Noah's Birth Story

Dear Sweet Noah,
This is the first post I've written since you arrived. Your Daddy and I have absolutely fallen in love with you! Of course we think you're the cutest baby ever born. You have such a sweet nature, even at this early age. You are a very easy baby, who almost never cries, and a great sleeper to boot! We count ourselves as very blessed to be your parents. We love you so much!

While we were still in the hospital I wrote out the details of your birth and I wanted to archive it in my blog so that we have your story for years to come.

The whole process began on Thursday, April 26, around 8:00 pm. My nurse brought a labor and delivery bed into my room and switched it out with the hospital bed I had been sleeping on. Then, she put a saline lock into my arm in order to prepare for all the medicine she would be starting the next morning. Next, the attending doctor, Dr. Kristyn Schelhaas, inserted a Foley Bulb in order to get me to dilate past 1 cm. (Dr. Davidson was out of town for the week end, unfortunately. Thankfully, we wound up loving Dr. Schelhaas)! The doctor tried using a light to insert the bulb, but had a difficult time seeing. She ended up threading it blindly. This took a good 15 minutes and it was very uncomfortable for me. After she had it inserted I started having horrible stomach cramps. My nurse gave me some tylenol and a narcotic to get the pain to subside to the point that I could sleep since we knew I had a decently long road ahead of me. I was able to sleep, fairly comfortably, off and on, from 10:00 pm until 3:30 am. My Foley Bulb stayed in for about 7.5 hours and came out at 3:30 am on Friday, April 27. At this point I had dilated to 2.5 cm, not quite as far as we had hoped.

When I woke up at 3:30 and the Foley Bulb came out I asked the nurse if I could have something to eat since I had not been able to keep my dinner down the night before and the doctor had told me that after starting Pitocin I wouldn't be eating at all. My nurse brought me some jello, pudding, and graham crackers with peanut butter and some apple juice to wash it all down. I had a mini-feast, which only stayed on my stomach for a few more hours.

After I finished eating I dozed in and out of sleep for about 20 or 30 minutes until the nurse came in and said that if I wanted to shower it was now or never. Well, at least it was now or not for a really long time since I had to be on complete bed rest for 24 hours after you came. So, at 4:45 in the morning I got into the shower and my room was prepped for the induction process.

Once I finished with my shower the nurse started both my Pitocin and Magnesium. This was approximately 5:00 am on Friday, April 27. I was also hooked up to a non-stress test for the entire labor and delivery process to monitor both my contractions and your heartbeat.

The Magnesium loading dose makes your skin feel as though it is on fire. It also makes you feel kind of sick to your stomach, a little weak, and gives you this overall feeling of being sort of "out-of-it." The loading dose effects wear off in about 30 minutes. During this time, Daddy brought me lots of cool wash clothes to put on my forehead and the nurse gave me a little fan to use. The fan was wonderful and I actually used it for the duration of my labor.

Once my body adjusted to all the medicine I was able to sleep, again, pretty comfortably, off and on from about 5:30 am to 11:00 am. My epidural, (which I did not originally want, but wasn't given the choice to opt out of due to my condition), was put in between 11:00 and 11:30 am. This did not hurt at all, it just felt like a little pinch. It took really well and worked for the entire labor and delivery process. In fact, the only pain I felt after the epidural was some light contractual pain in my left side off and on when my contractions were 2-3 minutes a part and very strong.

At 12:00 pm we had a big scare. The anesthesiologist and the nurse had made a combined decision not to bolster my fluids when they gave me the epidural because I already had so much fluid running through my IV and the loading dose took very well. However, my body decided to react poorly after the epidural had been in for 30-45 minutes. My blood pressure and your heart rate plummeted. I felt very sick and like I was going to black out. Thankfully, your daddy was right there. I could not get anything out of my mouth other than to say, "Hummy!" over and over again, but he got the message. He quickly ran to get my nurse who just so happened to be in the bathroom. Another nurse came rushing into my room and quickly moved the monitor around on my stomach to try and find your little heartbeat. It seemed to take forever for her to find it and when she did find it it was beating very slowly; around 70 beats per minute. She got me hooked up to oxygen and my nurse raced in and put some medicine in my IV to stabilize both of us. Thank goodness we were both back to normal within a matter of minutes. It really shook your daddy up and he was in tears by the time it was all over. We both agreed it was the scariest moment of our lives. Little did we know it would be topped in only a matter of hours.

