Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Baby Eli's Birth

Life doesn't always go as planned and neither does having a baby. Eli isn't due for another few days, but Eli decided he wanted to come earlier than scheduled. I was able to hold him off for 3 weeks after the first pre-term labor incident by following strict bedrest, but on May 11, 2011 he decided he couldn't wait any longer and made his entrance into the world. He was born at 6:48pm weighing 6lbs 14oz and was 19 inches long.

The journey all started about 11pm the night before. I was just settling down for the night and started having a lot of cramps and pelvic pain. I didn't think anything of them, because I had been going in and out of labor every few days for the last 3 weeks. I decided to wait and see how things progressed before I went to he hopsital. I don't have normal contractions like everyone else, so I wasn't sure if I was actually in labor. Well I didn't sleep all night, and the pain got worse. About 5am it started to get really intense and I finally agreed to let Erik take me to the hospital. The closer to the hospital we got the more apparent it was that I was in labor.

Right when we got to the hospital, my water started to break. They checked me out and started to monitor me. They didn't believe I was in labor when I arrived, but I was 100% sure I was. After a half hour I was still dialated to a 3 and they were going to send me home. I told them that I was pretty sure my water broke and that they should check. I was right, it had broke so they admitted me. They dili dallied around and I finally got my epidural about an hour and a half later. Contractions are not pleasant, so it felt like an eternity waiting for my epidural. They are the worst thing I have ever experienced! After the epidural, My family and Erik's family showed up and hung out with Erik and I while I continued to dialate. I was happy as a clam cause I couldn't feel a thing so we had a great few hours visiting. IT was the best I had felt since I got pregnant and I was loving life at this point.

Once it was time to push,I kicked them all out and started the hard part. I pushed for almost 3 hours and the baby wasn't coming out. It turns out he was turned slightly sideways and couldn't get past my pelvic bone. The nurse called the doctor who came right in and assessed the situation. They did an ultrasound and he was definitely turned. The doctor couldn't get him turned back the right way and told me he had to either try forceps or rush me in for a c-section. He told me if the forceps didn't work then I was going to have to have a c-section immediately since It had been 13 hours since my water broke. This was because the risk of infection was too high at that point. They cleared a path to rush me to the O.R. and had it all prepped. By then the room was filled with about 12 medical professionals. Erik and I were pretty scared at this point. The doctor tried the forceps and after a lot of yanking he managed to get Eli out. His face is all bruised because he was pulled out so quickly. I was so grateful I didn't have to have a c-section though. They handed Eli to Erik and let him hold him after they got him cleaned up.

It took the doctor 45 minutes to stitch up all my lacerations so I had to wait to hold ELi till they were done. It was hard, cause I really wanted to hold my baby. When I finally got to hold him it was so surreal. He was so sweet and tiny. I was exhausted, but glad that Eli was safely here and in my arms. I spent the next two days in the hospital recovering. Erik and I roomed in with the baby and got to spend a lot of time bonding with him. I was pretty ripped up from the forceps and in a lot of pain, so Erik did most of the caring for him, so they got really close. When I felt good enough to sit up and hold him, I would have Erik hand him to me and I would cuddle with him.

The second day they took Eli to the NICU because his bilirubin levels were too high. When I would go to the NICU to feed him, I felt very blessed. He looked very healthy compared to the other babies that were there. After a day in the NICU they discharged us home with a photo therapy light bed for Eli. We had to keep Eli under there for about 4 days until his bilirubin levels came down. I was so grateful they let us take him home instead of keeping him in the NICU.

Since he has been off the lights, he has been really healthy and is gaining weight every day. Ever since we have been home, we have been enjoying our sweet little angel. He is the most adorable baby ever and melts my heart, every time I look at him. I am on the road to recovery and now enjoying life as a new mom. Here are the pictures from the birth.

I just want to mention on a side note, don't ever deliver at Timpanogos Hospital. Overall I had a very bad experience. I didn't see a doctor the first 12 hours at the hospital and one didn't show up till I had been pushing for almost 3 hours and things had turned bad. The nurses were not very supportive of my breastfeeding Eli, and I had to wait 3 hours between pain pills on 2 separate occasions. By the time they got them to me I was in agony and a sobbing mess. We had a bad experience with the pediatrician on call, and the discharge nurse was a complete jerk. I could go on and on, but I will leave it at that.































Bed Rest Birthday Party

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago on the 3rd of May. Since I was on bed rest my family decided to throw me a surprise party around my bed. It was the first party that I didn't even need to get out of bed for.
My mom came over that day to help me out with stuff. She was sweet and cleaned the whole house for me, made a delicious Chili dinner for the party, and hung out with me. The family all showed up around 7:30pm. My brother Matt even took a bus all the way from Taylorsville out to my house in Lehi to be there. We had ice cream cake, my mom's homemade gourmet dinner, and they all got me lots of nice gifts. I got lots of fun stuff for the baby and my dad gave me $100 to spend on something for myself. I really have such a great family. Here are the pictures.












Friday, May 6, 2011

Bedrest and Going Crazy

Since I went into pre-term labor 2 and a half weeks ago, I have been on bedrest. Let me tell you it has been an interesting adventure. It is so hard to lay in bed all the time when you don't feel tired or sick. Poor Erik has had to be my warden and yell at me to get back in bed a million times when I try to do things like take a cup out to the sink, or bend over and pick something up I dropped. It is hard to not do things when I feel physically capable. Thank goodness he cares enough to keep me in line. Of course I have learned the hard way more than once when Erik couldn't catch me in time, that it is a slippery slope I travel.

The first night I was home I just carried a couple items back and forth down the hall and ended up having to go back to the hospital within 4 hours. I have since made at least 3 other visits from doing something that I thought was no big deal. Some of those things have included bending over to put something in a bag, sitting up for too long at the computer, getting dressed, etc. So yeah....this bedrest thing is tough. You feel great one minute and then do something miniscule and the next thing you know you feel like you are going to die.

I have had some rough days the last week. I am just about ready to get this baby out of me. I love him and want to keep him safe, but at the same time I am so sick of feeling like a beached whale and having contractions every day. Thanks to my trusty magic pills(nifediphine) I have been able to stop the contractions though and am still pregnant. It is hard to feel like you are heading into labor all the time though, because it is really uncomfortable and painful. I know that this little baby inside of me is going to be worth it though. I can't wait to meet him.

The upside of bed rest is that I have had a lot of time to bond with my baby without having to worry about the hustle and bustle of daily life. It was hard to end my job so abruptly, but the moments I have had with Eli are worth it. I have gotten to feel his cute little personality and learn more of his sleep and wake patterns. I have also had time to read 3 books on subjects like breastfeeding, hypnobirthing techniques, and sleep helps for new babies. This information will be invaluable in helping me know what to do with him once he is born and make the transition easier. I wouldn't have had time otherwise since I was working full time.

Eli is so spunky. He is going to be my little ball of energy. Despite what we have gone through he is still super healthy and none of this has seemed to phase him. He has a strong heartbeat every time they monitor him, and he is constantly kicking the monitors off my stomach so they have to readjust them every ten minutes. This is comforting to me because it means he has good reflexes and he can react to what he perceives as noxious stimuli. He also loves to move to music that has a good beat. Every time I put on something dancy he will start moving around, and sometimes kicks to the beat. He is so going to be a dancer:) I love this little baby and can't wait to meet him and get to know him.