Mayla Mae Heiner

Mayla Mae Heiner decided to join our family on September 17th, 2011. We are so happy she is here!

She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and measured 21 inches long.

She loves sucking on her long fingers and has a calm, peaceful nature about her.

She is also a daddy's little girl. She calms down whenever he holds her.

Here we are getting ready to leave the hospital--kisses for our sweet Mayla.

Mayla's going home outfit.

Mayla loves her carseat! We have had her home for a week now and love having her here. We have been so blessed with such a sweet little angel.

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Mayla's Birth Story

*Below is Mayla's birth story. It's quite lengthy so feel free to skip if you don't want to read all the many details :)

On September 16^th , 2011 I woke up thinking it was going to be just another normal day. I was 9 months pregnant (39 weeks on the 17^th) and therefore full term. I had no signs of labor and my last doctor’s visit the previous week showed that I had not dilated at all. I had some Braxton hicks contractions for the past month or so but nothing consistent. I showered, got ready for the day and headed to my 2:30 pm doctor appointment.

For the past few weeks I had been experiencing severe itching of the skin particularly of the hands and feet to the point where I couldn’t sleep. I assumed this was just another pregnancy symptom but I mentioned this to my doctor at my previous visit and she decided to draw my blood and run some tests just to be safe. They said if they found anything with the test they would call me and let me know. I received no call throughout the week.

The nurse pulled me back to check my weight and blood pressure and briefly mentioned something was wrong with my blood work and the doctor would be in to speak with me. She said the doctor may want to send me to the hospital and left it at that. I remember sitting in the room, nervous not knowing what was going on or what the doctor was going to say. After what seemed liked forever, the doctor came in the room and explained to me that my blood tests came back showing that I had cholestasis of pregnancy, which is a rare condition 1 in 1,000 women are diagnosed with during late pregnancy. Though she tried to explain what this condition was I had a hard time understanding simply because I was trying to process the information. She calmly told me everything looked great and the baby was very healthy but because I was at full term in my pregnancy it was suggested that I be induced for labor to prevent any risk of having a stillborn. She advised me to pick up my husband, pack our bags and gather our stuff, eat a good meal (because I would not be eating for a long time) and head to the hospital to be induced. Because this was my first pregnancy, it was going to be a long labor. The doctor spoke with the doctor that was on call and they knew I would be on my way.

Cholestasis of pregnancy is a condition in which the normal flow of bile in the gallbladder is affected by the high amounts of pregnancy hormones. Cholestasis is more common in the last trimester of pregnancy when hormones are at their peak, but it usually goes away within a few days after delivery. Cholestasis may increase the risks for fetal distress, preterm birth, or stillbirth. A developing baby relies on the mother’s liver to remove bile acids from the blood; therefore, the elevated levels of maternal bile cause stress on the baby’s liver. Women with cholestasis are monitored closely and serious consideration is given to inducing labor to prevent further risk if you are at full term. Therefore my doctor advised that we go ahead and deliver the baby.

After the doctor left the room, I called Trevor and said ‘are you ready to have a baby this weekend?’ He chuckled knowing that we had been joking and hoping to meet her soon but quickly learned I was not joking and we were headed to the hospital that night. I explained what the doctor had said (although I did not do a good job because like I mentioned I didn’t process the information very well all at once—I couldn’t even remember the name of the condition at that point). I called my parents to the let them know what was happening and picked up Trevor from work. We let the rest of our family members know and ran home to finish packing our bags and gathering all of the stuff we needed.

We got in the car and headed towards the hospital. At this point there was a lot of traffic and it took us what seemed forever to get to Arlington Heights where our hospital was. We stopped at Subway for our last meal together with just the two of us.

At 6:30 pm we arrived at the hospital. We were shown to our room and the nurses hooked up my IV to begin the Petocin which would help induce contractions and put me into labor. The doctor came in to check on me and found that I was dilated to a two and was already having a few contractions on my own.

We stayed the night in the labor and delivery room, Trevor was by my side sleeping on a couch. I didn’t sleep very well that night, for obvious reasons, anticipating meeting our baby girl soon. At 6:00 a.m. my water broke and I was officially in labor. I began having more regular contractions and was given a small dose of pain medication so I could try and get some more rest. By 9:00 a.m. my contractions were regular and I was having severe pain. The anesthesiologist came in to give me an epidural. Once the medicine kicked in I felt so much better and was able to calm down and rest a little more.

At 3:00 p.m. the nurse checked my progress and I was dilated to a nine! She said she informed the doctor and the doctor was on her way so I could begin pushing. However, they decided to turn down my epidural medication so I could feel the contractions better. A new nurse came on staff and began helping us out. I quickly started feeling the contractions more and more and started to have some severe pain in my abdomen. Nurse Trish came into our room to help ease the pain and spent the rest of the evening with us, helping and coaching us through the next several hours.

The doctor got tied up at another hospital and had several other deliveries. I began to run a high fever so we were advised to begin pushing. With the same severe pain in my abdomen the pushing was very difficult. The anesthesiologist ended up coming in to try and give me another dose of some medication since the epidural was turned down too much and was wearing off. Adding to the regular labor and delivery pain was the sharp ache on the upper right side of my stomach (caused by the cholestasis condition) that made pushing and breathing a severely painful experience for the first few hours.

I pushed from 4:00 p.m. until delivery and yes, it was a long four and a half hours! Nurse Trish and Trevor coached and encouraged me to keep going with each contraction. The doctor arrived around 8:00 p.m. and I pushed my very hardest. Mayla Mae was born at 8:48 p.m. after 14 hours of labor. She was immediately placed on my chest and I couldn’t help but cry knowing what it took to get her here. Trevor cut the umbilical cord and helped with the cleaning, weighing and measuring of the baby. The doctor exclaimed ‘wow this baby is a good size’ once she came out. She weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz and was 21 inches long.

Following the birth, I unfortunately began losing a lot of blood and the doctor had to do some extra poking and prodding to get pieces of the placenta out of my body. They were worried about several blood clots that came through but were able to get it under control after a long and painful process working on my stomach.

Trevor was able to take the baby to the nursery and be with her the rest of the night. I met them in our hospital room. When Trevor came back with our baby he was holding, cradling her and saying ‘this is the best.’ Mayla has a very calm and mellow nature and we love her so much.

The next 24 hours was a rough recovery period as the feeling came back and I worked to get my pain under control. But, as we held our new healthy baby girl it was all worth it.

I have to admit this was one of the hardest things I have gone through, but it certainly was the most rewarding. I have never felt closer to my husband then I did through this experience as he was my rock and ultimate support through the whole thing.

Mayla was born on her Mimi’s (Grandma Heiner) birthday, and we gave her the same middle name carried by many generations of women in our family line. She has many examples to look to now and from her ancestry, and we hope that she will always remember the name that she carries with her.

We couldn’t be happier and love our sweet baby girl!