Our Cinco De Mayo baby

 Tyla Joel VanDyke

She was born on 05/05/2015, also Cinco De Mayo at 9:15 pm

She weighed 6.4 lbs and was 19 inches long.

Mom and Dad were in love with her the moment they heard her cry (Since we heard her cry before we could see her)

Read her birth story below and watch the video with pictures from her birthday!

The last update I gave was at 36 weeks pregnant. I was a little miserable at that point but was trying to remain as optimistic as possible and focused on the fact that I was almost done being pregnant!! Yay! ... Then we went to the 37 week appointment to find out our little was breech. ..WHAT!? Yea, breech. Oh and one foot is up, with the other down, and you have low amniotic fluid. Two weeks to go and you are just now noticing that she is breech??? 

I actually remained calm when they told me that, but honestly I wanted to cry. Being a nurse, I pretty much knew that anything I had as far as a birth plan was now shot, but not only was I upset that my plans were probably ruined, I was also now at a VERY HIGH RISK of having complications and an unplanned c-section. Terror is really the only thing I can think of when I think of c-section. I have seen them done on other women and its just a surgery with a really cool end result, but when I am the one who might be cut open, its a whole different thing!

So for the next two weeks I drank water like a whale, increased a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals and also did head stands every night hoping she would turn. I also called a few friends and family and asked them to pray for her to turn on her own. I also had my husband give us a priesthood blessing. I never felt anything change except that I had to pee about every hour, but I knew she probably wasn't going to be turning on her own, given the current circumstances

We went to the week 38 appointment and had another ultrasound, she was still breech. That wasn't really a surprise to me now. We talked to the doctor about what were our options now. Basically I had 2 options. He could manually turn her and then induce me, or I could have a planned c-section. I immediately told him I didn't want a c-section.  That left us with option number one. The ECV. I honestly didn't want to do that either, but it seemed the least painful of the two options. 

We scheduled for the following Friday to come in for the ECV, but the doctor said we could do it on Tuesday if we wanted. He said he wasn't very optimistic about the ECV working, but he would be willing to try it. 

We went home and talked about what we could do, or what we should do. My husband really wanted to have her born on Cinco De Mayo (Which was the Tuesday option) so he could give her a latin name. He really really likes the latin culture! He wanted to name her Consuela Maribel Vandyke if she was born on Cinco De Mayo. He was pretty set on it actually, but I wasn't really on the same page with him for that plan. :) I was having major stress and anxiety about the whole thing and so I decided to just get it over with and face all of my biggest fears! We called Monday and they scheduled us to come in at 6:45 the next morning for the ECV, followed by a scheduled c-section at 8:45 if the ECV failed. 

Monday night we went to Costa Vida for dinner and I tried very hard to not think about what I was going to be facing the next morning.

We woke up and got the hospital only five minutes late ( I am not a morning person). They hooked me up to the monitors, gave me a plain IV and then we waited for the doctor to come in. The nurse offered to give me pain medication for the ECV, but I told her I didnt want them. I dont think she was super happy about me refusing them, but golly, if I cant have a normal birth at least let me do one thing natural. So... I had the ECV without medication, and IT WORKED!!! I was incredibly relieved and happy at the thought that she might be born semi natural. YAY!! 

They started me on pitocin to get me induced so that she wouldn't flip back to the breech position. I was on that from 8:45 till 2:00 and hadn't dilated any. The doctor said he wanted to break my water, but of course I didn't want him to. I knew as soon as he did, I wouldn't be walking, and the contractions would be a lot worse! He left and came back to hours later to find I had only dilated one more cm. I knew the only way I was going to dilate was if he broke my water. 

Two hours after he broke my water, I woosed out and had an epidural placed. Popsicle and hubby just weren't quite enough for the pain. Surprisingly though, the epidural wasn't as bad as I had imagined it to be. It probably helped that they placed it during a super hard contraction.

So it was 6:00 and the nurse came back at 8:00 pm to check to see if I had dilated. She said she couldn't tell if I had because she felt some thing like "little grapes" or little digits. She said she needed to have another nurse check me. The other nurse came and checked me. Luckily I cant feel anything now. She said she also felt the little digits and said it felt like a hand AND foot AND head. So the nurses called the doctor to come check me, because these little grapes are a problem obviously. When the doctor checked me he said I had dilated to a 7.5 but that the baby had her foot and hand above her head and that I would have to have an emergency c-section. 

My heart sunk. :( All day long, I was so excited the ECV worked and that I might not have to have the c-section. Now, all of my fears are being faced. I hate pump fakes! He said to have me in the OR in five minutes. 

Well they gave me more medication through the Epidural and my husband, who I was so very glad never left my side, put scrubs on and said he looked like a nurse. He is the best looking nurse I have ever seen! He is the one who also took the pictures of everything because I clearly was worried about dying and not taking pictures. Sorry. 

They cut me open and I didn't feel a thing. I do look horrible with an oxygen mask on though. I was shaking like I was shivering but I never felt cold. I couldn't even move my fingers and could barely lift my arms, and then next thing I know the nurse is holding her up by my face to see her. I wasn't really with it though, I think the medication they gave me was a little strong. My husband was super worried about me and it was the cutest thing ever. I love him so much.

After they cleaned her up they weighed her and measured her and then gave her to my husband to hold since I couldn't feel any of my limbs. I tried to hold her, but I couldn't do it by myself. 

I continued to shake and throw up during recovery, but after an hour or so ( I think) it finally stopped and I started to get feeling back in my arms. 

I was sooo happy it was over! I had a healthy little girl (who is very flexible) and she is perfect, so even though I was a little chicken about it all, I am glad I had to face my fears and do something really hard. Mentally, the c-section was a lot harder for me than a vaginal birth ever would have been, and I think that's why I feel ok about it now. Although it wasn't by choice, I did the thing that was harder for me, and the hard things are the things that help me grow the most.

(Watch her little foot in the pictures. Its the one that caused all the trouble from the beginning, and she clearly likes to have it up by her face still. It was swollen and bruised when she came out.)