Daddy and me

Here I am at the hospital with my daddy holding me. Man am I cute!!! I look so little.

2nd day of eating

Well the doctors finally let me start eating out of a bottle yesterday. Good thing too because I was starving! I've been fed through an IV for the past 3 days and now it's time to get the real stuff. My mommy and daddy decided to film me eating today....enjoy!





See the tubes on my face...they were my oxygen tubes that assisted my breathing. They were feeding me 100% oxygen to help get rid of my pnuemothorax. At least I don't have to wear my helmet anymore.

I'm here!

Well after 37 weeks in my mom's nice, warm belly...I have arrived. Here is my mommy's version of the events that happened.

On July 14, 2007, I went to work like always at 3:30am. I was having contractions very sporadically, like always, and didn't even time them. My pubic bone had been hurting for about the past 24 hours and I kept complaining that it felt like it was going to break. At about 2:30 pm we were packing our house up to move the next day when the contractions started to get more consistent. At 3:30pm we went to Applebee's for lunch. As I sat there eating, the contractions started to get really strong and were 2 minutes apart. At one point, they actually brought tears to my eyes. So we left Applebee's at 4:30pm and headed straight home.

My husband, Erik, kept insisting that I call the doctor but I told him I wanted to go home and make sure that they were real contractions. I drank a large glass of water and lay on my left side for about two hours (I napped a little too because the contractions didn't hurt as much when I was lying down). When I got up at 6:30pm, the contractions were more bearable and were 3-4 minutes apart. I finally called the hospital and told them what was going on. They, of course, told me to come in. So we packed a bag and headed towards the hospital a while later. I finally arrived at the hospital a little after 8pm. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and sure enough strong contractions that were 3 minutes apart. She checked to see if I was dilated and I was barely a fingertip (which is good because I was breech and only 37 weeks along). The doctor was reluctant to say I was in labor and wanted me to do a dose of tributalin. Well that stuff made me so shaky that I looked like I was having seizures. After another half an hour passed, the nurse checked me again and I was a full fingertip dilated. The contractions also never stopped as a result of the tribulalin, they just spread out to 4-5 minutes apart. Since they didn't stop, the doctor ordered another round of tributalin…..uggghhhh!

Finally, at 11pm the doctor came into my room. He said to me, "So, I hear you want to have a birthday today?" I replied, "Yes." He then said, "Well can I make it tomorrow because I can't get you into the O.R. until after midnight." He had to deliver a set of twins via c-section first. Being that I was only 37 weeks along and still breech, they didn't want me to dilate too much more and wanted to proceed with the c-section. At around 1am, I got up and walked myself down to the O.R. with the nurse and my husband. I received a spinal for the operation which didn't agree with me and I had quite a bit of vomiting on the table. After being cleared to go ahead, the surgery began. At 1:38am, Bryce was born. He was 7 lbs. 15 oz and was 19.6 inches long. He was just perfect. They showed him to me over the drape then brought him to me after he was wrapped up for a quick kiss and picture. They took him straight to the nursery for further examination. Oh yeah, he scored an 8 on the first APGAR, then a 9 one the next one. For the next 12 hours I suffered from extreme nausea due to the pain meds they were giving me. For anyone who has had a c-section....it is horrible to feel that you have been cut in half then to heave on top of it. The doctor actually thinks that I strained my stomache muscles severely and I am still trying to recover from it almost 2 weeks later. I would also like to add, from a person who has done both a vaginal birth and a c-section....I really believe that a vaginal birth is much easier to recover from. The only pain I really felt from a vaginal birth was when I had to pee. It was a reminder that I had pain "down there", but it was still bearable. Since having a c-section, I have to double over to cough, sneeze or even laugh. I am still sore almost two weeks later.

The Hospital Stay

Now back to the birth...after Bryce was examined, they determined that he was breathing too fast and that he had fluid in his lungs (which is common with c-section babies). They kept him in the nursery for further observation and because I wasn't able to have him in my room yet because of the recovery. When I finally woke up later that morning, the pediatrician came in to tell me more about Bryce's breathing. They did a chest x-ray on him and confirmed that he had fluid in his lungs. At that time, they also discovered a pneumothorax. It is an air pocket that developed on the lung after birth. They happen very quickly and sporadically. The doctor told me that they were going to have to put Bryce on oxygen for the pneumothorax and antibiotics for the fluid in the lung (to prevent pneumonia). I was able to be wheeled into see Bryce and hold him before they proceeded with the oxygen hood. He was under the oxygen hood until Wednesday. He was still going to receive oxygen but this time it was just through his nose prongs. He was cleared for the fluid and continued to improve from then on. I was finally able to hold him again on Wednesday and we were cleared to finally start feeding him. Before then, he was fed with the IV in his hand. I was released from the hospital on that day too. I became known as a boarder. A boarder is someone who is able to stay at the hospital for free in a room so that they can still be close to their baby. They gave us food gift cards for the cafeteria and room service. It was nice to be able to still be so close to Bryce even if he couldn't be in my room. We went to the nursery every 2 hours to be with him and fed him every 3 hours. The nurses were shocked that we even went in for the late night feedings. They began finally weaning Bryce off the oxygen on Thursday. He did really great with it. On Saturday night, the nurses did a lot of prep for Bryce to be released which included being put in his car seat and monitored to see that his breathing was still under control. It was a major step towards being released. On Sunday, we finally got the okay to go home! Bryce was released at 5pm. I have to say that it was really bittersweet. The nurses really became a huge part of our life and family while we were at the hospital. We received so many gifts from them. One nurse gave Bryce his own Josh Groban cd that she played for him everyday while he was there. She believed that it really helped his healing process because he began to improve after she started to play the cd. We received hand crafted quilts, a teddy bear and even a matching hat, blanket, mittens and booties set. I can't say enough about these fabulous ladies…they really made our stay so much more bearable. I would also like to remind everyone that their local nursery really could use more clothes in preemie and newborn sizes. They love donations! Anyways, that's about it. We are finally home and doing great. Bryce is really a mellow fellow and hardly ever cries. The only time he attempts to cry is diaper changing time or clothes changing time…he really doesn't like to be naked.