Pics...

More pics of Aaden.....

Just can't resist!!!

Aaden has arrived!

After 44 hours of labor, I ended up having a somewhat emergent C-section on June 9th. I started taking some oral medicaion on June 7th to soften my cervix and that started some mild contractions. On June 8th I started on IV pitocin which brought on stronger more painful contractions. I ended up begging for an epidural after trying Stadol and Phenergan which only made the pain worse if that was even possible. It was a long day and around 1am on June 9th, Aaden started showing some signs of distress on the monitor. I spiked a fever at 3am and had major racking chills. I had a intrauterine monitor and Aaden had a fetal monitor on him so they were able to monitor us both closely. I was maxed out on Pitocin and was having very strong contractions every 3 minutes for about 2 hours. When the OB came to check me and I hadn't made any progress in those 2 hours, my hours of labor and opportunity to have a vaginal delivery were over. I was ok with the decison to have a c-section at that point because I was beyond tired. I didn't know if I even had anything left in me to actually push him out when the time came.

I was so tired when they were wheeling me into the OR. They started numbing my lower body through my epidural while I was still in my room so I was no help getting myself to the OR table. I started to panic because I couldn't take a deep breath because the epidural was numbing my chest wall. Very scary feeling and very unsettling. I thought at one point if I didn't calm down, they would intubate me and knock me out and I would miss his arrival into this world. Chris came in and was holding my hand and that made me feel a little better. It seemed to take forever before he came out. I didn't hear the 1st cry but Chris was videotaping and got some good footage. I then heard him cry and I was told to look to my right. The OB held him up for me to see. He was so angry looking and crying. The poor guy...pulled out of my warm body into this cold room with bright lights. It was so reassuring to hear him crying while I was laying there. The NICU team was there in case he had issues with breathing but soon they brought him to Chris to hold.

Throughout the surgery, I could feel a small window of discomfort that turned out to be a part of my uterus. Ow. As they were closing me up, my epidural was wearing off and the pain was getting worse. When they were done stitching me up, they warned me that they had to push down on my uterus to expel what was in there. The pain was unreal! I'm not sure but I think that was how the placenta was delivered. I have to ask about this at my follow up appointment. I got to finally hold Aaden after they moved me to my bed and they wheeled us out to the recovery room. Chris was there waiting for us. Shortly after, they took Aaden to check his blood sugar and suddenly he was whisked away to NICU. His blood sugar was less than 20 on two checks. I was so tired and in so much pain, I couldn't think straight. I knew he was in good hands. Chris looked stressed. Soon I was moved to my new room on the 2nd floor and Chris came in with my bags and some info from the NICU. He was exhausted and seemed overwhelmed by everything and having the baby in NICU and he headed home to get some sleep. I managed to fall asleep for brief periods of time.

The next 4 days I spent recovering. I could barely get in and out of the bed and turning over in the bed was brutal. Aaden spent a few days in NICU and was then transferred to the CCN. I managed to get to NICU on Tuesday night to see him. It was overhwelming to finally see him. He looked good but had an IV and was on the monitor. While in NICU, I was able to feed him and Kangaroo him which was awesome. At night in my room, I was grateful I was able to sleep but it felt wrong to have a baby in the NICU and not be with him.

I went home from the hospital on June 13th and Aaden was discharged onthe 14th. My one night home without him was spent in my hospital bed at home with a fever of 102 and the shaking chills. They presumed it was from a possible bladder infection and I started on antibiotics. If Aaden had come home with me, Chris would of been on his own because I would of been of no use that night!

We've been home for about a week and I'm loving it! Finally we get him all to ourselves! We've had visitors and my mom comes a lot to see him. Too bad he always seems to be sleeping when his Grammy is here. I'm still pumping because of latching issues but at least he's getting some breast milk from me. My nickname for him is "Sweet Cheeks". I love those cheeks! I am so excited for every moment with him and I'm excited to see what our future together will bring:)

Here we go!!!!!

At 7:20am this morning, my water broke!!! Thankfully Chris was home and was just about to get into the shower before he left for work. We called the OB who told us to come on down to the hospital. After soaking a waterproof pad and about 4 towels, 3 pair of underpants, we made it. No real contractions yet and the OB doesn't feel any reason to rush into Pitocin. We are going to wait and see what happens naturally and go from there. I'm on IV antibiotics to prevent an infection and to cover me in case I am Group B strep positive since I hadn't had that test yet. They took the culture in WETU because the pediatrician likes to know if mom was positive or not. My cerclage was removed successfully by my OB once I got up to the LDRP room. I feel so relieved to have that out.

I'm still in shock that I'm here in a hospital bed listening to his heartrate with an IV going. I am having some very mild contractions at times but it's more like uterine irritability than anything else. Sunday I will be 36 weeks. I'd like to make it till then but if it happens sooner, I'm told he will most likely do very well and may have a short stay in the NICU or the CCN for a few days. He may not be able to go home with me which was my main goal. I need to prepare myself to leave her possibly without him. That will be really hard for me.

Work friends and mom have been here to visit. My GD is suddenly behaving. It will be interesting to see what my blood sugar is tomorrow. So far I am having a stellar day although I didn't take any insulin this morning and didn't eat till lunch. I had way more carbs than usual at dinner and took my insulin and my blood sugar was perfect. They go by calories here, not carbs. Now I'm thinking I would have starved less on a calorie diet than what I was following. Oh well.

My baby boy is going to have an early June birthday. Tomorrow is Corinne's 20th birthday. Wouldn't it be interesting if Chris has 2 kids with the same birthday by 2 different women??

Almost there.....

I think I'm still in shock that I am past the 35 weeks pregnant milestone and heading to the 36 week mark! What happened??? In my mind, I had 34 weeks as my end point and now I can't believe this is happening! I'm still not feeling ready to deliver this little guy but maybe you never feel ready. I finished all my Childbirth and Breastfeeding classes and now we wait till the cerclage is removed which should happen on June 12th.

Today I had my BPP u/s and everything looks good once again. Then we had an appointment at the MFM office with the NP about my GD. My blood sugars are still not quite controlled and she increased my doses. I feel like this is a joke at this point. It's like they string you along and tell you once you're controlled you'll be able to "cheat" a little. Yeah right. I think the plan is to never get you under control. I'm almost at the end here and at this point, I've had enough. I can't cave into any food cravings I have. And what else is there for me to really enjoy right now other than food? Certainly not this hospital bed which by the way, will be going back to the DME company this month:)

I did get to see the Peri who put my cerclage in. I love this man and we got to thank him and brag that we made to almost 36 weeks after he predicted I may be luck to make 28 weeks. We made his day. And I asked him if he would take me to the OR to remove the cerclage with an epidural if my OB was unable to remove it in her office. He said he would. I hope he's actually available if that happens. I've decided if my OB can't get it out in the office, I'm not going to the MFM office to have other's try because I'm sure it's going to be horribly painful especially since it's been in there for so many weeks!

My breastfeeding class was interesting. The instructor happens to live on my street. Talk about having a resource! She gave me her phone number when we left and I've got a feeling she will be stopping over to check on me in the future.