Huxley 1 month old!

So I should have posted a while ago but just got behind. Huxley is growing at an alarming rate and it feels like I blinked and he was already a month old! We went to his appt with Dr Morrison thinking he would get shots...I had mentally prepared for some shots but he didn't get any...Just a heel prick :o( He sobbed and sobbed and I somehow managed to keep my composure. I don't particularly care much for the nurse that did it and have had issues with her in the past but oh well it was just one time and I hope we don't have her again anytime soon.

Here are his stats: He weighed 11 pounds even, is 21.5 inches tall and his head was 15.75 inches around. He is growing so fast and eating lots and lots. He is mainly a happy baby but has had some issues with gas so he gets gas drops before every bottle. That seems to help. He is sleeping pretty much all night he goes to bed at 8 and then wakes up around 4:30 to eat. Then goes back to sleep until 6:30 or 7. We have had our tough days but we are slowly starting to figure out each others routines and things are going smoother. We have been so blessed with him as our son.

Huxley's Birthday Story!

So I have taken forever to finally sit down and recount the day we were blessed with Huxley's safe arrival into this world. I've sat down numerous times to tell his story but was called away by Preston or by the screams of our newest family member. So finally I have some time.

Our story begins on Wednesday 7/6/11. Robert worked til 5 so my mom decided to go with me to check into the hospital to start the induction process. I was sooo excited but deep down so worried that something would go wrong. Since I had such an easy pregnancy I was worried that delivery would be bad or something would go wrong. I was admitted to Labor and Delivery room 2 (which is super nice for all my preggers friends)

I put on my gown and meet my first nurse of the day (I don't remember her name but she was super sweet) She asks if it is OK for a student nurse to shadow her and I say sure. She also wants to let the student nurse put in my IV for practice...I really didn't want to let her but since I am so nice I agreed and said that would be fine. (she did really good and only had to stick me twice which is pretty good since I have such small veins). I get the IV in and it burns like I have never felt before...nurse assures me that its normal and will wear off. 20 minutes later it felt somewhat better but still sore. Dr comes in to check me and give me my first dose of Cytotec. He announces that I am not even 2 cm dilated but that I am close to a two. Robert gets there along with Preston and my dad. We watch some TV and just hang out. I start having small contractions sometime around 7ish but nothing painful. I get my second dose of cytotec at 9 pm. Contractions are starting to feel slightly uncomfortable but nothing I cannot handle and NOTHING like the back pain I felt with Preston. Robert falls asleep and I try really hard. Long about 12 i finally fall asleep...Nurse comes in to give me 3rd dose of Cytotec but checks me first. She announces that I am 3 cm and 50% effaced and that I cannot have another dose of meds. She asks if I need any pain meds and I told her no that I felt OK and my pain was probably only a 2. Robert calls my mom to tell her then goes back to sleep...I am too excited to sleep and I think I stay up all night. Nurse Kara comes back in at 5 to check me and start my pitocin and tells me that I am still at a 3 and asks if I want to go ahead and get an epidural. The pain isn't bad and honestly I wanted to wait for the epidural but was encouraged to go ahead and get one since there were 5-6 C Sections lined up and she didn't want me to have to wait should the pain get too intense for the nurse anethesist to come in. I agreed and by 530 was sitting over the side of the bed waiting for the needle. Dana said that I had lots of swelling and had to stick me a couple times eventually the epi went in and all went numb. However I found it strange that I could still move my legs. My mom showed up by 6 and we waited. I put on make up and waited. Family started trickling in and my sweet friend Emily showed up to take pictures about 830.

Family started to arrive and I was the happiest person in labor ever. I kept marveling over how easy it had been and how less painful it was than when I was in labor with Preston. Dr.Desautels came in to check on me and said that he though we would definitely have a baby by 2 o clock that afternoon and that everything looked good.

