Caleb’s Birth Story

As my little miracle is asleep on my chest, I thought I would take some time and finally write out his birth story. 

We had a C-section scheduled for 7:30am on September 25th. We decided the best and safest way for Caleb to enter the world via C-section due to the fact I had the worst polyhydramnios (excess amniotic fluid) they had seen in decades. I had over four times the normal amount. This caused Caleb not to engage therefore if my water broke there was a chance of his cord prolapsing and causing an emergency situation. In addition he was consistently positioned face up facing my left hip which would make a vaginal delivery difficult. 

My OB knows I have severe anxiety and she knew how much pain I was in with the extra fluid and since she was on call that weekend she said as long as we arrived after midnight on September 25th we could go ahead and do the C-section since I would be 39 weeks. On Saturday September 24th, my best friend and Caleb’s godmother drove 6 hours to come be with us for his birth and house sit our pets while we were in the hospital. 

Everyone anticipated that I would want to be at the hospital at exactly midnight. And that was the original plan. I got everything ready and decided I was going to lay down for a bit to try and get some sleep. For the first time in months I slept for a three hour stretch! Both Chris and Katie stayed awake and couldn’t get a wink of sleep. When I woke up, I told them it was go time and we packed up to head to the hospital. 

We arrived at the hospital around 2:30am. The nurse said that my OB had called about 8pm the night before to let them know her C-section might come in early. She knows me so well! I was taken back and hooked up to the monitors. They checked my cervix and I hadn’t progressed, still 1cm and no effacement. As soon as I was checked I started having contractions. Up to this point I had been having “uterine irritations” due to the polyhydramnios. They basically feel like contractions but don’t show on the monitor that way. This time they were showing. 

After a short while, a nurse came in and introduced herself and said we would be having the C-section at 5am. She started looking at my arms to start my IV. I told her I only had one good vein and it was in the crook of my arm. But they don’t like using that area. After several minutes of examining both arms she decided to use the one good vein. Around this time I started shaking uncontrollably. My arms, my body, everything was shaking pretty badly. My teeth were chattering too. I asked what was happening and was told it was the adrenaline from nervousness and knowing what was about to happen. 

As I was being given my pre-meds, which were anti-nausea meds and fluids, another nurse came in and said that my C-section would be delayed as there is one anesthesiologist on the floor and 4 women decided they wanted epidurals at the same time! Damn them! The nurse held off giving my the antibiotic as that has to be given within an hour of the C-section. So Chris, Katie and I continued to wait. We asked if Chris could do skin to skin as soon as he was born. They agreed. So when Chris dressed in his ghostbusters outfit he took his shirt off underneath so he could put Caleb against his chest. He accidentally put the nurses hat on which caused a laugh!

About 10 mins later, the nurse comes in and says okay, the women decided against epidurals, it’s go time! She pushed the antibiotics and we got up and started heading down the hall. About halfway to the OR, the phone rings and another nurse tells us to stop. One of the women changed her mind again! Come on lady!! So back to the room we went. By now my nerves are in full effect and the shaking is getting out of control. They can’t give me anything because it would make Caleb drowsy when he was born. 

Maybe another 10 minutes go by and the nurse comes back and says it’s for real this time and she wants to get me back there before anyone else changes their mind! I get to the OR room and get up on the table. I was most scared about the spinal block. I do not do well with needles. The anesthesiologist was a very nice and attentive Asian man. He talked me through the whole thing. It took a while to get me numb enough. I kept jumping everytime he added more numbing and then I would freak out and say I’m sorry!! Apparently my spine was tight so it took a little longer to get the needle positioned and the medicine in. One it was I immediately felt a warm sensation move through my body and down my legs. The nurses helped me lay down and I started feeling nauseous. My OB had to hold a bowl beside my head because I vomited a few times. 

Once all that was over, they brought Chris in. He sat by my head and held my hand. He had his phone out to take pictures. (I didn’t realize that he actually recorded some of it on video!) I felt so good after the spinal took full effect. I was so sleepy, I really honestly almost fell asleep. It was the first time in months that I was comfortable and not in any pain. I had to ask if they had started because I wasn’t aware of what they were doing. By the time I asked, they were already in! When they broke my water I could breath! I even kept repeating that over and over again which had everyone laughing. I found out later that they had to change out the suction canister because there was so much to water! One scrub nurse has been an L&D nurse for 26 years and has never had to change out the canister. Chris said it was like a fountain!

