NICU, part 3

Henry was doing wonderfully! He continued to gain weight, and we gradually increased the amount of milk he would get in each feeding.

His main issue was the bradys. His heart rate would drop, occasionally. The nurses acted like it was routine, but it seemed like it made MY heart rate drop, as well. It was scary.

He often had a brady when he would eat. The doctors insisted he eat on a schedule, even if we had to wake him to feed him. He also needed to eat a certain amount, at each feeding, in order to be able to go home from the hospital. Unfortunately, he often fell asleep before he could finish his bottles.

After Henry had been there for about 45 days, we pretty much insisted that he only be fed when he was awake and acting hungry. Once we started doing that, he did great! The doctors set an amount that he had to have, each day, and he did it! After 48 hours on the new feeding plan, they agreed to send him home. He would have to continue to wear the monitor (but he would never have another brady, again)

On his last night, we got to room-in with him. It was out first night, all together. It was great, but we were anxious to get him home.

We arrived home after 47 days in the NICU, the day before his due-date, on May 27th.

Henry settled right in, and we never missed a beat!

NICU, part 2

He was in the unit for just a short time. Not even two days, before they moved him to "step down."

He kept having heart rate drops (bradys), but they assured us it was normal.
After a day or two (it has all kind of run together, in my mind) he had to be put under a blue light, for jaundice.

He had a nasal cannula, a feeding tube, an IV, a pulse-ox monitor, heart rate & resp. monitors, and an eye mask (bc of the blue light) so there were wires, cords, and tubes, everywhere. It was pretty intimidating.

When I wanted to touch him, I had to open a port hole. I could reach in and hold his hand. That was all I had done, for what seemed like days.

FINALLY, a nurse asked, "Do you want to do kangaroo care?" I was like "Yes!"
The nurse helped me place him on my chest, under my shirt. He was a tiny little guy, and he was finally where he belonged.

2K:

When he had managed to keep up his temperature, get off the IV, lose the cannula, and get out from under the blue light, they moved him to 2K, which is the last level before babies get to go home.
Shortly after the move, he got to get into a crib, and out of the incubator. That meant we could touch and hold, whenever we wanted! We barely put him down, when we were there.

E.R. Visit

I started having major nausea & back/shoulder pain. After a couple of spells, progressively getting worse & lasting longer, I went to the ER.
It was "either your gall bladder, or you have bad reflux."
Wellllll thanks. Not.
They told me to go get an ultrasound from the doctor who delivered Henry.
I went to the doctor. The Arkansas Women's Center (remember that name, and NEVER GO THERE. We'll get to that later)
The doctor had me fill out a 20 minute questionare, change into a gown, sit on a table, answer some questions for 2 minutes, and then he was done. No examination or anything. I asked him about my ER visit, and his reply? "If it hasn't bothered you in a couple of days, you don't have anything to worry about. (WRONG. We'll also get to that later.)

Back to 2K, and back to work

We usually spent a few hours at a time with Henry. At night shift, we'd stay from 7 to sometimes past 2 am. My husband, who is a night owl, sometimes would drive me to the hotel when I got sick, at 10 or 11 pm, take care of me for a bit, and then go back and sit with Henry til 3 or 4 am. We did NOT like to leave him there, without us.

We had been there for a couple of weeks, when my husband decided he should get back to work. His department was short-handed, and he hated that the other guys weren't getting any time off (he works patrol for a nearby police department)
They managed to make it so he only had to leave on Tuesday or Wednesday nights, and come back early Sunday mornings.

After over 3 weeks, Henry had gained plenty of weight (at over 5.5 pounds!), but he was having reflux and still having a lot of heart rate drops. We had been working on getting him to take a bottle, but the reflux made it difficult.
He was put in reflux meds, and his caffeine was upped. He began to improve.

NICU Baby

I don't know how long it was, before they took me to him.
Everyone else got to see him, first.
When I got back there, to him, he was in an incubator.
He was so tiny, and cute.
I was excited to see that he had long fingers and toes, like his Mama.
My husband and I argued, happily, about whether he would play piano or guitar.

