Preston James Finlay-Birth Story

Basic Details

Preston James Finlay

Born Monday, June 10, 2013 at 5:18pm

9 lbs 1 oz

20.5 in

Induced at 37 weeks, 2 days (due to ICP)

on the way to the hospital, our last picture as a family of 4

Full Story

First, a brief synopsis of the ups and downs of this pregnancy:

1st Trimester-normal pregnancy symptoms to complain about.  Fatigue (falling asleep on the chair trying to read stories to kids every afternoon), nausea (mostly just dry-heaving, only actually threw up a few times...I’ve learned taking my vitamins at night eating every 2-3 hours helps) and frequent headaches were the worst of the symptoms.  I still felt good enough I was able to stay active and felt good overall.

2nd Trimester-came at the perfect time.  We traveled to Utah for Christmas and my brother’s wedding.  I felt really good, was able to play and help and enjoy time with family without the annoyance of the 1st trimester symptoms.  Right knee started hurting as it has with my other pregnancies (doctor said most likely my cartilage doesn’t like pregnancy hormones), but it was only bothersome if I had to sit without being able to stretch out my legs.  Some other pregnancy annoyances lingered like constant congestion and acid reflux, but for the most part it was an exciting time.  Started feeling baby move at about 15 weeks, got to see the baby a couple of times with ultrasounds and found out the gender at 20 weeks.

3rd Trimester-pregnancy adds some curveballs to make it more exciting.  Diagnosed  at 28 weeks with Gestational Diabetes (which was a big surprise, although I found out there is a high correlation with people that get cholestasis that also get gestational diabetes), tried to manage with diet and exercise but morning glucose levels wouldn’t cooperate so had to start medication for that.  Started the classic ICP itching at 34 weeks so went in to test for cholestasis (since I had it with Ethan, it was very likely to get it again).  Managed to confuse the doctors with some results coming back elevated but not others.  So, in an effort to figure out what was going on the doctors ordered all kinds of blood tests, urine tests and ultrasounds.  I was put on the medication to treat for ICP, which should have helped lower my numbers, but after a retest of my bile acids they had risen out of the normal range despite the medication, so the doctor gave me the official diagnosis and scheduled an induction.

getting cleaned off in the bath

The Birth

After dropping Brielle off at school and Ethan with Megan and Annie to take care of him, James and I went to the hospital. We checked in at 9am, then took forever in answering questions and getting all set up.  Midwife checked me and said I was about 3.5 centimeters dilated to start so recommended pitocin.  Got started at 10:30.  Contractions started up soon after and were regular and strong, but more pressure than pain.  I expected a hard and fast labor like Ethan's, but this baby didn't want to come out. James and I watched a movie, talked, played games, and rested waiting for something to happen.  I had asked the doctor if I could stop the pitocin once labor started progressing to see if my body would do it on its own. She agreed to that, and and also let me go off monitors for about 20-30 minutes at a time to move around which was nice.  After about 6 hours with not much happening we decided to have the doctor check my progress and break my water to get things moving.  With my other kids, contractions became much more intense after the water broke, so I geared up for the hard part.  At that point I was dilated to a 5 or 6 and baby was still at stage 0.  Right after water broke contractions picked up in intensity by a lot.  I was having to focus more to get through them.  I went to the bathroom, came back to the bed to be monitored, and soon after told James to let the nurse know I was ready to have pitocin turned off.  The nurse came in and I told her I was getting close to pushing.  Then the next couple of contractions I was ready.  She freaked out and called for the doctor and back up and yelled at me to stop pushing.  I remember saying 'I can't'. Contractions were right on top of each other, extremely painful, and it was time to push him out. She finally got in position to catch him after the head was out.  The doctor came in the room after it was all done.  She delivered the placenta and fixed a couple minor tears.  So, it was only 45 minutes after my water broke that I went from 5cm to holding my baby.  He was born at 5:18pm weighed 9lbs 1oz and was 20.5 inches long (although James said that length didn't look like it was accurately measured).

He was immediately placed on me and was very interested in nursing.  James got to hold him as well while they got me cleaned up.  Because I delivered before anyone was ready, I made a huge mess all over the bed and floor.  There was water and blood everywhere!  I felt really bad as they cleaned it all up, but was relieved to have baby out and healthy.

There was some concern in the beginning with his blood sugar being too low, but he was fine other than that. The pediatrician recommended to give his some formula to help raise his sugar levels, then the nurse said to keep him skin-to-skin all night and nursing as much as possible. That seemed to do the trick. All of his next tests were in normal range, so by 24 hours after being born we were able to be discharged to go home.

Brielle and Ethan come to meet their new brother at the hospital

The Name

We had talked about different name options throughout the pregnancy, but hadn't settled on anything. With our other kids we waited for them to be born so we could meet them before choosing their name and figured we would do the same for this one. We had 2 middle names picked out, and had narrowed it down to about 5 options for a first name. After meeting this baby we quickly settled on Preston for the first name, but the middle names we had chosen and stuck with for the full pregnancy didn't seem right anymore. Preston James was actually the top name choice we had for Ethan throughout most the pregnancy 4 years ago, but wasn't right for him. It seemed to fit this baby, so we filled out the paperwork and made it official.

The hospital-Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center