MY Two BEAUTIFUL Boys and the stories of their adventures
into the world!
Grayson:
Sunday May 31 2009 at 7 am I felt my first
minor contraction, (even though at the time I was not aware of it being a
contraction) because this was my first child and I was honestly pretty clueless
I didn’t really realize I was in Labor till WAY later in the day. My Due Date
was on June 4 and I remember very specifically sitting in my car,
late the night before (May 30) with my Sister in Law April telling
her how completely HUGE and Miserable I felt and the fact that I could barely
fit behind the wheel didn’t make it better. I was ready for Baby to be born…
and apparently baby was ready to since my first contractions (as mentioned
previously) started a few hours later.
Since I wasn’t aware that I was having contractions Kasey
and I went about our daily business. We went to Village Inn for lunch… I had
Strawberry Banana French Toast (don’t ask me how I remember). And then Kasey
went to work for some last minute Over Time.
I remember very specifically that I started wondering if I
was in labor around 4pm because I was constantly getting up to go to the
bathroom… but never really had to go. (Found out later that I had pretty bad
“back labor”) Throughout the day I made a valiant effort to stay awake and
watch VALKYRIE… but in the end I stopped it and started it back at the
beginning about 5 times because I kept falling asleep… To this day, I have not
seen more of that movie than the first 15 mins or so.
Around 7pm I called Kasey and told him he should probably
head home from work cause I was pretty sure my contractions were about 15 mins
apart. (Which I felt gave us plenty of time since I was told to not come in
till they were 2-3 mins apart.) Kasey was at his Parents eating dinner on his break
so he just headed home. After he was home, showered, and what not it was about
8pm by the time we headed to the hospital.
Within that hour my contractions started to get pretty intense… but not to the point that I couldn’t talk through them. So on our way to the hospital we go. Silly Kasey decided we should stop for gas… So I was sitting in the car clutching the seat belt with each contraction cursing him for not being prepared ahead of time.
We arrived to the hospital around 8:30pm and they had me in
the room and IV’d by 9pm. I don’t remember the IV being that bad (which is
strange cause my fear of needles is massive, I assume the pain of the
contractions distracted me). So the nurses check me out and tell me I am
already at a 7 dilated and next time I should probably come in sooner… (which
confused me since my contractions were just barely reaching the 2-3 min apart that
they recommend, though the PAIN was MUCH worse). I remember being in so much
pain that I was getting so mad at Kasey because he was sitting over in the corner with a clip board and a huge
stack of papers that the hospital had given him, and he had the nerve to ask me
questions while I was struggling to breathe through the contractions ;). I’m
just joking (kind of)… I know he needed to fill out the paper work… But trying
to think of my current employers address and the best contact number for three
people (not related to me) was not easy to do when I was trying not to scream
out in pain.
Since we are on the topic of pain I guess it is time for the
EPI… :( I was TERRIFIED! But I made it through. And things were smooth sailing
from there. Got the EPI around 10pm and had my water broke soon after. I
believe I was at nearly 9 cm by the time she broke my water. Because by 1045ish
I was at a 10.
When she broke my water she did say there was some Meconium (Baby poop) visible. (Which she didn’t seem to act as if
it was too big a deal. Maybe it wasn’t or maybe it is because she was the
weekend Doc and not my actual OB/GYN)
Well it is now 11pm and I am 10 cm and I thought it would be
time to push, but the nurses told me to sit and wait for about an hour and then
we would start pushing. So I slept for the next hour. The next thing I know the
nurses are in the room telling me to wait and not push because the baby was
right their ready to be born but we had to wait for the doctor to get there.
About 10 min later the doctor arrived and we started pushing. While I was
pushing the Doc asked me what the baby’s name was. I told her Grayson… and with
the next push the doc kept saying… She’s
coming, you’re doing great! She’s almost
here. So I asked her, are you sure it is a girl??? Cause it is supposed to be a
boy… that is what we are planning for… Apparently she thought I said the name
was Grace not Grayson. But after about 20 min of pushing a beautiful baby BOY
was born. Born at 12:30 am; June 1st, 2009… 7lbs 14oz, 21inches
long.
.JPG)
Even though I was so excited for my baby to have been born I
was terrified because he was not crying. I kept asking Kasey “Why isn’t he
crying…” and no one would tell me. After about 1 min of deathly silence He
started crying and it was such an amazing sound. But we weren’t out of the
woods yet. Because Grayson had swallowed some Meconium it has caused him some big problems. He had a very serious Lung
infection; he had Jaundice; and some other minor infections. So they rushed him
to the NICU. (I only got to hold him for about 30 seconds before they took him
away). Kasey went with them to the NICU so I rested in the labor delivery ward
for the next hour.
