The Arrival of Tiny Taylor

As promised, here is the story of the birth of our daughter, Taylor Sinclair Benefield. It went in no way as planned, but I'm so happy and feel tremendously blessed.

My sister-in-law once told me that a healthy baby is the biggest miracle. If there is anything that my pregnancy and birth has taught me, it is just that. Bringing a baby into this world is no easy feat. Getting pregnant is not easy, staying pregnant is not easy, and bringing the baby into the world is not easy.

Taylor was not due until September 13, 2016. I was still just seeing my doctor every two weeks. On the Friday night before Taylor was born (July 29) I started experiencing back pain. I couldn't sleep and it was extreme enough that I cried. I spent the whole night alternating hours between the bath, the couch, and bed which mostly consisted of me begging Jackson to rub my back. It was excruciating but not a come and go thing, high on my back, and I couldn't time anything. During the day Saturday the pain felt better, but it came back again Saturday night and again Sunday. I had my two week appointment scheduled for that coming Thursday. Jackson begged me to see if they could see me Monday so we could get some relief and sleep. My doctor was on vacation to the Grand Canyon so I changed my appointment to see the on call doctor. They fit me in that morning. I had the normal pee in cup, weight, blood pressure. They didn't see anything abnormal. I had my first check to see if I was dilated. I was not. Taylor's head was down (thankfully) and low, but everything looked normal for almost 34 weeks. The doctor ordered an ultrasound. They checked the baby and she looked great and they didn't see anything amiss with my gallbladder (no stones) or kidneys (again, no stones) or liver. After the ultrasound, the doctor and I discussed what could be happening and she prescribed a muscle relaxer. Basically everything looked normal and they thought it might just be a muscle spasm or a broken rib. The doctor ordered some blood drawn for lab work before I left just to cover our bases. She said she would call the next day with results.

I went home and took the muscle relaxer and tried to rest. Unfortunately, I had another night of little to no sleep. The next morning around 9:15 the doctor called. She said that my labs came back very abnormal. It showed elevated liver enzymes and very low platelet count. She said with numbers like I had she wanted me to come in but to labor and delivery and that they would re-run the tests and evaluate. She said to bring a bag and that there might be a chance that the baby would need to come that day. She said that there was a chance that the results were faulty but that I might also have a couple of conditions. She told me not to google until they had reached a conclusion. I should have known then that the prognosis was not good. I called Jackson and told him we were going to the hospital and then started throwing things in a bag. Thankfully I was mostly packed because I was in no state to think through anything. When Jackson got there we dropped off Rosie and headed to the hospital. On the way I called my parents and Jackson's parents and told them the situation. My parents immediately jumped in the car to head to Birmingham.

When we got to the hospital they checked me in. All the hospital staff seemed confused about why I was coming in when I wasn't in labor. They hooked me and the baby up to the heart monitors and took more blood for repeat testing. Meanwhile my parents arrived and we awaited results. When results came back two doctors came in and discussed with all of us. Turns out that my labs from the day before were not a fluke and had in fact gotten worse. My platelet count was down to 18,000. Normal platelet count ranges from 150,000 - 450,000 so you could say it was low...really low. They said the course of action was to have the baby today. They told me that we would do a c-section but that I would be fully under with general anesthesia. My nose that had started bleeding since we got to the hospital started pouring as if on cue. Being fully under would also mean that Jackson couldn't be in for birth. They said because of the spinal block they do for an awake c-section it wasn't safe with my count so low as blood could pool. They wanted to start me on platelets to raise my count as much as possible before the surgery and then deliver at 2:30. Then we went back to waiting.

Meanwhile my brothers and their wives and Jackson's sister arrived. I guess I was too in the zone to notice that they were all visibly upset. They had all now been told that I had HELLP and had not been given the no google rule. Jackson was being really strong for me and I'm so thankful for that. If he had broken down I wouldn't have been able to keep it together. My mom started panicking around this point because I wasn't getting the platelets yet. She didn't want me to go into surgery with my count this low and didn't think I would have enough time for the transfusion to be effective to keep me from bleeding out. She was actually kicked out of the hall of the hospital for chasing down nurses saying she had my same blood type and trying to give them her blood to give to me. I considered kicking her out of the hospital room because on a scale of 1-10 she was at about 250. In hindsight I understand.

At about 2:30 the doctors came back in and said they had bad news. This is not what you want to hear when you are supposed to be having a c-section right then. They said that they didn't have enough platelets to be able to do the surgery. They said we are transferring you to UAB. I said whatever we need to do to get her here safely. Jackson's parents had arrived by this point and later told me this is when they knew I had become a mother. They told me Jackson couldn't ride in the ambulance with me and that I would immediately go into surgery upon arrival. It was already after 2:30 so I was in a hurry to get her out and here safely. My family went ahead to UAB so they could find parking and get to me in time. They all beat my slow as Christmas ambulance by about 30 minutes. I could walk from St Vincent's to UAB in 30 minutes. Thankfully a sweet nurse from the hospital rode with me and prayed with me on the ride. She told me that UAB would do their own evaluation when I got there.

She wasn't incorrect. Upon arrival they started doing the same blood work again to see what they thought. From here on I saw so many doctors that I have no idea who any of them were. They let Jackson, and eventually the rest of my family back in the room. I was so happy to have Jackson back with me. The blood work came back the same and they reached the same diagnosis...HELLP. However, they said that they wouldn't cut on me with a platelet count that low. They said c-section was out. They also said that they couldn't give an epidural for the same reason as they couldn't do an awake c-section. With my count like it was blood could pool causing paralysis or other things. Taylor would be arriving vaginally with no epidural. I was not prepared for this news. Scott reminded me that at least she would be tiny since it was so early. I hung on those words and the possibility that I would be able to do it because she would be small. They would give me a pain pump for some relief. They said that they would let me labor naturally for up to 48 hours before they would decide to cut on me and if it came to that I would again be put under general anesthesia.

They started pitocin around 6:30 Tuesday afternoon. My nurse was the best and worked magic to get me to dilate. By midnight I was at 4 cm and they broke my water. I went from there to 10 cm in 2 hours. Taylor arrived at 2:17am Wednesday, August 3rd. The pain was horrible but short lived. Jackson told me he was so proud of me and got to be there through the whole thing. When she arrived, I panicked because she was gray, but the NICU team bagged her and had her pink and crying in no time. There were probably 40 people in the room for my delivery. I never expected it but it was kind of nice to have so much encouragement when doing something you're not sure you can do. Taylor was 4lbs 10oz and 18 inches long. She breathed normal oxygen saturation levels upon arrival, but wore a cpap to help force air down for about 10 hours. She started regulating body temp after about a day, and then we all got to come home after only 10 days. From what they said for 34 weeks, that's pretty great. I feel so blessed that I wound up where I did and had the opportunity to give birth like I did. UAB is such an incredible facility and I feel lucky to have delivered there. Their NICU was top notch and gave Taylor the best care while letting me stay nightly with her after I was discharged from my room. I was honestly afraid to take her home after having constant nurse care from people who know way more than me about caring for a baby. But so far, so good.

I've never been through anything that people have to pray for you. I've lived a charmed life. But I now know how much you feel the weight of those prayers. I'm so thankful for great friends, family, church families, and a God who had this all along.