A week early what???

Wow I can't believe I am just now getting to this. Things have been a little crazy around here and I am just now starting to feel like I am getting back into the swing of things and Jaxon is already 7 weeks old!!! He has been a great baby that hasn't been the problem. On top of trying to adjust to being the parents of a sweet new baby, my milk not coming in, Shayne's graduation with both our parents here and Shayne's mom wrecking in our car, having to buy another car and Shayne starting his residency, life has been a little hectic to say the least. This is my journal now days so a lot of these posts will be lengthy because there are a lot of things I don't want to forget so read at your own risk. Here is the story of how it all began.....

I started having pains that were a few hours apart over the weekend. Now mind you this was the weekend before I was due. I wasn't sure what to think of them because as far as I knew I had never had braxton hicks and everyone had told me they shouldn't hurt and the pains I was having definitely hurt. We had dinner with some friends Sunday night, May 15th and then when we got home I noticed they were a little more intense but still at least an hour apart. I took a hot bath and then went and laid in the lovesac for awhile. I finally decided to lay down around midnight. I laid there and couldn't sleep and noticed they were coming more frequently so at 12:00 I decided to start timing them. At that point they were 10 minutes apart and lasted about 45 seconds each and were pretty consistent. My OB had told me to come to the hospital when they were 5-7min apart and lasting 60 seconds so I continued to lay there. Shayne had fallen asleep on the couch, I didn't want to keep him up with my tossing and turning so I didn't wake him to come to bed. The dogs slept with me and I knew they could tell something was wrong - they didn't sleep either and at one point when I was really hurting Zoey laid right next to me whining and licking my arm (I like to think she was trying to comfort me and even if she wasn't trying to it did). I called my mom a few times to see what she thought. She thought if they were hurting bad enough I should probably go in but I was set on those stupid numbers my OB told me. She told me to get up and walk around or take another bath and if they went away they were probably braxton hicks. I got up and walked around for a bit and they stayed the same. Finally at 2:30 I decided they were hurting too bad I didn't care if they weren't 5-7min apart yet and I didn't care if they sent me home I needed to go to L&D. I got up and started getting my things together and noticed they were coming even more frequently. I had to stop a few times to double over and catch my breath but I still wasn't convinced this was the real deal. I woke Shayne up much to his dismay as he had only been asleep for an hour. I remember him saying "are you sure this is it" to which I replied "No, but I don't care if they send me home they hurt too bad." Once we were in the car I continued timing them and they had increased to every 7 min but still only lasting about 45 seconds. Shayne was so tired he almost missed our exit and ended up having to correct and go over a huge bump right in the middle of one my contractions...I could have killed him :) We valet parked, Shayne asked if I needed a wheelchair and at first I said I could walk and then changed my mind. By the time we got to triage my contractions were 3-5min apart and I was dilated to a 5 - the nurse said I wasn't going anywhere. I was so relieved I don't know what I would have done if they would have made me go walk around or sent me back home. Before she checked my cervix the nurse had to ask me all sorts of questions and put the monitors on me which of course is not fun when you are contracting all the time! I remember when she checked me to see how much I was dilated it hurt so bad. I don't know what she did differently than the other doctors and nurses that checked me but it hurt so bad I actually cried. It hurt worse than any of the contractions or anything. I think this was the only time I cried through it all - it hurt that bad. She said she couldn't feel the head and thought she could feel my bag of water. Since this little guy was breech only a few weeks ago they decided to do an ultrasound just to make sure. He was head down, thank goodness! They admitted me at 3:00am. I was scheduled to work at 5:30 am and the rest of the week so I called downstairs to let them know I wasn't coming. I remember being really annoyed because a nurse came in and asked if I would participate in a study they were doing which would require them to draw my blood 3 separate times while I was in labor. I told her I was too overwhelmed with everything and she said she would come back and ask me after my epidural was in. I was really bugged that she wanted to come back when I said no. They started my IV which was surprisingly no big deal. Even though I stick people every day I have a huge fear of needles and was most worried about the IV - stupid I know. We walked to my delivery room and they paged anesthesia. Since I work there they called Dr Rague the attending on call to come do it. It was so nice to know him and have someone I trusted sticking a huge needle in my back. One of the anesthesiologists at