After I could breathe again, I was even sleepier because I felt so good!! The anesthesiologist continued to talk me through everything and told me they were about to push on my belly and get Caleb out. Less than a minute later I heard him crying. My OB said he was spunky!! He was taken to get checked out and weighed. Chris went over there with him. When I got to see him for the first time he was wrapped up under Chris’s ghostbusters outfit. 

Caleb Robert was born at 6:11am weighing 8lbs 2.7oz and 19.5 inches long. His first APGAR score was 8 and his second one was 9. 

It took less time for them to stitch me up than I thought it would. Soon enough they transferred me to a gurney and put Caleb in my arms for the first time. The spinal numbed my ring fingers and pinky fingers too so I was worried about him falling off. They wheeled us to recovery where I was able to get ample doses of morphine. I was told repeatedly to stay on top of the pain. 

I am not sure what time we were taken to our room (322). Katie was there waiting for us. The rest of that morning is a bit of a blur due to the morphine and exhaustion. Actually looking back, most of the hospital stay is a blur. Our parents came around lunch time to meet him. Everyone immediately fell in love. 

We had some issues breastfeeding from the start. He had a tongue tie and I have flat nipples so it made for a difficult time learning to breastfeed. He lost quite a bit of weight his first day, down to 7lb 7oz. Because of that we started supplementing. He had his tongue tie corrected and his circumsion on Tues the 27th. Because I felt so good, we decided to leave the hospital a day early. Recovery from my C-section was 10 times less painful then having all that extra fluid for the past few months. 

The past 7 weeks have flown by so fast! I can’t believe how big he is getting! I am so in love!

Our Miracle is Here!

Caleb Robert was born at 6:11am on Sunday September 25th, 2016 via Caesarean section. He weighed 8lbs 2.7oz and 19.5 inches long. He is perfect in every way. God couldn’t have blessed us with a sweeter child. I am planning on doing a post on his birth story and first week of life when I get a chance, but I wanted to update everyone on his arrival! Here are some pictures!

38 Weeks Pregnant!

Wow!! It has been a while! I can’t believe it has been 5 months since my last update. Life has definitely been busy and, honestly, making a tiny human is so exhausting that all I do is eat, sleep and work. So, what have we been up to? Quite a lot. 

Zoey Update:

Zoey is doing great since her surgery. The tumor was benign and there are no signs of cancer anywhere else in her body. She has adapted to being a Tripawd beautifully. She is always the talk of the town whenever we take her anywhere. 

Baby Shower:

My best friend threw me a beautiful baby shower at the beginning of July. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate Baby Caleb with family and friends. We were showered with love. 

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Maternity Photos:

We went ahead and took them at the end of July and I am so glad we did! They turned out amazing!

Work:

Hubby was offered a new position within our company. He started his new position today and it’s nice to have a fresh start. He is also now working in the same building as me so when I return to the office we will be able to carpool which is very convenient. 

Pregnancy Update:

This is what you all have been waiting for. Currently I am 38 weeks 1 day! I can’t even believe that. It feels like it has gone by so fast yet so slow. We have had a few bumps along the way and several visits to L&D. 

• June – I started getting faint and having heart palpitations. I was given an echocardiogram and had to wear a shooter monitor for 24 hours to see what was going on. Turns out I was throwing PVCs which is quite normal, especially in pregnancy due to the added stress on the circulatory system. 

