Birth story - Stella Elizabeth Knight

Welcome to the world my sweet girl!

Stella Elizabeth Knight

May 11th at 12:20 am

7 pounds 6 ounces 21.5 inches long

What a wonderful blessing this little girl has already been in our lives.  We love you so much Stella girl and can't wait to see what your future has in store for you!

At my 39 week appointment with Dr. Huish we decided that if I hadn't gone into labor on my own that I would be induced on May 9th.

Jordan and I arrived at the hospital on the 9th at 9pm and slowly got situated in our labor and delivery room.  I got changed, my IV was started and then my nurse Kim checked my cervix.  I was only dilated to a 1 and was 80% effaced.  Because my cervix wasn't as "favorable" as they like to see they decided to start me on a drug called pitocin.  This is placed next to the cervix and is left in for 12 hours to help ripen the cervix and help things move along.

Cervidil is a pretty painless drug and I was looking forward to a full nights sleep before all of the real action started.  Around 2am I started contracting on my own and was starting to feel a good amount of pain.  I was given a pain medication called Stadol every 2-3 hours to help with the pain which actually worked rather well.

At 7am Dr Huish came in and checked me.  I hadn't made any progress, great.  My Dr. had surgery that morning so he wanted to break my water then since he wouldn't have the opportunity to for several hours because of the surgery.  Because I was only a 1 and hadn't had my epidural yet the breaking of my water was excruciating.  It was absolutely awful and something I would never want to relive!  I have to admit I can be pretty dramatic at times, but this was no joke.  I was screaming and hysterically crying, poor Jordan.

I decided after that traumatizing experience that it was time for the epidural.  The Anesthesiologist came in shortly after 7 and the whole procedure was a breeze compared to what I just went through.  It felt like only a matter of minutes before the epidural was in and I was pain free.

The rest of the day went by pretty slowly.  Not being in any pain (thanks to my top-off button) and laying in a hospital bed gets pretty boring.  We watched a lot of tv and chatted with one another.  My parents had flown in from Salt Lake so they were there periodically hanging out with us as well.  We had a different nurse during the day who was just as great as our night nurse Kim, we really lucked out!  Before our day nurse left she checked me once more and I was only at a 4.  This was at about 6pm after almost 24 hours of labor mind you.  I was really frustrated to say the least.

At 7pm there was another nurse change and we were so lucky to have the same nurse that we had the night before.  I had spent so much time with her already that I felt like I knew her and was happy she was back to see me through the end of my labor.

She checked me at around 7:30 and I had progressed to a 7!  A 7?  It had only been 1.5 hours and I had progressed 3 cm!  We were both shocked and so excited.  Finally things were starting to move along.  Unfortunately this is where my boring pain free day came to an end.

Shortly after Kim checked me I was feeling as if my epidural was wearing off.  Sure enough it was, and shortly after it had worn off completely and I was in an extreme amount of pain.  Labor is no joke and I wasn't prepared to deal with the pain without an epidural.

Stella was posterior which caused some brutal back labor as well.  During my contractions I was laying on my side just crying.  Jordan was rubbing my back trying to help.  Shortly after I started getting shaky during the contractions, followed my vomiting.  I was miserable and would ask Jordan if my contraction was coming down yet.  He would look at the monitor and say "Its almost over.  Its starting to come down now".  I felt like the contractions were back to back and I had hardly anytime to regain composure in-between.

At about 1130 I was fully dilated and ready to push.  I felt like I was finally in the home stretch and I couldn't wait to finally meet my baby girl!  Jordan had one leg and my nurse had the other.  Pushing was HARD.  I mean really hard.  I was literally giving it my all and was sweating after the first push.  You always hear how hard pushing is but I really had no idea it would be as hard as it was.

 After 4 or 5 pushes I was already extremely exhausted.  It had been over 24 hours at this point and I was just completely worn out.  I asked the nurse how long she thought I was going to be pushing and she said it could be anywhere from minutes to hours.  I told her if I was going to be pushing for hours that I needed a break.  She told me that was absolutely ok and that I could have a break if I wanted one.  She had me lay on my side and left the room for a bit so we could *try* to relax.  Literally after 5 minutes I had the most intense pressure and involuntary pushing from my body.  I yelled at Jordan to go get the nurse because "this baby is coming out!"

Kim came in, checked me and had me push once.  During my push she stopped me, told me not to push and went to call the Dr.

During the 15 minutes of waiting for the Dr. to come was AWFUL.  My body was literally pushing this baby out on its own and there wasnt anything I could do about it.  I had an oxygen mask on and was blowing as hard as I could to try to stop this baby from coming out.  The nurse and Jordan were holding both of my hands as I was panting during contractions trying my hardest not to push.  My whole body was just wet from sweat and I was so ready for this all to be over.

At 1215 Dr Hush walked in the room and barely had time to suit up before this little girl made her arrival.  I pushed once and then in between contractions he gave me an episiotomy.  During that next contraction I gave half a push before her head was out and then another half push for the rest of her body.