work, Dr Hunter had done all my paperwork with me a few weeks before (just a perk of working there) so I didn't have to do any of it while contracting, I will have to remember to thank him for that one!! I was a little nervous about getting the epidural, mostly because I have seen a million of them done and I have seen how big that darn needle is. Shayne was sitting in front of me holding my hand and the nurse (bless her I can't remember her name) was holding my other hand. Dr Rague said the worst part would be the lidocaine to numb me but he did it mid contraction and I didn't even feel it. The worst part was enduring the contractions while having to hunch over and hold really still. I don't know how anyone would endure labor without medication. I hope that I never have to. So....epidural was in at 4 am and I was a happy camper, it felt so good to relax I don't think I realized how tense I had been until then. They gave me a little button to push to give myself extra medication if I needed it, I think I only pushed it twice the whole time it was in. They postitioned me on my left side and told me they would come switch me to the right in an hour. At this point I asked who the doctor was on call for the night, I was really hoping that my own OB would be able to deliver me. She said it was Dr Davy but that my doctor, Dr Amato was coming in at 7 am. The nurse left to page Dr Davy to tell her my epidural was in. When she came back she said Dr Davy thought we ought to just wait until my OB got here since we were so close. So she told me they would wait to break my water at 6am. I was just fine with that, epidural was working great and I really really wanted my OB to deliver me!! It still wasn't 100% because they weren't sure how long I would continue to labor or push but I crossed my fingers it would be before he went home for the day. I must say I wasn't feeling very confident about this because I had recently had 3 friends deliver that labored for 24+ hours. Shayne would keep asking how long it would be and I kept telling him to plan on a long time since most everyone takes awhile with their first. At this point Shayne and I tried to get some rest but it wasn't easy I swear the nurse came in and out 100 times. The stupid lady with the study came back to bug me - I should have told her no again but I was much happier with my epidural and I gave in, so they had to draw my blood twice which also kept me from getting rest. The only upside was that they gave us $30 to Babies R Us. About 5:30 the nurse came in to position me on my right side. When I turned over I noticed my whole left side was completely numb where as the right just felt like pins and needles. The nurse said this was normal but I think it was because they left me laying on that side for so long. I couldn't even lift my own leg it was so numb. It was a very strange sensation, but definitely better than the pain I was feeling before. I remember being really thirsty and all I could have was ice chips, who knew ice was so good :) After a little while I had a purple popscicle too, I can't remember the last time I had a popscicle but it was soooo good!! The resident came in at 6 am and checked me and I was dilated to a 7 - she broke my water and they found meconium in the fluid which means the little stinker had had a bowel movement. They said that was pretty uncommon for a preterm baby. They told me as a precaution the NICU nurses would come when he delivers. They said if he didn't cry when he comes out they would not doing anything to make him cry and hurry and clean out his lungs but if he did cry there was nothing they could do and if he got too much in his lungs he would have to be admitted to the NICU for a day or so. Of course now this was all I could think about, so again not able to sleep much. The one down side to delivering where I work is that news travels fast so all my coworkers were also texting me (I work the 5am shift so they were all up and curious). After they broke my water they said they were going to wait until 8 and position me over the next few hours in the mean time to ensure the baby moved down ok. I was ok with this because luckily my OB was the doctor coming in at 7am - I was really nervous about having to deliver with one of the other docs. At 8 am they checked me and I was dilated to a 10 - they couldn't believe how fast I was progressing on my own. At this point I got nauseated (I remember it came on out of no where) and threw up the gosh dang popsicle (yep all purple). They told me this was very common in this stage of labor even if I hadn't had a popscicle or ice, but after I threw up I felt fine again. They paged Dr Amato. He came in to see me around 8:30 he told me he couldn't believe how fast I was progressing on my own especially since this was my first baby. Even though I was at a 10 he wanted to give the baby time to move into the canal a little more so he told me he would check back in a little bit. My HCT (blood count) had been pretty low starting at 28 weeks so they had me taking iron to help increase it Dr Amato told me it was now 14 so the iron I had been taking had done it's job, thank goodness I was worried about it being so low and bleeding. Around 9 am the nurse started helping me position to start pushing - Dr Amato came back in and told me he had another lady that was delivering