I just wanted to hold him.

The Sweet Little Hand I Got To Hold

Ready or Not, Here He Comes!

Saturday, April 12
I got the second steroid shot, early the next morning. Since my contractions were so few, and far between, I was moved to a different room and taken off the monitor, at about 2pm.

I kept track of my contractions, on my own. My pain level began to increase to about an 8. At about 4 pm, I called in the nurse to notify her that I had contractions at 3:00, 3:15, 3:25, 3:35, and so on.

She hooked me back up to the monitor. At about 5:30, or so, she came in to check me. I was dilated to 8. They hollered for more nurses, and quickly wheeled me back into the same delivery room I had left.

I got my epidural, shortly after arriving in the delivery room. I had to roll over on my side, and kind of curl up in a fetal position. My legs and toes went numb, pretty quickly. I had my hand on my leg, at one point, and thought "Is that a pillow?" before I looked down and realized I was poking my own leg. The epidural worked, perfectly.

I remember being in a really good mood. I was cracking jokes & smiling. My family got to be with me, and my 4 year old brother was lifting my spirits.

I had originally decided I only wanted Anthony & my mom in the room during delivery, but my MIL didn't have any other family or friends to sit with, so I told my husband she could stay, but she had to stay back in the corner. I didn't want anyone new to see my you-know-where that hadn't already, except the nurses & doctors. ;)

Henry managed to hold off until about 8:45, when I suddenly felt like I needed to start pushing. We (Anthony, my mom, my MIL, and I) said goodbye to my dad & Jayce as they headed to the waiting room. All the other nurses and the doctor were next door, where we had just heard a woman hollering "He's coming! Now!" (We, later, found out she hadn't made it from the wheelchair to the bed, before her baby was born!)

So I pushed, while my mother and my husband held my legs up, and nurse Stephanie coached me.
She said, "When you feel like you need to poop, that's when you push." And she told me to push as if I were trying to poop.

Guys. One of my biggest birth-fears was that I would poop while giving birth, and my husband would see that.

I actually did pee, though. That was a bit embarrassing.

In the middle of a push, I noticed my MIL standing beside me, with her phone, camera ready. I stopped, startled, and the nurse asked if I was okay. "Yeah, uh..."
I didn't want to hurt any feelings, but I was kinda uncomfortable. Anthony noticed, and reminded his mom to sit down. She had just gotten excited, and she also knew I had wanted professional photos, and was trying to help. But I didn't dwell on it long. I was a little busy, and quickly turned my attention back to pushing.

I had requested a mirror so I could see all the action. They had brought in a full length, stand-alone mirror. I highly recommend it! So I got to see Henry's little head as he made his way out. It motivated me to push with all my might. I was ready to see my baby boy! I really wasn't feeling much pain at that point.

I pushed and pushed, and when it looked like he was about to come out, the doctor finally made it into the room, and took over.
That's when it really began to hurt. The doctor started, basically, trying to stretch me out. I kept pushing, and then the doctor grabbed Henry's head, and pulled. I'm pretty certain I cried out as I pushed, at that point, and Henry's head emerged.

I took a very short break from pushing, and then started again, so he could get his shoulders out. The doctor pulled on Henry's head, some more, and then he was out! Crying, and squirming, and he looked perfectly healthy, under all the slime and nasty gunk. After the nurses clamped the umbilical cord, Anthony got to let go of my leg, as a nurse relieved him, and the new Daddy severed the cord.

All that was left was to push out the placenta, and then I was done! What a relief! The doctor stitched me up, while the nurses cleaned up Henry, and looked him over. I had only gotten a quick look at him, and then he was carried over to a table. I tried to see him, but there were too many people around him. He was wheeled out, and I was left wondering when I would get to see and hold my son.
______________________________
time of birth: 9:35pm
weight: 4 pounds, 7 ounces
length: 16.5 inches
pushing time: 50 min.

Henry's first photo. My mom managed to snap it when a nurse moved out of the way.