The next 10 minutes is such a blur in my mind.  Baby Stella was put on my chest and immediately started crying.  I was blown away at what had just happened at was in a complete state of shock!  I couldn't believe that I just pushed this baby girl out, all without any pain medication!

After holding her for a couple of minutes they took Stella over to the warmer to clean her up and check her vitals.  Jordan went over with Stella while I was stitched and cleaned up.  The stitching was really painful so I had to be numbed pretty good down there during it, thank goodness THAT worked!

After everything calmed down they brought baby Stella over to have skin to skin with me.  My parents were in the waiting room so they came in for a couple minutes before they left to go back to our house.

It was 2am at this point and I couldn't sleep a wink all night long.  I am so amazed at the beauty of this little girl.  She is absolutely perfect and we couldn't love her more.

I am so grateful for Jordan and for the love that he has for Stella.  From the second he saw that little girl he has been completely mesmerized.  

Here are a few picture from our hospital stay...

Sweet baby girl sleeping

Seconds old.  Little gooey and bloody but SO cute!

Daddies girl.  

While looking at pictures after I realized how fitting Jordan's shirt "Just Do It" was for our labor and delivery!

Teenie tiny hand

Getting ready to go home

In the middle of the night.  He loves his little girl!

Passed her hearing test with flying colors!

Thank you Stella for coming into my life and making me a mommy.  I love you more than you'll ever know and can't wait to watch you grow up.

IVF round 2

If you read my last post, you know that Jordan and I did In-vitro Fertilization (IVF).  Unfortunately, I was too sick and we had an unsuccessful cycle.  I felt completely defeated and quite depressed.

We had 3 embryos from the cycle that we froze.  We were anxiously awaiting to do a frozen transfer of one or two of those embryos as soon as my body was healthy again.

These are our 3 embryos we have frozen from our first cycle

A month later we went in to discuss with the Dr. what our plan should be, and we decided to do yet again another fresh IVF cycle.  A frozen embryo transfer (FET) is much less invasive.  No major drugs, no egg retrieval surgery, and most importantly it is only about 1/5 the cost of a fresh cycle.

Jordan and I decided it was best to go ahead with our fresh cycle, and thats where the real story begins...

 The shots began... everyday.

 The multitudes of Medicine

 The daily set of injections

After about a month it was time for the egg retrieval.  I was the most nervous about this part.  Last time - I became extremely sick after the retrieval and ended up gaining 20 pounds of fluid in my abdomen, which was drained 3 times.

The egg retrieval went well! They had collected 18 healthy eggs and we were thrilled!  I had mild OHSS this time with just a minimal amount of fluid build up.  I felt a million times better and was excited about the fact that we would actually get to transfer our embryos this time around!

On day 3 we had 14 strong embryos.  7 were grade 1 embryos and 7 were grade 2.  From what was explained to me, grade 1 embryos are rarely seen.  When the embryologist called me on day 3 the first thing she said to me was "I just want you to know that you make beautiful babies!" We were thrilled and anxious for our day 5 transfer!

5 days after our eggs were fertilized we went into the office to have our embryos transfered.  I was absolutely 100% set on transferring 2 embryos.  I figured that I needed to give this my best shot in bringing home a baby and 2 would definitely help that situation...

When we walked into Dr. Gurtcheff's office she had let us know that 5 embryos had made it to day 5, which is also known as the blastocyst stage.  A blastocyst is graded on 3 different parts.  "A" being the best, then comes "B" "C" "D".  With out last cycle, our best blastocyst was a BBB rating, which all of the staff were very impressed with.  My Dr. told me that she had never seen an AAA blastocyst before so a BBB was excellent.

So to our surprise when we were discussing our blastocysts from this cycle she told us that 4 were almost perfect and that there was one that was an AAA!!!!!!! An AAA??? You mean you've never seen an AAA until ours???  I was blown away...

Dr. Gurtcheff was calling our embryo "textbook perfect" and strongly recommended because of the quality that we only transfer the one.  It was a big decision for me but we decided that would be best.

This is our "textbook perfect"  AAA blastocyst.  Compared to our BBB up at the beginning of the post you can see how much better this one looks!

An embryo is transfered back into your body by placing it into a catheter, threading the catheter through your cervix into your uterus and placed inside of the womb.  We were able to watch the procedure on the ultrasound machine and it was awesome!!

I was on "princess day" for 3 days after the transfer.  No getting out of bed except for to shower and go to the bathroom.

That was easily the longest 3 days of my life.  I was going stir crazy wondering whether or not this little baby of mine decided to snuggle in nice and tight or not.

On day 4 Jordan and I made a last minute decision to go to Arizona on a house hunting trip.  I decided it was a great way to get my mind off of things and to focus on something else for the next few days until we knew if we were pregnant or not.

6 days after the transfer I had a headache all day long and started wondering if it was a pregnancy sign or not.  I secretly bought some pregnancy tests while we were out and hid them in my purse.  When we had got back to the hotel i immediately went into the bathroom, peed on a pregnancy test and almost immediately saw this....

