The stork has made a special delivery!

MaKayla Marie Morris
At 3:00 am on Wednesday, September 20th, I woke up to find that my water had broken. It is funny because I dreamt that I would go into labor this way. Just to be on the safe side, I did purchase a water proof mattress pad that Andy liked to call my pee pad. Good thing I did! Surprisingly, we did not panic. Actually we spent a very relaxing time at home showering, eating breakfast, packing and talking about the upcoming event. We had a very calm ride to Swedish American Hospital. I was started on my IV and was 3 cm dilated at 6:00 am. At 9:00 am the doctor decided to start me on pitocin because my contractions were not as regular and as strong as he would like them to be. Since I tested positive for Group B Strep, Dr. Manas wanted to get things moving and lessen the chance of baby getting an infection.

At 11:00 am the contractions were on top of each other and I received an epidural. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t hurt a bit. At 1:00 pm I was dilated to a 9 and baby’s head was right there. The feeling in my legs was returning and I was beginning to feel the pain of contractions again. At 2:00 p.m. I was begging for more medicine in my epidural but the doctor thought it would be best to leave it alone so I could feel the urge to push. At 1:15 p.m. I began pushing and screaming. My epidural was not working at all and I could feel everything. After a few good pushed, I began to get extremely weak. All those weeks of bedrest really did a number to my muscles. I was struggling with being able to push through an entire contraction. I just didn’t have it in me to push the baby out without assistance. Dr. Manas used forceps and did an episidomy. It was the worst pain in my life! Andy had to make me concentrate on holding my breath and pushing and not screaming. I am sure everyone in the hospital heard me.

The next thing I know our baby was born and Andy was announcing "we have a girl!" Our daughter MaKayla Marie Morris was born at 2:49 p.m. After Andy cut the umbilical cord, the doctor laid her on my tummy. My love for her grew instantly stronger! The nurses took her over to the warming bed to clean her and gave her back to me. After a few more minutes of bonding, she was taken to the nursery to be watched because she was having a hard time keeping her body temperature up and was flaring her nostrils when breathing. It was so hard to be separated from our new daughter. Andy was able to go with her and helped with giving MaKayla her first bath. MaKayla weighed in at 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 19.5 inches long.

Being separated from our daughter was very hard for me. Each minute passed like it was an hour. Around 5:30 p.m., the nurses finally brought MaKayla to my room. Andy and I were left alone to bond with MaKayla and to figure out breast feeding on our own. MaKayla was a champ and latched on perfectly.

Our time at the hospital was a whirlwind of visits with family and friends. It was a very proud moment for Andy and I to show MaKayla off. The doctor gave us the okay to leave the hospital Friday night. We were both very nervous about bringing our new precious daughter home. The first night was a bit rough as expected and we got very little sleep.

I am still very sore and tired. Trying to recover from bedrest and delivery while taking care of a newborn is quite a job! Andy is a very proud dad and likes to fondly call MaKayla his precious gem and pea pod.