Long about 12 another nurse named Jennifer (she was filling in for Melissa who would be my LD nurse when Huxley was born) came in to check me. I was beginning to suspect something was wrong since the nurses kept coming in and moving me around from right to left. They never did that with Preston and when doing so apparently caused my cath from the Epidural to shift resulting in feeling coming back in my right side. Melissa had come in a teeny bit earlier and had told me that she was going to sit me straight up so that gravity would do its part and help me along in labor. After checking me I was sat upright. I was at a 5.

Not long after Melissa checked me and sat me up Jennifer came in probably about 1 and rechecked me and told me she thought I was a 7...she kept staring at the monitor and after checking me I noticed that the look on her face was one of concern and that there was a good bit of blood...this was my second red flag that something was wrong. She quickly left the room and mumbled something about getting Dr Desautels to come check me out. He came right in, they pulled him out of delivery next door to check me...another red flag. He checked me out and told me that he was a little concerned about the blood I was losing. He told me it could be two things. Either I was in rapid labor which causes a lot of blood or my placenta was detaching causing the blood loss and heart rate to drop. He told me that he would give me 5 minutes and then he would be back in to check me out if I had not progressed to 10 then we would have to have a C section. I asked him how sure he was of me having a C Section and he told me honestly that it was pretty likely I was going to have to have a C.

I started to cry and decided to not share that info with my family. I didn't want anyone to worry before they had to. By this point the contractions were pretty intense and I felt them on my right side since my epi failed. I was having to breathe through contractions and was more worried about my possible impending C Section. All I could do was hold Robert's hand and the railing of the bed to get by each minute and half of each contraction.

(this is right after I talked to the dr).

Dr. Desautels came back in about 8 minutes and checked me again. By this time we had booked an OR and when the nurse came in to wheel me back Dr D announced that I was complete and going to push. There were probably 30 plus people in the room all hospital staff. I think I began to push before everyone left the room. Poor Robert got caught at my feet when I started to push and I thought he was going to pass out...

He hung in there though and did great! I pushed as hard as I could 3 sets of 3. A monitor was placed on Huxley's head and vacuum was used on my last set of pushes

When the vacuum didn't work. Suddenly the Doctor screamed get me an OR STAT. The nurses started throwing cords and stuff on my bed and everyone became worrisome and frantic. I was told we were having an Emergency C Section and that we had to hurry. I was rushed out without my bed even attached at the bottom and the Dr screamed to get dad some scrubs. By this point I was more worried about something being wrong with my baby. However I was eerily calm.

Once in the OR I was moved to the operating table and was relieved to see Ken Duke had scrubbed in to be in my surgery. Having him there was such a blessing. Especially when Robert wouldn't be allowed in. In a rush to fix my failed epi I was administered with stronger drugs that didn't work either. After being pinched and telling them I could feel everything I was told I would be put under and that they have to get Huxley out ASAP. I remember the Anesthesiologist telling me who he was and Ken looking down at me and saying how shocked he was that I was so calm. My last thought was if I die I hope Preston and Robert know how much I love them and I hope that they can save Huxley. The next thing I know everything is going fuzzy...I remember the clock reading around 115 when we got into the OR. Suddenly I am awake in recovery, which I thought I was in a hallway lol. My mom was there telling me everything went great. I kept asking all these questions like where was my baby and how much did he weigh and his length to the nurse.

It was 2:30 and Huxley had entered the world at 1:47! Robert came in shortly after and then a nurse brought Huxley in to see me. Oh my word he was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I immediately cried when I held him. I nursed him and couldn't believe he was here after all the chaos. He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and was 21 inches of sheer perfection! After talking to my doctor he told me that my placenta had in fact started to detach and that we had to get Huxley out ASAP or he wouldn't have survived. He said that I had lost A LOT of blood but that he was shocked to see how well my blood count was the following morning.

Overall it wasn't anything like my birth plan but I wouldn't change the way it happened for anything. It really taught me to be humble and that I have to put my trust in God for everything even in the scary times when things look uncertain.

