This is June 13th at. 11 11:51 and For Solis is recording an interview
with Laney Mulvaney. Um, Laney, have you received the consent form? Yes,
and you consent to having your labor delivery story recorded and as as
part of the Greatative Push project? Yes, OK, um, will you?
State your full name. Laney Joe Mulvaney.
All right, baby. Thank you for doing this. Um, could you maybe take us
back to around the time when you delivered your girls and think of
anything, a specific event or the time of year, anything that could really
situate us?
You know, it was early spring when I had my very first child and I had
just previously the previous weekend had had my baby shower, so I remember
that it was just it was that freshness of Arizona where it was the pool
sparkled and the breeze was nice and everyone sat outside in the shade
already, of course, but it was that sweet time of year when you can be
outdoors in Arizona. Great, how was pregnancy for you? My, my very first
pregnancy was difficult. I had at the end of the pregnancy, I had a hard
time getting up out of bed. I was sore all the time. I really had a lot of
the ligaments that are loosened during pregnancy. I had a lot of trouble
getting up out of bed. And I had a lot of trouble sleeping at night too.
So that that part of the pregnancy wasn't pretty, and I gained 60 pounds
both times I was pregnant, so the doctors thought I was eating a crazy
amount of food, which is not true. It just was a lot of water weight, so
there weren't it wasn't it wasn't a beautiful process by any means for me.
How is that emotionally?
Looking back at the photos, I just can't even imagine that your body can
endure that physical transformation. I don't remember being unhappy at the
time. I remember thinking that this is such a blessing. I know I'm going
to have a happy, healthy child, and I'm glad I get to do that, but I
remember just the physical pain, but it wasn't emotional pain. So can you
talk about your ideas of the labor and delivery? Like did you have a plan
or how would you know thought about that process?
When I initially was pregnant, I did what a lot of women do, and they do
the how to have a baby class with their husbands. And I just remember
sitting in that class going, I'm just sure. I knew in the back of my mind
that this was not going to be a process that I ever endured. I knew from a
very from the very beginning that I most likely was not going to have a
vaginal delivery. I um my first pregnancy. And my subsequent pregnancy
turns out both of them were frank breech, so that means that their spinal
cord actually aligns with your spinal cord when their spine is usually at
your stomach. So they were backwards and with head up instead of head down
the entire time. So that's why I had to have both of them, C-sections.
So, um, can you maybe elaborate now, you know, kind of run with it about
that experience, you know, maybe when you found out about that, and the
process leading up towards the cesarean. OK. The, I knew that the baby had
not turned rather late in the pregnancy, so the chances of the baby
turning was quite slim. And the doctor told me that if the baby remained
head up in that frank breech position that a vaginal delivery was not an
option, but I had known that for a long time. I just had sensed that that
wasn't going to be something that I could do, and I'm not exactly sure
where that notion came from, but I just knew sitting in that class that
that was not going to be something that happened to my body. So As the
pregnancy progressed, my feet actually became gigantic, and I could
actually feel the water in my feet as I walked in my shoes. And I would
wear these loafers and for some reason to this day, my children are 5 and
7 years old. I don't wear the loafers, but I still have them for some
sentimental weird reason, but I remember the water sloshing on the tops of
my feet and then my feet kind of folding over the tops of the loafers.
