BaBy GiRL

Yes, that is what I call her, more so than her actual name. Parker calls her Baby Girl Joely- and he likes her, and he loves to "pet" her- that is what he tells me, all the time :)

Anyway, her is her birth story- and let me tell you it is LONG and everything about her birth did not happen as expected (not that you know exactly what to expect, but this for me, takes the cake)

Monday- Dec. 27th I started having contractions, right after going to my 39 week checkup, they were super painful and ended up about 3 minutes apart, so around 3 in the morning, I called the CNM on call and she said to go to the hospital, so we did. The hooked me all up and after about 3 hours of monitoring, I went from a 1.5 cm to a 3 but that was it, so we went home, around 7:30. The contractions keep on continuing the rest of the week, and then on Wednesday night Joe had to take his car into the shop (I should have known this was a sign, the day before Parker was born, my car was in the shop) so we were down to one car and I had to drive Joe to work on Thursday and just keep on having contractions - about 10 minutes apart, so I called the dr and they said to come in and they would check me, so I did around 9 in the morning. They checked and I was still at a 3 (which was frustrating given the amount of contractions, one would have thought it would have at least been a little more) so the CNM called the CNM on call to see what she wanted to do, and they decided to "strip my membranes" (sorry probably TMI- and honestly, I don't even know what that meant, but it hurt) and then she said that they probably wouldn't need to se me next week, make sure to go to someones house that could drive me to the hospital if needed because things should progress. I went to my mom's house and laid down on her bed for a little bit, and literally within maybe an hour my contractions were so painful and about 2-3 minutes apart and I was like, we need to go to the hospital, and I wasn't sure what to do about Joe. My mom drove me to the hospital and my brother drove down to get Joe at work and bring him to the hospital.

The contractions were so painful, I literally couldn't even move and they had to take me in on a wheelchair. The took me to my room, got me all hooked up and I was at a 4- and the contractions were so intense, literally right on top of each other- I know this because A.) I felt them and B.) 3 other nurses made comments on how my contractions were literally on top of each other.

So, one of the most wonderful people at the hospital came and gave me my epidural, I {heart} him, it was so much better after that, and then about every hour I progressed another centimeter. I got to the point where they decided to break my water (I was at a 6- and it would just about 5:00PM) the fluid was clear so they said that it should definitely speed up then. So they came back about 7ish, and I was STILL at a 6- contractions looked good, baby looked good, but still no progress, so they decided to put in an internal monitor because then they could decided if maybe I wouldn't be able to progress past a 6, or the baby was too big, but they would have to monitor it for at least a couple of hours. So that went in a probably about a quarter to 8 and about 40 minutes later my contractions were SO painful, and the epidural was NOT helping, so I called the nurse and they came and checked and I was pretty much a 10 and ready to go. Another anesthesiologist came and gave me some more epidural stuff, but then I couldn't feel anything. Oh, and did I mention that Joe, and my mom were NOT there?!? Joe went to get stuff to take to my parents for Parker and my mom had a massage at 8. So the CNM was like, um, is your husband close, I called Joe and he was about 15 minutes away because of traffic, and so they were getting everything all setup and Joe got there pretty much when I was ready to push. I had called my dad to tell my mom, and so my dad came to the hospital to wait, and then my mom would come when she was done. I pushed for 19 minutes (which apparently is crazy impressive for the first time ever giving birth that way) So from the time I was a 10 to delivery was 40 minutes, and that included all the setup time and during the delivery they baby's heart rate dropped, so they gave me oxygen which then picked it right back up. So after Joely was born, they were getting ready to lay her on me and the CNM says something like, "Oh, she is going to need help" and they took her over to the baby bed and there were about 4 nurses working on her and I am not sure what is going on, all I can see is the top of her head, but  she is not really crying or anything and after about 15 minutes it seemed they took her in the NICU bed and rushed her out of the room.

