Friday, August 10, 2007

My baby is here!!!

Kaden Josiah
7lb 4oz, 20 inches long
Born on August 6, 2007, at 11:32 a.m





Details:
On Sunday evening, I was monitoring my blood pressure at home and it was too high. I went to the Birth Center so I could be tested for pre-eclamsia, just to make sure I was OK. I went by myself after the kids went to bed, figuring I would get tested and be back home in a couple hours.

While lab work was being done, I was hooked up to monitors. Everything was looking good until the baby’s heart rate went way down for a short time. Soon, it came back up and everything seemed to be fine again.

The student doctor came to tell me that the lab work came back good, but since the baby had a heart rate deceleration, she wanted me to stay the night to be monitored and then have a bio physical profile done (ultrasound) in the morning. She assured me that everything was probably OK.

I didn’t want to spend the night at the hospital. They seemed confident that the issue was not a big deal, so I figured I could just come back in the morning for the special ultrasound. Since I was hesitating about spending the night, the doctor decided to call the ultrasound tech in right then (1am) because they didn’t want me to go home until they knew more. While we were waiting for her to arrive, I tried to nap. It didn’t happen because the nurse came running in. She was panicked. The baby’s heart rate had dropped again. She had me change positions, put on an oxygen mask, and a sensor on my finger, and then she started an IV. The heart rate came back up pretty quickly, but now the nurse and doctor were very concerned that this was happening.

During the ultrasound/ bio physical profile (BPP), the baby was asleep. The tech did all sorts of things to try to wake him up, but he refused. Although we could see his heart beating, and his lungs practicing breathing, he failed the BPP.

The BPP got done at 3 am. Then I had to wait for the results. At 4 am, the student doctor came to tell me that the attending physician (on the phone) decided that it was time for the baby to be born. The induction would start at 5:30 am.

At 4:30, I called Tony to tell him that we were going to have the baby, and that the induction would start in an hour. He and the kids were sleeping. I called and woke up my parents so that they could come watch the kids while Tony joined me at the hospital.

Tony showed up, but nothing happened for awhile. My mom was also invited to attend the birth. I have never invited anyone to be present for the birth before. But this is the last grandchild to be born, and since my mom had expressed an interest in being there, I decided it would be nice to share that with her.

Although the induction started at 5:30, I didn’t feel like I was in labor until about 9:30. At a little after 10, a doctor came in and decided to break my water so that an internal contraction monitor could be used. This made my labor instantly unbearable. I asked for the epidural, and then waited for what seemed like forever. I wanted an epidural for my other three deliveries, but never got one, and was forced to go natural every time. The anesthesiologist arrived around 11:00 (I think). It was a rather difficult process to go through while suffering through hard labor. Once it was in, it was such a relief! I could still feel pain and pressure, but it was now manageable. Once the epidural was in place, the end was very near. In no time, it was time to push. Kaden came out in 3-4 pushes. It didn’t seem all that difficult. The pain was minimal, and I had no tearing.

Kaden got 9/9 on his Apgars (whatever that means). He started looking around right away.

Kaden started having a hard time keeping his body temperature up. Since I had gestational diabetes, he also had to be tested for low blood sugar. Unfortunately, his sugar was too low. They had to take him to the nursery to give him some formula. He didn’t want it, so they had to put a tub down his throat. Later, his sugar was too low again. They tried to give him some formula from a bottle, but he promptly threw it up (he had just nursed). So they had to put in IV in to give him sugar water.




On a side note, by the time I got to go to sleep on Monday night, I had been up for 38 hours. *yawn*

By the next morning (Tuesday), the doctor said we could wean him off the IV. By the afternoon, his sugar levels were doing fine and they stopped the IV. He was also keeping his temp up just fine.

Wednesday morning, Kaden was declared completely healthy. His weight was down to 6lb 13oz, but that is ormal. He is doing a great job nursing. He will have his first check up with his ton Friday. We came home from the hospital at lunch time. It is so good to be back home!

The other five kids are thrilled that their new brother is finally here.

I am just in awe of him. Every time I look at him, I just can't believe how lucky and blessed I am to have him. It's like winning the lottery, but so much better.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The STUD!!!

I am so happy for your family, the Marshall bunch... "Here's the story... of a man named Tony," OK bad joke, I slaughtered it because I don't remember the rest of the lyrics. Nevermind the above paragraph or this endless run-on sentence...

Good job pushing the bun out of the oven.

Skot Lokers said...

What a cutie! His face looks a lot like his daddy. Congratulations!