Benett's Birth Story

Several people have emailed and called wanting to know the entire story of Benett’s birth. Mike and I appreciate everyone’s concern and genuine interest in our wellbeing. Although Benett was only 35 weeks into his gestation, he came out a healthy and vibrant baby. We have enjoyed every minute we have spent with him so far and are constantly entertained by his dramatic facial expressions. Mike and I are filled with more joy, happiness, and love than either of us can describe with mere words. Becoming parents has been such a wonderful event, and we are excited about a lifetime of getting to know our son.

So, this is the entire story of Benett’s birth. Mike and I drove to Mansfield on Thursday evening to spend the weekend with Mom and Dad as well as attend a baby shower thrown by Linsey, Jessica, and Carrie. Thank you girls again for a great party, and thank you Trisha for opening up your beautiful home!

After the baby shower, Mom and I went back home, and later that evening I started to be really uncomfortable. I was having more backaches than normal, and I had a general pain in the sides of my abdomen. I figured it was just normal pregnancy aches and pains or that Benett was just trying to make more room in my uterus. The one good thing is that I got a few really good back massages from both Mike and Mom over the course of a few hours. Around midnight, everyone was heading to bed, so I got up off the couch in Mom’s room where I had been resting and headed upstairs. By this point, I was more uncomfortable than ever! I couldn’t find any position that gave me relief from the pressure I was feeling in my belly. I really thought for a couple of hours that I was just experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions or that Benett was trying to turn around. He had been breech for several weeks, and we were constantly praying that he would turn in time for delivery because we were planning a natural childbirth experience. I believe this planning for a natural birth and the Bradley Method birthing class we were taking really contributed to the next few critical decisions we made.

I spent the next 4 hours (12 a.m. to 4 a.m.) trying to catch some sort of relief by tailor sitting on the floor, doing pelvic rocking on my hands and knees, lying on my left side and then my right, propping my hips up on pillows in a decline position and constantly praying that God would guide me in knowing what to do to make the pain subside. Around 4:30 a.m., I woke Mike up to try and talk through my pain and coach me though what I was feeling. You really get a lot more clarity on a situation when you can talk with your “birth coach” about the situation. I explained to Mike that I originally thought I was having contractions, but now believed that the pain had nothing to do with Benett and more to do with my body itself. You see, the pain had become much more localized in my upper right abdomen and did not feel like what we had learned about contractions in our class. I am very glad we had read so much information on labor and what to expect during the first and second stages. Without this information gained from the Bradley class, I’m not sure I would have felt so compelled to go to the hospital.

I had Mike go and wake up Mom and Dad around 4:45 so that they too could come discuss what was going on and if we needed to go to the emergency room. Dad’s immediate response was “go now.” Not only did we need to figure out what to do about my discomfort but we also needed to decide whether or not to head back to Austin because we had planned on leaving at 7 a.m. to meet Mike’s mom who was going to be visiting for a couple of days. As soon as Mike mentioned leaving immediately instead of waiting until 7, the first thought I had was “there is no way I could sit in a car for 3 hours with this pain.”

We opted to first call my doctor and speak with an on-call nurse before making any decisions. The nurse gave us advice to drink some water, lay down with a heating pad and try and take some Tylenol for the pain because it was probably just typical pregnancy discomfort. We got off the phone and unsatisfied with the advice that we received I said “this pain is not going to go away with Tylenol and a heating pad, I think there is something going on with an organ of mine and not with the pregnancy.” I thank God for giving me clarity in that exact statement and making the decision to go to the hospital so easy. Mom, Dad, Mike and I got dressed and headed to the nearest hospital, which luckily is only about 1.5 miles from Mom and Dad’s. When we walked up to the emergency room desk and told the nurse that I was 35 weeks pregnant, she quickly got a wheelchair and took me to Labor and Delivery.

The nurses hooked me up to the typical pregnancy monitors (heart rate monitor for Benett and contraction monitor). I was so relieved as soon as we saw Benett’s heart rate in a normal range. Knowing that he was not in distress gave me a lot of comfort. I was surprised and slightly concerned however that I was having some contractions. However, I could not tell when a contraction was happening due to the constant pain in my upper abdomen. The pain I was experiencing and the fact that my blood pressure was consistently high (every measurement was higher than 140/90) lead the nurses to be concerned enough to call the doctor on duty. The doctor ordered several blood tests including one to test my liver enzyme levels. This test was the one that came back abnormal and caused me to be admitted into the hospital.

After we got into our room, the doctor showed up to go over my test results and give her recommendation for what we should do next. The doctor told us “since you are 35 weeks and one day into pregnancy which puts the baby’s survival rate at a much higher level than if you were less than 35 weeks and your blood pressure and liver enzyme levels are so high, I recommend we move towards delivery.” Mike interjected and asked “move toward delivery: meaning in the next week or next couple of days?” The doctor quickly replied “we need to deliver this morning because Amanda’s health is on a dangerous downhill decline and could progress to a life threatening situation in the next several hours if we were to wait.” My heart sank and my eyes filled with tears as did everyone else’s in the room. Not only were we needing to deliver, but the doctor said it would be too dangerous to induce me for a vaginal birth because of the stress it would put on my already fragile situation. I cannot even begin to describe the range of emotions I felt over the next several minutes as the doctor left the room for us to discuss / digest the information she just threw at us. As the doctor left the room, I said to my family “can we all pray before we do anything else?” We all gathered around my hospital bed and Mike led us in a beautiful prayer entrusting God with the situation and the outcome of surgery. We quickly got prepped for surgery and Benett Michael Trimborn was delivered at 11:28 am on October 12, 2008 weighing 5 lbs 7 oz and measuring 18 inches long.

After getting cleaned up and meeting Mike and me for a few smooches and encouraging words, Benett was taken directly to the NICU (Neonatal intensive care unit). For the next several days, Benett made wonderful progress as he was taken off the CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine, the heat lamp was turned off once he was able to regulate his own body temperature, and his IV was removed as he began to regulate his own glucose levels. Currently, we are waiting for him to be able to eat entire meals from either a bottle or from me. We have seen continuous success as he is eating more and more on his own everyday (he actually knocked down his first full bottle on his own last night). All the milk he is unable to finish from a bottle is currently being given to him through a feeding tube. We are praying that our precious blessing Benett will be able to come home within the week.