the NICU stay

Well, of course since he was born so premature Will had to stay in the NICU. They told us he should make it home by his due date (July182010) and he was born May 20, 2010. He was a whopping 2lbs12oz at birth, which I was happy about, because it was actually an oz bigger than they told me he would be. Having him at 31wks4days gestation, he was actually the size of the average 28wk gestation baby and would have only been 5-6lbs if born full-term. 

The first day in NICU he was on CPAP, to make sure he was breathing alright, he was immediatly doing so well that they switched him to nasal cannula instead. And he was on "room air" right away pretty much. 

Of course, I had a little fighter on my hands he was wiggling out of the snugli, and ripping out IV's immediatly. So the drs decidet to put in  a PIC iv, so it would last longer and be almost impossible for him to rip out. During the procedure he screamed so loud that he ripped a tiny hole in his lung, called a pneumothorax . They told me they would just watch it closely and keep him on oxygen until it healed. I was so happy it didnt actually collapse and require a chest tube to fix it. It took 3days for the lung to heal, then one more day and he was off of oxygen assistance! I was so happy! He was only on oxygen for 6days!! :) 

So this is how it happened....

So I had taken the hubby to work (the ship was going out for a week) and headed off to my parents so I didnt have to stay home alone all week. All day I sat around, with my big fat swollen feet propped up and they just swole up more. Finally I check my bloodpressure and it was very elevate (like 187/92 or something close to that). Of course, I call my OB/GYN and head off to labor and delivery to get checked. 


I'm expecting to get there, be monitored and go home, maybe being put on bedrest, but I found out nope, I will be in the hospital until I deliver the baby, and it could be as soon as tonight. I had preeclampsia with a +4 protein level. They get my 24hr sample back and my protein was over 10,000 and if dr's are watching you for pre-e, they won't let you go past 5k without delivery the baby.


I was only 31wks pregnant. 


They start the process of having the red cross bring my husband home for the high risk birth, and getting the steriod shots in me for his lungs. It all still somewhat seems like it was a bad dream, kind of like I was watching a horror movie take place in front of my eyes. Without God, and my amazing family I probably would have totally lost it.  


Finally, Hubby gets home and they start the induction. Boy was that hard. 13hrs of painful contractions, awful back labor, and not to mention it's now thursday and I was admitted monday evening and I still haven't had anything to eat but IV fluids. I wanted so bad to have an invervention free birth, I didn't even want an IV-access much less an epi, and pitocin. But at this point, I had to have everything. The IV to control my bloodpressure and keep me hydrated, the epidural to keep me from getting too stressed during the contractions so that my blood pressure didnt spike again. Even with all the medicines they had me on my blood pressure was 200/90-something. Both me and the baby should have been in seizure and possibly coma from it being and staying so high, but for some reason God saw fit that we be ok, and I thank him for it. 


I get to 8CM and then get stuck. The baby was coming out at a funny angle making it hard for me cervix to dilate. The keep uping the pitocin and had to give me 2 extra shots of the epi. Then almost instantly I make it to 10CM. And it's time to move me to the OR to push the baby out. After 3 pushes this amazing, tiny, fragile bundle of love and joy is out and set on my chest. I could hardly believe it. Some thing so perfect, to amazing came out of me, I made him. 


Of course, because I was only 31wks4days pregnant when I delivered I only got to hold him while they clamped and cut the cord, then he was rushed away to the NICU to be checked out. Thank God he was completely healthy and really didnt even need any oxygen assistance. They had the cpap on him at just over room air!


I was still on bed rest for 24hours after delivery and wasnt even allowed to go see him. That was the HARDEST 24 hours in my entire life. Sure, everyone told me he was fine, and I knew I could believe them but I wanted to see for myself. It hurt so bad not being able to have him with me and hold him and take care of him like I wanted to do. But the next morning when I was able to go see him I just cried my eyes out, it was joy that he was doing so well, and fear as to what would happen. And so started our 6weeks in the NICU!

I guess I should do an introduction???

10 months ago I got those two lifechanging little pink lines, you know, the ones that mean "pregnant".... newly married and definitely scared and excited and a mix of all kinds of emotions I started my journey to motherhood.

Of course I had all kinds of plans for how I wanted it to turn out....I wanted a natural childbirth, a birthing center, no interventions but life had other plans for me! I never would have imagined that me, being a 19year old completely healthy mother-to-be would end up having to deliver such a tiny, premature baby.

But anyways, lets not get ahead of ourselves, this is an introduction to me. My name is Ashley, I'm a navy-wife and this is my blog to tell you the amazing miracle of my little preemie prince Will :)