| Crazy Love & A Baby

Week One...

Disclaimer:
I will try my hardest to not sound like a fake perfect family in the following post. Week one was full of several trials & tribulations, but somehow Cal makes us forget all the bad moments & we just keep going! I'm sure in time I will have plenty of horrible moments that are burned into my memory that I can share! :)

Week one came & went faster than I could have ever imagined. My memory would be lost without the pictures I took to spark the moment again in my mind. Week one was such an incredible time for Eric & I, but somehow, I can barely remember any details... I just know it was worth every second!

Height: Birth 19.5 inches. We have NO IDEA where his height came from!

Weight: Birth weight 5lbs 3oz. Day 3 Drs. appointment 4lbs 14oz.

Sleeping: Cal was your average newborn with jaundice, extra extra sleepy! :) He slept in our arms most of the day & we made a serious attempt at the bedside bassinet at night. It did not work as well as I hoped. He was still too far for comfort & I couldn't get him in & out without getting out of bed. So on day 4 we purchased a "Snuggle Nest" and placed that in our bed. Aaamazing! The plan is to transition back to the bassinet around 4-6 weeks when have more of a nighttime routine. I still have faith!

Eating: A never ending nightmare. Every two hours we would attempt to breastfeed, syringe finger feed pumped breast milk, then try a bottle and then pump breast milk again for the next feeding. This process took an hour minimum. Which was super fun throughout the night!

Sizes: Preemie clothes! So tiny & cute! Thankfully I have the most amazing friends in the world who brought Cal brand new preemie outfits washed & ready to go! We loved them! At home Cal was mostly swaddled in a diaper & beanie to make breastfeeding & skin to skin easy. Preemie diapers :)

Routine: Survive. Make baby gain weight. Shower when possible.

Milestones: So many firsts... First bath! First walk in the stroller! Mommy's dreams come true.

Struggles: Jaundice. We expected our little preemie to battle jaundice. Thankfully Kaiser made things super easy & had a blue bili-blanket delivered to our house. Cal had to wear it 24/7. NOT FUN for either of us, but it worked like magic! After 3 solid days he was given a perfect clean bill of health!

There is no way in the world I could have done it without Eric. He is the most amazing father & husband. He keeps me on my game & always has my back. I am seriously the luckiest girl in the world. And not to brag too much, but we also have the most amazing friends & family in the world! Eric & I can't get over how blessed we are! Thank you to everyone for all your love, support, help, food, blessings & advice. THANK YOU!!!

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Here we are!!!
1:00pm on a Wednesday & we are still in PJs sitting on the couch.
(Finished at 8:00pm...)

It's only taken me a full two weeks to have a second to turn on my computer, but lets be honest, my time is no longer mine. Which is fine by me! :) Luckily it belongs to my two boys. I could not be more blessed. Not a second passes that I don't feel like I'm living in a dream. It's everything I have ever dreamed of and more...

I left off telling my labor & delivery on "Monday". Quick recap: We checked in on Friday, after 36 hours of labor I had a failed induction. Sunday was a break day to let my body rest. Monday was a fresh start from square one...

Monday, August 11th:

9:15am: We made it to the induction re-do! It was time to start round 2. I was checked again & still 2 cm dilated & 50% effaced. Big shocker. At 9:15am I was given 100mcg of Miso. Deja Vu. Same as before, the miso is suppose to help soften the cervix.

1:30pm: 4 hours later & contractions are nothing great, so I was given another 100mcg of Miso. Boo!"

6:45pm: I am begging to start pitocin again but the doctor has to check my cervical dilation before we can add a new medication. She decides while she is checking my cervix, which is still 2.5cm btw fml, that she is going to sweep/strip my membranes. SO MUCH PAIN! Excruciating. It was so awful, that she accidentally broke my water in the process! Someone was a little aggressive. But now it was on! Let the natural labor games begin!

7:30pm: Natural labor is in full force! Breaking your water is the perfect way to start intense painful labor.