• July – I began experiencing severe pains throughout my abdomen and back. Very similar to gallstone or kidney stone pains. I went to L&D as I was only 28 weeks at the time. I wasn’t having contractions and the doctor chalked it up to gastroenteritis (it wasn’t). We did blood work to check liver functions and all came back normal. 
• August – starting at my 28 week appointment my belly started measuring around 3 weeks ahead. Because I am a bigger girl, I didn’t really think anything of it. By my 32 week appointment it was measuring 36 weeks so my doctor decided to do a growth scan at 34 weeks. At that appointment, Caleb weighed 6lbs 14oz and had 33cm of amniotic fluid surrounding him. He was measuring at 37 weeks gestation. Amniotic fluids levels were high as hey are supposed to be under 25cm. 
• Labor Day – I woke up to wet pants and was afraid my water had broken. Went to L&D and turns out I just peed myself and was advised if my water was to break since I have so much, it would be like a swimming pool. 
• September 8th – at my 36 week appointment I asked if we could do another scan to see if my fluid levels were still high since I wasn’t feeling any better and still had a lot of pain. Caleb weighed in at 7lbs 11oz and my fluid had increased to 36cm. I passed my glucose tolerance test in June so I don’t have gestational diabetes which can cause excess fluid. At this point my doctor became a bit concerned and sent me to Maternal Fetal Medicine for a scan and consult as there can be issues with the baby that can cause excess fluid. 
• September 13th – had my scan at MFM. Caleb weighed in at 8lbs 5oz and I had 32cm of fluid. So I am staying pretty consistent with the high amount of fluid and was officially diagnosed with polyhydramnios. Caleb checked out great. He is swallowing as he should be. There are no obstructions. His bladder and kidneys are functioning great. So I fall in the category of idiopathic polyhydramnios which means, they have no idea why I have it. 
• September 15th – at my 37 week appointment we checked the fluid again. Sitting pretty at 34cm. Caleb scored another 8/8 on his biophysical profile. The tech said he is just happy as can be floating around in his own personal swimming pool. When we saw the doctor, we weighed the risks of letting my go into labor on my own versus inducing or performing a C section. The biggest issue with polyhydramnios, especially as severe as mine (over 35cm is considered severe) is that Caleb won’t engage himself into my pelvis. He will just float until my water breaks. When that happens, the force of the water breaking can cause his cord to prolapse posing a life threatening situation for him. In addition, he is also sunnyside up and no amount of trying to turn him is helping because of the amount of fluid. So when my water breaks and he does descend, he will be face up. Lastly, he is on track to be a 10lb baby. After weighing the pros and cons, we decided the safest way for him to arrive into the world would be by scheduled C section and we went ahead and booked the OR. 
• September 18th – of course since we now have an eviction date scheduled for him, I wake up at 3am with incredible painful pressure and waves of back pain. After trying a warm bath and various positions, the pain wouldn’t cease. 6 hours later we called the doctor to see if I should come in and be checked then off to the hospital we went. I was only 1cm dilated and 30% effaced and the monitor wasn’t showing I was in labor. I have been having “uterine irritations”due to the excess fluid that do show up as small contractions on the monitor. We also found out my tilted uterus has tilted my cervix backwards which made the cervical check extremely painful. We were then discharged and sent home.

So that brings us to today! I am just counting down the hours until Baby Caleb’s arrival. He will be coming into the world on Sunday Sept 25th at 7:30am. I am just trying to take it day by day. We have the nursery finished and the house is almost clean. My mom is having some maids come on Friday to do a deep clean and get it nice for Caleb. 

I think that is all for now. Sorry the post was so long and scatterbrained but I wanted to give an update before his big arrival!

Pregnancy Update and ER Visit 2.0

So much has happened since the last update that I don’t even know where to begin. Currently I am 16 weeks 5 days pregnant with our little boy, Caleb Robert. 

  
My morning sickness has still stayed away. Thank goodness it wasn’t just a fluke. I have continued having itchy ankles, legs, arms and abdomen as well as restless legs. The itchiness got so bad that I finally caved and called my doctor a few days before our monthly OB appointment. It was preventing me from sleeping I couldn’t imagine waiting a few more days. I had tried everything. There was one night that I was laying in bed, encased by my pregnancy pillow, covered in calamine lotion with Vicks vapor rub on the soles of my feet with socks on them and frozen bags of broccoli covering my legs. Just to try and get some sleep. I should have had Hubby take a picture! Anyways, I gave them a call and left a message. I got a response that afternoon that they wanted to bump up my appointment to the next day because they were concerned about the itchiness. 

  
The first thing the doctor wanted to check at the appointment was the spot on my cervix they saw last time. Luckily the results of my Pap had come back and negative so there wasn’t too much concerned. Well, up in the stirrups and I go and guess what? The spots (plural) were still there. Smaller. But still there. She said they appeared to be filled with fluid and tested one. It contained tissue as well. She decided to take a biopsy of it right then and there. Yup. Worst fear of this appointment confirmed. That was not a fun experience. Definitely not something I want to do pregnant or not. Apparently I was bleeding a lot and she had to put some magic cream on it to stop the bleeding. Luckily, the pathology report came back the other day and the sample was normal! One crisis averted!

