3 lbs!

So I am going to get better about updating this blog now that I feel like I have a better handle on my schedule. Now that I've taken care of things and gotten a bit more organized, I am still busy, but now updating my blog isn't so daunting :)

Trig is doing really well! He's currently eating 22mL of my breastmilk every 3 hours, fortified to 22calories per mL. And he's keeping it down really well, not much residual these days! And although he was back on the bilirubin lights, he's off of them again now! YAY! Just in time for my friend Sandy to come and take pictures of him. My incredibly sweet sorority sister found out that Trig was born and offered to come take pictures of him when she was in town for a conference! Of course I couldn't say no, she's a professional and her pics are just beautiful. So she came up to the NICU yesterday and we had so much fun taking pics of him. I cannot wait to see them, and it was so great to see her. Sandy, THANK YOU!

So we're doing "non-nutritive sucking" so that he can learn to breastfeed. So, when he's getting a feeding, I go up to the NICU and he practices latching on while his feed goes in. Things were much easier yesterday for him because they switched his orogastric tube to a nasogastric tube, yay! So now he's able to latch on better. He isn't so good at it yet, but when he does latch on, I am surprised at his vacuum power, haha! He really works hard at it for 10 minutes or so then he falls asleep. It's the cutest thing. So I got to spend a LOT of time with him yesterday- I held him while he did that and then while Sandy was taking pictures. PRECIOUS moments with my little boy, I am so thankful. Then last night I went up to the NICU with Ronnie and I got to change his diaper and he had a nice poop! Yay, Trig, get all that bilirubin out! He weighed 3 lbs and I am so excited about that - I know that he could still fluctuate but I am so glad that he's gaining weight and 3 lbs just sounds so much better than 2lbs and whatever ounces, doesn't it?

Going to see Dr. C today for my post partum visit. Hoping that my BP is decent and that they take a look at my episiotomy but that they don't mess with it haha. I think it has healed really well so far. So we'll see how that visit goes. Then I'll go over to the NICU, and then I have my virtual shower from 2-5, thanks to Suzy! YAY! Thank you, Suzy! So I gotta take pictures of the gifts, etc. and post them on the site. Should be fun :)

So I was going on one of my very few outings with my mother in law to get some things for the baby. Who knew it would be my last! I was in a wheelchair, we left Big Lots and I felt a gush. While Cindy was putting the chair in the back of the car, I checked, and it was bright red blood. I yelled at her to take me to the hospital. We weren't far, and Cindy thought it would be a good idea to let a policeman know and so we happened to see one. She honked and honked and tried to get this policeman's attention for seriously like 5 minutes, and he was just oblivious. He finally pulled over and Cindy asked him for an escort to the hospital so we could get through the neighborhood quickly, and he said no but he could call an ambulance. SO freaking helpful. Then the guy had the nerve to try to follow us to make sure we didn't SPEED! UGH! Got to the hospital, got to L&D (for the billionth time, but it was GREAT to see friendly faces, they hugged me). I got put on a monitor, bleeding slowed and baby was fine. Ultrasound showed a small to medium sized abruption, so docs decided to stop my anti-contraction drugs, keep me in the hospital until the baby was born, and the plan was not to induce labor but if I were to go into labor, they wouldn't stop it. Spent the night Thursday night but wasn't told that it was an abruption and what the plan was until Friday morning. The situation didn't seem too dire, so I wasn't sure whether or not to tell Baker to come, and Cindy told Ronnie to just book a rewards flight and if we canceled, fine, no penalty, but it wouldn't hurt for him to come if he could. Baker did decide to come, but we just thought, hey, why not, it's a free flight anyway. Later on Friday, both of my docs told me they thought it was a good idea that Baker come, but Baker was already on a plane (still, I was glad to hear I made the right decision). So Baker got in to see me late Friday night and spent the night with me.

So Friday night my contractions increased and my was being squeezed to death by the blood pressure monitor that was set to go off every hour or so. I found out later that the thing actually BRUISED me really bad. I took the stupid thing off so I could sleep. The nurse asked me why I did it so I told her. After attempting several machines, we discovered that the reason that I was being squeezed so hard was that my blood pressure actually WAS that high. Docs were notified, magnesium was started immediately. Saturday morning, they moved me to another L&D room closer to the nurses station in case I were to really go into active labor and have the baby. At that time, my perinatologist Dr. M came in and gave me the news - given my abruption and BP problem, I was going to be induced. I was totally freaked out (with a twinge of excitement) and Cindy started crying and hugged the peri (who, as it turns out, is not a hugger and was totally weirded out). So they started pitocin and I labored all day Saturday. My doc came by to see me late Saturday night and ordered an epidural - although I had always wanted one, this was more of an order than a "do you want one" kind of question - he said he wanted me to sleep (I had been in ALMOST active labor for a long time by then) and he wanted it to lower my blood pressure. At the same time, I was getting toxic on the magnesium so they kept having to turn it off and back on again. Magnesium fighting pitocin is NOT fun, I don't recommend it.

