Slater Thomas is Here!

Baby Slater Thomas has arrived! He was born on March 5th at 12:07pm! He weighed in at a big 8lbs 1oz and 20.5 inches; all handsome little boy! Tom and I could not feel anymore blessed; he is just perfect! So here is the story; (If you want the real details, see me later!! HAHA!) So Tom and I headed to the hospital around midnight the night before. We were admitted and in our room within the hour. They started an IV on me and gave me fluids and also checked Slater’s heart rate and everything checked out great! Following the plan my doctor had written for the actual induction not to start until 500am. So Tom and I hurried and got ready for bed and tried to get some sleep! I think Tom actually slept, but I had a much harder time. It was not due to nerves or being hooked up to monitors, it was the amount of IV fluid I was getting that made me have to pee every 30 mins! So I was up and down to the bathroom most of the night! 5:00am rolled around and I was awakened by the nurse hanging the bag of pitosin. I remember thinking to myself “How fast is this stuff really going to work?” I watched a few drops drip into my IV and nothing happen, so I rolled back over and went to sleep for a while. Around 800am or so Dr. Faheys partner came in to break my water. (Dr. Fahey was in a c-section) It was clear and I was about 6cm! I was really surprised because I was not really in pain just slightly uncomfortable! He said he would of helped me stretch to 7 or 8cm but since I did not have my epidural yet, he would wait! As time went on the pain started to increase but nothing to extreme. (Nothing like the back pain I was had with Sawyer.) At this point I decided to better get the epidural now before it gets out of control or too late. They came in and I got the epidural and it went okay. This time it hurt a lot more because I was not having the extreme labor pain like last time. Funny story, when they sat me up for the epidural, all the rest of my water came flying out and covered my nurse’s brand new shoes. And they had a mesh top! Oops!!! But hey at lease it is sterile! During this time Dr. Fahey came in to check on me and she liked my progress, and said at this time we could actually start to bare down, but she needed to finish another c-section. So we were waiting, knowing very well if the baby would come before hand we would be taken care of by the nurse and her partner. The baby was all ready to come out, we were just waiting! It gave the nurse plenty of time to get everything set up! Oh Epidurals, you are wonderful! After I got that I still had a lot of discomfort with each contractions but not extreme pain! (Hey I am no ones hero, I am all for epidurals!!) As we continued to watch the monitor we noticed that Slater’s heart rate would start to drop at not the right time. They started to switch my positions to see if that would help, but nothing really seemed to help. They put me back on my back and he started to drop his heart rate only with contractions. (This is somewhat normal.) But at this point I knew something was not right (and I know my nurse did to, because she did not leave the room) but neither of us led on to mom or Tom! Thankfully Dr. Fahey walked in the room and checked me and said, all right lets do this! I pushed for a little while and slowly made progress! (I am not a good pusher at all!!) As the contractions continued and with me pushing we could hear his heart rate getting lower and lower with each one. The nurse kept messing with the monitors and trying to find his heart rate. We lost his heart rate twice! The next thing I know they are slapping oxygen on me and turning me to my side and demanding me to breathe fast and deep! (I knew what was going on but Tom and Mom had no clue) I just remember looking at both of them and telling them with my eyes that something is not right! So they would roll me on my back, let me push and then throw me back on my side between pushes. Then the next thing I know that doctor is in my face asking episiotomy or vacuum? NO vacuum I said! And then I heard snip, snip, snip! (This is a sound that my mom, Tom, and I will never ever forget!) The doctor then told me to push and I tried with all my might, and as I was pushing she said “Get the vacuum ready, we have to get this baby out NOW!” At that point I gave one last push with everything I had and finally she had a hold of him! The cord was around his neck! She got it off of his neck and laid him on my stomach! Even though he was a little floppy, his color was great! He was soooo handsome! I will never forget it! Tons of hair too!!! They suctioned him all out and I got to hold him for like 2 sec before they took him over to the warmer. From there we noticed that he was working a little harder to breathe then normal. They suctioned him again and gave him some oxygen for a bit! At this point, my legs still wide open to the world, all I was thinking was NICU! The one place I did not want my baby to go! The transition nurse came in and the let me try to breastfeed him. He did okay but was still flaring his nose to breathe. They called the NICU doctors to the room. Lucky I know them all, and I was giving them the stink eye about taking him! They assessed him and thought we would do okay in the nursery with some monitoring. I was happy and sad at the same time. He was not going to the NICU but he was leaving me. So for the next 2 hours (it felt like 100 hours) while I waited for the epidural to wear off I sat without my baby! I was really upset. I did everything I could to make the epidural wear off fast! Finally I could walk again and I did the whole post care and we were off to recovery and to where Slater was. They wheeled me into the nursery where he was hooked up to monitors and the numbers looked great! So they were going to let him come to the room with me!! I was soo happy!! The next two days we were in the hospital. Breastfeeding with this one is the complete opposite of Sawyer! He knows what he is doing! He has been nursing great! Really we have no complaints about him. The episiotomy was the area of hell this time! OMG did that hurt! Lets just say I could not really walk until about 2 weeks post! Slater also started to have slight jaundice, but not high enough to need lights. But we finally went home and have adjusted well. Slater has been a dream baby (I hope I did not jinks myself!)! He is still breastfeeding like a champ and having plenty of wet/poopy diapers! We went back to the doctors and they thought his jaundice looked better. So no labs were needed. He does have pretty bad reflux, we have started two meds for that, and it has gotten much better! We are all working on bonding and adapting to having another little one around! Sawyer has done great with him, and he even holds him here and there! They are going to be best buds in the coming years! We are so blessed to have two healthy handsome boys! Thank you all for your love and support!

