The Arrival

Now that our little one is almost a month old, I decided that it's finally time to post the story. I'm not quite sure where to start...so I'll start where the last post left off.

The two weeks between my last post and my ultrasound were fairly uneventful. My bile acids were steadily declining and, as of Tuesday, March 13, I was completely ready and willing to wait until March 24 for deliver. That same Tuesday, I had my blood work done again and was a bit anxious to know the results.

Friday, March 16, I had my ultrasound--everything looked great. I asked if the cord was wrapped around the baby, as I was concerned this was the case, due to one deceleration during an NST a week and a half prior. The radiologist assured me that the baby was not tangled in the cord. I was relieved to hear this. Later that afternoon, I called my dr's office to find out what the results of my blood work were. My bile acids were at 50--which was both higher than the week prior (33) and above the "dangerous to the baby" threshold (40). At that time, I realized this baby was most likely coming on Sunday, March 18.

Because I was pretty sure the baby was coming sooner than anticipated, we spent our Saturday reorganizing our bedroom, cleaning the house, and finishing up the necessary preparations before the baby came. Babysitters had been arranged for my NST the next morning and I went to bed feeling like this baby could come now.

Sunday morning, at 5 a.m., Kallie threw up. Lovely. I was a bit stressed about this turn of events, but I think I've come to terms with the fact that someone always gets sick when we have plans. It just seems like that's how things go. I couldn't send her off to church with a babysitter when she was sick, so she came to the hospital with us that morning for the NST. I sat in the bed while she curled up in a chair, face covered with a mask, and slept.

The NST went well, but knowing my bile acids were up, my dr. gave me a couple of options. We could bring the baby on Sunday afternoon or we could wait until Saturday, (when he was back in town), but I would have to come in every day for an NST. Knowing that my bile acids would probably continue to rise, knowing that I'd have to take 3 hours out of my day every day for an NST, knowing that I'd have to find babysitters for those 3 hours every day, knowing that my Dr. would be out of town and unable to deliver if any of my NSTs didn't go well...I didn't hesistate to decide that Sunday was the day.

At that point, it was about 10:30. My Dr. wanted us back to prep for surgery by about 12:30. We came home as fast as we could, I was texting people at church the whole time, trying to arrange for the babysitters to drop our kids off at home and for someone to be at our house so soon after church. (I will just say here that I am SO grateful for good friends who are so willing to help us out!)  I had packed most of my things the night before, but needed to gather the final things--like toiletries, nursing pillow, etc. By noon, Kallie was sleeping in her bedroom and we were ready to go. We left her with a phone and a list of phone numbers if the babysitter hadn't arrived in about 15-20 minutes.

We headed out to the car--and as soon as we got in, both Ryan and I mentioned giving me a blessing. This was so important to both of us. We went back in the house and he gave me a wonderful blessing. I don't remember the exact words or phrasing, but I was assured in word and feeling that the baby was going to be fine and that my surgery would go well. I was definitely nervous as we headed out, but so grateful that Heavenly Father has given His power to righteous men--and that my husband holds that power to bless our family.

When we got to the hospital, they did all the pre-surgery prep. I had 2 bags of IV fluids, (which were cold!), while I sat under a "Bair Hug" blanket. (It's basically a paper blanket they attach a hose to and blow warm air into. It was so warm and wonderful!) They had me drink an acid neutralizer for my stomach--which I've had (and hated) every time. I don't know how it's supposed to neutralize acid, because it tastes way more acidic than my tummy feels! (Plus, they gave me Pepcid in my IV this time, so why I needed another acid reducer/controller, I have no idea.) I warned them that I ALWAYS throw up during the surgery, (and the first two times, I threw up until the spinal wore off), but last time, the anesthesiologist put a motion sickness patch on as soon as I was nauseated and I didn't throw up again. So, they put a motion sickness patch on me right then. By about 2:30, meds were all administered, paperwork was filled out, signatures had been obtained...and we headed in to the operating room.

