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!!!

4 comments:

Brianne said...

wow girlie, that was a tough labor and all together situation to go thru. You are very strong!

Nicknessaemma said...

You have two amazingly strong boys! Nothing can stop them. I think they proved that!

Kristen said...

What an amazing story...you are an incredible Mom!

Janie said...

WOW! WOW WOW WOW! Seriously, Whit, you are an amazing woman! I don't see why anyone wouldn't look up to you, I deff do!

Tal's story is every bit as amazing and miraculous as Jace's!