10:00pm: It's all a blur around this time but I was dilated to 3cm, dying in the most intense pain I've ever felt, and ready for my epidural. I tried everything in my body to wait until I was at least 4cm dilated to even request the epidural, but I couldn't breathe or handle one more second of that pain. I even tried a shot of Fentanyl but it did absolutely nothing.

10:30pm: Epidural placed. Thank god almighty for such an amazing placement & drug. Nap time.

Tuesday, August 12th:

2:35am: I'm awake, too much pain to sleep. I text my friend Alison for the next couple hours about my pain. I am convinced I have a bad epidural. My right side is way more numb than my life side. I am moving in my bed, readjusting my positions to try to balance my epidural. Nothing. I ask my nurse several times whats wrong with my epidural. She is trying to help me but thinks I'm crazy.

4:45am: The anesthesiologist came in with an extra dose of meds to push directly into my epidural site. Thank god. I attempt to rest again.

6:00-7:00am: During this entire hour I continue to text Alison about my epidural & pain. I tell her over & over that it's placed wrong. I am in 7/10 pain, breathing through my contractions. I asked the nurse about the pain several more times & she reassures me that because my water is broken, I will feel more pressure & pain than I had in the past. I reassure her, that I need more pain medications & ask for the doctor. Lol

7:05am: My awesome doctor comes in to check my cervix. I know the second she tries to check that something is different. Her exact words, "Are you ready to have your baby?! His head is right there!"

"What??? It is?" Last time I was checked I was only 3-3.5cm & now his head is

right there! NO WONDER I have been in so much pain!!!

It only took 10 minutes for my entire room to be flipped & full of doctors, nurses & a NICU team. Eric was by my side & trying to pry my cell phone out of my hands so I could start pushing. Pretty typical if you know me, but I had to tell everyone! I knew they were going to kill me for missing it...

7:15am: I start pushing!

EXHAUSTING!

7:26am: Our son was born!!!

Four days of labor & 10 minutes of pushing! We did it!!!

I know I already posted all of his birth pictures, so refer back to the last post if you want to tie the story back to the pictures... :)

We were so blessed that Cal was strong enough to breathe on his own, maintain his airway & was able to stay in our room with us. Eric got to cut the cord, I was able to do skin to skin, and a few close family & friends were able to see him just minutes after he was born! So blessed.

We were transferred upstairs to the mother & baby unit. We spent the next 48 hours falling deeper in love with our little prince. Learning how to feed him, change him, keep his blood sugars up, keep his weight up and mostly keep up with the lack of sleep!

Because he was born at 35 weeks 3 days he had not mastered his ability to suckle, swallow & breathe all at the same time. So since birth our feeding schedule was hectic! Every 2-3 hours we had to attempt to breastfeed for 10-15 minutes, then have him suckle on our pinkie while we syringe fed him pumped breast milk, THEN we had to try to force him to eat formula from a bottle! And after all that I got to pump for another 10-15 minutes to get what I could for the next feeding session. It was our hardest challenge by far. Thank god that phase is over.

August 14th was Eric & my 11 year dating anniversary & the day we got to bring our son home!

August 15th, 2014

We survived 24 hours home alone with Cal. We had his first doctors appointment & blood work at Kaiser. He held strong at 4lbs 14oz & was perfect other than the usual jaundice. He also may have RIPPED OFF his umbilical cord at his appointment!!! Worst thing ever! And he was under the doctors care, not mine. Ugh! So sad.

The doctor prescribed him a blue light Bili-Blanket to wear 24 hours a day for his juandce. We also had to do blood draws every morning until his levels fell. As if a newborn wasn't hard enough, our newborn was now wrapped in hard plastic & plugged into an outlet. Thank god that only lasted 3 days!

Oh how I miss that blue little face! And don't even get me started on his blue eyes! I will cry the day they turn brown. He changes so much everyday, I fall in love over & over... <3

Week 1 & Week 2 posts are in the making. When I am finally caught up, it will be much easy to do my weekly posts! :)

Crazy Love & A Baby

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