Willa's Birth Story, COVID and All

Willa Gene Weber was born at 1:00am on January 1, 2022. She was 7 lbs 6 oz and 20.5 inches long. She was the first baby born in 2022 at East Cooper Medical Center! Her birth was much different birth than her brother’s! I am grateful for that.

How it Started, New Year’s Eve

On the morning of New Year’s Eve, I called my OB’s office because I hadn’t felt Willa move a lot in the past day or so. Usually I could push my belly a certain way and get her moving if I hadn’t felt much recently, but I was barely getting that from her. So they had me come in for a NST (non-stress test) to monitor her heart rate and activity.

I had had another NST a couple weeks prior for the same reason. I felt silly and paranoid but I really paid attention for 12 hours or so after she seemed to quiet down, to make sure I wasn’t just distracted and missing all of her movement. I’m big on “better safe than sorry” so I am glad I called both times, just to get some assurance.

She passed both times, thankfully! But after a couple hours of monitoring the afternoon on the 31st, the doctor came in and told me that this late in pregnancy (I was 39 weeks, 3 days) the “clinical recommendation for decreased fetal movement is to induce". She explained that I was far enough along that it was safe to induce and because, even though she seemed fine on the monitor, we never know exactly what’s going on in there that’s causing her to move less. I really did not want to get induced, I wanted labor to come on naturally, but I also didn’t want to keep worrying about her so much, especially if she continued to be so “quiet.”

Here We Go, Plus COVID

I agreed, and called TJ to tell him to get our bags ready and come on over! We coordinated with my parents to come be with Wyatt and our dogs. TJ picked up an early dinner for us (a Pub sub!) on the way since I knew it was my last opportunity to eat until after the baby was born.

Did I mention that I had COVID at the time? Uh, yeah.

So I was set up essentially in an isolation room at the end of the hall. I was told I couldn’t leave the room at all and once TJ got there, neither of us could leave the room until we were discharged. I ended up being in that room for about 48 straight hours.

I was feeling pretty good by this time in my sickness because it had been a whole week. But I had major lingering congestion, including in my ear. My left ear was totally clogged and I could barely hear out of it. The feeling was so disorienting and it made it even harder to hear and understand the doctor and nurses because they, of course, had masks on.

Anyway, the doctor broke my water and started Pitocin I think around 6/7pm. Thankfully my cervix was already “favorable” for induction as I was 2.5cm dilated and 80% effaced.

I eventually asked for an epidural. This epidural was a lot different than the one I had with Wyatt. This time, I got wayyy more numb and couldn’t move the bottom half of my body at all. With Wyatt, I was able to move a bit and push in different positions. When I was pushing this time, they ended up turning the epidural off so I could feel a little better, because it was hard to feel how to push properly.

Eventually I could feel where/how I was pushing, and that part was actually much better than when I was pushing with Wyatt. With Wyatt, they told me to push like I was pooping, which is the correct way to do it but it feels so wrong. I think that’s why it took me four hours to get him out! This time, I could feel when I was getting a good push and making progress. And this time it felt like I was pushing from the right place :P

The congestion from COVID was really distracting when I was pushing and made it even more of a struggle. You know when it kind of gets stuck in your throat? That’s how it felt the whole time. Being on my back and not elevated exacerbated it. Plus the disorienting feeling from my ear being clogged and not being able to hear out of it. Definitely not ideal conditions for trying to push out a baby!

Toward the end, I started shaking uncontrollably. Apparently this is caused by adrenaline. This also hindered my pushing a little bit and it made me nervous!

When she was about to come out, she got stuck and the nurse pretty much pushed all her weight onto my belly to get her out. Whew!

I was still shaking uncontrollably. It felt like I was freezing cold (but I wasn’t) and I literally could not stop myself from shaking. They put Willa on my chest and it was a little difficult to take it all in because I was shaking, and because I was scared about why I was shaking so much. I think the nurse gave me some kind of medicine for it and it finally stopped after about a half an hour, but goodness, it was brutal.

She’s Here!

They delayed the cord clamping a little bit, which is recommended, although not all doctors do it. We got to do the “golden hour” together and I nursed her almost right away, too. They held off on her first bath for 24 hour (even longer is even better, though). I had a second degree tear, which is pretty standard.

We stayed another night in the hospital. The lactation consultants came in a couple times and everything was going pretty well on that front, although her latch was feeling really “pinchy”. Thankfully that went away after about a week.

She slept about 4 hours straight the second night and TJ made a comment about how she’s a good sleeper already. LOL. She was just tired from being born!

We did a little photo shoot with the nurses for the hospital Facebook page since she was the first baby born in 2022 in the hospital.

COVID-wise, we ordered outside food and the nurse generously went downstairs to pick it up for us. Otherwise we would have had just hospital food for two days!

The nurses had to put on full PPE every time they came in, and tore it all off on their way out. One nurse wore an N95 mask, plus a face shield with a hose going through it. I guess for more oxygen flow? It was wild. We totally felt like lepers but I understand they wanted to be protected. Meanwhile, the doctor only wore one mask, jeans, and no extensive PPE.

Overall, I am pleased with my birth experience. I’m grateful that I got to experience a “normal” birth this time (minus the whole COVID thing, can’t have it all I guess LOL) and I’m even more grateful for a healthy baby that I was able to bring home right away. <3

We love you, Willa Gene!