They came and got me an hour later. The nurse was trying to
get me into the wheel chair… But we were struggling because my legs were still
barely functioning so I almost fell on the floor. We managed and they wheeled
me to the NICU where I got to see my baby (pretty much) for the first time. He
had so many tubes and IV’s. It was so sad…
.JPG)
.JPG)
The Stay in the NICU was tough. All the cables and cords
that he had attached to him made it really tough to nurse… or cuddle him. L Because of his
Jaundice they had him in the Billy Lights,
.JPG)
...so I could only hold him for short
periods of time. He was born Monday Morning; Kasey and I left the Hospital on Wednesday
Morning; But Grayson had to stay till Friday Evening.
There were some positives to the NICU… ONE: They pamper you:
I was given so much stuff to go home with; Tons of diapers, formula, 2 diaper
bags, some little hats, and a bunch of other stuff. Also there was ALWAYS
someone there to help with whatever I needed. First baths, feedings, crying,
diaper changing… Which Kasey and I definitely needed. Both of us were completely
clueless (ok I wasn’t completely clueless, but all I had was my book knowledge
and the wonderful thing call MOTHERS INSTINCT) as to how to care for a newborn.
My only other sibling is 7.5 years younger than I and Kasey is the Youngest of
6 boys… so there wasn’t a lot of nurturing for us to do growing up.
Another Plus side was that for my two day stay in the
hospital I got a lot of sleep… which was needed for the few upcoming days of NO
sleep.
The down sides were … (ALL THE OBVIOUS… health issues…
TERRIFYING FEAR EVERY TIME THE MONTORS HE WAS HOOKED TO WOULD BEEP… not having
the opportunity to take him home right away.) Besides those… Because Grayson
was a “Well” baby in the NICU (one of the healthier ones) he did tend to get
overlooked… I would go in to stay and visit him for a while when Kasey was at
work and when I arrived he would be SCREAMING and the nurses were all just
ignoring him. I could tell by the tears and red face and what not he had been
at it for some time. None of them would even get up to give him his binki. Also
the feedings were tough. I nursed every 3 hours… and he had a difficult time so
sometimes the feedings would last for 1.5 hours and I had to start feeding
again 1.5 hours later. So in the night Kasey and I would drive home. Nap on the
living room couch for an hour and head right back. It was definitely a very tiring
few days.
Because of the fact the he was in the NICU and was hooked to
monitors that told us he was breathing fine… and heart rate was good… and all
that important stuff (24/7). When we finally got to take him home it was
TERRIFIYNG. I stayed up most nights for the first week just making sure he was
breathing.
All in All … the labor and Delivery were actually pretty
ideal. The After period was very STRESSFUL and empathize for anyone who’s child
must spend ANY amount of time in the NICU.
TALON:
On my 38 week appointment my Doctor asked me… (for the umptinth
time) if I wanted to be induced at 39 weeks. I again told him I would rather
not, that I would rather wait time Talon was ready. Since Dr. H was not around
when Grayson was born (on some scouting canoe trip), he told me he REALLY
wanted to deliver this baby and it just so happened that he was leaving town on
10/24 and would not be back till beginning of NOV. When coincidentally my due
date was 10/29 which landed right in the middle of his Time Away. I told him I
would speak to Kasey and I would call him the next day. Well after much
discussion… research… and many other factors we decided that we would go in for
the induction. The Doctor told me I could do it Mon 10/22 or Tue 10/23. We
opted for Monday, so Kasey took the time off of work and we set up a sitter and
were all prepared. When I called to let them know we were set for Monday I
found out that with VOLUNTARY Inductions you are kind of SCOOCHED to the end of
the list (which I do understand, but am not pleased with)
So I was told, call in at 6am Monday morning and they will
give you the time to come in. So I am up at 5 am… showered and ready just in case
they said “Ok, come in now”. Well short version… WE WAITED ALL DAY with me
calling in every 3-4 hours with NO One telling me anything more than… “Just
keep calling back”. Finally around 7pm we called it quits for the night. We
told them not to plan on us that night and we would hope for tomorrow. We decided
to go eat some dinner (Wingers… and I am sad to say mine wasn’t that delicious…
L But Grayson loves the
Popcorn) around 7pm since it would most likely be our last time eating out for
a while.
Well the next morning comes and I decided not to wake up at
5am and get ready because I figure that they will just tell me to call back
later on in the afternoon. So I wake up at 6am, call in and the girl that
answers says “Let me call you back, but I don’t know when… hopefully soon”. So
I jump in the shower and Kasey comes in 5 min later telling me they want us
there by 7am. So now I am angry I didn’t wake up at 5am to get ready… but
excited that we are finally getting the ball rolling.
