interactions with the hospital staff, the entire experience was absolutely AMAZING!!! I am actually quite sad that we will be leaving Sitka in a couple years & will have to find a new doctors office. I am also sad to think that if we have another baby, our next pregnancy will not be as great because we won't be in Sitka & receive the same exceptional care.
Our first follow up appointment was 2 days after we were discharged from the hospital (Wednesday) & everyone in the doctor's office was so excited to see the baby. Our nurse & doctor were also happy to see us & how well we were doing. Brinleigh weighed 6.5 lbs & had a little bit of jaundice. They helped us with anything we were concerned about & answered all of our questions. We went back in to the doctors office the next day, Thursday, to meet with the lactation consultant again. She was actually one of the two OB nurses who was in the delivery room when Brinleigh was born. We didn't have an appointment on Friday but we had to stop in for a weight check for the baby, she was up to 6.11 lbs. Even though we didn't have an appointment, our nurse, Cat, who we see at every appointment, spent quite a bit of time with us, answering more questions & checking things that Kolt & I were the slightest bit concerned about, again. This again, made us both very pleased with the medical staff, who we have actually grown quite fond of. We love how they all know us as soon as we call or walk in & they are very friendly & genuinely care about us & the baby.
