Paige and Bryce Mackay: POWELL GREG MACKAY

Saturday September 17th - Sunday September 18th

Powell, after his first bath, about an hour after being born

September 17, 2011

12:36 PM

10 lbs 2 oz

21 1/4 inches long

Powell was named after his grandfather, Greg Powell Mackay. This is Powell's birth story:

Knowing that Bryce's parents were going to be coming over Friday night, and that Paige's mom would be flying in Monday morning, Paige really, REALLY wanted to have Powell not just early, but 9 or 10 days early, within a specific 24-36 hour period. What are the chances, right? Well Paige was hoping that a little "nudging" could help make it happen, so she asked Dr. Pitts if he could strip her membranes. After some confusion (first the nurse told her to call back, then she told her no, then she told her to come on in), Paige went in Friday afternoon and by 2 PM had her membranes stripped for the first time (it was not as bad as she had expected). Probably a good thing considering she had dilated from a 2 1/2 to a 4, gone from being 50% effaced to 75%, and her belly had grown another centimeter (putting it at 43 cm!) in just the few days since she'd been in on Monday!

Bryce's parents came into town and after a nice meal out and a bath that evening, Paige woke up at 1:45 AM to mild contractions. In fact, she wasn't even sure they weren't still just braxton-hicks. But after timing them at every 5 min for 2 hours, she finally woke up Bryce and they decided to call Labor and Delivery to see if they should come in (Paige SO did not want to get there and have them send her home). Thank goodness Heidi Fromm answered the phone. She's a LD nurse from our ward and we've gotten to know their family a little bit with her kids in Primary and YW, she's in the RS, and Bryce works with her husband in the YM. Anyway, it was wonderful to hear a familiar voice and Heidi advised that we come in since Paige had tested positive for Group B and would need two doses of antibiotics before the baby came. Then the excitement started.

Paige had been hoping this is what would happen, so she had finished packing her bag just that night, and even gotten up and put on a little make-up while she was timing her contractions. After making the bed and gathering some last minute things, and after Bryce gave Paige a blessing, we woke Bryce's parents to let them know we were going in. We kissed CJ and Mattie goodbye and arrived at the hospital at about 4:30 AM. The oddest part for Paige was being wheeled from the entrance to the LD department in a wheelchair, even though she felt fine. Hospital policy. Anyway, after getting all settled, Dr. Pitts happened to be the on-call doctor there that night, so he stopped in to check Paige around 7 AM. Not much progress, just a little more effaced. And the baby hadn't dropped enough that Dr. Pitts felt comfortable breaking Paige's water because if the baby's head is not firmly down against the cervix, there's a greater chance for the umbilical cord to get wrapped around the baby's neck. So it was just more waiting. Around 6 AM the first dose of penicillin was administered to Paige for the Group B and she was also given a little Pitocin.

Things started to pick-up a bit and Paige, who had thought she might be able to do it naturally (ha!), was ready for an epidural by about 9:30 AM. Of course, it took almost an hour for the anesthesiologist to get there and get crackin, but by about 10:30 AM, Paige was feeling much better. And being able to relax just helped things move along faster. Bryce's parents showed up with the kids while Paige was getting her epidural, so as soon as she could see them, they let the kids in. It was a nice pick-me-up to see CJ and Mattie, but Paige was sad that she was missing their first bus ride. CJ had been wanting to ride the bus since we've moved to Wenatchee, and Paige had planned it for everyone to ride the trolley bus this day. Even though she really wanted to be there for it, she couldn't disappoint CJ by asking him to wait until another time so that she could be there. Oh well.

After the kids left, Paige called her mom to fill her in on what was going on. Only one other woman was in labor this day, and her room was right next to ours, and while Paige was talking to her mom, there was suddenly a code blue. Seriously. Lights flashing, alarms blaring, and multiple doctors and nurses running to the room next to ours. Paige tried to ignore it while she was on the phone so as to not freak herself out. We later found out that the baby was not breathing for several minutes, but they got it all sorted out and the baby was fine. Thank goodness because it was only a short time later when Paige started to feel like she needed to push. The nurses asked her to wait, which she did her best at for about half an hour but then it got unbearable. Dr. Pitts arrived just when Paige thought she couldn't hold it anymore, so they finally gave her the go-ahead to push.

The minute Paige started to push she felt not only pressure, but she felt the strain on her body, which she did not expect. After the first push, she looked at one of the nurses and in all seriousness, asked if her epidural had worn off. The nurse sympathetically looked at Paige and said no, we just had a big baby. Ugh. Paige didn't expect to feel much at all with an epidural, let alone this much. At least it motivated her to really get that baby out.

It felt like it took quite some time, but the nurse told us afterwards that it only took about 3 contractions to get Powell out. Paige was so focused on pushing harder than she had ever had to push in her life that she was completely unaware of the fact that Powell actually got stuck at one point. Because he was such a big baby, his shoulders got stuck and Dr. Pitts had to reach in and use Powell's left arm, which was stuck against Paige's pelvis, to turn him like a corkscrew. They even had to do a special write-up about the delivery because of the maneuvers that Dr. Pitts had to use. The nurses later told us how lucky (we say blessed) we were to have Dr. Pitts because in most situations like that the baby would have had some broken bones. In fact, Dr. Pitts is one of, if not the leading OB-GYN in the Wenatchee area - he used to be head of the OB-GYN department - and even teaches other doctors how to do the specific move he used. Anyway, you'd think that as soon as Powell's shoulders were out that the rest of him would easily follow, but not so. He was such a big boy that Paige still had to push to get his belly out too :). When Powell was finally completely out it was a bit anticlimactic for us because Dr. Pitts quickly cut the cord and the nurses took him to the warming unit a few feet away. We didn't understand why Bryce didn't get to cut the cord until we realized that we still hadn't heard Powell cry. We couldn't help but think of just an hour earlier when the family next door had a code blue, but the nurses kept assuring us that everything was fine. There was an eerie calm and quiet in the room as the nurses worked on Powell for about a minute before we heard him start crying (phew!). We kept waiting to hear how much he weighed, but it took forever - probably 15 minutes - before we finally got a weight on our baby. We knew he was big but he surprised us all when they called out 10 lbs 2 oz!

We're not sure if it was because Powell wasn't breathing right away or what, but Paige wasn't very happy about the fact that she didn't get to even see Powell, let alone hold him, for almost half an hour after he was born. Sure, he was in the same room so she could see him 15 feet away, but she was sad that she had to wait so long to wrap her arms around the little boy she had waited 9 months to see. When she finally did get to hold him, they tried breastfeeding and Powell was a champ, latching on almost right away...and he hasn't had a problem since.

Gramma Sheila brought CJ and Mattie back to visit later that night and they enjoyed being able to sit with Mommy and hold the new baby. Bryce took them home and helped put them to bed and then came back to the hospital to spend the night with Mommy and Powell. Powell was a little bit of a celebrity at the hospital because every nurse and doctor that came in already knew all about how big he was and his unique delivery. Because Powell was so big he had to have his blood sugar tested 4 or 5 times before we could leave just to make sure everything was ok, which it was. When we left the hospital the following afternoon, Powell weighed 9 lbs 15 oz and was definitely ready to really be eating :).

It was great to come home to flowers and balloons, a home-cooked meal and a stocked fridge, and happy kids, thanks to Gramma Sheila. And Paige was able to enjoy a long afternoon nap while the kids played with Papa and Gramma and Bryce rested. It was a wonderful experience and went almost exactly as Paige had planned (who plans labor and delivery?!). We definitely feel extremely blessed and can feel the love of the Lord for our family through this little guy! What a welcome addition!!