Camdyn Elizabeth Bryner--Birth Story
(This is the abbreviated version of our birth story. Sorry, it is still long!)
Bryan and I spent Saturday, March 20th, running around town and doing errands, enjoying the first day of spring weather, and enjoying our time together. We talked to Cami and told her that it was the first day of spring and that she could come to us any time now because we were ready. Well, we went to bed that night and I woke up around 1 am with menstrual-like cramps that kept coming intermittently. I slept as much as I could, not knowing if they were real labor contractions or what was going on. By about 4 am I was lying awake on my side and feeling each contraction come and go. They seemed closer together, but I didn’t time them yet. I got up around 5:30 am to start timing the contractions and went to the bathroom only to discover what I thought was bleeding. This worried me so I turned on the bathroom light in order to wake up Bryan and tell him that we need to go to the hospital in order to see if everything is okay with the baby.
We got dressed quickly and already had our hospital bags packed and ready to go. We drove up to Alta View Hospital Women’s Center and told the front desk that we were worried about the bleeding and that we were having contractions intermittently since 1 am. They put all the monitors on me to check my contractions and to check baby’s heart beat. It turns out that the bleeding was really my cervix effacing quickly. It was at 90 % and I was dilated to 3 cm. My previous doctor’s visit on Wed had me at 70-75% effaced and 1 ½ cm. The contractions were 3 to 4 minutes apart. They said that this was the real thing and admitted me to the hospital. My blood pressure was high-140/90 and that worried them so I had an IV put in and had to keep the blood pressure cuff on in order to be checked every 30 minutes or so.
Bryan and I spent the morning together just chilling in the hospital room. We got there about 6:30 am and I decided I didn’t want an epidural right away because I wanted to see what I could do naturally to help baby come. The contractions became more intense and closer together. By 10 am I was in more pain than I wanted to bear and my blood pressure was still very high. My Doctor came in right about then and broke my water. The contractions became more intense and I had the nurses call the Anesthesiologist for an Epidural. I planned on doing more natural remedies for labor pains, but because my blood pressure was so high the nurses wouldn't let me get out of bed. The pain was just getting worse too so I decided that it was time to get some pain medication.
During about the height of my pain, the nurse came in and offered for us to take the sacrament as there were some church members going around and administering it. They came in and read the following portion of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin’s talk as the thought:
"Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come.”
They then read the sacrament prayer and gave us the bread and the water. I got very emotional during this time because I was in so much pain and it really hit me how personal the Atonement of Jesus Christ is. That was the first time that I was given the sacrament in such a personal setting, just for me and Bryan. I really felt how much love Jesus Christ has for me and that I was not alone in my suffering, that He had felt my pain before and that I could call on Him for strength during my darkest moment. The quote by Elder Wirthlin also hit me because it was literally my Sunday. I had moments of Fridays and Saturdays of despair, but it was now my Sunday to feel the relief from this pregnancy and to feel the love that my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for me individually. I felt at that moment that my Heavenly Father was very personally aware of my sorrow and that He was going to give me the strength I needed to endure this small moment in order to see our little girl finally.
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching a Harry Potter movie marathon (which is funny because I have been reading the last 3 books in the Harry Potter series for the last trimester of my pregnancy) and watching March Madness basketball. I took a few naps and chewed on peach-flavored ice chips. By 4:30 I was completely dilated and ready to start pushing.
Bryan was so great and helped me through all the labor pains by massaging me, giving me ice, distracting me, and just being there to support me. We started pushing and the baby came down to station 3 but slipped back up to 2 every time. The nurse said that after each contraction the baby wiggled her head back and forth. Her heartbeat was normal and she showed no signs of distress the whole time.
My pushing was unsuccessful for a full two hours. She finally started staying down at a 3 station and the nurse called Dr. Smith to come in. We spend a whole hour more pushing the baby out. It was difficult, but at the same time I felt very motivated to get the baby out because I wanted to see her and to have her finally.
Dr. Smith gave me an episiotomy and soon after the baby started to come through. I could feel pressure down there and kept pushing harder as all three of them told me that they could see the baby’s head. Finally her head came out and it was only one more push to get the rest of her out. She came out, Bryan cut the umbilical cord, and she was placed on my chest to get wiped down. She started crying then. It was honestly one of the best moments of my life, to be done pushing, to see my beautiful baby girl, and to know that my Saturday was closing and that my Sunday was coming, just as Elder Wirthlin said.
She came at 7:41 pm on March 21, 2010 after 18 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing! Her weight was 8 lbs 8 oz. and she measured 20 ½ inches long. She was absolutely perfect.
The afterbirth was the most difficult part for me. My epidural was wearing off and I had to push out the placenta, get stitches for my episiotomy, and the nurse gave me a hard massage on my uterus to get contractions going. After Dr. Smith left the nurse continued to massage my uterus and it hurt so much. I started bleeding a lot and ended up hemorrhaging. I lost 1.2 liters of blood during that time and the nurse had to give me blood clotting medicine in order for me to stop hemorrhaging. It took awhile to get my blood pressure, body temperature, and heartbeat stabilized afterward, but eventually it all went back to normal once I was able to get some rest.
Cami was such an angel the whole time in the hospital. She slept and slept and allowed us to get some rest. Bryan was also the best. I seriously love him so much and couldn’t have gone through that whole ordeal without him. He was so great. It was fun to see him hold Cami and change her, give her the first bath, and to see how excited he was to become a father. I am so blessed to be married to him. It was honestly the best decision of my life and I am so so grateful for him. He made everything easier for me and helped to ease my burdens.
We left the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. We stayed an extra day just to make sure my hemorrhaging was under control and that baby Cami was eating well enough to stop losing weight. Alta View was so great and the nurses were angels. We had a great experience with the doctors and nurses there.
Here are some pictures from our time in the hospital. Life has changed so much since then! I have never felt so much peace as I've felt having little Cami with us at home now. She is an angel.
Cleaning Baby Cami off right after birth
(Bryan cut the umbilical cord! Way to go, Bry!)
A very exhausted mom, but happy to hold her baby girl!
Bry giving Cami her first bath under heat lamps
Finishing bath time. She still screams when we give her a bath!
Sleeping it off in the bassinet. She was a sleepy head the whole time!
I love this picture! Such a cutie!
First visitors: Grandma and Grandpa Bryner!
A proud dad! Bryan is the best!
Still worn out, but feeling a lot better! What a cute kid!
All dressed up and ready to go home!
I love this picture too! She was so serene on the car ride home :)
Here's the free hand. She loves it!
Cute kid hanging out with mom
I love the little pillow with ears :)
Close up. I think she has Bryan's eyes/ brow.
She loves to sleep like this on me at night. (I love it too)
Hanging out with daddy
Sleeping it off...again with the left hand up.
and Cocoa Puffs (fortified whole grain cereal, can't be too bad for me!)
