“We were really excited, really anxious. We didn’t find out if it was a boy or a girl until after I had her, so we were really excited to see,” Gilmore said.
Her labor began at home before she went to the hospital, Soin Medical Center, to continue her labor and give birth. Something later kicked in that wasn’t feeling right for her.
“It seemed like pretty suddenly after I had been pushing for quite some time then things started to to really take a turn, and that’s when kind of my nursing brain kicked in, and I could tell things were not going the way that I had hoped for,” Gilmore said.
She relied on her care team, who helped her through the obstetric hemorrhage, which meant she was bleeding excessively.
“I wasn’t really that scared. The nursing staff that took care of me, they did such a great job explaining everything and reassuring me and making me feel really comfortable with what was happening even though things were happening really quickly,” Gilmore said.
And even through the complications, Gilmore said she was never very worried for her baby or herself.
“She had to go to the NICU right after she was born because she had some complications as well, and so I didn’t get to meet her for several hours, but the NICU nurse had my husband take a video of her so that he could show me that she was breathing and that she was OK,” Gilmore said.
Gilmore felt her baby was in good hands, she said, as they both recovered.
Credit: Mary G
Credit: Mary G
It also helped her when the nurses and care team helped keep her informed during the process, she said, providing her with answers and explanations on what was happening throughout her labor.
“I was confident in the care that I was getting and confident in the decisions that my husband and I were making because I felt like we had been educated and empowered to make those decisions wisely,” Gilmore said.
That knowledge helped them manage the stress of the moment.
“I think that made a really big difference, and so even though it was like chaos going on around us, we didn’t feel that chaos,” Gilmore said.
For other new moms going into their first labor, Gilmore encouraged them to be flexible with the experience, as well as to be ready for unforeseen challenges to occur.
“The biggest thing I think would be to be open minded about the experience, because there’s so many uncontrollable (things) that can happen,” Gilmore said.
She and her husband, Phillip, were also prepared for different possibilities, talking out different scenarios before the birth so her husband could make decisions on her behalf if needed.
“Which he actually ended up having to do ... since I was sedated and she was taken to the NICU, so that really helped to where he felt like he knew exactly what I wanted,” Gilmore said.
Gilmore and her family will remember the care team, including nurses and midwives, and think of them as part of their family’s story, she said.
Edna Joy has also been a joy for her parents.
“She is six months old, and she is absolutely perfect,” Gilmore said.
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