A special day...

So, Tuesday.....I originally went in for my regular appointment with my specialist and then my regular doctor. I had been having some contractions for a couple of days, so I wasn't suprised when the monitor showed I was having them every few minutes. The specialist advised me that I needed to be sure and let Dr. Hardie know. Because I have had two previous C sections, the scar area is less durable and there is a chance that your uterus can rupture from the pressure of contractions. So, we do my sono and everything looks great. Ithen headed to Dr. Hardie's office. They first checked my blood pressure which was high at 163/110. I guess my specialist had already sent their report down, because Dr. H said, "Your having contractions?". I told him I had been having them for a couple of days. He then told me with having contractions and my blood pressure where it was it was best to get the baby delivered. I thought that meant he would schedule me a week out when I would be 37 weeks, until he said "We are doing this now, I'll see you over at the hospital." I was 36 weeks and 1 day. I started to freak out a little. I wanted to make sure Chris and my family would have time to get there. I headed over to the hospital and they immediately got me checked in and started prepping me. It was about 10:15 at this point. Luckily, I had ate some cereal about 6 that morning, so they had to wait 6 hours to administer the anesthesia. That bought a little time for everyone to get there. But right at 11:45 they came and got me to go into the operating room. Chris, my mom and step dad, my sister along with my kids, my dad and step mom, chris's parents, his sister, Sharie, and my grandma where all able to get there in a such a short notice. Right at noon, they went to get Chris and bring him back, and Deakon Gage was born at 12:05 weighing in at 6 pounds 7 ounces, and measuring 18 1/2 inches long. He came out screaming like crazy!

Shortly after, he started making a grunting noise, and his chest was caving in like he was having a hard time breathing. They started to pump his lungs and pumped out several ounces of fluid from his lungs. About 15 minutes after he was born, they let Chris hold him and show me, then told us they were taking him up to the NICU for further observation. I wasn't to worried, because they did this with Keagan, then brought her back to us about an hour later. So, I was a bit suprised when I got back to the recovery room, and they told me they had admitted him and started him on a C-PAP. C-PAP=Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. Deakon had what is called Apnea of Prematurity. Click on the link to see the description.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_newborn/medical_problems/aop.html

Luckily, he is a tough little boy, and by 7:20 the following morning they were able to take him off of the C-PAP, but they did have him hooked up to a few other things. I didn't get to hold my little man for the first time until then. Just not having him with us and having to see him like that was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. We went down to the NICU every 3 hours at 11, 2, 5 ,8, and so on. We were able to feed him, then had to check his tempature, change his diaper and clean his cord. This process took about an hour, and then we headed back to my room to pump. By the time that was done, we had about 45 minutes to spare before we were doing it again. Thank god, I have such a loving and supportive husband, he was by my side every step of the way. Thank you babe! Deakon isn't strong enough to feed off of me, so I am pumping and he feeds from a small bottle. Later that day, he was able to regulate his body tempature on his own and was moved from the incubator to a regular crib. They also were able to move him from Pod 3 in the NICU to Pod 10! The last pod before you get out! That night Chris took the 2 am shift so I could sleep, and I went at 5am so he could sleep. Finally, on thursday morning, I spoke with the doctor about bringing him to our room, which he and the nurse were very reluctant to do. But to my suprise, he called me back about 10 minutes later, and said he discussed it with another doctor and they were going to let him come up. I did have to sign a release form saying that I was responsible if anything where to happen to my child while in our care, which I gladly did. I will be responsible for that for the rest of our lives. =) So, around noon on thursday they let us take him up to our room and he has been wonderful ever since. He is now able to latch on for a few minutes, but tires so easily so we are still using bottles and practicing breast. He is catching on though. His discharge weight was 5 pounds 14 ounces, and he is OUR little bundle of joy. We are so excited to have him home and have him healthy!

So, enjoy our little man! He is very special!

********************

Before surgery.....

*****************

After surgery....

This is the only picture I'm posting of him hooked up in the NICU, these pictures break my heart. You can tell from the pictures how swollen his little face was.