I never thought i'd EVER see those 2 pink lines!!

Ok Ok... I am fully aware that I was obsessed with peeing on pregnancy tests... Labeling them and all!

This is the little babe at 7 weeks.  First time I heard and saw the heartbeat.  It was magical!!


I went to my first ob appointment today.  Besides the pap and pelvic exam, it was so exciting!  We were able to hear the heartbeat with the doppler.  That little heart was beating away at 176 bpm.

I am 10 weeks PREGNANT and due may 2013!

I want to thank you all for the prayers and good vibes that were sent out in our behalf... We definitely felt them!!

Where we have been...

Where have we been for the last couple of months??

I have been pretty private about what has been going on and I know there are a lot of people with very curious minds.  Now that things have calmed down and are back to normal, I decided to let all of you in on all of the fun we have been experiencing...

MAY

Jordan and I switched Doctors and found THE best Reproductive Endocrinologist (thanks to my friend Chelsea).  We met with Dr. Gurtcheff at the Utah Fertility Center and immediately fell in love.  She is the perfect Dr. for us and makes us feel SO comfortable!

Dr. Gurtcheff recommended that we jump right into IVF, being that our odds of conceiving a child any other way was below 1%.  It was a HUGE decision and crazy scary, but we decided to go big or go home!

In May I started a month of Birth Control.  Counter intuitive right?? I totally agree.  The BC is given to down regulate your body for what is in store.  My poor body had NO idea what it was in for...

I felt like it was by far the slowest month of my life.... just waiting (and getting crazy off of BC, poor Jordan).

In the end of May I received a HUGE box.  A little pharmacy delivered straight to my door...

Was I overwhelmed when I saw literally hundreds of needles?  Extremely is an understatement...

Especially because I had to give these shots to myself....

JUNE

The shots started, and I freaked out.

This is real.  Really happening!

I started 3 shots a day, shown below...

I became extremely comfortable with the disturbing idea that I was now a human pin cushion.

The shots continued, my stomach in turn became very bruised and sore.

I traveled down to Pleasant Grove almost everyday to have an ultrasound and to have my blood drawn. 

I know, swollen!

The morning of June 22 was an ordinary day, traveling down to PG for my follicle scan.  I arrived and the best nurse practitioner in the world, Brooke, started my ultrasound.  She was shocked to see that I had over 40 follicles.  The office loves to see around 10 in a GOOD IVF cycle.  I was super plumped up and ready for my egg retrieval!

The night of the 22nd I gave myself my trigger shot and waited.  The egg retrieval is exactly 36 hours after the trigger shot, which made my egg retrieval scheduled for Sunday, June 24th.

I was scared to death that morning.  We headed in and met with the Anesthesiologist.  Her name was MO and she was incredible.  She put me right at ease and assure that everything would be just fine.

I don't remember much that day.  Jordan took video of me in the recovery room, which I will NOT be sharing, how embarrassing!

Dr. Gurtcheff came in a few hours after the retrieval to let us know that we had 22 eggs!  22?? That is incredible!! They like to see around 10, like i said.  We left and immediately stopped by McDonalds for a bacon egg and cheese biscuit.  

Just as I thought the hard part was over, I was sorely mistaken.  

Because I had so many follicles, I was at a high risk for OHSS (Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome).

OHSS is extremely serious and can cause some serious side effects, including renal failure and heart damage.

I was in extreme pain starting about the day after my egg retrieval.  My ovaries had expanded to the size of large grapefruits, which in turn was pushing all of my organs up into my diaphragm, making it almost impossible to catch my breath.

My stomach swelled up so much with fluid that Dr. Grutcheff said I was the size of a 30 week pregnant woman (as seen below)

This picture doesn't even do it justice.  I was HUGE!

I had my paracentesis 3 times.  Each time they drained 2 liters of fluid from my abdominal cavity.  Worst experience of my life by far.

I was so dehydrated that they had to send me home with an IV

It took me 10 days and 3 drainings to feel normal again.  Because my body was so sick, we were uable 

to transfer our embryos.  I have been pretty depressed and low ever since.  Our embryos were frozen and will be transfered as soon as my body is healthy again.  The transfer is currently TBD.

A little bit more about our babies...

The day after our retrieval the lab called to let us know that 15 eggs were successfully fertilized!  Awesome news!  We were so excited!

On day 3 there were still 15!  These are crazy good numbers.  A lot of the time they were transfer them back in on day 3 because there are not very many eggs that have actually fertilized.  Our Dr. felt very confident that we were going to be able to let them go until day 5 until transfer.

On day 5 we had 3 perfect embryos that had turned into blastocysts.  We would have transfered them back into me, but because of my condition at the time it just wasn't possible.  Our 3 perfect little embryos were frozen on day 5 and are patiently waiting...

I want to thank all of you who knew we were going through this and so graciously offered up prayers and kind thoughts in our behalf.  We have felt the immense power of prayer and continue to feel it everyday!  We love you all!