Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Talen's Birth Story!






Going into this pregnancy was nervewrecking. We were told by the doctors that they thought that Jace's birth was caused by an infection or placental abruptoin, both something that happened at random or spontaniously, nonetheless we approached it with caution. I had a deep urge to have the pregnancy i had always wanted and didnt get with Jace, so we decided to give it another go around. I tried to take it easy in the beginnning, after suffering a miscarriage and having a micropreemie, of course i would. I would be seeing a high risk doctor becuz of my history and that made me feel a lil better about the whole thing. I went to see her at 13 weeks. We talked about our plan which was to begin with progesterone shots every week to help with premature labor and bi-weekly cervix checks also seeing my doc every 3 weeks in addition to her. Then eventually we would be doing FFT which is a test to see if i was gonna go into labor starting at 23 weeks it was a bi weekly test.









So at 15 weeks i returned to her office, we did a cervix length U/S and found that it was a cent shorter than the prior two weeks, she was deeply concerned and concluded that i did indeed have an incompetent cervix...to say the least i was devastated and very very scared, at the rate i was going without medical intervention i would have delivered Talen at 19 weeks. So a cerclage (stitching of the cervix) was our only hope. She made my appt for a few days later cuz the lower my cervix got the higher the risk was to break my water during the surgery. So the surgery was successful and i was told to be on bedrest for a week and then i could be as normal. Come to find out, 2 weeks later my cervix was still shortening (which is effacing in other terms) and she insisted i be on bedrest for the remainder of my pregnancy. Every time we would go for a cervical length U/s i was a nervous wreck cuz usually the results were discouraging. I did my best to be in bed but with a toddler it wasnt easy altho thanks to my lil brother and a few friends this was possible.





I was having contractions here and there from 20 weeks or so on that i went to the hospital for...i really over did it at christmas and from then on i was put on COMPLETE bedrest no excuses, laying down at all times becuz i had started to funnel which was not good. So i had my first 2 FFT and both were negative so i knew i was in the clear for the next two weeks and that was reassuring. I knew i was gonna make it past Jace's birth, thank God! So when i went in for my next FFT at 27 weeks i expected the same...i got a call soon after that i needed to head to the hospital right away...the test was positive for labor. So i called everyone and told them and the checked me into a room and told me that i would be there til i had Talen.







They gave me steriod shots for his lungs and put me on medicines to keep me from going into labor. Everyday they hooked me up to the contraction machine and every day i was fine. For 2 1/2 weeks, every day was just like the next, i woke up at 5:30 Am to the same questions from the residents "Are u bleeding, are u in any pain, are u contracting, leaking fluid?" ummm hello if i was do u think i would be sleeping right now!!?!?! Every day the same answer...no im fine. Then breakfast, then who can i call and talk to at 8 am?? Watched a lot of TV, scrapbooked, had lots of visitors (thank God or i think i would have lost my mind). And i looked forward to everynight TJ and Jace coming to see me, i missed them so much!






Until one night when i was in the bathroom i felt something weird...i had a feeling...and i told the nurses and they didnt take me seriously. I knew the cerclage was close to tearing, one stitch had already pulled thru, thats why my FFT was positive and it was barely hanging on i was .03 away from fully effaced. The next morning i woke up feeling...different, i could hardly eat breakfast...forced lunch down...i was in pain! I told the nurse numerous times and she kept hooking me up to the machine and saying "ur not having any contractions" yeah i know but i feel like he is trying to come out, it was painful pressure that i cant explain. I called my mom and she came to the hospital and lit a fire under there asses. My high risk doc was out of town but we called her asst and she told them to have my doc check me NOW. So as soon as my doc got out of csection she checked me and confirmed what i already knew. She said "Yeah...ur stitch is pulled thru...but u already knew that didnt u.." YEP thats what i had been saying for the past 8 hrs in pain. I was in labor...not contracting cuz there was no reason to...i was already effaced. So they admitted me into labor and dellivery and put me on mag sulfate which is = to freaking death! I felt like it was 500 degrees in there i was puking all over the place thrashing and yelling it was awful. I was in so much pain we tried statol...that didnt do anything and then they tried morphine and it only dulled the pain. I couldnt sleep all night, i was miserable. The nurses said they were gonna try to keep me from having him another week...i was like ummm and in the meantime u expect me to be doped up on morphine...that cant be safe!!?? So at 12 pm the next day my high risk doc came in and looked at me and said OMG u poor thing i cant believe they have had u on that mag sulfate so long...lets just go ahead and take u off and lets have this baby, he is coming no matter what. So they took me off, got me an epidural, and my labor progressed quickly. I pushed him out in about 3 pushes, the doc almost dropped him. He was 3 lbs 8 oz and came out breathing and crying (WHAT AN AMAZING Sound to hear!!) TJ held him for a sec and then they clean him up, i gave him a lil kiss and they took him to the NICU, they had been waiting for him u there for weeks.





