Danika's Birth Story!

Danika Grace Hendricks
July 11 2007
4:16 pm
8 pounds 2 ounces
21.25 inches long
14 cm head


Wednesday July 11 2007, we got up and got everything ready to head out to the hospital. We showered and Brett ate (since I couldn’t eat anything- or have anything to drink- including water). Our drive to the Foothills was not bad. There was no traffic, since we left around 9:00 in the morning. When we arrived at the Foothills, we stopped in at the parking office and Brett bought a parking pass. Then we headed over to the hospital parking lot- getting more and more nervous and excited as we went. When we got into the hospital we had to go to admitting to get all the paperwork done. Then we headed up to the 5th floor- unit 51. At the desk- they took my papers, but told us they were behind- so we would have to wait. We waited in the waiting room until about 1:30- then they had a bed for us in triage.

In triage, they monitored Danika, and even asked if I was feeling the contractions I was having. I honestly didn’t feel a thing. After about 20 minutes the nurse came in to do my IV and blood work- so Brett was kicked into the hall! That was pretty painful- but I was gearing up for the spinal- so it wasn’t too bad to me. Brett came back in and we sat there for what felt like forever. A women came in and was in the bed beside us- she was only 2 cm and screaming for the epidural. I was pretty thankful then for the c-section- I was in no pain at all.

Finally a nurse came in to go over the c-section. After we talked about it, and filled in some more forms we were off to the OR! Once they told us that they were just prepping the OR and we would be leaving in a couple minutes, I started to shake. Brett got more excited, and I was shaking. It was all becoming real. After almost 2 years of trying, and some complications in the pregnancy, it was finally going to happen, and we were going to become parents! By this point I wasn’t really scared of the spinal- I was thinking about having a baby!

Brett had to wait in a room beside the OR for me to get my spinal. I was shaking so bad, I started to get scared of the spinal- then I saw the needle- it wasn’t that big at all. They started right away. At first it felt like they were blowing air into my right hip. It was not painful though. After about 10 minutes they told me they couldn’t find the right spot and would have to try higher. As soon as they went higher they found the spot- and my feet started to tingle. It is the weirdest feeling because it is like you have pins and needles in your feet- but you can’t feel anything- you can’t even move them. So the nurses then pulled me on to the table- I could see them doing this- just couldn’t feel anything. The one nurse pricked me with a pin, where I could feel- so she could see if the rest of me was numb. I could feel the prick in my hand- but when she went anywhere else- I felt nothing. It was pretty cool. I was no longer scared- now I just wanted them to get started so I could see my baby. They prepped my belly- which felt weird because I could feel the pulling of the roller that was rolling the iodine solution stuff on my belly- it kind of tickled. Another lady got me another IV- just incase they had to do a blood transfusion or something else. It hurt a bit- but I was to excited at that point. I was shaking when they finally brought Brett in. They wheeled him up to me- he asked if everything was all right because it took so long. I was explaining to him what it felt like when the doctors started to push on my chest. That hurt. Turns out Danika had decided to crawl up to my chest and not come out- so they had to push her back down and pull her out. I had to focus on my breathing for about a minute or two (maybe it wasn’t that long- but it felt like forever). The doctors finally told us to look to the right. We didn’t even know they were close to done- but there she was. All full of goop- and beautiful. It was love at first sight!

Brett asked if he could take a picture from where he was. The nurses told him he could come over to where they were checking her out. I have never seen him move so fast- and carefully. I didn’t want him to- just because I knew I was still cut open, and he may see that. But it didn’t matter to him. He was up and over looking at his baby girl. His smile didn’t even fit on his face. It was amazing. He was taking video of her, and kept coming over to tell me what she was doing. I was pretty emotional when he came back and said she grabbed his hand. He was so proud. Then he got to bring her over to me. It was amazing. Not only seeing my baby girl- but seeing my husband holding OUR baby girl- it was the best feeling in the world (even if I was numb from the chest down, and cut open on a table). I will never forget any moment of that surgery- best thing ever!

After they finished sewing me up, Brett handed me Danika and I was wheeled into the recovery room. He had to take his pretty scrubs off and meet us there. They checked Danika again and watched me for a while. I was shaking pretty bad- but they said that was normal, and not to fight it. Dad and Sharon came into the recovery room, and met Danika for the first time when she was 1 hour old. It was pretty special to me- even though I couldn’t move- I could see how happy they all were. Brett was telling them everything- he is such a proud daddy. I remember looking down at my toes and trying to move them- it was pretty neat when I couldn’t- but then when I could- I realized what power that spinal had. I had only gotten it about an hour and a half before- and now I could move my toes, and had my baby girl with me. It was great.

Once I could move my toes we were taken into our room. We were lucky and got a private room. It was $40 a night, but worth it. We laid there and admired our new baby girl. I don’t remember doing much- just laying there watching her, and watching Brett with her- it was great. At around 8 Brett went to phone everyone- and ran into his parents. So he waited to call everyone- and his parents got to meet Danika for the first time. At around 9 they went to bath her. Brett’s parents went with him so they could take pictures for me to see since I couldn’t get up yet. Finally everyone else was called at around 10.

