A Looooooong Birth Story!

Sunday March 23, 2008

I'm not sure where to start...I'm still on the maternity floor...waiting to go see if baby Chase will nurse...he's in the special care nursery because he is on an IV to maintain his blood sugars but is breathing well, maintaining his temp and all that but doesn't have enough body fat to keep up with the world and the 10cc of colostrum I am pumping every two hours aren't giving him enough to get ahead...I can't wait for my milk to come in, I feel like it will solve the world's problems...so I ate the entire bowl of yucky hospital oatmeal today....and let me tell you it was not tasty.

So I'll start the birth story and finish it when I have a chance if I need to go before then...

---

A Baby Rooster is Born!

It was 7pm on Thursday night March, 20th when I told Mike that I was having "real" contractions and they were about 7 minutes apart...we ordered Papa Gino’s pizza that night...just like we had the night before Emmie was born. We folded laundry together which was the last thing we had done the night Emmie was born...we got the house ready and organized knowing that induction was imminent the next day. We backed two banana breads to bring to the labor and then maternity nurses and printed out birth plans and put the last minute things into the birth bad...I thought for sure I could make it to 7am when the induction was scheduled. We watched Lost and then headed to bed at around midnight...Mike was promptly snoring and I turned on the "Your Birthing Day" track on Hypnobabies. At around 3am contractions were too painful to talk through and coming every 3-5 minutes. I called the OB to let them know we were coming soon, called my mom so she could come earlier than expected...and left the house for the 5 minute drive to the hospital.

We got here and got checked into a tiny little room with a nice nurse...she checked me and I was at 1cm and baby was "high" so I spent the next two or three hours standing and reading my book and rocked him down. The OB came on at 7am and wanted to do a check and I was at 4cm, 90% effaced, and baby was low...he was happy that changes were happening and said that we would hold off on pitocin...he said....no induction for you today and said that even if we did do pitocin later it would then be called augmentation since I was already in labor--yay!!

A fabulous nurse came on at 7 am too...her name was Sharon and she was nice, caring, helpful and funny. She immediately said since it was early labor I could get into the tub if I wanted to...about an hour later the tub was cleaned, filled and at a glorious 102 degrees...I hopped in in my bikini top and underwear and labored in there for about two hours...I was wrinkled and needed to pee by the time I got out...but Mike and I were having fun between contractions listening to the iPod and just talking...we were so happy with how things were going. Dried off and went back to the room...it was now around 10am and the doctor came in and said, "How are we doing?" and I said, "Great...." and he said....you contractions are looking good, baby looks good...we just want your uterus to get organized...let’s check you and if you've made progress than great. So...check he did and everything was the same...he asked for permission to break the bag of water to get things moving...since we were having a baby that day no matter what I agreed...it had already been a long day as I didn't get any sleep the night before...water broke and out came green gushy meconium...how gross is that!? He said it was common and just meant some extra suctioning by him and the ped at delivery. I laid back with waters gushing for a while and got sleepy...snuck in a little nap and my body let contractions calm for a while...they thought broken water = more contractions but my body thought exhaustion meant less contractions. At around noon they said they would start just a "wiff" of pitocin to see if we could get the contractions I was having to just come more frequently...and we changed to a nice big room. I labored on the ball, leaning in Mike's arms...and walking around the room hoping for gravity to help. They were now every 2-3 minutes and no more intense than they had been when I was in labor on my own, just more frequent.

Now his heart rate did a little dip...it was around 12:30...next contraction the dip was a little bigger...nurse said to try a different position...tried the ball...a bigger dip....tried leaning on the bed...a bigger dip....lying on the bed on my left...a HUGE dip...on my right...a big dip....standing and swaying...another big dip and we were now getting down to the 60s and staying down there for 20 seconds or so...she turned up the IV knowing that if I was going to the OR they would want at least 2 bags of fluid in me....the OB came in to talk and do a check...was ready to deliver and we were all hoping Chase was down a lot farther and I was dilated to 8 or 9 so that labor was just around the corner...we were all really bummed when I was still at 4 cm...but I was actually a little relieved that at this point I didn't have to feel any more contractions and I was ready to meet the little man...