I threw a fit about wanting to see him right away so they finally got me up there. Of course i had this bitch of a nurse (i remembered her from Jace right away) and she was very negitive about how Talen was breathing (all the morphine was making him very weak) but then i talked to the Doc and he was very reassuring and said that he was doing well and that he would be just fine and that he was so proud of me for hanging in there so long and he remembered Jace and how amazing he was.

Talen was on cpap for a few days and then on nasal canula for a few days, then after a week they moved him up to transition. He was in transition for over a month. He was breathing on his own almost a week later. He had a tough time with his jaundice and we eventually got that under control. He also had some issues with a's and b's so much so that he came home on a monitor (which was terrifying to us) he just came off of it recently. He came home at 35 weeks and has been growing like a weed ever since!






We recently had his first developmental follow up and they were very impressed. So much so that instead of seeing him back from 3-6 months they wanna see him back in 9 months! No one can believe how big he is especially for being strictly breastfeed (which is another feat that we got thru!, he had trouble latching but we kept at it and im so proud of him). He is really catching up in size, he is right on track size wise for his adjusted age. And developmentally of course right on track for adjusted age as well. He actually is ahead in his communication they said! Im so very blessed to have him and sooo very proud of him!

Here is my baby boy now!!!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Jace's Birth Story





My whole pregnancy was pretty textbook, went to the doc, had ultrasound, its a boy, i worked at a cleaning company vacuuming and pulling trash up until i was 4 1/2 months pregnant, until...Jace Dillon was born at 25 weeks;Here is our story...

I started having pains the day before he was born, that to me felt like a UTI, i had UTI's throughout my pregnancy so i really didnt think much of it. All night long every 20 or so minutes i would feel like i had to pee really bad and i would waddle to the bathroom and nothing would come out until that next morning, after not sleeping at all because of the pain(contractions), i saw that i was bleeding and knew something was wrong, this was at 6 am. TJ was still sleeping and i woke him up frantically saying that something was wrong cuz i was bleeding, i dont think he understood the urgency. So i then called my mom and told her that i should go to the hospital and she insisted that everything was fine and that i should go to the doctors office when they open at 8. So on the way there i was in excruciating pain, doubled over, the pain had increased and was consisitent and i was saying to TJ and i quote "OMG there is No way that Labor is worse than this pain right now" (little did i know) So they got me in to do a pee test and they said with my symptoms i probably had a UTI and told me to go home with this prescription, thankfullly i spoke up and said "What about the bleeding?" and the nurse with an attitude said "where are u bleeding from" (ummm duh down there hellloooo?) and then she said "I GUESS we can get the doc to take a look. Of course i get the biggest asshole in the practice, someone i hadnt seen before but had heard about. So he checks me and without missing a beat says "Yep looks like ur gonna have a baby today" (just nonchalent, just like that??)He said "Ur 3 centimeters dilated u need to go to the hospital right now" So completely shocked and not knowing anything about premature birth, we asked if they were gonna do anything to stop it (in my head im thinking...my baby is gonna die) and he said very unreassuring that they will try to but...So we begin to call our family and friends to meet us at the hospital, they of course are all shocked as well.So we go the next block down to the hospital and TJ drops me off up front and me not knowing where to go i go in search of hospital staff, i find a nurses station and ask them where the labor and delivery is and they ask if im a visitor and i say "No IM in labor" one of the male nurses frantically says i will take u there and grabs a wheel chair and wheels me there. They know im coming and get me to a room right away.