Joe followed them to while they finished up with me and then texted me that they were doing X-rays on her to see what was going on, and he would keep me updated, I texted back to see if he wanted me to call his dad to see if they could come over to give her a blessing, which he said was a good idea so I called Joe's parents and they said that they would come over with Joe's brother Nathan. So the nurses said that I could go over to Joely as soon as I could move my legs which was not happening so they decided to just put me in a wheelchair so that I could go see her. We went into the NICU where Dr. Miner was there and Joe and Joely was hooked up to so many machines. Dr. Miner explained that Joely was very sick, during the delivery when her heart rate dropped they were concerned that it could have caused brain trauma and that she was not being able to breathe on her own and she had some sort of infection. They explained about a new procedure called Body Cooling where they lower the baby's body temp to help decrease the risk of brain trauma for about 72 hours, and then SLOWLY bring the temp back up to normal. Afterwards, they would give her an MRI to check for tissue damage, brain waves etc. She was very sick and would probably have to be in the NICU at least 2-3 weeks. She was being intibated, she had so many tubes on her, in her umbilical cord, on her head, down her throat, in her mouth, it was so hard to see her like that and I was so exhausted and overwhelmed with everything, but the body cooling has to be started within 6 hours so we gave the ok, and then Joe's dad gave her a blessing and said that she would be well. So, they were getting everything started and they took me back to my room, all of our family left to go home and Joe and I had our moment and broke down, we knew that it would be ok however it turned out, but seeing past everything that had to be gone through would be hard. So Joe went home to rest and I fell asleep and the next couple of days we had visitors, and keep visiting Joely in the NICU. She eventually got to get off the intibator, and was put on the C-PAP- that made her look so swollen and it wasn't until 5 days after she was born that I actually got to hold her, that was so amazing she was so tiny, but there were still so many cords to try and work around, but all the NICU nurses and doctors were fantastic! On Wednesday the 5th, we got the results of her MRI- they were NORMAL!!! I was so relieved and grateful! About day 7 I was able to nurse her and she did GREAT! We would have to weigh her before and after she ate and the first day she got a 95, a 70. and a 60- and they were wanting her to get at least 20- so the next day they upped it to 50 and the first 3 feedings she got 12, 8 and 10. I was so...upset I guess. She had been doing so good, and basically she needed to be eating well as one of the requirements before she could go home. She was being gavage fed- through a tube that goes directly to her tummy and she had to be completely off that. That was a really rough day, and then I had to realize that she had made such progress and that a stressed mommy makes for a stressed baby and that I really needed to be more grateful. So with that as my attitude I went back to the hospital for the last feeding of the day and she got... 60! And from that point on she ate really well. She was in the hospital for a total of 11 days and we were SOOO excited when we got to take her home! The night before, I stayed at the hospital to nurse through the night and she got to stay in the room with me.  The following day, Monday, she was doing really well, Dr. Gerstmann did the final discharge checkup and we got to leave. It was so nice to have her coming home, no more trips back and forth to the hospital, dropping Parker off, (he needs to have a little more structure :) I knew that it would be crazy at home, a definite adjustment, but we would be home together. 

As I thought about what all I wanted to blog about etc I realized that a lot of people had questions as to what happened, and also I realized that I have had so many blessing in my life from my Heavenly Father, but I don't know when I have really truly felt the need to rely on him more. I have needed help from Him before but never have I really truly needed His help, I couldn't help her, not really, I could be there but I couldn't "fix" her. Her doctors and nurses needed inspiration to know what to do. We had family fast for her, her name was put on the prayer role at the temple and there was so much prayer in her behalf. I knew that we would take on whatever challenges would come our way, but I am ever so much grateful that my Heavenly Father blessed her and us for her to be so perfectly healthy. She really truly is a miracle baby, the doctors and nurses all commented daily on how well she was doing and that she was doing better than they expected and the fact that she was able to leave the hospital so soon was just remarkable. I know that it was more than remarkable, it was the most wonderful blessing in my life. I love my baby girl, sometimes I feel tired and stressed, and Parker can be a little bit difficult, but we have been through so much and have received even so much more. 

Here are some pictures- the first 4 are when she was being intibated, she had the main tube down her throat, and the gavage feeding tube and a thermometer that checked her core temperature. They also used her umbilical cord spot as the main "pick line" to draw blood etc, that way they didn't have to keep poking her to get more blood. She did have to get a pick line in her head too. 

Enough machines?!?! 

This was the C-PAP - it put Nitric into her lungs to help her capillaries in her lungs stay open. They gradually would wean her off of it. This was when she looked the most swollen

YAY! No more C-PAP- just the High Flow Canula. I keep getting to see more and more of her face!

Zonked out! I love that the nurses put the little bow on her head. She was the only girl in the NICU

 Mommy's sweet baby girl!

I will post more pictures once I get the off Joe's phone.