Epidural placement was NOT bad at all. It really didn't hurt much at all and I was okay. However, I dropped my blood pressure when the anesthesiologist did it so strongly that I started hyperventilating and thought I was going to throw up - they gave me a little epinephrine and I felt better. He finished up and I actually DID get some sleep. Baker was so happy that I had become "Kelly" again for a few minutes.

Sunday morning, I was uncomfortable and had to get more drugs in the epidural both at 6am and 10am. Sunday is NOT a good day to have to sit around waiting for your doctor by the way! The plan was for the doc to come in and break my water but he didn't get there to do it until 1pm (he had been up all night with other patients). He broke my water at about 1:30pm and they placed an internal contraction monitor. Baker planned to go home and shower, but suddenly my contractions went insane and he didn't know what to do. The nurses were like, yeah, go shower, but don't be long. LOTS of strong contractions later, Baker made it back in about half an hour or so. I had just been checked and the nurse said I was at 4cm but the baby was at a -2 station. All of the sudden, I started feeling a TON of pressure down there and started yelling "pressure pressure pressure!". The nurse looked under my gown and said "we're gonna have a baby NOW". Called the NICU team and my doc, who were like, yeah, give us 10 min, and she was like no, NOW!!! I'll never forget that Baker was putting lotion on his face after shaving when he heard this news - he had cut it that close.

So I had NO idea what I was doing with this pushing thing, but I had to do it! Baker held my right hand and the nurse held my left, and I pushed 4 times. At some point, the Dr. S stopped me to do an episiotomy - he said that it wasn't necessary but that it would help to put less stress on the baby. So, he numbed me up and cut! Before the 5th push, I heard the nurse quietly say that Trig's heart rate was going down and he wasn't tolerating it well, so I was determined. On the 5th push, little Trig's head popped out and I looked down at it - wow. The doc told me to stop and pulled Trig out the rest of the way. He did cry ever so softly immediately, and then the room went a little too quiet. But at that point, they were working on him and Baker went over to the NICU team to look at his little boy. He scored 7 and 8 on his Apgars and I got to see him for literally 5 seconds before he was whisked away to the NICU. Baker (oh so sweetly) asked me if he could go with them, so he did. The room cleared out and then it was just basically me and the doc. It was funny to chat with him while he stitched up my episiotomy. I escaped with just a 2nd degree episiotomy.

They had to work on Trig in the NICU and wouldn't let anyone in while they did, so a TON of people piled in to see me including Baker's aunts, uncles, cousins, you name it. It was nice to see everyone but I was overwhelmed by the amount of people that came with such short notice! People took all kinds of pictures of me - no shower for 3 days, no food for 48 hours, oh yeah I looked great. Not to mention that my blood pressure had turned me into a literal marshmallow which I didn't know at the time. Baker brought me back a little piece of paper with Trig's footprints on it, his weight, and his length. For how little he is, he sure does have big feet! At least I think so! After 30 minutes, Baker was allowed to take people 1 at a time to see him, so I was actually left alone for a long time. I found out later that the nurses told everyone to leave me - my blood pressure was going dangerously high and the doc pushed every BP drug in the book, along with anti-seizure meds. I laid there trying to chill out but I just wanted to see my baby. I eventually got to see him after FINALLY getting my blood pressure down at about 10pm. He's beautiful :) Ronald Baker "Trig" King III was born!!!

At that time, Trig was placed on a bubble CPAP but just with room air. They placed an IV for nutrition for the little guy. Since then, he has been improving by leaps and bounds - he moved to a nasal cannula and then nothing at all within just a few days. At first, he wasn't tolerating feeds and had a hard time keeping food down - now, he's up to 19mL of milk given to him in his oro-gastric tube and he keeps it down! Since he's doing so well with that, he got his IV out yesterday, no more IV nutrition! Yesterday, he weighed 2lbs 12oz - he got down to 2lbs 8oz and is working his way back up. That is definitely his biggest hurdle - his weight. He just really needs to pack on some pounds! But, I am able to see him and hold him often, and we're actually doing "practice" breastfeeding once a day. I pump my breastmilk and then he gets put to my breast to just do "non-nutritive sucking". He is SO good at it! Then he wears himself out and falls asleep with my nipple in his mouth! LOL. He's beautiful and his daddy and I are just totally in love.

