He's Here!

Thomas Edward was born January 23, 2012 at Community North Hospital in Indianapolis!

I was admitted to the hospital after visiting the doc's office on January 17th (Tuesday) to check my blood pressure (it was 180/118). They admitted me immediately and said that they were possibly going to induce that night (at 34 weeks 1 day) because my blood pressure was so high from the pre-eclampsia. As you may guess, it was positively terrifying. Especially since I went to the OB's office by myself (Stephen had to run some errands). We stayed in the hospital that week and was told that they were going to hold off on induction until the baby is at least 35 weeks old. Needless to say, 34 weeks went by VERY slowly.

Stephen stayed with me all day and night and thus we both had to dip into our vacation time. Sunday came, and after much begging (and some tears) from me, she agreed to start induction that night with labor most likely beginning on Monday (35 weeks). HOORAY!

During our stay, we watched the last playoff game of the season- Ravens vs. Patriots to see who was going to the Super Bowl. Here is Stephen impatiently watching the VERY close game.

He did an excellent job of attending to me even during action-packed parts of the game. Thankfully, the Patriots won.


Sunday night induction did very little (dilated to 1.5 cent) and thus Monday morning they started the pitocin. I was also told that I wouldn't be given an epidural until I was at least 3 centimeters. Now, I had gone into this pregnancy hell bent on having a natural labor and was in the process of hiring a doula through the hospital. But spending week 34 in the hospital had completely shot my mental strength to hell and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to do it. Additionally, I had a strong suspicion that my blood pressure was going to go crazy anyways, and I would end up with an epidural or a c-section in the end.  I was positively miserable and uncomfortable being pregnant- I felt like I had gained 20 pounds in fluid, wasn't getting any real sleep, and was going out of my mind.

Sure enough, I was correct. After only about an hour of the pitocin, my blood pressure was on the rise and my OB decided that we had to do a c-section. From there, things moved quickly. I was prepped for surgery and the nurse and I walked down to the surgery room for my c-section. While getting there, I noticed something dripping down my leg- I believe it ended up being my water breaking. I remember bits and pieces of the c-section (getting the epidural was virtually painless, I remember the tugging and numbness) but I was so incredibly exhausted that when the baby came, I really wasn't very cognizant.

Thankfully, Stephen was able to enjoy meeting his son who weighed in at 5lbs, 3 oz. Here's daddy putting on his first (of many) diapers.

From there, I went into recovery for an hour and vaguely recall the new grandparents coming in and out of the room exclaiming how adorable Thomas is and that he had big feet. I just wanted to be left alone to sleep- and thankfully the nurse helped to shoo everyone out of the room.

Patients of c-sections normally stay at the hospital for 72 hours and I was hoping to be out of there by Thursday. But it was clear that my oxygen levels were low (I was having to wear an oxygen mask), my iron count was low, and my blood pressure was not decreasing. I was out of breath just getting up to go to the bathroom. By Thursday morning, my OB was talking to me about having a blood transfusion (I opted for iron pills instead) but changed my mind after Thursday was spent huffing and puffing and being on oxygen.

Meanwhile, Thomas was doing excellent. He successfully avoided a trip to the NICU despite being a preemie and his drop in weight (he was down below 5 pounds).

His billirubin count was low and thus had to wear a special blanket, but otherwise was kept in the same room as Stephen and I. Stephen would leave once a day to take care of the dogs, take a shower, and pick up anything else that was needed from the house. In the mornings/evenings, either my parents or our dog sitter would come and watch the dogs. It was extremely stressful.

Friday morning found me agreeing to the blood transfusion and hoping that I would be released later that day. The blood transfusion went well with no complications and my hemoglobin count went back up.

Unfortunately, the blood transfusion had no effect on my high blood pressure and thus going home on Friday never happened. At this point, I felt like I was literally going out of my mind crazy with being in the same room, same bed for 10 days. I only got up to use the bathroom (when I wasn't on a catheter) and hadn't been able to change Thomas. I was sick of it and the worst part was the feeling of helplessness because I could do nothing to control my blood pressure. It was high whether I was feeling stressed or was laying on my left side sleeping. It didn't matter what I did.

As the days progressed, my frustration increased and I was becoming more blunt with the doctors and nurses about being discharged. Since my blood pressure wasn't responding to the medication they were giving me, they decided to call in a cardiologist to help assist them in increasing said meds. I met with him early Saturday and was given several doses of additional medication. They didn't take effect until later that evening and thus I was not allowed to go home on Saturday. Meanwhile, Thomas was discharged from the hospital Saturday night at midnight but was allowed to stay with us as long as Stephen was there.

Sunday I was FINALLY released! My blood pressure was consistently staying down and I wasn't having any other issues pop up. I was beyond elated (same with Stephen)! We were released at just after noon and drove little Thomas (who was discharged at 4 lbs, 10 ounces) home.

And THAT's my birth story. It was long, miserable and I am relieved that it's over with. I had tons of complications/issues (bloody noses every day from the dry air in the hospital, a UTI, etc) and the dogs/cat were stressed as well (Cody ended up having a seizure in front of Stephen Friday). It was all worth it for Thomas but it will take a lot of serious consideration on whether I want to go through another pregnancy and labor again.

Now, we are in the process or trying to form a routine (Thomas has his days and nights mixed and thus sleeps terribly at night), pick up baby stuff that we need, figure out when to introduce a bottle so that I am not the sole source of food all the time, and just recover from the stress of being in the hospital for 12 days. My oxygen level is still low at times (I will run out of breath) and I'm feeling pretty sleep deprived and hormonal, but Stephen and I are working together to co-parent so that neither one of us is stuck. He's able to work from home for a month or so while I've been doing some work as well trying to make up for the fact that I left unexpectedly. I'm still planning on taking 3 months off of being in the office (although I will be doing some work from home). I still haven't even started trying to find a sitter for Thomas once I go back to work.

But despite the lack of sleep and lack of knowledge, we are doing pretty well!