37 weeks 4 days

So nothing to report for this appt. I have been super busy and Monday even walked on the treadmill to try and get things moving for Huxley to come. Really had some decent contractions on Tuesday but it turns out was false labor. Contractions stopped by 1:30 or 2 and all was normal after that. Woke up Wednesday morning and was having some minor contractions but they went away as soon as I bathed and ate breakfast and got moving. Went to the Dr and everything is the same as last week. 1 cm dilated and no effacement. Its soooo annoying! The same thing happened with Preston and I am super sad it just didn't work the way I had hoped. I know its all in God's timing though so I just need to be patient! As of right now we are still set to induce on the 7th but my feet have been so swollen they hurt. I go back to the doctor on Wednesday and hopefully i can convince him to induce Friday the 1st! But we will see. Either way he will definitely be here in two weeks! I CANNOT wait!

36 weeks 4 days

So I went to the doctor this morning and everything still looks good. My BP is still good and he said my weight still looks good. I am 1 centimeter dilated but not yet effaced. I was happy to hear that I was progressing but honestly thought I would have started to efface by now. So needless to say I was kinda bummed when he said I wasn't. When I told him that everyone keeps telling me that he will be here by the 25th he said thats two weeks from now...I don't honestly see that being the case but anything is possible :o( He said that Huxley isn't fully engaged in the birth canal yet but that normally that doesn't happen until the 38 week marker. So now we are just playing the wait and see game. I am so ready for him to be here! I want to meet him and see his face and tell him how much I love him and am excited to be his mommy! Now if I could just get time to move on faster :o)

35 weeks 4 days

So I am finally here! I have made it to the last month of my pregnancy and I couldn't be more excited!!! Went to my appt this morning and so far my BP is good, my weight is great (he even told me he was proud of me for my weight gain since the big 9 lb slip up in February). So far I am not dilated any but my cervix is starting to soften and he said that he can tell that Huxley's head is definitely head down in the birth canal but not completely down yet which is OK. I go back next Wednesday and we will see if I have made any progress. Dr. Desautel didn't think that I would progress any this week but he said that he thinks I will have made some progress by 37 weeks. He said he definitely wants Huxley to stay in til 37 weeks and so far we are still set on Inducing 7/7/11 if he hasn't made an appearance before then. Fingers crossed he will come before then because I am READY!!!

IF I ever get another Dog...

I want her to look like this!!!!!

Who knows anymore? Not me!

Yep that's me...somewhere between 29 weeks 1 day and 31 weeks...I don't even know anymore. Friday started out our weekend with a free ultrasound (US) from Trenholm Tech. It was great! The instructor, April, Robert actually ended up knowing as she used to go to our church. The check out Huxley and showed the girls in her class what they were looking for then handed over the wand to them to get some practice. The girls were super sweet and and were shocked at how much and how hard Huxley kicks and moves. He even kicked the wand so hard once it jumped off my belly lol. Once they had practiced measuring his legs and arms and the amniotic fluid April returned and remeasured everything and took some pics for us.During the training portion I had told Robert that Huxley's legs looked awfully chunky to be in the first part of my last trimester. Robert agreed but he just assumed that was normal. While April was measuring everything she said so you are almost 31 weeks huh...I said no we are almost 29 weeks...she said well I am measuring him as 30 weeks 4 days with a due date of June 29, 2010...I then noticed on her screen that it said his weight was 3lbs 5 oz...I asked if that was correct and she double checked and informed me it was. For once I was relieved! I am bigger than I should be because I am carrying a small giant LOL. I told her that I had a Dr's appt that morning at 11 and I would talk with my doctor about it. Fast forward to 11...or shall we say 1145 because that is when I finally saw my doctor...I asked him about measuring big. He said that from the tape measure he was measuring me about 2 weeks ahead as well. I told him about the US and he said that if I am still measuring big in 2-4 weeks then he would order an US and see about changing my due date. So excited that this little one might be here early! But scared because I don't have the first thing done to his nursery!!! Anywho that's pretty much it. I go back to the doc on the 9th of May and am looking forward to seeing if this baby is leveling out or still measuring big...right now if he continues on his weight gain he is estimated to be anywhere from 8 lbs to up to 10 lbs!!! Please Lord let this baby be 8 lbs if that is the case.