We arrive at 7:01am. I was proud of how quickly I got ready.
Checked in and got cozy in the Labor and Delivery “Suite”. The nurse came and asked me a million
questions, put the monitors on, then came the IV. UGHHH… With Grayson it wasn’t
too big of a deal cause I was having STRONG contractions and the needle was
least of my worries… but with Talon I was in no pain and had nothing to focus
on but her poking and prodding me. The Nurse Kept asking me if I was ok… I kept
telling her yes, until everything was in and attached… THEN I put down my ACT
and I told her I was about seconds away from passing out. She told me she had a
feeling I felt that way… and that is when she started to call me STOIC.
Well the Contractions started RIGHT away. So said the
monitor, I couldn’t feel anything. This went on pretty steady about every 2-4
minutes for about an hour. THEN everything stopped. So by this time it was
about 9:30 am. The doc came in and was going to break my water… I asked him if
I could pee first J
he told me because my bladder was so full he couldn’t break my water yet. He said
he would come back later. So we sat around from 9:30am till about noon with
nothing happening. I was only dilated to a 2… which is what I had been at for
nearly 2 weeks.
At noon Kasey’s parents came to the hospital and brought
Grayson to have lunch with Kasey in the cafeteria. (Speaking of food… I went
from 7pm the night before till the next evening when Talon was born with no
food… I was STARVING… and every commercial seemed to be about food). Around
12:30pm Dr. H came back in and broke my water. He also installed a Cervical Catheter
(or something like that… It showed the intensity of the contractions more accurately
than the monitors… And then that is when things started to get
going.
Things progressed more quickly and the PAIN started almost immediately. I really tried hold off as long as I could without the EPI. But I was about 4.5 cn and the PAIN was more intense than it was when I was at 7 cn with Grayson. So I decided it was time… Next time the nurse came in around 3pm I told her I was ready… the Anesthesiologist came in about 15 min later. The whole Procedure was just as terrifying as before but I was glad for it to be done. Unfortunately the pain was not diminishing… it was just getting closer together. L So next time the Nurse came in she told me to press the “Magic” button… to release more medicine. I did that and 25 min later the pain was still there… so the Anesthesiologist came back in and told me to try one more “Shot” or the meds… They kept asking me my NUMBER on the Pain scale… every time I would tell them my nurse would say… “But she is very STOIC, so instead of a 4 it is probably a 6”. Well with the last dosage I was finally feeling good. The pain was officially gone and I was ready for the baby to get here…. I was in the hospital for a lot longer than I was hoping. It was now about 4pm and I was at 7 cn.
Wthin the next hour I FINALLY reached a 10 and they told me
they were calling the Doc…Doc arrived about 5:05pm and they got me all prepped.
We were pushing at 5:10pm and within 5 mins Baby Talon was here.
He started crying immediately and that was such a wonderful
sound!!! Even though it was kind of a funny laugh. I remember one of the nurses
saying that his cry sounded kind of like Donald Duck. J He was a BEAUTIFUL BABY BOY
at 7lbs 11 oz and 21 in long! I got to hold him right away… and then the Shock
kicked in, that because he was a wonderfully healthy, BEAUTIFUL, baby… that he
was going to be with me from this moment forth.
We stayed in Labor and Delivery for an hour (during that
time I SCARFFED down tons of Juice and Crackers… I was SOOOOOO hungry). They
then transferred us Mother/Baby Recovery. The nurses came in and Gave Talon his
first bath...
...and did all the usual work ups. I kept reminding all the nurses that
even though this was my 2nd child this was all new to me and I would
need a lot of help. They all assured me I would have whatever I needed… In the
end I am not one to ask for help. Kasey stayed for just a bit longer and then
he left to go pick up Grayson. And it was just me and Talon. I slept Maybe 20
min total that night… I was always up making sure that baby was ok… that he
didn’t need a diaper change… that he wasn’t hungry… They kept telling me to
feed him every 2-3 hours. But there was a span of time from about 9pm till 7am
the next morning that Talon would refuse to eat… (for the sole reason that he
WOULD NOT wake up) I kept asking the nurses what to do… they just said, “Keep
trying”. They tested him at about 5am for some nutrition deficiency since he
wasn’t eating. Everything came back fine and he started eating consistently
just a couple hours later. Kasey came back with Grayson about 10am and they
stayed for a couple hours. We were actually VERY lucky because both my Doc and
Talon’s Doc cleared us to go home that night. They had to wait at least 24
hours before we could be discharged… So they started running all his FINAL
tests around 430pm and we were out the hospital doors by 6pm.
I LOVE MY BOYS!
HERE is a PIC of Grayson and Talon in the same pose... Can you tell which is which...?