Now it was time to talk about the itching. Since I have a history of gallstones and the itching was mainly on my ankles/legs and wrists/arms, my doctor was concerned I have intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP). Normally it shows up in the third trimester but it is possible to appear earlier. It can be very serious for mom and baby if left untreated, especially in late pregnancy. She went ahead and had some blood drawn to check my bile salt levels as well as my iron levels for my restless legs. Those tests came back normal, thank goodness! Want to know what the culprit was? We changed our laundry detergent from Ecos to Baby Dreft and apparently I am allergic to it. Once we switched back, within a few days the itching went away!!

  
Today, I called my doctor because I have had a migraine for 2 days and my pregnancy safe meds were not working. I was advised to go to the ER to get some medication to break the cycle. I met my husband there and was taken back fairly quickly. They were very nice and efficient and I saw the doctor immediately. He prescribed what he called “The Migraine Cocktail” which was all pregnancy safe medications. Pretty soon I was hooked up and given Reglan, Benadryl and magnesium. So shortly after the Benadryl kicked in the nurses came in with a fetal doppler to listen to Caleb’s heartbeat. Since I have one at home and I know exactly where he is, I advised them. Of course they didn’t listen to me. She tried for about 10 mins to get his heartbeat but couldn’t find it. At this point I wasn’t super worried because she wasn’t pushing very hard or in the right place. I even offered to do it since I know where he is. She ignored me. She had the other nurse go and get the ultrasound machine. She found him but in her words “I can’t find a discernible heartbeat” and proceeded to ask the other nurse if she saw anything. At this point, in my drugged stupor, I started to worry. A few more tense minutes (probably seconds) pass then I saw him move! Sigh of relief. She still didn’t find the heartbeat on the ultrasound but when she went back to the doppler she found it. I honestly don’t think she had any idea what she was going. When we got him I found his heartbeat within 10 seconds on our doppler. Definitely a great investment!

  
So I realize this long update is filled with drama and issues I have been having but in reality it has been a very positive few weeks. We got the mural painted in the nursery and got the crib built. We also visited my mother in law who broke her hip a few weeks ago and she gave us a load of wonderful things for Caleb. We have been doing a lot of housework and yard work. It has been nice to finally be showing and have a baby bump to rub! I will leave you with a few pictures of the nursery: 

   
    
    
   

Hello, Second Trimester!

It’s hard to believe that we are finally in the second trimester!! The last 14 weeks have felt so long, but have also seemed to fly by! I am happy to report that I am feeling A LOT better! I no longer have morning sickness and have gotten a HUGE energy boost. Right now my biggest complaints are itchy ankles, restless legs and back pain. We did the Panorama test during our 11th week and are happy to report Baby came back as low risk in all categories for chromosomal abnormalities! Yes, we do know if Baby is a boy or girl and we even have a name! We have shared this with our family and friends, however stay tuned for the big announcement! 

  
I had some difficulties in my first trimester with the Crinone. We had to stop it around 9 weeks due to extreme cervical inflammation and irritation. When we went to our first OB appointment during Week 11, the doctor noticed a spot on my cervix that concerned her. She even brought in another doctor to look at it. We are awaiting the results of my Pap and go back for our next appointment in a week. We are hoping that the spot is simply residual inflammation from the Crinone, because when I say my cervix was inflamed I mean it! It was sticking out. For real. If the spot is still there and the same size next week there is the potential I will need a cervical biopsy (again!). I was assured this won’t affect the pregnancy, however it will cause me to bleed A LOT due to increased blood flow down there. I have been putting this in the back of my mind because my first cervical biopsy was a very traumatic experience and if we need to do one, it will be safer for the baby and I if I am sedated. 

This weekend we were able to get some housework done. We planted a tree out front and painted the nursery. A friend of mine will be coming this week to paint a mural for us. We are doing a Lion King theme. My mother-in-law bought us the chair for the nursery, my parents bought the crib and we bought a chifferrobe this weekend. All these pieces should be in town for pickup sometime this week. I am taking advantage of feeling good while I can! Who knows when I will start feeling tired again. 