Mike and I were both visibly bummed....but at this point we couldn't go back in time and NOT break the water and NOT do pitocin....so wheeled into the OR which feels like some kind of freezing cold movie set and I feel like a splayed naked frog on the high school science table and they prep me while Mike awaits outside in scrubs--which he looks VERY handsome in. It takes three tries to get the spinal in and a bunch of intense contractions...it was worse than the epidural that I had with Emmie but I wonder if it was because I couldn't relax the space to allow for a good needle insertion. It finally took, I felt my legs start to get warm and tingly....and I peed ALL over the place while a nurse said....maybe we should have cath'ed you first...lol...and they finished prep, put up the drape, and called Mike in. He was still visibly disappointed...but we were there for each other. It took way longer than I thought and the tugging and pulling feels so gross...but minutes later a screaming, crying, flailing baby came out of my uterus and into the world...it was hard to see him through the doctors...I was seeing a foot here, a face there...but was told, "He looks GREAT...but definitely IUGR (inter uterine growth restriction)..." Then they disappeared and I laid there shiver uncontrollably while they pulled and tugged--the doctor at one point said, your ovaries look nice....lol...gee thanks, now get out of my abdomen! So they stitched me up with a nice double suture that I had the forethought to ask for in my birth plan (although I was cursing myself because I swore it took way longer than if they had just done whatever it is that they normally do....) and then got wheeled back to my nice labor room. They brought Chase in about an hour later and let me lay skin to skin with him....he nursed and was just as cute as a button. I was so happy that he was breathing and maintaining his temp...we laid like that for a couple of hours...he was too sleepy to nurse on both sides and it did hurt for me to try and sit up...but we kept at it.

I don't know what time it was that they wheeled us down to the maternity ward, but when we got there it was this dark cave of a room at the end of the hall and this is where the bad nurse took over...she reeked of smoke and was just overall rude. Chase's blood work came back (they had done some at birth and one three hours later) and his glucose was 47 at birth and then 26 three hours later even though he had nursed like a champ and I knew I had colostrum....they checked it again and it was at 17....and then they took him to the nursery to get a line in to see if it was just a bad reading from his heel and an actual blood draw might look better...Mike went with him and they were gone and hour and I had to lie there listening to my child screaming down the hallway...they brought him back and I was so relieved...then Mike said they didn't get anything....4 people were trying and stabbing and poking and fishing around in his arms, hands, and legs while he cried and cried...Mike told them he needed a break and brought him back to me to see if nursing could get the levels back up instead of torture with no results...they came back and did a heel prick...he was too exhausted to nurse and just lay on my chest skin to skin and nothing would wake him up...our pediatrician's office called and said she was really worried and we needed to do something quick...the nurse brought in a bottle of formula and said I had to feed it to him right then and there...he gagged and choked and wouldn't take anything...I begged for a pump to see if I could get colostrum...I got 20ccs almost instantaneously and he chowed them down...they did a heel poke and his levels were at 8...he was in serious danger of seizing...so they took him back to the special care and a pediatrician finally got an IV into his arm...they started giving him sugar water through his IV and I started pumping and we would feed that to him mixed with some sugar water...his levels are still wonky....97, 86, 60, 56, 47, 43...so as you can see great and then they peter off....now he's looking jaundice so they have him under the lights...his stump looks a bit infected so they are giving him antibiotics...he's just so tiny and beat up looking from all the poking and prodding....

I got up on Saturday morning and they took the catheter out and I immediately was able to walk down to the special care nursery...they were all very surprised that I could walk as well as I did and told me it wasn't race but of course it was....my little man was at the end of this race and I hadn't seen him for 8 hours....he was in just a bassinet...wrapped and swaddled...and sound asleep. He was like that most of that day....too tired to do much. Since then he has perked up a bit with the IV and they actually let me nurse him yesterday at the 6:30pm feeding and everyone after that....I don't mind going down there every two to three hours with an incision on my body...I don't mind that it hurts...I am sad that it happened the way it did...but I am so in love with him and I don't think he would have survived without all of the interventions that are happening and I so look forward to the years to come with him...

