the whole story will have to come later but I have a minute, somehow, and I just need some hugs.
So last I posted in the "still prego" thread in the morning of 7/23 before I went to work. Id had some painful but irregular contractions through the night but fallen back asleep. I tiredly went to work and continued to have some painful but not too bad and irregular, like 5-15 mins contractions. It wasn't too busy at work so I got to leave at 1130. I went to Trader Joes and got some trail mix and some other things then Dairy Queen to get an ice cream cake for when ever the big day would be. It's a 20 minute drive home and I stopped for gas along the way. I tried to take a nap but they didn't really slow down so I got up and told DH that we should maybe start think about getting things ready just in case. At 1:15 I called the midwife to give her a heads up that they were painful and now about 5-10 minutes but that I didn't think she needed to come yet. DH and I did the "stuff" the midwife said we should do like boil water and get the bed made. DH moved the tub outside and got it all set.
at 2:15 I called the midwife back and said it was time to come since she was an hour away, and for the grandparents to come get the toddler. Contractions continued and got closer together and when I stopped counting them at 2:45 they were down to every 2-3 mins. I labored outside with the sun on my back for only about 30 minutes after we finally got everything "ready". the midwife showed up about 3:15-3:30 ish and I was 9 with a bulging bag of water. I knew I had a bulging bag because I could feel it! but still contractions weren't too bad, I was very surprised I was 9 since I figured I was about 5-6. I got in the tub then and had about 2 contractions before all the sudden I was pushy. it was strange to me it was like a light switch and not gradual. So I started pushing. DH was behind me pushing on my back which felt really good. I remember midwife telling me to slow down once I felt the burning but I never really felt it until the last push as he was crowning. I couldn't tell you what position I was in but I think half sitting on my left with my right up some because I delivered him myself after I finally just reached down and broke my water on the contraction before he was born. it was bulging out so I figured maybe that'd help it along.
The first thing I thought when his head was born but not his shoulders was that he didn't have much hair! I pushed without a contraction to deliver the shoulders and pulled my sweet little surprise baby up to see that it was a boy. The sun was shining, the birds were flying around, and everything was perfect. He was a little slow to cry and pink up so he got a little blow by O2 and his apgars were 6/9. He was 19.5 in, weighed 6lbs 9 oz and had a nice-for-mama 34 OFC which was a peanut after my DS1's 37 OFC. I had no tears, not even a skid mark, and everything was wonderful.
The big surprise was that instantly when I met him I knew he had Down Syndrome. Im scared to watch the birth video because in the shock of it I'm afraid of what free thoughts might have floated out of my mouth. We had done a quad screen with negative results and nothing abnormal was noted on the 20 week ultrasound. We hung out together outside in the sun and nursed for a couple hours. Papa took baby and held him skin to skin in the sun for awhile too while I got cleaned up.
The excitement started when baby started to sleep and got kind of pale and shallow respirations. We were already talking to the neonatologist because we didn't know how to proceed and being a nurse myself, I knew babies with Down Syndrome have high chances of cardiac problems I didn't want him being at home and having an issue. His O2 sat was low and he looked a little punky so we called the ambulance. They came within a few minutes and checked out fine when they showed up. A paramedic showed up about 2 mintues later and by then baby was a little pale again and they got more worried. At this point I started to realize he might have significant health problems and I started crying a lot.
We went via lights and sirens to the local hospital, where I happen to work on L&D so I had already told them we were coming and they had extra doctors and staff on hand in the ER waiting for us. He looked good when we got there so we went up to the nursery and got settled in.
Long story shortened... that was 7/23. he was still nursing and doing well with just O2 support for the first day. He started working harder and harder to breathe and now we are at a higher lever NICU and he is on a ventilator. He is doing well and I think they think the outlook is good he just needs time to rest and recuperate. I'm pumping and making my normal Jersey style quantities of milk which is good so he'll have something later when he can eat again. I feel so sad for all the poking and prodding hes been through and all the antibiotics and tubes and non-bonding time that he's getting. I wonder how all that imprints him for life. Obviously he needs what will keep him around for a life, but it's just not the serene, lounge around the house for 2 weeks, play with baby cloth diapers, nurse ad lib, babymoon that I had envisioned. DH and I are both still adjusting and grieving the vision of what our family was going to be but also looking forward to the new life and special baby that we have and what he will bring to our familes.
he's really super cute and very fiesty. i'm curious to get the genetic test back only to know what kind of dislocation there was with it. he has some of the outward features but not all and has no heart defects (YAY). Only time will tell about the rest but we're just hoping to get him better and out of here just as soon as he'll let us.
