My baby is here!

I tried to write some things down when we were in the hospital and decided to post them now, in separate posts. Unfortunately there are only a few (I WISH I had done more!); I did have a big list of little details like weight gain and such on my phone, but then it decided to crash a few weeks after we got home, before I transferred that info to my computer :( :( I lost all of that info and quite a few pictures :( I still want to cry about it! Learn from my mistakes, friends! Back ALL your things up.

ANYWAY! Something that you probably didn't know, that is included in this post, is that Trevor's left humerus was fractured during his delivery, so there is a little info about that, too. 

Wednesday March 11, 2015

Yesterday I had a baby. WHAT? hahaha! Trevor’s due date was April 15th. Last night I’m laying in bed, fast asleep, and then I wake up to a flash flood. In my pants. BAH! I knew right then that my water had broken. I woke Braxton up, told him to go upstairs and get my mom and sister (Sydney), then went to the bathroom to try and figure the whole mess out ha! They came down and asked if I’d just peed my pants (I wish), but after seeing the sheets and I think they understood ;) Thank GOODNESS Syd is not only a Labor and Delivery Nurse, but works where I delivered! I needed her cuz I was so shocked that my brain went empty and I had no idea what to do! She called the hospital for me to tell them I was coming in, and we went on our way. 10 minutes later, we were checking in (thank goodness for Alta View Hospital that’s so close to my house)! Syd, came with us cuz I was freaking out. I got into my hospital gown and they started to check everything out. I’d started having contractions and was ready for a long night ahead! Sure enough my water had ruptured, I was at a 2, and… the baby had flipped around and was now breach. Whhaaat? At my appointment a week and half before he was still head down-- little stinker! So they started to talk real fast and Syd said, “You know that this means that you’re having a c-section right?” Since contractions were starting, they couldn't have labor progress when he was turned around, so no vaginal birth for me. Funny side note: a couple months before, I had told Syd that I refused to have a c-section because I was scared of the recovery, and she told me to not say that because if I ended up really having one then I would be totally freaked out! Luckily, I was calm about the whole thing. Phew! Before we went into the OR, Braxton and my doctor, Russ, gave me a blessing. It was perfect :)

Waiting to be examined

We knew it was the start of a long night, so Brax grabbed a snack haha

In the OR, the anesthesiologist started the epidural.. I WAS TERRIFIED! For some reason I was just convinced that it was going to hurt like crazy! But surprise surprise, it wasn’t bad at ALL! I can really psych myself out sometimes haha After the epidural started working, I threw up a few minutes later, which wasn’t so glamorous and then lost all feeling in my lower half. Craziest feeling ever. My doctor and a fellow OB went to work and at 4:53 AM on Tuesday March 10th, my little boy was here! He started crying and I was flooded with relief! That meant that his lungs were at least somewhat ok :) They put him in a blankie, did some stuff and brought in over to me. It was such a special moment that I’m not even going to attempt to describe! In that moment I STILL wasn’t really thinking about the whole Down Syndrome thing.

Chubby cheeks!

I went into the recovery room while Brax accompanied our little boy to the nursery. My blood pressure was really low for awhile so I was back there for a bit, and my sister came in. That was when I finally started thinking about Down Syndrome. We had a really good conversation about it and we both cried and talked about what it could mean for our family. Then Braxton and the pediatrician on call came in. The pediatrician (Dr. Erickson) said that he wasn’t positive if he had it or not, but that there were some classic physical markers that indicated it was likely; the creases in his palms, his floppy tone, and the extra skin on the back of his neck. He also told me that Trevor had a broken arm- because of his low muscle tone, his left arm got all tangled up behind his head somehow and he kinda got stuck during the C-section. They really had to yank his little arm down to get him out and it broke in the process :( BUT, I was surprisingly calm about the whole thing and wasn’t upset about the Down Syndrome or his arm at all. Dr. Erickson also said that for a preemie he was doing good, and that was a relief! 5 lbs, 5 oz, and 18 inches long is a good size for a baby who came 5 weeks early! Today my mom told me that when she was talking to Dr. Erickson, he told her that when you get a call in the middle of the night for a 35 week baby, it’s not a good thing and makes you instantly worried. But he also said that considering how well he’s doing for his age, he’s so happy with his health. I am so grateful that Dr. Erickson is on call right now because he is do great! He explains things to Brax and I really well and just wonderful. Russ (my OB/GYN) said that of all the pediatricians at Altaview, he thinks Dr. Erickson is the most knowledgeable and best ped. Excellent :) 

You can kind of see the break in his arm, poor little man :(

The nurses tried to wrap his arm up a little so he wouldn't move it

 

ANYWAY…. Once my blood pressure went back to a normal range, they wheeled me into the nursery in my hospital bed. Holding my baby for the first time was unforgettable! I couldn’t believe I was a MOM! I still can’t haha! When I saw him I couldn’t tell right off the bat if he had DS because he was still so newborn looking… but I just felt like he did. It’s hard to explain but I could just feel it. Then the more I held him and looked at him, I could see those markers the ped was talking about. My mom and Braxton’s parents came in and we just took it all in. It had been a crazy few hours! After I held him for a little while they took me back to a postpartum room and we all visited there for a little bit. Once everyone left I honestly don’t remember too much of what happened… haha! At some point I went down to the nursery again to be with our baby :) We still didn’t know if he was Derek or Trevor!

tiny little feet!

 

I went back to the nursery later today. He’s not on oxygen, which is amazing for a 35 week baby! He did have an IV, though. Dr. Erickson said that he’d sent the baby’s blood to the lab so they could do a Karyotype test that would tell us if he had DS or not- the results would be back later that week. I fed my baby a bottle and and just snuggled him. Just barely I was back in there and we tried to see what he would do with nursing… not a whole lot happened haha! But it’s been a great day and I love my little guy so much!

 

The little bed in the nursery where he will stay until further notice