Levi's Birthday (and the two days before it)

Order of Events:

Sunday Morning 2/26: contractions starting in the early morning hours until 11:30am, they were 4-5 minutes apart and then just stopped.

Sunday Night 2/26: contractions started again at 11pm. They went from being 20 minutes apart then to 4-5 minutes apart at 6:30 on Monday morning. William got home about then so when a few of them were particularly strong, we decided to head to the hospital. 

At the hospital we got settled into a labor room because triage was full.  We were monitored for about 3 hours.  I was checked twice and was told that I was 4cm and 75% effaced.  Because my cervix made no change in that amount of time, they decided my labor wasn't "strong" enough  and I was sent home.  When they sent me home it was like 12:30pm and my contractions were 2 minutes apart.  I decided it was incredibly ridiculous but that I was starting so we headed to get lunch.  Jonna joined William, my mom and I and we headed to PF Changs for my last meal (if I only knew it would be my last meal for a day and a half). After eating we headed out for a 3 hour mall walk.  I was determined not to go back home.  During that time my contractions strengthened and I even had to stop and sit down many times.  But they were more like 4-5 minutes apart and my fear that they had "slowed" kept me from going back to the hospital.  I got extremely tired and my lower body was beginning to swell so I went home to take it easy.  I felt so defeated. 

My dad joined the labor party and my cousin, Meredith, brought us some delicious food.  After dinner, I felt as if my contractions were dying off and accepted defeat that maybe I was in false labor.  I went to take a bath and get ready for bed.  William laid down ( he had been awake for more than 24 hours) and told me to tell him when it was time.  My mom and I sat on the couch prepared to time the false labor until it turned to something else.  Within minutes I was gasping for breath and shaking almost uncontrollably.  I went back to my room to change into different clothes or get back in the bathtub or something and it was then that I decided I was ready to go back to the hospital.  I woke William up and let's just say that starting then I don't think I have been able to wake William up easily (this continues to be a little "issue"). 

We got to the hospital and I checked in again.  My contractions were 5 minutes apart and I was dilated 5 cm.  Finally... progress.  Although not much.  The doctor that sent me home earlier that day was still on call... thank the lord he admitted me.  Once we were admitted and got settled in my contractions were starting to get really strong.  William was also exhausted.  We turned off the lights and tried to get some "rest". Around 12:15am on Tuesday I lost it. I was hysterical, so tired, in tons of pain and getting concerned about William's lack of sleep.  It seems crazy, but if William would have been well rested I would have held out longer for the epidural.  He was really in no shape to help a screaming pregnant lady though (absolutely no fault of his, gotta love his job). So anyways, after the epidural I obviously felt a ton better.  I was so nervous about the epidural and the catheter... but really they were no big deal.  Then again, I'm fine with needles and take medical procedures well... if you don't, you might not have liked these as much as me.  And my thought about my first catheter? I wish I still had it! I mean seriously, getting up to pee is so annoying... Anyways, moving on. At 1am I was finally 6cm (or so they thought).  At 3am I was 7cm (again so they thought).  At 4:30am my water broke on it's own.  That in itself was such a big relief.  It meant I was seriously in labor. Unfortunately when they checked me again then they realized I was only 5cm dilated.  They had checked me during contractions prior to this and apparently that gave them he inaccurate readings. That's when the doctor started me on pitocin.  The doctor was beginning to realize I wasn't progressing appropriately.  Around this time, in typical pitocin fashion Levi started having decelerations in his heartbeat after contractions.  So from then on out I was told how to lay and spent the rest of my time until delivery on oxygen (which is quite drying).  Levi was fine as long as I was laying on my side and had the oxygen on... so that's just how we kept it.  

We went through a nursing shift change and a doctor shift change. At 8am a different doctor from my practice took over my care. He coincidentally was also my previous doctor's father. So at 8am he checked me and I was back at 7cm... for real this time. Basically from that point on he let me labor and checked me a few more times.  At 10am the nurse checked me and I was 9 cm.  My epidural was starting to wear off so I definitely could tell when each contraction was coming and going.  Then at 11:00 the doctor checked me again and I was 9.5 cm with a rim of cervix left.  I was  cautioned that didn't mean I was almost done. I was getting really uncomfortable and exhaustion didn't describe how tired I was. At noon he came and checked me for the last time.  I had made no progress.  He said it was baby time and said we were going with plan B.  C Section. A few minutes before this I had asked William if he thought we should choose c-section if it was offered... but boy was I glad it was a "choice". I was very nervous about being numb enough... the last few times I was checked I felt it which really surprised the nurse anesthetist so she started giving me the big drugs immediately after the doctor said go.  

Reasoning: Why did I have a c-section? 

3 reasons: My cervix did not thin out the right way.  It is supposed to be like a big thin rubber band and stretch out... but mine was thick.  Doctor said... stretching a big thick rubber band is pretty impossible.

My cervix was bruised.  Levi was beating his head into it over and over.  He should have just been pushing on it... but he wasn't staying far enough down. 