Surprisingly i was extremely calm almost like an out of body experience throughout the whole day...my husband on the other hand was a wreck( i dont remember him being in the room much with me at all because he was so inconsolible). But i was surrounded by all my family and friends so i wasnt alone.(there were literally 20 people in my room at times)I remember my parents coming in and they were so nervous looking but trying to keep positive and i tried not to break down but then my cousins came in (they are like my sisters) and then the tears starting stinging my eyes...but i never broke down, i knew i had to stay strong for him, i didnt want to do anything that might stress him out. They gave me shots of steriods and tried to stop labor but the contractions just kept on coming. When they did an ultrasound they saw he was breech and said that we would have to do a c-section but we had to wait as long as possible. So i had to go through the whole labor all 10 cent and then go have a c-section (which was a big fear of mine) but they did it at 8 pm and took him up to the NICU ( i only saw his little elbow when they took him away).He weighed 2 lbs 2 oz which is bigger than they thought he would be. They said i could go see him when i could get out of bed and get in a wheelchair and u better believe i was in that thing before no time.



It was so scary to see him hooked up to all those machines, but he was so beautiful ( see he was my first baby so it didnt seem weird to me that he was so small cuz there was no comparison, he was just perfect in my eyes). It was love instantly, he was so perfect and tiny.






He did amazing in the NICU. He was only on the vent for 1 day!!We got to hold him after a few days passed and the first time i held him on my chest i just cried, it was the most amazing feeling. He was on c-pap for 5 days and then went on the nasal canula for 6 days then back on c-pap for a few and then back to the nasal canula. Which is amazing, lots of babies that are born that early are on the vent and cpap for a very long time.





He was out of the NICU in a month and in the transitional unit for a month where i could stay with him all i wanted in his private room, which was amazing. He was one of the smallest babies they ever had in the transitional unit only about 2 1/2 lbs. He never had to have any surgeries. He had a's and b's for a little while but didnt go home on any monitors. He had a grade one brain bleed but he is fine.


He left the hospital May 18th, a month before his due date at 4 lbs 7 oz., and he has been growing and developing at a rapid pace ever since. He is a good size for his age, id say about average, and has developmentally always been right on track with an exception of his speech which he is recieveing speech therapy for and doing amazing! They always say that the white boys are "wimpy white boys" becuz they typically do the worst in the NICU but Jace was definitly an exception. I am so blessed to have him! When people pitied me for having him so early, i felt lucky for being able to know my baby before most people do...i guess i just try to look on the bright side of situations!


And here is my Miracle boy Now!!

Monday, October 13, 2008

My Very First Blog!









So ive never done this before but i feel like it may help me...with everything. Just to vent or whatever! May help me to remember things as well, cuz of course u get mommy brain as soon as u GET pregnant...and it never goes away...or at least for me it hasnt. So here is what is going on with me RIGHT NOW!




The Rundown of my life in a nutshell.




SAHM Who half the time is ready to lose my mind. Some days the boys are Angels (this is a rare occasion if its at the same time!), its almost always one or the other with some issue! And the worst days is when they are both a handful...those are the days i just want to hide! But they are both sweet as pie they really are, just they are both demanding. Talen of course being a baby who is breastfeed wants to be attached to my boob 24/7, he is a very clingy baby! I always wanted a mommas boy after Jace was SUCH a daddys boy...well i got one! And Jace's biggest issue is the speech delay. We can communicate to an extent but if he is frusterated, then his words go and here come the tantrums and theres no stopping him. Part of a recent struggle with the speech and behavior is the Potty Training issue, that is causing a ton of stress on me. BUT the positive things are Talen is starting to sleep longer (YESS!) and most of the time he is playing for longer periods of time and is developing and growing SO AMAZING! And Jace's speech has improved dramatically, he went from saying 2 words to saying about 50 words (i really need to make a list), he is repeating things, he is putting 2 words together (recently), and has just really done well. Im extremely proud of both of them.





Me as a Wife! Well im not the most "domesticated" person alive but i sure am working on it. I would have to say most of our arguements stem from me not keeping up with the housework the way i should BUT i have been alot better with it lately. I have been keeping up with things and doing different chores each day and its getting easier and more routine. And that makes us get along better and thats great!







Me as a Women! Well ive started this diet called the Eat Clean diet...i really love it. Its more like a lifestyle change than a diet cuz its healthy for u and its something that u dont have to stop. Im seeing results but at times i cheat (boo on me) im working on it tho. Its new, ive been on it just a few weeks. But im shooting to lose about 20-25 more lbs and get back to my healthy weight. I think i will be a much more confident and happy and healthy person once i get there. I exercise at least 5 times a week and i love it, it helps relieve stress and i need that after a long day with the kids.




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So this is the jist of whats going on with me on an everyday basis! THIS IS MY LIFE!