How Baby Lainey Arrived into the World...A Timeline

Thursday, August 9, 2012
 - Mid Morning: Shannon had her 38 week check-up.  John actually came with for the first time since mid-pregnancy because they both had some questions for Dr. Denke. Shannon was dilated to a 3 and Dr. Denke confirmed that it was not indicative at all when the baby might be born. Maybe she and Baby Lainey were in on it together? The world will never know...
 - That Evening: The "nursery" was finally painted, the crib was assembled (as of 8/2), and the furniture had been arranged.  Shannon decided to start organizing and putting away all the gifts Baby Girl had received at the shower the week before (during commercial breaks from the Olympics of course).  Finally, around 11:00, Shannon called it a night.  She had only really gotten to opening and sorting everything.  There were piles of baby clothes, tissue paper, gift bags, boxes, feeding supplies, and bedding strewn about the room.  No worries, Shannon's mom was coming the next day to stay overnight after they attended one last shower for Baby Girl and they would spend all day that Saturday working on Baby Girl's room.

Friday, August 10, 2012
 - Early morning: It was a gorgeous summer day.  It had finally cooled off a little bit after many weeks of very hot weather.  Shannon had been wearing her black maxi skirt, black maxi dress, black pants, or black capris a lot lately and decided to mix it up and wear her khaki capris.  She couldn't have known it at the time, but it turns out that was a bad  wardrobe choice given the events that would later transpire. On Friday morning, Shannon and John both left for work, just like normal.  Without mentioning it out loud, each realized that because the pregnancy was going so well, they just might be able to use their Twins tickets for the game on Monday Aug 13. That thought likely caused the following chain of events:

9:48 am Shannon feels totally normal at work, sends John a text message completely unrelated to baby stuff.

9:50ish Shannon is working on emails to her clients telling them she'll be out of the office on maternity leave "sometime in the next few weeks."  Shannon gets a sensation like Baby Girl blew a raspberry instead of a hiccup like she normally does.  "Hmm, that was weird," Shannon thinks to herself and goes back to sending emails.  She decides to get up to take a bathroom break (probably the 4th one already that day) and stands.  She feels a gush of water (yes, a gush, despite all the nurses in her baby classes telling her it usually is a trickle.  Trickle - Ha!) and knows that could only mean one thing because there's no way she had to go to the bathroom that bad.  She still continues from her office to the bathroom like nothing has happened.  She gets in the stall and confirms, yep, that just happened.  Water has broken.  "Great Googly Moogly, TODAY is the day I decide to wear khakis!" Shannon thinks to herself.  She hurries back to her office without anyone seeing her and closes the door.

10:01 Shannon calls John and 'breaks' the news, "My water just broke!" John's co-workers later tell him he turned 15 shades of white when he got the call.

10:04 Shannon calls the hospital, asks for (and receives) permission to go home and put together a bag. She does not tell hospital she lives in Madison Lake (20 mins away) and that she has absolutely nothing packed or ready.

10:06 Shannon calls John back and they agree to meet at home ASAP.  Shannon peeks her head out of her office door and flags down her office administrator in the copy room.  She gives her the scoop and grabs up her stuff and hightails it out of there.  Shannon finds out later that the news traveled fast and her excited co-workers watched her walk to the car from the windows as if she might have the baby right there in the parking lot.

10:25 John arrives home and immediately tries to do 17 things simultaneously to get ready for the hospital. None are successful.

10:26 John takes a breath, prioritizes a few things (puts the car seat into the base in the RAV4, gets out a duffel bag for Shannon, takes out the garbage) and tries to get a grip on the new reality.

10:35 Shannon arrives and the packing process immediately improves by infinity percent.  Shannon looks at the mess in Baby Girl's room.  John assures her it will be okay.

<REDACTED> John & Shannon leave for the hospital back in Mankato. Time stamp omitted to prevent any one from calculating exactly how fast John drove.

11:35 John & Shannon arrive at the ER entrance to Mayo Clinic Health System - Mankato (formerly ISJ). As Shannon is getting wheeled up to the 5th floor, the Nurses Aide pushing her says, "Evidently today is Baby Day - you're getting the last room in the labor wing."

11:45:
Nurse: Have you had any contractions?
Shannon: Nope
-- Nurse finishes attaching monitors --
Nurse: Umm, you're actually having one right now.
Shannon: I just thought that was gas!

12noon John & Shannon walk around the halls of the 5th floor, waiting to see if Shannon will get Pitocin (labor inducing drug). Contractions still feel like gas.

12:30 They return to the room,  are told that yes, Shannon's water did break (um, you think!?!) and find out Shannon will be getting Pitocin.  The IV drip starts (at the lowest possible level) and things kick into high gear very quickly. Contractions were ~4 minutes apart.  John updates family and tells them Shannon will not be making her baby shower that was scheduled for that evening.

1-3 Shannon is in labor. She starts by standing over the edge of the bed but things pick up quickly and she moves to the ball.  Contractions no longer feel like gas.  They feel like the worst period cramps ever, combined with your pelvis being crushed, and the sensation that you have to poop, pee, and throw up all at once.

3:00 After 2 hours in labor, the nurse checks Shannon and she has progressed to a 7 - yikes! Shannon makes the call that getting pain meds would be a good thing and deadpans to John, "well, that really escalated quickly."

3:45 Anesthesia *finally* arrives (remember, it's Baby Day?) and makes the recommendation to use a spinal block instead of an epidural because it will take effect much sooner. Shannon has progressed to an 8. John is required to sit down while the needle is placed (evidently some husbands will pass out), and uses the labor ball as a chair, much to the amusement of hospital staff.

4:15 Small situation as the monitors have some trouble picking up the baby's heartbeat. Nurses instruct Shannon to change positions (to her side) but she can't feel her legs, let alone move them. John helps. There are still concerns, so they have Shannon kneel, facing backward on the bed. Um, what? This is even harder to do because of the drugs, but it gets done. This seems to work and the monitor picks up the baby again.

4:30 Things settle down, everyone is doing fine. Dr. Denke checks Shannon and she is complete! Dr. Denke lets the nurse know we can just "labor down" for awhile. That means Shannon gets to rest up and let the pain meds do their thing.  Shannon watches the Olympics while John updates family.

5:30 Shannon starts "pushing" even though she can't really feel anything.

6:30 Dr. Denke comes in to check on things. Glad she stayed late on a Friday to help! She decides to use suction to help the baby get past the pubic bone. The suction device slips off (and John & Shan briefly freakout) but the baby is far enough that Dr. Denke thinks Shannon can finish without more suction.  A few more intense pushes AND.....

6:46 Baby Lainey arrives!
 - John cuts the umbilical cord with shaking hands.  Baby Girl is quickly taken to the warming table for a brief check over.  Shannon, a little dazed still, says, "It's a girl, right?"  It is.  When asked if they have a name picked out yet, John proudly announces Alaina Violet, Lainey for a nickname.  Lainey is placed on Shannon's chest.  She has a sweet sqeak-toy sounding cry.  The Branstads are officially a family of three.

Happy Birthday, Alaina Violet. Our precious Baby Girl.

Mom & Baby

First Family Pic

Getting ready to leave the hospital

What Lainey's room looked like before we left for the hosptial

What Lainey's room looked like when we got home, thanks to our awesome parents!