This is the crib we chose from Babies at Us:

  
Zoey is doing well after her amputation. She is far more active than I thought she would be. She goes back on Friday to have her staples taken out. She is walking and running and even doing stairs. Sometimes she wants to do more than we would like so we have to keep an eye on her. It was a great decision to amputate her leg. She is back to her normal self. Her personality is back and we can tell she is in far less pain. 

   
 
I am finally starting to show a little so I think I will be doing weekly bumpdates going forward. We also bought a Fetal Doppler and I have been able to listen is Baby’s heartbeat a few times. I found it fairly quickly and was pleased with myself! I think that is all the news for now! 

Few Weeks of Pregnancy and Ultrasound #1

So I know I have been a bad blogger and I haven’t posted in a few weeks, but honestly, today is the first day that I have felt somewhat human enough to sit down and write! 

Since my last post we had our first ultrasound. We had it moved up from 2/17 (my birthday!) to 2/12 because of my anxiety. There is ONE little bean in there, snuggled up nice and warm, with a heart rate of 125. At the scan I was 6 weeks and 5 days. I have a video of the whole appointment and I will upload that to YouTube sometime in the near future. 

  
Aside from being so tired and sick, I have been going back and forth about posting how I have been feeling because quite honestly, I feel like shit! I feel bad about writing how I am feeling because I am complaining. I am human and before I was pregnant I would judge pregnant women who would go on and on about how awful they feel. I would think to myself, “You should be so glad you are so sick! I would give anything to be feeling like you do! When I am pregnant, I won’t complain because I know how blessed I am and I will cherish every second of morning sickness!” Yeah…about that…I am now one of those women.

So far this pregnancy has not been easy. My morning sickness started as night sickness and actually started at 3 weeks 5 days…before our first positive HPT. Each day it has gotten slowly worse and has also started earlier. It has now become all day, all consuming and I can’t keep anything down. In the past 3 weeks I have lost 10lbs simply because I can’t eat or keep anything down. I tried all the home remedies: ginger ale, ginger tea, peppermint sticks, Preggie Pops, bland diet. You name it, I tried it. Nothing worked. At around 5 weeks my doctor had me start on Vitamin B6 and Unisom which are the medications in Diclegis (just saves me some bucks). That worked slightly for a little bit but the Unisom made me a zombie. I spent 18 hours on my birthday in bed just because I was so tired I could hardly move. 

  
Due to my weight loss and inability to even keep water down, I am now on 4mg of Zofran every 8 hours. I know there is some controversy surrounding this medication, but both my doctor and I feel that the benefits outweigh the risks in my situation. It can cause more damage for me and the baby to become dehydrated and malnourished. I started the Zofran on Friday and it had been a lifesaver! I still have nausea but it is much more manageable and I haven’t thrown up once. I am able to eat small meals and have even noticed I have an appetite! Hopefully the morning sickness will subside when we hit the second trimester in a few weeks!

Aside from morning sickness, I have a whole host of other symptoms. My boobs are very sore, as are my nipples. They are even sometimes itchy or give me sharp electric zings which is a very weird sensation. I am very tired. I get winded walking from my office to my car in the parking lot. I have had more intense dreams. There has been cramping on and off and occasionally some extra added pain on my right side. I am assuming this is stretching. I have had very minimal spotting. When I have, I can always contribute it to the Crinone because it’s always the morning after I bumped my cervix while inserting it. I now have the nose of a bloodhound. I smell everything and most of the time that is not a good thing. I also have had a metallic taste in my mouth on and off, nowadays it is almost consistently present. 

  
All pregnancy related symptoms aside, we have absolute crazy weather where I live and in the span of two weeks we went from having a tornado watch and being 60 degrees to having a snow storm and schools were closed, then back up to 70 degrees over the weekend and we are supposed to get snow tomorrow night!! Needless to say my allergies and sinuses are going crazy. I have had a bad cough for a few days and actually lost my voice yesterday. Over the weekend I had the hint of a small fever and it got up to 99.9, so we have been watching it diligently. 

We are currently 8 weeks and 2 days with a due date of October 2nd. We go for our second ultrasound on Thursday 2/25. We may have one more ultrasound after that before graduating from our RE’s office but I am not sure. I get to stop the Crinone once we reach 10 weeks, which will be 3/6 and that can’t come soon enough! I can’t wait to be done with it! And last but not least, we have our first OB appointment scheduled on 3/15!