First Time in Flight

Friday, April 11
(Part 2)

When I got to the hospital, I got checked in, and they checked me out. The fluid was, indeed, amniotic fluid. I was already dilated to 4. They put an IV in me, drew some blood, asked me a million questions (allergies, medical history, family medical history, etc) and gave me some magnesium (though the IV) to slow the contractions. That stuff made my whole body feel really hot & just plain uncomfortable. I was going to have to get used to uncomfortable.
They decided to load me up in a helicopter, and send me to Little Rock. Our hospital isn't equipped for babies born before their 36th week. I was only 33 weeks and 2 days. There wasn't enough room for another passenger, so my husband had to take our car.

I had to squeeze onto a narrow gurney, to fit in the helicopter. In order to do that, I had to lay sort of on my side. At least I got to look out of the window, on the ride.
At one point, I began to feel very sick. They dosed me with nausea meds, via the IV, and upped the magnesium, since my contractions were still frequent.

I can't say it was exactly a pleasant ride, but I was glad to have a quick trip!
When I finally arrived at the LR hospital, maybe 4 am, I was out-of-town. When they wheeled me into the delivery room, and shifted me to the delivery bed, the first thing I requested was for someone to call my husband. They called him to let him know I had arrived and was safe.

Waiting for him to arrive, seemed like forever. I was so relieved to see him when he finally made it to my room.
Everything else seemed like a blur, until the high dosage of magnesium began to wear off. 

I know they gave me a steroid shot, to help Henry's lungs start to develop, more quickly. They wanted to wait a full 48 hours before giving me the second shot, but they would do 24 hours, if it seemed necessary. The ultrasound indicated that I was right about Henry's due date. It was, indeed, a week earlier than my doctor had guessed. Our goal was to keep Henry inside me, until we reached 34 weeks.

The whole day passed by, and my contractions weren't getting any more frequent, though they stayed at about 15 minutes apart. They weren't very strong, and they didn't last very long. Henry's heart rate stayed strong and steady, but would slow, during my contractions. That was normal, they said, since my uterus was squeezing him.
He was turned the right way, head down toward his exit, but his face was facing up, toward my belly button. That was okay, though not exactly as good as if he was facing my back.
My contractions began to get a bit stronger, by that afternoon, but still no closer together. They weren't too painful. Maybe 6 out of 10, on the pain scale. Everything was looking good, still.
That night, as I rested (not a whole lot of sleep), my contractions slowed way down. They were strong enough to wake me up, but I think I only had a few, the whole night. It looked at though we might actually make it to Wednesday. Just 6 days.

Sleeping a little, & trying to keep Henry in my uterus. :P

Water, Water, Everywhere

On Thursday, April 10th, my husband and I went on a date to Silver Dollar City (more apple dumplings!! Yay!). We walked all over the park. Down and UP the hills, in hot weather. (I almost passed out once, waiting in line for a show. Not exaggerating).
Afterward, we stopped by Target to pick up a playpen I had ordered, and then went to the pet store to get my dog's expensive gain-free food (yeah, he's got allergies. It's costly, but he's worth it!) Then, we went to our favourite sea food restaurant. We were both SO sleepy, we laughed the whole time, over every little thing. Pretty sure the waitress thought we were drunk, or something. I dozed off in the car, on the way home. (Oh, I forgot to mention that we had traded in our single cab truck, for a '10 Nissan Murano, so there was plenty of room to lay my seat back, and sleep)

When we arrived at our house, my husband brought in the playpen and dog food, and we went straight to bed. We were still giggly, from being so tired. We were getting along wonderfully, teasing each other. I decided to try to sleep, and he decided to read some of his book, on his phone. I tried to persuade him to go to sleep, since we had another long day planned, for that coming morning. He refused, so I pouted a little, and fell asleep.

About 10 minutes later (according to him), I woke up with a start. Something wet was pouring out of me. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, leaving my husband wondering what was going on. 

The trickle kind of slowed down, so I walked back into the bedroom. I stood, with my hands on the bed, just staring down at the sheets. I was pretty freaked out, and confused. My husband kept asking me, "What? What's wrong?" I just kept saying, "I don't know. I don't know what happened. I don't know what to say."

