Sydney Kaye Iles

The story:

I was supposed to go in for a C-section on Thursday, Feb 25th, BUT on Sunday afternoon I started having contractions. Now, contractions are nothing new to me, but when I had 10 in one hour, I decided to start worrying. Then, they became more painful and intense. So, I called Dr. Hall (who was on call) and he immediately fussed at me for not being at the hospital already! I grabbed my handy hospital bag, and headed into town. Terry and Sara met us at the hospital to get Jack. I was strapped to all the monitors and they discovered that my contractions were three - four minutes apart and not slowing down! They gave me a shot of some miracle drug to make them stop, so they subsided for the night.

Clint slept like a baby on the fold-out couch, and I didn't sleep a wink! The nurse gave me a tip: If you don't eat or drink anything after midnight, Dr. Manuel may deliver you in the morning. By the time two o'clock rolled around I was completely miserable and had made a convincing argument for having Sydney the next day. Dr. Manuel came around 7:30 and stayed about one minute....long enough to say "You're having this baby around noon." I didn't even have to say a word!

My mom and sister came up and saw my bloated body (those fluids the give you are the devil) and we all waited for the nurses to walk in! They came around 11:30, prepped me in about 5 minutes, gave Clint some "surgery clothes" and we headed to the OR. I'll spare you the details of delivery, but I will say that a normal delivery is TEN TIMES EASIER than a C-section. I didn't respond well to the spinal and had a complete panic attack throughout the entire delivery. I barely remember Sydney being born or the next 24 hours afterwards. They whisked her away to the nursery and we didn't even get pictures!



Monday afternoon they came and let me hold Sydney for a few minutes and explained that she would be going to the NICU for breathing and glucose problems. Nothing serious, they just wanted to monitor her more closely. Her respiration was too fast and her glucose levels were too low. She wasn't allowed to eat or be held for the next 24 hours. Many people have asked if this was hard to hear, but honestly I barely remember that happening! Around 3 AM Tuesday morning I insisted on going to the NICU to see her. Clint said I was adamant and wouldn't take no for an answer. I think that's funny now because I don't really remember that trip to the NICU! Ha! I do remember going around 11 AM the next day and seeing her without the tubes in her nose. She was the most beautiful baby girl I have ever seen.



The next few days are a blur of trips to the NICU every three hours to feed. Wednesday night she was allowed to stay in our room, but her temperature kept dropping too low, so they kept her another day and discharged me on Thursday.

She came home Friday! It was a very cold, rainy afternoon so she didn't come home in her beautiful dress, but in a fleece sleeper and a beanie hat! We did whatever it took to keep her warm!

I'll update over the next few days with many pictures!