Since we had this scare, the doctor took me off the Magnesium for a couple of hours to make sure things returned to normal. Both the epidural and the Magnesium lowered my blood pressure so she gave me a break from the Magnesium to allow my numbers to go back up and to make sure you stayed safe.

Once this was all said and done I continued to sleep pretty comfortably off and on throughout the duration of my labor.

Dr. Schelhaas came back to the hospital around 1:30 pm and broke my water. She had been consulting with Dr. Gregerson, OBGYN, who was there to intervene, with a c-section or otherwise, if necessary. He told her she should go ahead and break my water since my body hadn't been progressing much on its own. I was still only about 2.5 cm dilated at this point.

It took from 1:30 pm on Friday, April 27, until 10:00 pm for me to dilate to 6.5 cm. My body did not progress any farther for many hours. My nurses came in around 3:00 am on Saturday, April 28, and told me they had talked to Dr. Schelhaas and that she wanted them to warn me that if they could not get things moving I would be going into a c-section with Dr. Gregerson. This devastated me. I did not want to have a c-section, if at all possible. However, I did want them to do whatever it took to help you arrive safely.

As a last ditch effort Dr. Schelhaas had my nurses increase my Pitocin dosage and decrease my Magnesium dosage. She did this twice. My Pitocin dosage increased from 8 ml to 24 ml, even though they generally only allow patients to go as high as 20 ml. My Magnesium dosage went from 4 ml down to 1 ml. This took place at about 3:30 am.

By 5:00 am I had finally dilated to 9 cm and my nurses told me that I would not have to have a c-section. Praise the Lord! They started preparing for delivery.

I hit 10 cm sometime between 6:00 and 6:15 am. I pushed, off and on, from 6:15-6:51 am. You were born at 6:51 am.

The delivery process went very well for you right up until my last push when you stopped breathing. Dr. Schelhaas had to use the vacuum in the very end, though she said I wound up pushing you out myself. The minute you were out you were taken to the bedside bassinet by Dr. Papiez, the attending Pediatrician. Immediately, there were 13 people in my room working to help you start breathing again. They were able to get you resuscitated and stabilized within  minutes, (though it felt like years to your daddy and I. I remember we just kept looking at each other and looking at you waiting to hear you cry. Time seemed to stand still and we kept asking the doctor if you were going to be okay because we did not understand what was going on. At first, the reports were not too encouraging, but they got better and better as time went on and then we finally heard you cry and were able to relax a little bit), and they whisked you off to the nursery. Once you reached the nursery you had to be under the hood for about 20 minutes, but then you began to breath on your own. Thank you, Jesus!

The reason for all your birth trauma was the Magnesium in your system. Your Mag level was double that of a  "normal mag baby;" at almost 5.0. This, coupled with you being 3 weeks early, led Dr. Papiez to keep you in the nursery for observation for at least 24 hours. (These 24 hours turned into 72 hours).

The Magnesium caused you to have "episodes" that were similar to sleep apnea; you would just forget to breath sometimes. Thankfully, your "episodes" only lasted until 11:00 pm on Saturday, April 28. However, they continued to monitor your oxygen SATs, blood pressure, and heart rate in the nursery until 9:30 am on Tuesday, May 1. You were also placed under a bili light to treat a mild case of jaundice. They had this on for about 24 hours from Sunday-Monday.