#2 38 Weeks

Finally the end! So this week we have tried everything to get labor jump started on its own! Knowing that we will be induced on my birthday is giving me the strength to try everything! At my doctor’s appointment I was 4cm dilated and about 50% effaced! So that was great news and surprising because I have had a few contractions here and there, but nothing consistent! We tried all the obvious stuff! Sex, walking, jumping jacks, hot sauce, spicy food, lunges, using my breast pump, walking up and down 7 flights of stairs at work, a bumpy car ride, and primrose oil, and none of it worked! I am totally convinced now that when people say that these ideas “sent them into labor” it was totally just a coincidence! We went and had another ultrasound and the baby is measuring over 8 lbs and is in good position! We are just waiting now! So back to the doctor we went for our 38 week check up! I am now 4.5cm dilated and 75% effaced! So I hardly made any progress! After getting the size of the baby from the ultrasound, me not making much progress, and being sooooo uncomfortable we deicide to induce at 39 weeks! And guess when 39 weeks is, YEP IT IS ON MY BIRTHDAY! I really had an issue with this at 1st, but now I cannot think of a better present to have on my birthday! So #2 and I will be sharing a birthday forever! So until the 5th……

#2 34-36 Weeks

OMG, lets have this baby! This week we went (for what I hope) is our final ultrasound. I was still pretty sure he was breech, but we got other news! The night before I had lots of pain and just could not get comfortable. Come to find out that was because he FLIPPED! #2 is head down/face down! Actually he is far enough down that they could not even get a picture of his face! I was so excited because I really did NOT want a c-section. At this point he was around 6lbs 9oz and still measuring about 1.5 weeks ahead of my expected date. I am due 3/12 but with his measurements it is calculated 3/3! So we will see! Tom and I have both car seats in the car and ready to go! It is so weird to look in my back seat and see them both! Pretty sure there will never be such thing as a peaceful drive anymore! Haha So from here on out we are ready, everything is packed for the hospital, both boys’ rooms are finished, and this mama is so ready! I am very very uncomfortable this time around! So baby #2 lets do this!!! Next appointment is on 2/21 and hopefully the doctor and I can come to agreement about when we are going to have this baby and hopefully it wont be on my birthday!!! We did family/maternity pictures this weekend! Here is a sneak peak! (once we get the finals we will send them out) And the last one you can see how big I am getting!!! :)

#2 28-30 Weeks!

Almost to the end! A week and half ago we had a little scare, because the baby did not move almost all day for me. Tom came home early from work to watch Sawyer and I went to the hospital and had a Non Stress Test done. As soon as they hooked me up to all the monitors the baby started moving! I don think he liked all those bands around him! Ever since then he is right back to being a very active baby! We had our repeat ultrasound and the baby’s brain measured normal and it all looked good this time! WE ARE SO HAPPY! We were really stressed about the possible brain issues and development delay! But we went into this ultrasound agreeing that no matter what we were going to love this baby! He is so cute! They told us he already has a full head of hair, and is 3.5 lbs! I am only 28/29 weeks and he is measuring 31 weeks! He is going to be a big boy! Tom and I don’t think he looks like Sawyer (from what we can see) so maybe this one will be the spitting image of Tom! So excited to meet this little (big) man! I am feeling okay, back into the tired phase! I think between the holidays and Sawyer cutting his two-year molars, it makes me even more worn out! Sawyer has adjusted great to his new room. He is still in his crib (and loves it) so we are not pushing the big boy bed until he starts to hate or try to climb out of the crib. So the next big purchase for Baby #2 is the crib! Thank you so much to everyone that has helped with the cord banking money! It is a HUGE help! Our next ultrasound is not until 2/7/13! Hopefully by then he has flipped, he is still sitting breech! But if he is like his brother, he won’t flip until the last second! Here are a few pictures of my big belly and his cute little face! Love and miss you all!