her 4th child that he was sure was going to be quick and he told me I would probably push awhile since this was my first so he said he would go deliver her and be back. The nurse told me to start pushing with my next contraction but my epidural was working so well I couldn't even feel pressure so she had to tell me when my contractions came. Shayne came and stood on my right side at the head of the bed. With my next contraction I pushed once and the head crowned, the nurse told me to stop and yelled at the tech to go get Dr Amato and not let him leave to that other delivery. They weren't quick enough and he was gone already so they had to page him to come back. They asked me not to push as long as I was comfortable. I never even felt the urge so I just sat there staring at this little blob of hair (I had the mirror out so I could watch) waiting to meet my little guy. The nurse told me it was probably good to sit like this for a few minutes as the baby would probably come quickly and this would help me stretch a little. I remember at one point telling the nurse I didn't feel like pushing but that I felt like he was moving down on his own. She assured me this could very well be, but still not to push until the doctor came. After about 8 minutes Dr Amato returned. He told me to go ahead and push with the next contraction. I pushed and at 9:23 am out came our little man along with a scream that I didn't know someone so small was capable of...he has a set of pipes. Maybe he will be a singer :) wouldn't get that from his dad or I that's for sure! I can't even tell you the sensation I felt when he came out, it was so weird but one of the greatest feelings ever. I remember being worried because he was crying and what they had said about the meconium, but they still put him up on my chest and started to clean him off, I remember thinking how tiny he was and couldn't wait to see how much he weighed, I couldn't believe how much dark black hair he had! They had Shayne cut the cord and then they whisked him off my chest and over to the lights where the NICU nurses took over suctioning him and cleaning him. Shayne went over with him to watch and I just remember telling him over and over to take lots of pictures!! I also remember Shayne and the NICU nurses laughing, she kept cracking jokes but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Dr Amato was there still with one of the residents and they continued to deliver my placenta. The delivery of my placenta was at least 30 min. (longer than the actual baby) Dr Amato said it wasn't detaching (probably because I delivered so quickly) so he had to help it detach by pressing on my abdomen. He was leaning on my belly using his full body weight, thank goodness for the epidural I can't imagine how that would have felt otherwise. I finally delivered the placenta ( I swear that thing was bigger than the baby) and then Dr Amato showed me that I had torn inside on the left (bummer) but what could I expect having delivered so quickly I was lucky it wasn't worse. It was about 1cm and not very deep I only needed 4 stitches. I continued watching in the mirror as they did this. The nurses brought the baby back to me they decided for now he did not need to go to the NICU and I can't tell you how relieved I was!! They weighed him 6 lbs 1.8oz and 19.5 inches long. He was just an itty bitty boy, I know that is really small compared to some but I couldn't believe he had fit inside me and that I had just pushed him out, he seemed so big when put into that perspective!! I still can't believe I went a week early, even if I would have gone full term he still would have been small. When they were done assessing him and he had passed his apgar they brought him over to me and put him next to me skin to skin, I was thrilled. I always thought I would cry but neither Shayne or I ever did. I think we were just so in awe of this little wonder all I could do was smile! From start to finish it happened so fast I don't think Shayne or I had time to process it all, we were parents!!! The nurse then asked if I wanted to try feeding him. We got him in position and he latched right on. I asked her if this was normal, she said some babies have a hard time with latching and that I was lucky. What a wonderful feeling to be holding my little boy so close and feeding him, it was such a great moment that I can't put into words. I couldn't believe this little miracle was finally here. He took a lot of blood (literally they had to draw it all the time) sweat and tears to get here along with a lot of faith and prayers. Dr Amato left and the nurses got me cleaned up and repositioned in bed. They took out my epidural and left us to enjoy or little boy for a few minutes. It wasn't long before she was back and saying we needed to move to my recovery room. They knew I was totally numb still but with 2 people helping they got me in a wheelchair. Poor Shayne had to cart all our bags. I had come prepared (movies, books, games, ipod etc) to labor and deliver for hours and didn't end up using or needing anything I had brought, but better to be prepared than not right? All in all I was actually only in labor for 9 hours and 23 min and only had to push twice, which I am sure to many doesn't sound bad. Either way it was definitely hard but definitely worth it and the ending result was amazing!!!