That's how huge my feet were. And I started going to the doctor at the
end of the pregnancy, every couple of days I believe that you go. And One
of the measurements when I had an ultrasound, they measured the amniotic
fluid, and I went from a normal amniotic fluid is about 30 to 35 if I
recall correctly. It's been a long time since I've known that number. But
when my seven year old, when it came time for her to be born, she was
actually due on the 28th of March, and March 10th, I went in for a
doctor's appointment and the amniotic fluid was at a 4, which is
dangerously low. So the doctor advised me right then and there to go to
the hospital and we were going to have a baby that afternoon. So I said, I
think I at least want to run home and grab my husband and my stuff would
that be OK? And she said, yeah, grab that and then meet me there. And so
in just a couple of hours, it was a whirlwind and I had driven to the
doctor by myself. Because I thought it was a routine appointment and I
called Jim, who was on the golf course, and said, You need to get off the
golf course and meet me at home. We're going to the hospital to have a
baby, and he thought I was joking and I said, I'm not, I'll meet you there
in 20 minutes. So he left the golf course. We met at home and I cried the
entire way. It was probably the most dangerous car ride. Because it's
terrifying to think that your amniotic fluid is so low, terrifying to
think that you still had, you know, 18 more days until the baby had
arrived. I really didn't, I didn't have any of the clothing washed, and I
just kept thinking I have to focus on the important part of this, which is
having a healthy baby. And not the the washcloths clean and ready because
that stuff can happen. But my mind couldn't rationalize all of that at
that time. It was just this massive chaos of a storm driving down the 51
freeway and And my mom, who lives in town, had met us at the house because
she was going to babysit our dog at the time and she took a couple of last
minute pictures of us heading to the hospital and my face was as red as
red could be. It was every emotion that I'd ever felt in my life, I think
it just rode itself in red across my face that during that time. And we
headed to the hospital and I did not know if I was having a boy or a girl.
And that was something that we had said that there are not very many
great surprises in life anymore and we really wanted to wait. And then as
soon as Jim was with me, I felt much more at ease that there was, I had a
partner in this process and I just kept thinking, we're going to finally
find out if we have a boy or a girl. And then I started focusing on that
instead of the The the turmoil and the fear of, um, you know, just having
that little amount of fluid, which is dangerous for the baby because then
they can't breathe and. But it was
Let's see what else. You talk about the literal experience. So then we got
to the hospital, right? And I remember them putting in the IV and I had to
focus outside the window and I found this crack on the building that I
really zoned in on because the IV hurt so terribly bad and I don't know if
she just was not professional at it, but I thought, oh my gosh, if I can't
handle this, there's no way I could have pushed out a baby. And the Then
Jim got in his gown and it was a rather rapid. It wasn't a check-in and
wait. It was we got there, I got in the bed. Jim got his gown on and we
went down to the room where they did the C-section. So, um, and then they
strap your arms down so you can't move your arms and I kept remember I saw
the IV and I thought, gosh, I hope they can stop bumping that. That hurt
so bad. And um Before that, actually though, they had you lean over to put
the epidural in, or the spinal block, I think is what it's called for a
C-section. It's an actual block, so you feel nothing from the waist down,
and then they strap your hands down and then give you the oxygen mask and
then the gown goes up. So the the sheet so that you can't see what's going
on down there, and then they bring the husband in. And I believe at that
time, that's when they put in your catheter. And then start prepping the
area. And what I remember at that time was that you know I could I felt
like there was a lot of motion back there, but I couldn't see anything and
I kept thinking about, you know, pay attention to the man behind the
curtain and just thinking about how sad it was that I actually couldn't
see my child arrive on the planet, but um my husband actually took a
really pretty killer video that so I did get to see it. And what I
remember about that was that they would set a clock from the time that the
iodine that they did the iodine wash and then they just waited and waited
and waited and I felt like those minutes just seemed to the seconds were
hours. I thought, let's just start the process. Now what if the amniotic
fluid is a 2? Let's go. You made me rush, and now you rush. And that was
that was just a weird length of time. And then Um, as Jim starts videoing
the the birth, um, he has the cut in the incision and you can see some of
the the blood and obviously there's very little fluid, so that not a lot,
you know, when a normal delivery happens, there's a lot of fluid and I
obviously had very little. So I Watching the video now, I just realized of
all of the pressure that I felt on my body and what that really was, and
it was human hands pushing this 6 pound baby, which is kind of tiny, but
out of a 3 or 4 inch incision. So it's pretty miraculous that there are
little pieces of rubber that can bend in that crazy way to get out of that
tiny little incision. And You know, I could only hear Jim talking to me
about it. I couldn't see anything and I remember him saying that, oh,
there's an arm. Oh, there's and then he's like, what is it? And you can
see because they're Frank breech babies that they just look like a little
tube of sausage and their legs are, you know, back up over their ears and
they just are and having the The baby come out and I remember this
terrible feeling on my right side. And it was, it hurt so bad and I
thought, how come I'm feeling this? And then when I actually watched the
video later, I could see that it was the nurse who was actually pushing
the baby from the top so the doctor could grab from the bottom and it was
kind of like this internal external tug of war. And I remembered like,
she's going to break my ribs.
