Hayes's Struggle for Baby Lachlan | Saturday Morning Lifestyle Family Session
Deciding to start a family is filled with tons of thoughts and emotions. Everyone is worried about infertility and miscarriages.
But everyone is also filled with unbridled joy.
I know for me, I was afraid to get too excited. I’m an odd optimist because I hate hope. Hope just robs us of joy.
I’d rather just try to be chill about it, until whatever it is actually happens.
Anywho, I got the amazing opportunity to be a fly on the wall for the Hayes’s sweet Saturday morning together as a family in their beautiful South Highlands Shreveport home. (That they had literally just moved into, from Houston, with a BABY! For real, they still had boxes in some rooms. That ain’t easy!)
When I walked in, they were starting breakfast together and Lachlan was having a little bit of his own food.
Lachlan was such a ham! He was full of flirtatious personality that morning and it was so fun to get to photograph all that personality!
This sweet 7 month old baby full of personality and spunk did not come to fruition easily.
Kelsey and Matt’s story about their struggle from beginning to end for Lachlan is filled with so many emotions, so much love, and beauty. I just had to share it with all of you!
So, here goes!
“Matt and I got married in July of 2016 and did not plan on wasting any time trying to get pregnant. That November I decided that I would get my yearly check up a bit early and just check on my hormones and other things.( I had a few cryosurgeries and a leep in previous years)”
They were not yet pregnant, but Kelsey’s tests all came back normal. In the new year Matt went to be checked and it was discovered “that he had a vascular issue that was causing a 0% chance of pregnancy.” The doctor said he should have surgery only “to prevent further health complications later in life.” He said “that with the viability of the sperm being currently 0% meant that after surgery it was still likely to be 0%.”
“After that doctors appointment and surgery set, Matt looked at me and told me if I wanted to leave him because of this he would understand. That was the hardest conversation we have ever had. He knew how much I yearned to be a Mom, but never at the thought of losing him as my partner.”
“We decided to move ahead with laparoscopic abdominal surgery in March and possibly explore other options such a adoption.
His surgery went well and he healed up quickly but it took some time to get back to himself. We finally got the courage to be intimate again without any hopes.
On the FIRST time, we found out the surgery was extremely and unexpectedly successful. We found out our first time post surgery we created out little love!
We waited until Father’s Day weekend to even tell our families after the emotionally tumultuous year. We have been in awe of this little miracle baby since.
My pregnancy was so smooth and easy overall.
I did have a rare umbilical cord issue, velamentous cord insertion*—-only 1% of Singleton pregnancies have this. My doctor said because of this I would likely only be able to go to 38 weeks and then I would be induced for his health.
Well, I got lucky and he was growing well and I was able to go full term and a week! I was beyond thrilled.
The Monday of 41 weeks I went in to get a check up. I had been having visual migraines, was really tired, and queasy. The nurse came in for vitals and then another followed but asked me to, “think of my happy place.”
My blood pressure was sky high and I was given 2 options:
[C]heck into the hospital and be induced right away.
[C]heck into the hospital, have my levels checked, wait until she was off duty to have my waters burst and then be induced.
I went with option 2 as I was taken by complete surprise that I had to be checked in.
We got checked in and levels assessed, I was okay to wait for my doctor. My first nurse came in and started my pitocin at 4 pm, with monitors and I found out I was already naturally having contractions-small ones.
My doctor came in at 5:15pm and broke my waters, wished me well, and said she would be back in the morning to check on me. ( My original appointment was at 10:30am….NO FOOD or Water SINCE) My first 2 nurses continually checked on me and raised my pitocin levels until I reached my peak amount at 10pm. Around that time I started having the shakes, which then turned into full body convulsions that wouldn’t stop even when I wasn’t have the contractions, roughly about every 2 minutes.
After long talks with my husband and Mom I decided to go forward with an epidural, something I desperately did not want. I wanted a fully unmedicated birth.
The anesthesiologist came in at 12:30am and worked on my epidural. The first couple pumps of the meds made me calm down quite a bit, enough to remember I was hungry.
The epidural only worked on my right side, I wasn’t too upset about that because I could at least feel slightly in control still. The nurse came in to check me again around 5am to see if I was dilated enough to start pushing. I got to 8cm and began pushing, thankfully I could feel my contractions still because my monitors were showing for me to push after the wave was actually over.
My doctor came by after almost an hour and half of pushing and said I needed to prepare myself for a cesarean and said she would be back at 6:45 to check. A new nurse came in just then and helped my overnight nurse to get me into a new position and try something new. The other nurses were packing the room back when my doctor came in at 6:45am[,] telling me it was time. I had 15 minutes to make a change.
The new nurse handed me a knotted pillow case and said we were going to play tug of war.
Instantly it felt different. A few pushes later and I crowned. I was asked to stop so they could get ready again, but a push or so later and out was our little love was earth side and the doctor just barely gloved and covered.
Our beautiful boy was born at 7:03am weighing 8lbs 6ounces.
* - {A Velamentous cord insertion is when the umbilical cord blood vessels that connect the baby to the placenta have an abnormal pathway—they exit the baby’s body as usual, but as they head back toward the placenta, they exit the cord and enter the membranes on their way back to the placenta. Thus the cord insertion site becomes the amniotic membrane and not the placenta. This location makes the vessels vulnerable to tearing, since they lose the cushioning protection of the cord.}