Once I got in there, the anesthesiologist administered my spinal. I felt more than I remember feeling in other c-secs as she was putting it in. But even then, it wasn't worse than a pinch. The warm feeling started spreading from my toes and pretty soon, that familiar "my legs feel like ham hocks" feeling set in. Within a few minutes, preparations were over and it was time to begin the surgery. This time, unlike previous times, I could see a reflection of my abdomen in the surgical lights above the table. Most of the time, I turned my head toward Ryan so I didn't have to see the surgery, but I did look a few times, (mainly when they were pulling the baby out and when they were finishing stitching me up). I found it very interesting and not gross at all! (Of course, you have to remember that I once intended to become a nurse.)

Tanner Elijah arrived at 2:53 p.m. on March 18.

He started crying as soon as he was born, but because of my excess fluid and because he was an early c-sec baby, he had a bit of fluid in his lungs. I could hear it bubbling as he cried. After about a minute or two, he wasn't crying anymore. This isn't all that abnormal, so I wasn't too worried until the anesthesiologist explained to me that they were just giving my baby a little bit of help so he could transistion. That's when I looked over to the warmer and saw that they had a CPAP on my tiny boy--and he was still purple. They were also suctioning his mouth occasionally. I started praying for him (silently and through a few tears), and remembered the blessing that I was given only a few hours earlier. He was going to be just fine--that was SUCH a comfort to me at this point! After another couple of minutes, he was pinking up and breathing on his own. And it was then (after the worst was over) that they finally were able to weigh and measure him.

He weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz. and was 18 1/4 inches long. He now holds the distinction of smallest baby in our family. (Just for the sake of comparison, Clayton was born at the same gestational age as Tanner...and Clayton holds the distinction of largest baby in our family.)

I don't remember a whole lot that happened after that or in what order. In spite of the motion sickness patch, as they were closing me back up, I threw up. I'm pretty sure all that was in my stomach was that awful acid neutralizer. Next time, I'm going to see if they'll let me skip it. As they were finishing up the surgery, the nurse mentioned that APGARs had been 3, 4, then 7. Yikes. I'm glad he finally caught on to the breathing thing. It was also during the final part of my surgery that my Dr. told me Tanner was completely tangled in the cord. It was wrapped around his neck, body, and legs. He said it was a good thing we'd delivered on Sunday--because had something happened to the baby before Saturday, we wouldn't have known if it was a cord accident or because of my cholestasis.

I'm not sure when they took Tanner to the NICU, but Ryan went with him. (I'm sure Ryan can fill in these details.) They finished the surgery, then took me back to my labor and delivery room for post-surgery monitoring. Ryan joined me there after Tanner was settled in the NICU and we made phone calls to let our family members know that he was here. After a bit longer, they moved me to a mother baby room for the rest of my stay.

I worked really hard to wiggle my toes/legs as soon as I could because I wanted to go to the NICU to see my baby. Within a few hours, although my legs were still tingly, I could move them. The nurses were great and brought a wheelchair as soon as I asked to see Tanner. This is when I finally got to hold Tanner and try nursing him for the first time. He did a pretty good job and was really getting the hang of it!  I'll just add here that because Tanner was "late pre-term" (meaning he was born prior to 37 weeks), there were all sorts of instructions about feeding him. I had to try to nurse him, supplement with formula, (he was supposed to eat a certain amount), and then I was supposed to pump. I spent a lot of time just dealing with all of the feeding "requirements" in the hospital!

Because of Tanner's breathing issues at birth, I thought he'd probably be in the NICU for longer than the mandatory 6-hour observation for pre-term babies. I was actually quite pleasantly surprised when they brought Tanner to me as soon as that observation had ended. It was so nice to have my perfect, tiny boy in my room with me. I didn't want to let him out of my sight again!

The last 4 weeks have passed in a whirlwind. The day after I came home from the hospital,Ryan and I came down with that sickness Kallie had. (Thank goodness we didn't throw up--just had a cough and felt HORRIBLE.) Clayton came down with it that night, and Whitney came down with it about a week later. I was so concerned about my tiny newborn getting it, too! None of the kids were allowed to touch Tanner or even get near him until I was certain that they were no longer sick. In fact, Kallie just got to really hold him a couple of days ago!

We love our Baby Tanner. He is so sweet. Clayton can't keep his hands off his brother--he's always touching, patting, kissing, etc. And, at first, every time Clayton saw Tanner, he would say, "Baby Nanner SOOOO tute!" It was so cute to hear and see! We just can't get enough of this tiny little boy and are so glad he (safely) joined our family!