About 2-3 hours after your delivery my blood pressure plummeted again and they took me off the Magnesium for 2 hours in order to get my levels back up. Since I had to be on the Magnesium for 24 hours after you were born, in order to help prevent seizures, I had to be on complete bed rest. However, at about 5:00 pm on Saturday, April 28, they let me sit in a wheel chair and they took me down to the nursery to see you. Your daddy had been bringing me pictures and videos of you all day, but it just wasn't the same as getting to see you in person. My heart was broken over not getting to see you until you were 11 hours old, but once I did get to see you all the pain from the weeks of bed rest and the hospital stay and the very long labor and delivery were washed away. You are so worth it!

You were receiving all your nutrition through an IV for the first 3 days after you were born. I started pumping at 6:30 pm on Saturday, April 28, so the nurses could put my colostrum in the fridge for you when you were ready to eat.

On Sunday, April 29, around 8:00 or 9:00 pm, the nurses who delivered you were working in the nursery. Your daddy told them that neither of us had been allowed to hold you yet. They told him to bring me to the nursery and that they would let us hold you. We soaked you up for as long as we possibly could; over an hour! While we took turns holding you, we also took turns feeding you some of my colostrum from a syringe. It took you a little bit to catch on, but you decided you liked it pretty well and wound up eating a decent amount.

On Monday, April 30, around 9:30 am, daddy, Grandma Larson, and I went to the nursery to visit you. While we were there, you started rooting around so the nurse told me I could try to nurse you if I wanted. I was so excited! You took to nursing really quickly and made it so easy on me. I am incredibly grateful!

 Around 12:00 pm that day I got discharged and they guested me so that we could stay at the hospital until you were ready to come home. After getting discharged the nurses told me I had to leave the hospital for awhile because I had been there so long and they wanted me to get out . So, daddy and I took a bunch of dirty laundry, etc. home, showered, and went downtown to Messenger Pizza for lunch. Then, we looked around in Twice Told Tales and stopped at Walgreens to pick up some medicine for me. A couple of hours later we headed back to the hospital so I could feed you.

On Tuesday, May 1, around 9:30 am, they let you leave the nursery and move into my room. The only monitor you had to be on in there was for your oxygen SATs. This monitor was so obnoxious! It beeped constantly, even when nothing was wrong. It was always waking all of us up and driving us insane. Your daddy and I got so sick of it and could not wait to get you off of it.

We just hung out at the hospital all day that day and had a few visitors. Bella Baby Photography came by and took your pictures that afternoon.

The next morning at 7:30 or so, I started crying and could not stop. I told your daddy it was a good cry though. I was sobbing only because, for the first time in over 2 months, nothing was wrong! I was unbelievably happy! You were here and healthy and coming home soon. I was done with bed rest and healthy and getting ready to leave the hospital. It was the greatest feeling!

Around 9:30 or 10:00 am Dr. Papiez came in to see you. He checked your oxygen SATs, your jaundice level, looked at the charts of your blood work, diaper changes, and feedings, and weight loss/gain. He tested your strength and reflexes. He said you looked really great and that we could take you home! We went over a few items with him so we would know how best to care for you and got all your discharge paperwork from the nurse.

The entire time you were in the hospital all the doctors and nurses could not stop commenting on what a "rock star" you were. They were amazed at what a little fighter you were and how you pulled yourself out of the rough start you got. You breathed on your own quickly, you passed your hearing test, your APGAR score was very good, etc. You just improved so quickly that they were all amazed. We know it is from the power of prayer. Many, many people were praying for you from the time I was diagnosed with PIH until we after we got sent home. One cool example of that is that the minute you were born Grandpa Little had just left the waiting room to go to the bathroom. When he got to the bathroom God told him to start praying and to pray hard. He said that feeling only lasted for a brief moment, but he did just that. When he got back to the waiting room Grandma told him that she had seen all 13 of those people rush into my room and she knew something was wrong.

Your life is such a miracle and we are so grateful to God for bringing you to us safely. You are truly fearfully and wonderfully made! You already have an awesome story and you are only a few days old.

Mommy and Daddy love you, little Noah! Welcome to our family!