Staffing Solutions

As some of you already know, I gave birth via emergency c-section last Saturday to a beautiful baby girl. Her name is Berlin Brillare Amore Fenell (her middle name means light & love). She was a healthy 8.1 pounds and 21 inches long born March 3^rd at 6:49pm. We have officially become “Fenell Family of Four”!

On Saturday morning (3 days after my due date) around 6am my husband rolled over and put his hand on my belly like he did every morning. The baby usually moved upon feeling his touch and that morning she didn’t. He talked to her, pushed on her body parts and gently shook my belly to get a response. Nothing happened. I knew something wasn’t right. I called my midwife and she told me to go to the hospital to get a non-stress test. Upon arriving at the hospital, the nurse (which happened to be my sister’s friend from high school) hooked me up to a monitor. I knew by the look on her face that something was wrong.

She told me that she didn’t like the way the baby looked on the screen. She shared with me a graph of a “normal” baby from the patient before me and there was a drastic difference compared to my baby’s chart. Since she knew my family she was candid with me about what she thought was going on and tried to console me, but I panicked. Due to the almost non-existent movement and heart rate acceleration, she suspected that there was a meconium concern. She called the back-up OB (my OB was out of town running a marathon in a tutu and leotards…that’s another story) to meet with me and told me I was going to have a baby that day.

The doctor wanted to induce me immediately. She administered a Foley catheter and pitocin. Since I didn’t bring a hospital bag my husband rushed home to pack my things, baby’s things and his things (luckily I left a hospital bag list on the bathroom counter). After a couple of hours, the nurse told me that the baby was in a lot of distress every time I had a contraction. Baby B wasn’t handling labor and she was getting worse as time progressed. The doctor came in and told me they had to take the baby that moment to ensure her safety. I cried. This was not the way I planned to bring my baby into the world. I had never had surgery much less stayed in a hospital. I wasn’t use to being hooked up to wires, IVs and being monitored every way possible. I knew this wasn’t a gentle way to birth my baby and I immediately began to grieve not getting to birth on my terms.

 I met with the anesthesiologist and told him I was terribly claustrophobic. I requested no mask over my face, my hands not to be tied down and the curtain be moved back to give me room to breathe. He was very accommodating and respected my wishes. I also instructed the nurses NOT to administer any vaccinations, medications or topicals to my newborn. Even though baby and I were not going through the natural birthing process I wanted to make it as least invasive as possible (sounds like an oxymoron I know).  

My husband was freaking out a bit…I could see it in his eyes. He tried to be the hero but every time they brought up the fact that the baby was looking worse I knew his heart was sinking. He also knew this was not what I wanted and tried to keep me at peace with the hurriedness going on around me. They wheeled me into the surgery room. It was cold, intense and scary…not a place I pictured I would be welcoming my baby into the world. I was given the meds to numb my lower body, laid on the table and the medical team proceeded to get my “distressed” baby out.

You know in the movies where the expectant mother hears the baby cry and the doctor raises the baby above the curtain to show mom and dad? Well there was no cry and we didn’t see our baby. I was in a panic. What was going on? I kept asking the doctor how she was and the doctor remained calm but didn’t answer me. I grabbed the anesthesiologist (remember I had free hands!) and demanded he tell me what was going on…he didn’t answer me. I told my husband to go be with our baby and he looked at me and said they took her to another room and they won’t let me back there. I was freaking out! Eventually I did hear the cries of my sweet baby. My husband brought her to me swaddled in a blanket. I held her and gave her a million kisses. The team finished my surgery and wheeled me back to the recovery room where I nursed Berlin for the first time. Tears of joy!

The next day the pediatrician came and the first thing he said was, “so here is the miracle baby”! The OBs and nurses also called her a miracle. He said they had to resuscitate her a couple of times due to the meconium. The nurse that brought her “back to life” told us that baby had coded and was lifeless as the OB pulled her from my body. Nurse Jennifer said that if I had waited another day, we would have been holding a funeral and not a baby. She said baby was a 1 out of 10 Apgar score, but within minutes was an 8 out of 10…thank you God!!!

I started receiving calls and texts from friends (not knowing I had gone to the hospital) asking if I was alright because they had a feeling they needed to pray for me. Many of them said they felt the need to pray around the time I was being wheeled into surgery. A friend from Dallas said that she felt a strong urge to pray and called two big groups to pray also…she said there were literally thousands of people praying around the world at that time for me and baby. My friend’s husband was supposed to be in a meeting and felt so strongly to stay in the car to pray for my family. He prayed that God would be with baby and that He would provide the best team available to care for us. Well wouldn’t you know it…the two nurses that worked on baby were highly trained NICU nurses from another hospital. The chances of that happening! My friend and I compared times and he prayed the time they induced me.

As the days went on we began to hear the stories and reports about how Berlin Brillare Amore Fenell was truly the miracle baby. Now twelve days later, she shows no signs of having a “traumatic birth”. She is a thriving, healthy, beautiful and mild mannered newborn.

You may wonder what my story has to do with staffing and running a successful business. It has everything to do with trust and letting go. Know that you are not alone. When you are feeling overwhelmed, your back against the wall and don’t know which way to turn next in your biz…there is a higher power watching over you and your daily affairs. Ask what you need of in your business, for your team and your success. He cares. He provides.

©2012 Kiyla Fenell WANT TO USE THIS IN YOUR EZINE OR WEBSITE? You can, as long as you use this blurb with it: Over the past 22 years Kiyla Fenell has hired and inspired hundreds of her employees in 7 different industries for her million dollar companies.  Kiyla’s teams have been awarded national and international recognition for breaking records. She credits her ability to build award-winning, record-breaking teams to her unique and fool-proof way of hiring. You can find the exact tools and words Kiyla uses to hire highly functioning and motivated staff quickly with The Ultimate Staffing Success System. Learn more at www.dreamteamhire.com.