I'll post pictures when we have a better internet connection....pray with me that he gets to come home this week with us...that would be a miracle for me!!

Monday, March 24, 2008

It was a roller coaster of a day again with more blood draws and pokes into this poor kiddo...but he is nursing...and GAINING and PEED 55cc's today in one diaper and his latest blood glucose three hours after nursing for a full 30 minutes was...60!!!! WOOOO HOOOO! I'm so psyched. My "milkies" as Emmie would call them are tingling now with let downs, I can hear him gulp, and he is peeing in massive quantities and keeping his glucose levels up...thank GOD! I can't wait to see what the pediatrician has to say in the morning. It was an emotional day filled with tears of frustration, anger, happiness, and joy...it is hard to see your baby have their heel pricked and manipulated before every feed....to wonder if all the crying he is doing when they pull off the urine bag is going to make him too tired to nurse which is the thing he needs most...but it is so amazing to see this 4lb. little person nurse and nurse and snuggle and nurse and then the results start happening. Big content sigh. I’m going to nap until midnight when I go back to feed him again...things are looking up. On a sad note Mike had to go home tonight to be with Emmie because my mom has to work in the morning and had been with her for three days...I cried when he left because I just want our family to be whole...but with tonight’s good news I think that might be happening sooner than I thought. Now we just need his bilirubin to go down (he is still under the lights) and we need some poop and more milk and life will be good!!!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I can't believe we are home....we were discharged yesterday at 2pm which is when we would have gone home with a c-section anyway...he didn't have to spend any more time in the special care unit and I am beyond thrilled. I did feel like it was Christmas morning when they said we could go home...but then I felt bad being too giddy when there are babies with their parents who have been in there for months waiting for the ticket to go home and I have such a new appreciation for them and actually get a really emotional when I think of having to leave him there.

So last night was our first official night home and it wasn't terrible...but it wasn't great. He was in such a good little routine with the SCN (Special Care Nursery) nurses...but it was like we just couldn't find our rhythm until the 1am feeding, which was a great one, so he slept until 4am (I set an alarm because he is just too little to go longer than 4 hours without eating) and that was a good feeding so he slept until 7am. I am so amazed at what a good little nursling he is...I'm so engorged because when he would nurse in the hospital I would then go back to the room and pump for 10 minutes to get him some CCs of colostrum before the next feeding, so I'm sure my body thinks I have 7lb. twins to nurse instead of one 4lb. baby....but they'll regulate this month and I am just so happy that I don't have to give him anymore formula...I think the c-section was hard...and then when they are shoving formula at me less than 5 hours later I was like will nothing go as planned? But he has no nipple confusion and seemed to prefer the pumped colostrum which he would suck down when he only gagged on the Enfamil...I did tell them I downright refuse Nestle because of all of their shady business practices. Ok, enough breastfeeding talk....(I just want everyone to know that breastfeeding is just the way that we did things with Emmie and I do believe it is so good for baby, mom and wallet that I stand by it and advocate for it, but that doesn't mean I am judging anyone who couldn't make it work.)

So, the little man is currently snuggled in my Moby wrap on my chest sleeping away and I'm waiting for his big sister to wake up. She was excited to see me....bigger than I remember her being....and cute as a button. She had a hard time coming home and going down for a nap (she came to the hospital at around 11:30am and we didn't get out until 2 so that was her naptime...) so we let her stay up but then we had a pretty miserable bedtime as well...she wanted baby Chase to come and hated leaving him in the living room with Daddy....plus rocking her hurt my belly....but not rocking her hurt my heart. I gave her tons of kisses and love and I'm sure she'll be back to some sort of normal today...she kept kissing Chase yesterday and wanting to hold him and then she would say, "Mommy, kiss the baby's head..." so I would kiss her and she would giggle and point to the spot on his head she wanted me to kiss and say, "No, baby Chase." She thinks it is funny that he has a soothie but she is more than willing to give hers to him...she is an amazing big sister already!