The wet stuff just kept pouring out of me. It was a big mess. I was due in two months. It never crossed my mind that it would happen that early. I knew to be prepared for 2, 3, even 4 weeks early. Not 7 weeks! I just didn't know what to think. I didn't want to admit to myself that my water might have just broke. I finally told him what happened. I kept running back and forth, to the bathroom, dripping all over the place until I finally got the bright idea to put on a maxi-pad.

I called my mom, and my husband called the ER. My mom, half asleep, and thinking I had just peed my pants, told me I should get back in bed and see if it gets better... lol. The ER people asked questions, which he relayed to me, and he gave them my responses. They said, "You better get here over here." I got my mom, who was now wide awake, back on the phone, to tell her we were going.

I put on some pj pants, grabbed a pair of jeans, my phone charger, the toiletries (all I had packed. Guess whose grandmother was in line for an "I told you so!" haha!), and a towel to sit on. We hopped in the car, and my husband drove like a maniac, to the nearest hospital (which is normally 35 minutes away, but we made it in 20ish, I bet).

(to be continued...)

Wayyyy Too Early to Start Packing My Hospital Bag... ha!

All my pregnancy apps, the pregnancy blogs and articles, and pinterest were telling me I should start planning and packing my hospital bags. I had just over two months before Henry was to arrive.
I took my 4 year old brother to the dollar store, to grab things for our toiletries bag. He thought he needed to put something in the bag, since he would visit us at the hospital. I bought him a Humpty Dumpty book, and added it to the bag.
On Tuesday, April 8th, I told my paternal grandmother that story, I expected her to think it was cute that my brother wanted to add his book to my bag. Instead, she found it absolutely hilarious that I was packing my bags, two months early. I tried to explain that I was just STARTING to gather things, to pack, and that I planned on having the bag packed by the end of April, it just made her laugh harder. "Why can't you just pack your things when it's time to go have the baby?" She asked, between fits of laughter. "I don't want to be worrying that I forgot anything. I want to just be able to grab the bags and go." Apparently, she still found it funny. I was afraid she was about to fall in the floor, she was laughing so much.

I love my Nanny Nina Lee. She's so cute!

My silly Nanny, who thought I was packing, too soon

Just General Pregnancy Stuff, and the Baby Room

I kept track of Henry's expected progress, via some pregnancy apps, on my phone.

The doctor told us his due date was June 6th. I had a feeling I was a week further along, than that. Based on my LMP, the only possible date of conception (remember, my husband was at Police Academy, and only came home on weekends, lol) and Henry's weight.
So I always read the apps' "this week's" AND "next week's" info, just in case.

We bought a crib, changing table, a cube-storage shelf, and green cube bins. I sorted Henry's clothes into boxes, planning to pick out the smallest sizes and sort them into the bins, later. His room was starting to come together!

Our new house was still not fully unpacked. We had boxes in our own garage, as well as in my dad's basement garage, and my dad's shop. I'm pretty sure we still had things stored in the attic at our first house! We put off working on Henry's green and teal turtle room, til later. We had over 2 months to go. Plenty of time.

Pregnancy Cravings

 I grew up, hearing about crazy pregnancy cravings. (Everyone asked me if I was wanting pickles and ice cream, because apparently, that is a funny joke. It's not. Especially after the 56284th time.)

I remember wanting brown beans and ham, with macaroni & cheese, and cornbread. All mixed together. That's not weird, though. Not for me. I always want that. #Shameless

I ate whole cantaloupes with ice cream spoons. I devoured bags of clementines, grapes, strawberries, celery, sugar snap peas, salad... all that healthy stuff. Not because it was healthy (are you kidding? Hah!) but because I wanted it.

I did go through a phase where I thought I could kill for a big, warm, salty pretzel. I was ecstatic when I discovered that my local coffee shop baked and sold them!

One day, I wanted one of those strawberry shortcake twinkie cakes. Whatever they're called. Unfortunately, all we had were plain Twinkies. So, naturally, I poured strawberry milk powder all over them. My husband said, "Yep, you're pregnant!" As if it wasn't official, until I ate weird stuff.

