The Anderson Family: .Baby Day.

I had mentioned in a previous post that my doctor was now on vacation and I had to see a recommended doctor while he was gone. I went to a scheduled appointment on Friday the 3rd and it was a good appointment, I felt good, confident and happy with the doctor. He had a good feel of my belly and told me, "Ohhh, you won't make it through the weekend!" so I cheekily replied, "You know, Dr Beck said the same thing last week and I made it through the weekend and plan to make it through this one too!" We all had a chuckle but that was about it. He did give me his cell phone number to call him if I went in at any stage and he said he would be more than happy to come deliver baby boy.

I felt pretty safe as I had had a stellar week prior and felt I could/would make it to my due date. I took it pretty easy I thought, I look back now and realize I was totally nesting all weekend, but I did get a rest in each day. I went to bed on Sunday night and said to Cory, "Man this is nice, this is the first night in a long time that I haven't been contracting." Cory said, "Oh that's great, get some decent sleep then!" I had a really good night, only woke twice with heartburn and had to take tums and then the regular 50,000 bathroom trips but I was able to get back to sleep pretty quick.

I woke at 6:00am on Monday the 6th, with bathroom pains, so I went and the pain didn't ease. I was contracting, but much lower in my abdomen, like period pain, subtle but there. I started to time the contractions. 3 and a half minutes apart lasting anywhere from 55seconds to 1min 45seconds (thank you iphone app!) I refused to give in to them, I DID NOT want to be the girl who cried wolf and end up back at the hospital for monitoring as I have been contracting for some time now (like 3 weeks) with nothing happening. I got everything situated, got the boys organized and woke Cory at 7:20am and asked him how he slept and that he better have had enough sleep as I am contracting every 3 minutes and have been for over an hour. That woke him up! Whenever I had contracted previously I didn't get too excited just gave him a heads up just in case. He wanted to know what the plan of action was, do we just head right up to the hospital? Wait it out? Does he go into work? Do we call his mom to get on the road? Organize a sitter?
In answer, "Hospital - HECK NO! I am not going up to be monitored!"
"Yes, wait for a while, I will call the doctor when they open at 8am to find out what I should do."
"Go to work! I can call and organize the boys with a sitter just in case."
"I'll call your mom so she knows whats going on and to be ready to hit the road running."
Cory ended up going to work, for maybe 20mins, he was a bit of a nervous wreck, the total opposite of me at the time which was kinda funny. I decided we HAD to go to the store for last minute baby items before dropping the boys off. We were still waiting to hear back from the doctor and I did not want to head to the hospital for a false alarm. In my mind, I thought if I completely changed what I was doing, took my mind of it, then the contractions would stop. We got to the store and I could barely walk through the contractions and then at the second store I knew I needed to just go to the hospital as this was by far different from what I had previously experienced. So we headed to drop the boys off at our dear friends house. I was so calm. Cory was freaking somewhat thinking why the heck does my wife want to shop for random, 'needed' items, GET TO THE HOSPITAL!!

On our way in the doctor called and I gave him the run down and he stated, "It might just be baby day today Kathryn, not worth the discomfort and stress it might be putting on you and baby." I asked, "So if today is indeed baby day, do you feel ok to come deliver him for me?" He was lovely and said, "I'd be honored. They will do a labor check on you and I will monitor your contractions here at the office and we will be in contact."

I could not sit down at admitting. I told Cory I contract and then it eases a tad and then I get a WAM of pain again and then it's gone. When Jace would move it would be worse. We got admitted and I was hooked up and checked. Contracting less than every 5 mins with a burst of contraction at about the middle so I technically was contracting every 2-3 mins. It hurt, but was bearable. I can see how people would feel nauseated during this stage but I was doing fine. I really hadn't felt baby move this whole morning, just one or two huge hurty movements but he was a happy little man on the monitor. They checked me and I was SOOO LOW apparently, 80% and at a cm. The nurse said she was going to call the doc to see what the plan was but I could pretty much be guaranteed a csection today. We told her we would be more than happy to wait until later in the day as they were really busy with surgeries etc and she said that would be awesome if the doc was on board. I thought, phew, I can get my mother in law here and all will be well. This was at 10:50am. At 11:05am the nurse came back, told us the doctor wants baby out ASAP as he is descending and they don't want to risk it and we are scheduled for noon. Holy smokes! She gave me a shot to slow my contractions and it was all a go from there.

Baby Jace was born at 12:39pm weighing in at 8lb 1oz. He was perfect!

My csection went really well, I was yanked and pulled on a fair bit as they had to push him out of pelvis and they push him back down out the incision. I felt a ton of pressure this time and 2 days later I seriously felt like I had major internal bruising. Not fun.

I mentioned before that I found out about Jaces lungs in recovery, they were lovely and wheeled me back to see my sweet little boy on my way to my room. I was in my room by 2:30pm and it felt strange not to have my baby rooming in with me or see him in his daddys arms. It was very humbling and overwhelming.

I tried to rest (shyeah right!) but was obviously distressed about my sweet new little. At 6:30pm the nurse got me up and out of bed and we walked over to the nursery so I could hold and feed my boy. I was tickled! I thought being hooked up and monitored meant I wouldn't be able to do that - I was so grateful. Jace was nameless that first day, we just could not decide between our final names and I wanted to spend some time with him to get a feel for a name I naturally gravitated toward. Those first 2 days were very hard, I now have a new understanding and appreciation of mothers with preemies or sickly little bubs. It is an all new emotion watching and waiting and having a selfish need to want to just unhook them and run away, praying all will be fine. It was particularly hard seeing Jace in there, big, healthy, pink and robust. Just like he was on the tubes and monitors for kicks and giggles as some big joke. The hardest was his IV's kept failing, which is really common with newborns but he was poked no less than 13 times those first 2 days. In the end they had to put it in his head (I could cry each time I see this photo). If this was to fail and they could not get another solid IV line, they would have had to do it through his umbilical cord and I wouldn't have been able to hold him if that was the case.

There were so many blessings and small miracles that occured during this time too and I know so many I don't even recognise, but his nurses (the main ones) were wonderful and even a sweet lady from our ward was his nurse those first days and she was soo good for me. I would slip and and sit in the nursery while they attempted IV's and I would listen and see how they loved my little boy. His head nurse, Tracy, was in early mornings and would check on each baby (she would do Jaces IV's if no one else could make them work), she would kiss on and love him and it just touched my heart each time. She had no clue I could see or hear.

The boys were well taken care of and my in-laws arrived that evening and my boys were in heaven. They adore them and vice versa. True blessing. Cory's work was amazing, they were so flexible and understanding and just excited and happy for us and wishing Jace the best. I recovered considerably quick in the hospital and was able to walk to each and every feeding and was able to pump and feed what he didn't nurse at the next feeding and he took a bottle like a champ. There are so many to name and I am just so humbly grateful.