The Bishoff Family: Amy's Birth Story

So here are the details about Amy!

On March 21, I went to my 37 week appointment. I was already dilated to a 2. I had been having a lot of braxton hicks contractions so I knew I was getting close to the end. My doctor said that if I hadn't had a baby within the week, he would induce me at my next appointment which would be one day before I was 39 weeks. With Kiley, I had been dilated to 1 and my doctor checked me and that put me in labor. I thought that might happen again, especially when I went home that night and had contractions 10 minutes apart for 6 hours. We were sure this baby was coming that night. I went to bed and the contractions stopped. I would have slept wonderfully but I have a fabulous husband who was really excited and convinced the baby was coming. He asked me every few minutes if I had had another contraction. My answer was always, "No, I'm sleeping." He was very disappointed that we weren't in the hospital the next morning.

I didn't have any more contractions the rest of the week but I figured I'd be farther along at my next appointment because of all of my contractions I'd already had. I was really nervous about the idea of being induced. I wanted my baby to come when she was ready and I wasn't to a point of being sick of being pregnant. I also was nervous for the whole delivery process, considering Kiley's delivery was really difficult. Chad really wanted me to be induced because he was so excited to get her here. I was also excited but wasn't ready to be induced. I was struggling with the decision all week and especially on the day of my appointment. When my appointment came along, I was a wreck. We got in and my doctor checked me. I was still only at a 2. He never even offered to induce me. He told me he was heading out of town for the weekend and would be back Saturday night so we shouldn't have a baby without him! I was so relieved that he didn't want to induce me. But he did want to see me on Monday.

So Monday, April 2 came along. In the 5 days it took to get to Monday, I was ready to not be pregnant anymore and its a good thing. Dr. Heath walked in and checked me. I was at a 3plus. He stripped my membranes and I was at 3 1/2 plus. This was at 2:30 PM. I was only sort of contracting all day. Nothing was consistent and they weren't getting any stronger. Pretty much, they were just annoying. By ten o'clock they were still going so we decided we'd probably be in the hospital by the morning and didn't want to call our friends at 3 am. We called Michelle and took Kiley over around 11 PM. By the time we left their house my contractions had pretty much stopped. But Chad decided since we were already in town we should just go get checked at the hospital. The worst that could happen would be that they send us home.

We got to the hospital around midnight(it took some time to get Kiley settled down.) I was still only at a 3 1/2 so they said they'd observe me for an hour. So I laid there hooked up to a machine for an hour. They checked me and I was still at a 3 1/2 and not contracting consistently so they called Dr. Heath. He said to keep me for observation for another two hours. Finally at 3 am I was at a 4 so they admitted me and started my IV. For the next 3 hours I just laid in the bed and filled out paper work. I also slept as much as possible. They kept asking if I needed an epidural but my contractions weren't too uncomfortable so I held off. Around 6 am they checked me and I was at 5. They were surprised because I hadn't been having very consistent contractions. They were getting stronger but they weren't being very consistent. At 6:30 they offered the epidural again. They told me that the anethesiologist was around and they didn't know how much longer he would be around because of surgeries they had going on throughout the day. So I got my epidural which was perfect!! After the epidural they started me on the lowest dose of pitocin. Dr. Heath came and checked on me at 7 and told them to stop the pitocin. He had surgeries all morning and didn't want me dilating so quickly that he wouldn't be able to deliver me.

I fell asleep till 9. Dr. Heath woke me up and told me I was at a 10 and it was time to start pushing. I was still half asleep so it took me a minute to realize what was going on. We got all set up and started pushing. I pushed through 3 contractions and Amy's heart rate dropped a little. Dr. Heath threatened me with the vacuum if I didn't get her out on the next contraction. I didn't want him to have to use the vacuum again so on the next contraction we got her out. I pushed for 10-15 minutes and she was here. Amy was born at 9:17 am. She was 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long. And the best part was she had lots of dark hair!!

Dr. Heath had the biggest grin on his face. He spent some time with us after it was all said and done and thanked me for my timing. I was dilated to a 10 as he finished his first surgery and had the baby before he needed to start his next surgery. He is a fabulous doctor and I can't say enough good about him.

After we were left alone for a few minutes, we decided it was time to pick a name. We didn't really like either of our top 2 names that we had been discussing so we went down our list. There wasn't a name that really stood out so I started thinking of other names. After a few minutes Chad came back to Amy(one of the names on our list) and it stuck. Good thing we were asked multiple times in the hospital what her name was. It took us a while to get used to the name. I kept forgetting whenever people would ask, but don't worry, I do know it now!!

My grandparents came up from St. George to see us at the hospital and Kiley came over with my Mom. We saw my grandparents before we ever saw Kiley. My mom was fabulous to drive down and pick Kiley up from the Blanco's and then spend a whole week with us. She then took Kiley home with her the next week so that I could get some rest and get used to a new baby. And this is when I learned that Kiley was busier than I realized.

Filling out paperwork

Getting some rest before the big push.

Amy's first picture. She doesn't seem very excited to be here.

Chad holding Amy after cutting her cord.

Dr. Heath loves his job!

She weighed 3441 grams (7 lbs 9 oz)

This is what my arm looked like after finally getting my blood pressure cuff off.

Chad and Amy's badges

Eating my first meal...deslish!

Our first family photo with Amy!

Kiley was really nervous of me in the hospital bed. So she had to sit with dad to hold the baby. She wanted nothing to do with me.

The second day in the hospital, Kiley was better about coming to sit on the bed with me to hold her sister. She was so excited and loved holding Amy. She did not want to let her go.