Edited by mamahen2coop - 7/23/12 at 3:47pm
So last I posted in the "still prego" thread in the morning of 7/23 before I went to work. Id had some painful but irregular contractions through the night but fallen back asleep. I tiredly went to work and continued to have some painful but not too bad and irregular, like 5-15 mins contractions. It wasn't too busy at work so I got to leave at 1130. I went to Trader Joes and got some trail mix and some other things then Dairy Queen to get an ice cream cake for when ever the big day would be. It's a 20 minute drive home and I stopped for gas along the way. I tried to take a nap but they didn't really slow down so I got up and told DH that we should maybe start think about getting things ready just in case. At 1:15 I called the midwife to give her a heads up that they were painful and now about 5-10 minutes but that I didn't think she needed to come yet. DH and I did the "stuff" the midwife said we should do like boil water and get the bed made. DH moved the tub outside and got it all set.
at 2:15 I called the midwife back and said it was time to come since she was an hour away, and for the grandparents to come get the toddler. Contractions continued and got closer together and when I stopped counting them at 2:45 they were down to every 2-3 mins. I labored outside with the sun on my back for only about 30 minutes after we finally got everything "ready". the midwife showed up about 3:15-3:30 ish and I was 9 with a bulging bag of water. I knew I had a bulging bag because I could feel it! but still contractions weren't too bad, I was very surprised I was 9 since I figured I was about 5-6. I got in the tub then and had about 2 contractions before all the sudden I was pushy. it was strange to me it was like a light switch and not gradual. So I started pushing. DH was behind me pushing on my back which felt really good. I remember midwife telling me to slow down once I felt the burning but I never really felt it until the last push as he was crowning. I couldn't tell you what position I was in but I think half sitting on my left with my right up some because I delivered him myself after I finally just reached down and broke my water on the contraction before he was born. it was bulging out so I figured maybe that'd help it along.
The first thing I thought when his head was born but not his shoulders was that he didn't have much hair! I pushed without a contraction to deliver the shoulders and pulled my sweet little surprise baby up to see that it was a boy. The sun was shining, the birds were flying around, and everything was perfect. He was a little slow to cry and pink up so he got a little blow by O2 and his apgars were 6/9. He was 19.5 in, weighed 6lbs 9 oz and had a nice-for-mama 34 OFC which was a peanut after my DS1's 37 OFC. I had no tears, not even a skid mark, and everything was wonderful.
The big surprise was that instantly when I met him I knew he had Down Syndrome. Im scared to watch the birth video because in the shock of it I'm afraid of what free thoughts might have floated out of my mouth. We had done a quad screen with negative results and nothing abnormal was noted on the 20 week ultrasound. We hung out together outside in the sun and nursed for a couple hours. Papa took baby and held him skin to skin in the sun for awhile too while I got cleaned up.
The excitement started when baby started to sleep and got kind of pale and shallow respirations. We were already talking to the neonatologist because we didn't know how to proceed and being a nurse myself, I knew babies with Down Syndrome have high chances of cardiac problems I didn't want him being at home and having an issue. His O2 sat was low and he looked a little punky so we called the ambulance. They came within a few minutes and checked out fine when they showed up. A paramedic showed up about 2 mintues later and by then baby was a little pale again and they got more worried. At this point I started to realize he might have significant health problems and I started crying a lot.
We went via lights and sirens to the local hospital, where I happen to work on L&D so I had already told them we were coming and they had extra doctors and staff on hand in the ER waiting for us. He looked good when we got there so we went up to the nursery and got settled in.
Long story shortened... that was 7/23. he was still nursing and doing well with just O2 support for the first day. He started working harder and harder to breathe and now we are at a higher lever NICU and he is on a ventilator. He is doing well and I think they think the outlook is good he just needs time to rest and recuperate. I'm pumping and making my normal Jersey style quantities of milk which is good so he'll have something later when he can eat again. I feel so sad for all the poking and prodding hes been through and all the antibiotics and tubes and non-bonding time that he's getting. I wonder how all that imprints him for life. Obviously he needs what will keep him around for a life, but it's just not the serene, lounge around the house for 2 weeks, play with baby cloth diapers, nurse ad lib, babymoon that I had envisioned. DH and I are both still adjusting and grieving the vision of what our family was going to be but also looking forward to the new life and special baby that we have and what he will bring to our familes.
he's really super cute and very fiesty. i'm curious to get the genetic test back only to know what kind of dislocation there was with it. he has some of the outward features but not all and has no heart defects (YAY). Only time will tell about the rest but we're just hoping to get him better and out of here just as soon as he'll let us.
Edited by mamahen2coop - 7/23/12 at 3:47pm
What a crazy, scary, wonderful day. Congratulations on your beautiful son! I hope he is out of the NICU and back home relaxing with you before you know it. 
. breaks my heart. But at this point I still just want to do what ever he needs to just get better and home. They said as soon as he's off the ventilator we can hold him again so I'm looking forward to that. He's very feisty and I'm thinking they might try to wean him off of the vent today. He's just so special and we just feel like he was meant to be with us. He was able to give us our homebirth experience which is priceless and I'm glad that he was able to be part of the process. I'm also VERY grateful that I'm not trying to recover from a c-section or any bad tears. I luckily had no tearing and my PP flow has been so minimal that I'm down to panty liners at day 5, which I thought was pretty good. Except i was supposed to be playing in my new mama cloth that I'm sure is just sitting in the mail box at home. Oh well. 
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