A few weeks later, I fried some apple nutrigrain bars. Yes. I said FRIED. In BUTTER. It was delicious.

My husband, who is notorious for repeating jokes, said, "Yep, you're pregnant!" Isn't he cute? (eye roll)

Oh, and I made him take me to Silver Dollar City, just for some of their apple dumplings. He's a good'ern.

My aunt made us take some pregnancy photos. I didn't want to, because I thought I looked awful with my hair up and no makeup. Now, I'm glad she did. We never did get another chance to take any others.

Morning Sickness, and Moving AGAIN

I started getting morning sickness when we moved from our old, cute, spidery house. (October 1, 2013)
We moved to a small, basement apartment, owned by a friend of mine.
The morning sickness was awful... or maybe I was just a big baby. Regardless, I stayed in bed, most of the time.
I couldn't keep anything down, I didn't really want anything, anyway.
I forced myself to eat crackers and ginger snaps. I didn't really like ginger, but it was supposed to calm my stomach.. I devoured queasy-pops and peppermints. Nothing really helped. 

(Don't even get me started on unsolicited advice. Hint: When talking to a pregnant woman about her morning sickness, just assume she's heard it ALL. Just look sorry & offer to clean her house for her.)
I finally just accepted the sickness, and looked forward to throwing-up, as that made the nausea subside, for a short time.
I did spend a lot of time playing Skyrim (geek alert) and phone tetris.
I must have slept a lot more than I realized, because I look back and wonder what I actually did all day long.

We had been half-heartedly searching for a house. We didn't plan to move, any time soon. We assumed we'd have the baby and live there, for a while.
A nice house showed up on the realtor site, just minutes from my parents' house, with 10 acres. It was a foreclosure, so the price was incredible. We jumped on that deal, and ended up with a new house, just a couple of months after moving into the apartment.

Our new home! A cute house with 10 acres of field and woods.

One of the neatest things was that the property had another old house on it. We found out that house was built by my great grandfather. My grandma had lived there, as a little girl! The old cabin isn't livable, as is but it can be fixed and used as a little summer cabin, for entertaining or what-have-you.

My great grandfather built this old cabin, and it just happened to be part of the property we bought!

Moving into the new house coincided perfectly with the end of my morning sickness. Life was great, and kept getting better! I started planning baby room ideas, and we lived happily ever after.
(That just means I'm too tired to write anymore. It's bed time)

a Spider, a Test, and a Surprise

 The night before I found out I was pregnant, I had a spider on my shoulder. A brown recluse, specifically.
 Naturally, I reacted rather... strongly.
I never did find the spider, after jumping out of bed and throwing the sheets around.
I did what any normal person would do;

I took the whole bed apart and moved it into the living room.

(Fortunately, the living room was pretty much empty, because we were in the middle of moving.)

I slept in the living room, safe and sound. The bedroom door stayed shut (as if that would help) and the spider was polite enough to stay away. 

The next morning, I decided to go ahead and take a test, since I was a few days late. I braced myself for another negative.
I started the test (the kind that says "pregnant" or "not pregnant"), put the cap on the stick, and waited. I carried the test into the living room, and sat on the spiderless bed. The seconds ticked by, slowwwwwwly...

..
...
and finally, I looked down:
"PREGNANT!!!"
the little stick didn't have all-caps, or exclamation points, but it should have. I was thrilled!

I smiled, cried, squealed a little, paced around the house like a crazy fool, and then called my grandmother, my best friend, my mom, my mother-in-law, and my aunt.
I didn't want to tell my husband, over the phone, and he was away at police academy. I decided to wait til his graduation.

The big day was nearing, so I got a little gift bag, gathered some various baby items, and I bought a new Superman onesie. (our last name is Kent, my husband loves Superman)

The night before his graduation, I gave him the bag. It took him a moment to figure out why I had given him a board book & a baby bottle, but the look on his face, as he held up the Superman onesie, was pure excitement and surprise! (see photo)
We had been praying for a sweet baby, and God had finally answered our prayers.