Archive for August 2014

Birth Story & Homecoming

Wednesday, August 27, 2014


 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! :)

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Prince Cal Gregory

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Introducing

Cal Gregory

Born August 12, 2014 at 0726

Weighing 5lbs 3oz 

Measuring 19.5in

(Birth story to come! I have a great story to finish off the last! Lets just say I only pushed for 15 minutes!!! And it was well deserved! :)
























We are so in love with this little prince! 

Thank you all for the love, support & messages you have sent our way! We are beyond blessed!xoxo

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35 Weeks-"You are going to have a baby today!"

Monday, August 11, 2014

35 weeks

 He's on his way!!!

Friday August 8th at 11am was our 35 week appoitment. Just like any other appointment, I laid down on the bed, my doctor did my Group B Test & then started my ultrasound. We had zero fears or worries, only excitement to ask him about our 38 week delivery plan.

He started off measuring Cal's head. I see it measure 36 weeks & realize it will probably hit the abnormal "90%" we have been dreading. I then watched him measure his belly. It came up at 30 weeks. I knew immediately something was wrong. That good old familiar feeling we know so well. My doctor then proceeded to measure it several more times. He finally says out loud, "I'm getting 5 different measurements, and his belly is measuring small. You are going to have a baby today!" 

"TODAY???" 

"Yea! Today!" he said again sounding happy & excited. Eric was sitting next to me & was having a full blown heart attack at this point.

He went on to explain that Cal has stopped gaining weight and the only way to monitor him & assure weight gain is to get him out. He explained the pros & cons and reassured us he was would perfect, just small. He called it "Growth Restriction" a couple times and explained a couple possibilities. I was completely zoned out during that time & heard only a couple words muttered. My mind was running 100 mph trying to recall any & all information I knew about 35 week gestation babies. 

Still in shock we just stood there. I asked if I could at least go home & finish packing my hospital bag. He agreed as long as I could pass my NST monitoring for 20 minutes & we would check into L&D by 3pm.

We passed NST, and ran home. A million phones call & a ton of luggage later, we checked into our room at Kaiser Women's & Childrens. 

SO UNREAL! 

Little did we know, the craziness was about to ten fold...






We checked in & met our nurses at 2pm. Everyone was, and still is, amazing! Next was a super painful 3 IV attempts. OUCH! Then we waited for what felt like forever. Finally at 5pm a doctor came in. We had a plan! If only we had remembered that NOTHING goes according to plan...

 (The following format is the only way I can think to organize the madness that unfolded. Bear with me!)

Friday, August 8th: 

2pm: Checked into hospital. Got IV & everything set up.

5pm: Dr came in, checked my cervix & measure it at 0cm & 50% effaced.

6pm: First oral dose of Miso. Half dose of 50mcg. (A pill used to soften the cervix.)

10pm: Second dose of Miso. 100mcg this time. 

Somewhere around Midnight or 1am the doctor came in, checked me at 1cm & let me know that our next step would be a "foley bulb placed in my cervix." I knew it was going to be awful! Feel free to google it. It's a balloon placed & inflated in the cervix to force dilation. Tension is pulled on the excess tube hanging out & taped to the inner thigh. F THAT!




Saturday, August 9th:

1am-8am: Living hell. I proceeded to have nonstop contractions, 1 minute apart for hours, measuring 8/10 on the pain scale, WHILE feeling deathly ill & trying to get up to pee every 20 minutes to relieve all possible pressure. Too early for an epidural so I opted for 100mcg Fentanyl IV every 2 hours. Just enough to reduce my pain to a 7/10. HORRIBLE. The forced dilation of the bulb causes your body to dilated to a 3-4 & then the bulb falls out. Gross right? It was especially fun when the nurses would come in & TUG on the string every couple hours to see if it was still stuck. And it was!!! Dear god save me. Worst night of my life so far!

8am: The bulb FINALLY pulls out with ease. Thank you Jesus. I immediately felt a huge relief of pain & pressure. 

9am: It was time to start IV Pitocin at 2mL/min. (Drug that induces labor/contractions.)