Levi has a big head and I'm a little person.  They must have asked me 10 times how tall I was during labor.  

About the c-section:

It was so fast.  Everything. From the time doc said c-section until I was holding Levi was about 1hour and 30 minutes.  It really wasn't all that bad though.  I was nervous, but that's to be expected.  But I've had surgery before and knew that doctors would make sure everything was fine.  William did great. I was worried he would pass out or something.  He took some pictures and went to watch them clean up Levi and weigh him. I remember the doctor saying, Wow, look at that red hair.  I was shocked! Before leaving the OR I made sure to ask the doctors "So when exactly can I eat and drink?".  I was HUNGRY to say the least. 

The worst part about Levi's birth story is how little of it I actually remember.  It has taken me 4 days to write this because I have basically had to ask William to retell it like 10 times.  Also, my medicated state kept me from holding Levi for quite some time after the birth.  I was terrified that I would drop him.  William picked up the slack though and basically wouldn't let anyone else hold him for several hours.  

Some funny things:

William could have named our baby anything he wanted... because I definitely don't have any recollection of the birth certificate lady coming.  

My cousin Meredith came to visit that first night... but I asked William 3 days later when she was going to come visit. 

If you read this entire post... you get a gold star!

Doing much better...

Levi, William and I are doing much better after today.  We had an eventful morning that I talked about in our previous post, but really we have come full circle in just a few hours.

This morning Levi had another "choking" episode which resulted in the nursery staff deciding to suction him.  While obviously this type of intervention is a last step sort of thing, sometimes it is necessary.  Levi needed a little extra help getting rid of that junk. Since then, no choking has occurred, so we are hoping the problem has been fixed. I still plan on propping him up tonight so that I can feel more relaxed sleeping with him.

He continued to be uninterested in feeding, so we called in the lactation consultant.  As an SLP I have a TON of respect for the profession of LC's and couldn't wait to hear her input and advice.  She listened to our story, assessed our feeding and quickly came up with a plan for us.  First thing she noticed was Levi's inability to wake up to feed.  So we immediately took his blood sugar to see if that was what was causing it.  His blood sugar was very normal... thank the Lord! She also noticed that we were having a horrible time latching.  Levi is a big kid and so we had to change up our positioning and mindset about nursing.  The third thing she noticed was Levi's suck/swallow reflex was a little uncoordinated and he wasn't using nutritive sucking.  There are a few ways to change this, but she thought maybe his biggest issue was that he would be more successful with a greater flow of milk (something my body can't yet provide).  She tested her theory with a little tube and some water... and sure enough, he sucked the whole syringe dry without a single mL pushed in by her. So our solution, until my body is producing more milk is to finger feed Levi after attempting a breast feed.  This allows us to work on our latch issues, get Levi fed (and keep up his interest in feeding and his energy level) and gives me time to pump to stimulate my production for future breast feeding.  We also avoid nipple confusion by giving him the finger instead of a bottle.  Plus William gets to be involved.

I also took a nice shower today and put on real clothes! So refreshing! Levi even put on some clothes too! 

Meanwhile, he STILL has red hair.  It's beginning to look "fire-engine" red. 

Our goal for tonight is sleep... so hopefully that will work out! 

I will try and back track tomorrow to post Levi's birth story... but until then... 

Such a proud amazing daddy! 

UPDATE on Levi

Our precious angel is here and I definitely want to blog more about his awesomely stubborn birth soon, right now I just want to ask for some prayers for him.

I had to have an "emergency" c-section in order to deliver Levi.  Because of this, Levi has some residual mucus in his lungs.  Thus far they are considered "normal" and have not required the NICU or anything... which we are thankful for.  However, Levi has been spitting up these things and basically he is unable to get them out of his mouth.  This makes for gurgling, choking, gagging and possible color change due to not breathing.  We had not experienced it ourselves (just reported from the nursery) until yesterday afternoon.  He had an episode in our room, but my nurse was walking into the room and handled it well.

Then, last night Levi was having a fussy period.  There was lots of crying between eleven and two.  No big deal except we were exhausted.  Our baby nurse, E, said she needed to do some 36 hour testing on LEvi so at 2am she took him to the nursery for that.  He was expected to feed again at 3 and so she said she'd just bring him back them.  William and I jumped at the change to get an hour of sleep.  We both crashed hard.  At 3am, Erin brought Levi in and told me (William is a very hard sleeper we are learning) that at 3:30 we should try to wake him to get him to eat.  I set my alarm and went back to sleep with him in the crib next to me.

