Bailee's Birth Story

I had gone to my regular doctor's appointment, three weeks before my due date. Everything seemed to be going okay until my doctor asked if my feet had been swelling.

I answered yes, and sometimes very quickly.

She said she thought so and confirmed that I had pre-eclampsia. Then she said, "Tomorrow looks like a good day to have a baby." Dr. Brazell then instructed me to check in at 6:00 a.m. through the E.R. on May 15, 2001.

I called David as soon as I got home and told him. He was out of state at the time and had to drive all night to get home. He didn't make it before I had to leave for the hospital though. I thought I wouldn't see him until after our little girl was born. He surprised me and walked in close to 8:00 a.m. He stayed by my side, but would only watch the monitors! He said someone had to do that too. My mother was also there, holding my hand, and giving me ice chips.

I had no pain medication or epidural. I had brought my own Tylenol and told my doctor not to give me anything that may effect the baby, no matter what. I finally did request an epidural around noon. I was not prepared for how soon the contractions would escalate in strength and closeness due to the Pitocin. The anesthesiologist came in around 12:15 p.m. and instructed me to sit up and put my legs over the opposite side of the bed. I started to do so, then told him he was too late and asked him to call the nurse. She checked me and called my doctor. I repeatedly told David that if he was going to leave, he had better go soon because Baby was about to make her grand entrance! He stayed. But he didn't watch anything but the monitors!

At 12:34 p.m. Bailee Sierra was born. I kept admiring how beautiful she was, and wondering why she was such a dark purple. The nurse started to cut her cord and I protested, "No! My Mom is supposed to do that!"

Dr. Brazell said that the nurse had to do it because Bailee wasn't breathing. I started to cry and I guess I was trying to take her away from them because David and my Mom were pulling my arms back. The nurse rushed across the room and they started working on her. I couldn't see her but I could hear the nurses. A very long time passed before I finally heard Bailee cry. I didn't understand everything they said, but apparently her liver wasn't functioning either. Her APGAR was low but they said it was coming up. It was being re-checked often. They never did tell me what her initial reading was, and I was more focused on how she was progressing to ask again.

Bailee's biliruben count was very high and we stayed in the hospital a few days longer before her doctor would release us. He said we could go home on May 18th if the count went down. It went down a little, we went home but had to return to the nursery to have her checked again that Saturday. I had put her cradle in front of the window and that helped bring down her count even more. We did not have to go back again after that.

She weighed seven pounds, one ounce at birth and was nineteen and a half inches long. When we went home she weighed six pounds, nine ounces.

Today she is a happy, healthy 14 month old. She is still very little, weighing in at twenty pounds and twenty eight inches tall. She still wears many of her 6/9 month clothes because most of her height is in her long legs. She loves Clifford, her Barbie chair, FP Little People videos, and her dog. She waves at everyone, blows kisses, talks a lot and is very active. We are so blessed!