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:)