Everything happened so fast after that... I woke up to a tiny gurlging sound.  At first I had trouble placing the sound and then panic set in.  Levi was making it and I couldn't get up.  I started screaming at William praying that William would hear me and wake up... because William is a very hard sleeper and it has been taking me throwing a pillow at him to wake him up.  William heard me on the second yell (a record for him) and I said I think Levi is spitting up. I turned on the light and William looked at him and said, he's fine.  He wasn't making the noise anymore.  So as I started to turn off the light, William said to wait and I realized William had already started to use the suction bulb on him trying to clear some of the mucus.  I yelled for William to pick him up and turn him over and I pushed my call button. I tried to yell "the baby is choking" like they asked us to do, but my voice cracked.  The nurse said "what??" so I tried again... "THE BABY IS CHOKING".  Five mommy nurses filled the room.  One grabbed Levi and flipped him upside down and started slapping him on the back.  The other grabbed the suction bulb and started suctioning him as fast as possible.  The other's kept asking "has he taken a breath" and things like that.  I called the nursery nurse and someone came running in from there as well.  It took about 5 minutes to get everything cleared out of his airway and for him to be breathingly clearly on his own.

I'm so thankful that I woke up to his noises, I can't believe that I did and I can't imagine how bad it would have been if I didn't.  We now have a new way of him sleeping in his crib.  He gets to break the back to sleep rule and needs to sleep propped up and on his side. I was also given permission to sleep with pillows surrounding me and him with him in skin to skin.  They said that it's not allowed in the hospital typically but with him it was almost necessary.

Since that episode Levi hasn't really fed.  This is frustrating.  He has basically only eaten every 6 hours since he was born.  And now he is going longer.  I'm going to begin pumping today to try and make things progress with my body and we will feed him with a syringe.

Other than that, I am doing very well.  Yesterday I got to take a "half" shower and I even walked around the recovery floor.  Today I got my epidural out and plan on getting my IV out and taking a real shower! We will probably be in the hospital until Saturday morning/afternoon.

A look back...

It's 5am on a Saturday

Well... it's 5am on a Saturday.  I had to get up to pee (I mean I'm 9 months pregnant give me a break) at about 3:30.  Then William got up for work at 4:00 and here I am, still up at 5:00am.  Pretty typical.

So what do you do when you are wide awake at 5:00am? Today I paid bills and caught up on my blog reading and now I'm actually writing a blog post.  Quite productive wouldn't you say?

Thanks to everyone who expressed concern over my friends over the past few weeks.  I know it was also probably not easy to see me feeling down at such an "exciting" time in my life.  But alas, let's get one thing straight... the last month of pregnancy is not exactly "exciting". I can think of about a million other words to explain it (exhausting, tiring, frustrating, nerve wracking, anxiety filled, scary) but "exciting" isn't my word choice.  Sorry. Anyways, all that to say, I am feeling a bit better about things.  As painful as it has been to watch my friend Whitney and her husband Eric receive the sad news about their son, Thatcher, I have also been comforted by their strength and wisdom.  Their faith is amazing, way stronger than mine, and seeing this has helped me realize that we really can get through anything with God. If you want to be encouraged too... they have a new blog to document their journey.  It is raw and real and sad and encouraging all at the same time.

My little pregnancy ticker says I have 5 days left until my due date. That's crazy. But, boy are we ready. We even did a little nesting this past week... I hung up some new wall art I made, William helped me finish knocking the built-ins out of our random empty room with no purpose extra spare bedroom. I even spackled and painted over the bright orange and green that was under them.  Levi's room is all prepared.  Our bags are packed and waiting by the door. I've finished up as many of the evaluations at school as possible.  Even sat in on a tough 3 hour long ARD yesterday (oh, did I mention I'm still working).  Speaking of working... is it really THAT shocking that I'm still working? Yes yes, I'm 39 weeks pregnant... but yall know me.  I don't stop going.  Nothing slows me down.  So you can bet that a watermelon or 10lbs. baby attached to my front won't either.  Besides, I'm pretty sure my principal would have cried if I went into labor before that ARD today.  Funny story actually... during the ARD, I was standing up and leaning across the table to point to a chart I gave the parent.  I was feverishly explaining it and probably getting a little worked up (not that I noticed) and then all of a sudden my principal is like "PEYTON!! Breathe!!!" I turned to look at her and shut up for two seconds stopped talking and realized I was literally gasping for breath.  Whoops... Oh well, the committee was amused and it probably broke up some of the tension.  We all had a good laugh about me going into labor during the meeting.

So anyways... where does that leave us??? WAITING! I HATE waiting! I'm the least patient person in the world. I'm a get-things-done-now kind of a girl. I do NOT procrastinate (which make me the antithesis of my husband).  William on the other hand is, of course, happy for Levi to wait to come out when his vacation starts on Wednesday.  William clearly isn't the one carrying this child.  Don't worry... I've had enough emotional break downs in the past week to make him almost wish Levi would just come now. Because the only thing worse that being 9 months pregnant is being married to someone 9 months pregnant me.

Now, just to spice up this post a bit... I leave you with a phone dump.

 My little man

 William and Lucy

 Levi's art work from Dana

 Lucy makes a good pillow

 38 weeks

 New wall art

 39 weeks

I went to the bathroom while writing this post and came back to a Lucy in my spot... figures.

And the musical stylings of Colin!