I didn't know what it was, but I thought it was going to break my ribs and
it was actually the nurse pushing the baby out through. That little hole
Just wild to think about that that can happen.
And then when they,
when they flip the baby over and they say, you have a little girl, and
that's all I heard and I couldn't see anything yet, but it's on the video
, so I'm glad that I actually have that as my archive that I got to see
something. But then they take this little tiny 6 pound thing way over on
the other side of the room. And you don't get to see it, hold it, feel it
, can't hardly even hear it because the cry is so so weak. And I just
remember her looking so saying to myself, one, I can't believe that I have
a daughter. That just sounds, it didn't come naturally at the time. And
then to see that because she was so early, um,
She was so early and because it was a C-section baby, they come out and
they're covered in that Vernex still, which is that waxy. Um, coating on
the baby that actually diminishes as the baby goes as the baby progresses
and comes to be full term. So she was just covered in this white waxy
material, and I thought, they better get that off of her. That's it seemed
very alien-esque. Not not a cute, healthy baby being born into the world
that you see on the movies. It was very down and dirty and in the trenches.
I can't believe what I'm seeing. I can't believe that came out of my body
type of thing.
How about the um recovery process and then once the baby was born. They
were stitching you up or you know how does. Seeing that Jim's obviously
focused on the baby now, so I don't know exactly what's going on down
there. I don't know anything about the afterbirth or the placenta. I have
no clue what happened. Um, I do remember feeling After the first pregnancy
, very itchy in my face because of the drugs, and the second pregnancy, I
had a violent reaction to the anesthesia and I vomited for 6 to 8 hours,
so I didn't hold the baby. I would try to nurse and then throw up and try
to nurse and then throw up and it just that was and I remember Jim walking
around the room with the baby crying Genevieve, the youngest crying. And I
just thought, I'm so sick. I can't hold the baby and I just I just wish
for silence. I can't rest. I can't recover. And it was a pretty, that was
a hopeless feeling that I couldn't help her. I couldn't help Jim and I
couldn't help myself. I just laid there and tried not to throw up again
and again and again. But the first pregnancy, we nursed right away. She
had hiccups right away. It was adorable and very sweet. And then the
second pregnancy, the second day was much better for me. But the exact
same thing happened where it was low amniotic fluid for Genevieve and it
just happened like that and right to the hospital. But I was smart enough
to have Jim with me that time because then I, I had known that something,
once you feel the water sloshing in your feet, you know that the fluid's
probably going to the wrong place.
How was the scarring process and all of that afterward? The first
pregnancy, I had a huge colloid scar, and the same doctor did my second
delivery. And she noticed that that scar tissue had colloided quite
severely, so she actually put a steroid cream in there the second time and
cleaned it and did a scar revision since she was there anyway, which was
nice. So the first one was not pretty, and the second one turned out
better. So I figured I might as well stop while I'm ahead. But was it
painful, like take care of your child and having had a C-section or how
was that not a problem? I, you know, I, I didn't feel that it was. I The
part that bothered me the most was the changing on the diaper station
because I would bump myself and that was quite sensitive. But if I would
change her you know anywhere else that wasn't didn't have, it just rubbed
, it was just the right height. So that was painful. But the, you know I I
just had a really terrible feeling that the pain pills were not making me
as astute or Knowing what was going on, so I just started taking Tylenol
and Motrin and stopped taking any pain pills, and then I just walked to
the hospital floors with the baby and then we got to push her around which
it was good, but I think because I got up walking with the first child so
soon, I had very few problems and I think I had more problems with the
second child because I was so sick that I didn't get up and start walking
around right away. So it was just they were just very different
pregnancies and the pregnancies themselves couldn't have been more
different. One was very sweet craving and one was very salt craving, and
they ended up both being girls. So I don't think that those those wives'
tales have any truth. I think every pregnancy is different, just like
every child is different.
I think that's great. Thank you so much for talking with us today. I think
that was a perfect way to end.