Later that night they had me get out of bed. It was pretty painful at first- and the nurse wouldn’t help- because I had to get used to it. It was pretty disgusting once I did stand up (that is all I will say). I was able to walk to the bathroom, and back- but did get pretty dizzy. I laid back down in bed with Brett until he had to leave at around 1. That was hard. He took Danika to the nursery- because she still had fluid in her stomach- and would gag and choke- so since I couldn’t move very fast they kept her in the nursery over night. They told me they would bring her back to feed. Which they did. But watching Brett take her to the nursery and then come say good-bye to me- well it was heart breaking. I couldn’t have done it- but he was strong. I got some sleep- they brought her in to feed every 3 hours. We had to supplement at one point during the night, because she seemed hungrier, and not willing to breast-feed. But she hated the bottle- and wouldn’t eat that either. So we just kept trying to breast-feed. Brett came back at 9 and we had another day with our new baby.

Thursday they took the catheter out along with my IVs. I was able to eat and drink as well as get up and go to the bathroom. The gas pains I heard about were pretty intense- but not painful. We had some phone calls on Thursday- which was wonderful- I was happy to be able to talk to everyone. Grandpa and Marion came up- along with Dad, Sharon and Holly (we snuck her in for a couple minutes). Everyone was just in awe with little Danika. I was able to walk around the unit on Thursday- I was pretty slow- but I did it. It was pretty eventful- since Wednesday night I thought I would never walk again!

Thursday night they gave me the choice to have Danika in the room. They suggested that I get some sleep- and when they brought her in for the first feeding they would leave her there. So I agreed to that. Brett was going to go home early- so we fed her at 11, so he could take her to the nursery. Turns out she had other plans. She cluster fed for over 2 hours. So after the first hour and a half- Brett decided to go home to get some sleep. After she had finished feeding I called the nurse who took her to the nursery. When they brought her in to stay with me, it was already 5:30am. They told me they had to do some blood work for Jaundice- because they thought she was getting a bit yellow. I couldn’t see it- but they are the pros. The pediatrician told us that she was very good everywhere else- but they needed to wait for the blood results before they could discharge us. They came back about an hour later- and the results were higher than normal- but nothing too bad- so they sent us home.

The first day at home with her was great. Mom and Grandpa came over, Brett’s mom brought over lunch. We had a nice quiet day. Saturday the health nurse came to look at Danika and did her jaundice levels again- just to check. She called later and told us that they were higher than the day before- but nothing serious yet- and we had an appointment Sunday morning at 8:45 to check again. Danika had some more visitors Saturday, and everything was going good. That night we went to go to bed and she started to scream. She just cried all night. I got some sleep at about 1- for half an hour while Brett had her. Then he got some sleep for a bit and then took her again so I could sleep on the couch (I couldn’t lay in the bed- it was too painful to get up). We had tried everything- changing, feeding, burping, rocking, swaddling, nothing worked. At 5:30 I had a shower, took her from Brett so he could sleep. I tried to feed her- but she didn’t want that. Danika and I finally fell asleep on the couch at 6, and slept until 8:15 (our appointment was at 8:45). When I woke up I screamed at Brett (probably terrified him), we quickly got ready and went to the appointment.
They did the levels again. And gave us some tips on feeding. She had a bottle there- but not too much. She wouldn’t really breast feed there. The nurse explained that due to her color- which was now pretty yellow, she thought we would be going in to the hospital to be under the lights for 24 hours. I was upset, but knew it was best for her. We explained that she had a baby shower that day- and the nurse said she thought we could go and then head to the hospital- but she would call and let us know what the results were. No sooner had we gotten home and called mom to explain we wouldn’t be able to stay at the shower long- when the phone rang. It was the nurse- who told us we needed to get to the hospital right away- the levels were seriously high.

Brett called mom, dad and his parents. Then we were off to the Peter Lougheed to go under the lights for the night. It was a scary time- we found out that my milk wasn’t enough to feed her- so she was basically starving- so that brought on the jaundice. I felt horrible. But after only 3 hours under the lights we could see a difference, so we knew this was the best thing. It was a long night- but we made it through and Danika is much better now. We were breast-feeding, pumping and formula feeding, which took about an hour to an hour and a half. A couple days after we got out of the hospital we realized my milk wasn’t coming in, and started only formula feeding. It is working out way better, and she is eating like a champ. With the jaundice she lost over 11% of her birth weight- and at her doctor’s appointment when she was 2 weeks old she was back at her birth weight- so we were happy.

All and all everything went very well. I would have another c-section in a minute- it was great. The doctors and nurses we had at both hospitals were great- we had the best birth experience. I am recovering very well, Danika is doing great- and Brett is a natural Father- he is amazing!