Pumping breastmilk is difficult - I pump every 2 hours except at night, and I give myself about 4 hours to sleep at night. I am certainly sleep-deprived, but it's worth it. Baker is back in Ohio and I miss him like CRAZY. I really wish that there was some way he could be here with me and Trig but he really just has to continue with school. So, he'll visit as much as he can. It's very difficult on both of us, but we're trying to focus on the fact that it won't be like this forever.

That's about all for now - I'm finishing up my 8am pump, going to put it in the freezer and go shower! I'll get ready and go see him as soon as I can. That's how I spend my days - pump, go to NICU, and maybe a few things from my to do list get done in between there. I am trying to catch up on phone calls that I owe people as well. Gotta get to it, will post more later!

Belly Pics

In the black, I am 30 weeks 4 days, and in the blue/green, I am 32 weeks 2 days (yesterday)! Yay, I finally have a belly!

32 weeks!

I'm 32 weeks and 2 days today! YAHOO!!! Didn't think I'd make it here. I think that every new day!

Hasn't been uneventful, though. Baker came this past weekend (YAY!) but he was SO sick with a sinus infection (BOO!). It was so nice to be with him all the same. I was glad that if he had to be sick that he was here so that I could care for him. Saturday we hosted a shower for Baker's cousin Ryan and his new wife, Holly. She's due 5/25 and I'm jealous cuz her belly looks as big as mine does now! Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling well, so I had to go and lay down most of the shower. I've been having more painful contractions that feel more like menstrual cramps than they did before, so I spent a lot of time laying down this weekend. Did as much socializing as I could :) Sunday, we hosted an 80th birthday party for Momo but I was even more absent at that - I finally convinced Baker to go to an urgent care facility so we went there, got seen by the doc, got some medicine, came home and I put him to bed. Put me to bed, too. So I really didn't socialize at that party and I feel really bad about it, but I had no choice, I was still contracting really bad and I was trying to take care of Baker. Luckily, he woke up feeling TONS better on Monday and was able to fly home. Well, I was happy that he was feeling better, NOT that he was flying home :)

So Monday night, we all went to the SA Rodeo to see Reba. Me in my wheelchair and all! Cindy wheeled me to my seat and I sat there the whole time (except one trip to the bathroom!). Of course, my favorite part is the Rodeo stuff - I felt bad because I LOOOVE the team roping and the team ropers couldn't rope anyone! I mean, I think there were seriously 2-3 groups that were successful. Then, the bulls were awesome, I mean, really crazy bulls. The guy that won actually got thrown off of his bull and then when he was running away, the bull got him under his butt and flipped him upside down, the dude landed on his shoulder! But at least he won haha.

I had been having some rough nights with contractions and Monday night was no exception so I decided to let my doc know. They sent me to L&D. After a long day there, everything is fine - cervix is shortening and slowly dilating but not as much as my contractions would indicate - I was contracting every 2-5 minutes!!! But anyway, they kept me on a monitor for a long time, checked to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid, did a fetal fibronectin test, all of that. Then the nurses ran into Dr. M and told her that I was here so she had them take me to her office to check the baby and my cervix. He was gorgeous - again. He looks more like Baker every single day. He was practicing breathing which is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Opening his mouth, making faces at us, kicking away, totally happy baby. He's taking quite the beating from my poor uterus but doesn't seem to mind! :) So anyway, the FFn test came back negative so they let me go. Hopefully, I can keep cooking this little one and I REALLY hope my contractions don't get much more painful at night because I'm not sleeping that well as it is.

So then last night everyone went to the Rodeo again - I was invited but I didn't think it was a good idea that I go so they sold my ticket. And of course, we're in this major drought here in SA but it decided to storm last night, big time, while I was home alone in this huge house. And I'm talking BIG storm - lightening and thunder that made the electricity flicker over and over, and HAIL. Lots of HAIL. I was totally freaked, thank goodness I was on the phone with Baker, it was so comforting. He tried to talk me out of being scared logically, but my fear of storms is deep-seated, quite embarrassing :) But the storm passed quickly, thank goodness.

So I know I owe belly pics, that's on my agenda for this afternoon :)