9am-11pm: Pitocin is started at a low does to get contractions going, then increased in dose (2mL/min at a time) depending on your body. All day long the Pitocin would cause good contractions for 10-20 minutes, then they would die down and they would increase my dose. So, for about 15 hours, I had consistent contractions about 2-3 minutes. The doctor finally decided to check my cervix again. Before I was 3-4cm after the bulb fell out, and 15 hours later, I was back down to 2 CM!!! THAT'S RIGHT! TWO CM!!! Obviously I freaked out. But there was nothing anyone could do... They let me get up & take a hot shower. Luckily Kaiser's new private birthing rooms also have an amazing private bathroom & shower. Best thing ever. I could have stayed in there forever.




Sunday, August 11th:

Midnight-6am: By now my dose of pitocin was at 20mL/min. The max dose is 30mL/min. I was still having consistent contractions about 1 minute apart. No breaks in between. My nurse was concerned that with my increased amount of contractions, I did not have a huge increased in pain. My uterus was working so hard for so long, that it had grown weak. Can't say I blame it after working nonstop for almost 36 hours... Pure exhaustion. She was an angel & lowered my pitocin to 6ml/min & found a doctor to make a new plan...

8am: My doctor & nurse came in with the new plan I had been desperately waiting for... Until I heard it! The plan was to stop all medications for 24 hours, rest, then start again Monday morning at 8am. Yes, you read that right. Do nothing for 24 hours but sit & wait in agony to start again. I LOST IT!!!! Nonstop tears, begging for a csection, begging for anything but a 24 hours break & restart from the begging. But there was nothing I could do. Their reasons for the break were valid & they had mine & Cal's safety as their number one priority. 
*The reasons for the break: The uterus being a muscle was too tired to have strong contractions. Meaning that if I did deliver, it would not be strong enough to contract shut & control the bleeding. They were, and still are, very concerned with the possibility of hemorrhaging after delivery. Their only option then would be an emergency hysterectomy... NO THANKS! 

9am: Still crying, they unhooked my monitors & unhooked me from my IV pole & medications. I gladly got dressed & my amazing Eric went to get us a yummy breakfast! We ate breakfast & tried to wrap our heads out this crazy roller coaster. 

The rest of the day we spent in our room with a couple close friends & a couple close family members. We have been BEYOND blessed with their never ending love & support from the second we let them know that Baby Cal was on his way. There are no words to describe how amazing each one of them is. Love, support, food, gifts, texts, phone calls & then they do it all over again the next day. We are so grateful & blessed. 

Sunday night Eric & I got to shower again, turn on shark week & get a full nights sleep. It was pretty perfect for night 3 in the hospital. 








Monday, August 11th:

9:15am: We made it! It was time to start round 2. I was checked again & still 2 cm & 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. 

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


So believe it or not, that is how the past 4 days has been! The most unpredictable roller coaster possible. We are still so thankful that Cal is doing PERFECT through all of this. He has been monitored since Friday without one complaint. Such a good tough boy! 

Eric has been with me every second & the most amazing support & nurse possible. I can't move 99% of the time & he does anything I ask. Even with all his own stress & emotions to deal with, he's my rock! The best possible person to have by my side. I would die without him. 

As for today, we have no idea what it holds. I was promised by my doctor that we can discuss the idea of a cscetion after 12 hours of hard labor today with no changes in my cervix. But currently every other doctor has laughed at me when I mention a c-section. So we have no idea!

As for Baby Cal. His belly is measuring small, his head is measuring big & his femurs are perfect. They checked my placenta several times & it is working perfectly from what they can see. He measured closed to 4lbs 10oz on ultrasound. We are very aware that he will probably spend time in the NICU when he is born. Babies have to be breathing well & weigh 2000 grams or 4lbs 4oz to be able to stay with their mother after birth. But whatever is takes to have a healthy baby boy, we are ready for!

As you all know, it is really overwhelming to get tons of texts & phone calls with the same questions over & over again. So I will try to update & answer as things happen. At some point I will be too tired & you won't hear from us for a bit. But please pray for the three of us to survive this crazy unexpected journey! We can't wait to meet our son & start our new life together as a family!


On my Sunday break, Eric asked what I wanted and I had a random craving for diet coke. Probably just feeling rebellious. So he went to the vending machine & got one. I drank a few sips to satisfy the random craving & then we both noticed the "name" on my coke bottle. Of all the labels they have printed, we got "FAMILY." Best random coincidence all week! :)

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