The Birth Story of
Milo Theodore DeanAugust 16, 2014 at 7:34pm
6 Lbs 7 Ozs
20 Ins
How blessed are we to be given such a precious little human being?!? Despite his entry equaling Sebastian's in complications and intensity, I would do it all over again to be called his Mama!
I attended a routine doctors appointment on the 14th and everything checked out perfectly...no signs of labor. The doctor insisted we not set a c-section date yet to not jinx our record. Friday, the 15th was my birthday and we had a pretty relaxed day of walking the mall and having a simple dinner and cake at Mamie and Pops' house. I went to bed feeling fine and even got Paisley to sleep in her bed...win, win! Unfortunately, she slept a whole 40 minutes alone and when I got up to put her back to sleep, they hit me...the first wave of contractions. I got her back to bed and figured if I calmed down and went back to sleep they may stop. At 3:00am, after 2 hours of consistent 1 minute contractions every 5 minutes, I woke Jonathan up. I knew we had a lot of arrangements to make if this was it and it sure felt like the real deal. He jumped up and began his rapid fire directions...gotta love a man who takes charge! Katelynn came to care for the babies while Mamie and Pops headed to the hospital to assess.
By the time we got to the hospital, my contractions were getting intense and I started to have some bleeding. The doctors assessment confirmed I was in labor but at 35 weeks, to the day, along they were going to try everything to stop it. The protocol started with a series of shots that relax your uterin muscles and hopefully stop contractions. It took three, given every 45-60mins, but they were able to turn my contractions into aggitations. The doctor felt confident that she had disrupted the contractions enough to delay labor for several days, hopefully a week!
We headed home on strict bed rest and lots of fluids...I took a wonderful 2 hour nap, rinsed in the shower, had some lunch on the couch and let Jonathan handle all the hard work for a bit! My painless bliss was not long lived...the contractions started back up around 1:30pm. We had clearly upset the little man by changing his plans cause the contractions came back with vengeance! In a matter of 2 short hours they went from 7 minutes apart to 3. It took us a bit to arrange child care again...Aunt Kelly volunteered this time. She lives only 15 minutes from us but I was ready to crawl out of my skin by the time she arrived and we bolted out the door to the hospital. The maternity ward was already waiting for us to arrive...call ahead :) It was their busiest day of the year, 9 deliveries already and a completely full ward.
My contractions progressed to 2 minutes apart and it took far too long for the doctor to make her way to my room! I was checked and had gone from 1cm, 80% effaced that morning to 4cm, 100% effaced at 4:30pm. I was in a lot of pain and struggling through the contractions as the doctor told me there were no other ways to stop the labor and a c-section was needed ASAP. I was put at the top of the delivery list and just had to wait for the prep to be completed.
Three nurses ran around like crazy prepping the paperwork and technical issues...meanwhile I felt like I was dying. Jonathan and my mom were desperately trying to keep me calm and help me breathe through the pain but it was quickly becoming too much to handle. I fault the hospital and their staff for the mistakes they made over the next 60 minutes...mistakes that made this delivery the worst I have had to date. The nurses were so busy trying to figure out the computer charting that they didn't bother to pay attention to the screaming patient laying right next to them. Five minutes after the doctor left my room, my water broke and contractions were 1 minute apart. I was jumping off the bed in immense pain and in a matter of 30 minutes (while they continued to chart) I progressed to fully dialated and complete. I started screaming that I had to push and the nurse finally came over to check me....after her check, she was the one screaming.
It is physically not possible for me to deliver vaginally, having had a c-section only 16 months prior and defects with my cervix, I must undergo c-sections.
Alarms were going off everywhere, nurses were screaming for doctors, plugs were being ripped out of the walls as we ran to the operating room. A nurse helped Jonathan throw on scrubs and he waited outside while I was prepped.
My contractions were constant and the pain was incredible, there was no relief as I sat up for the spinal block. I welcomed the sting of the needle...anything to stop the pain. It took several minutes for the spinal to take full effect and I was overwhelmed with emotions once the pain started to ease. I was finally able to focus on something other than the pain and there was a lot to worry about. I tried so hard to make it to my due date, I was so good about protecting this little guy and now there was nothing I could do...there were so many things that could go wrong, so much help he could need!
Jonathan finally came in and sat by my side...he was ready with lots of encouraging words and love and support. The spinal was causing serious tremors throughout my body and severe nausea. It is awful to throw up when you can't use your body from the neck down. The surgery seemed to drag on forever! Long after the procedure started, the doctor finally said, "are you ready? Here he is!" We heard the faint cry and wimper of our son and she lifted him up quickly for me to glance before rushing him off to the NICU team.
Jonathan went with the baby while they finished up with me and I could hear the team talking about his progress. He struggled with breathing but they were confident he would be able to right the problem himself. It took a little while, but he was able to breathe without too much labor. It took at least another 20-30 minutes to finish the surgery and head back to recovery. The staff was extremely nice and continuously reassuring, but it was not a delivery I would wish on anyone. I finally got to meet him when we were on our way back to the room.
Of course, he is perfect! He sustained quite a bit of facial bruising from contracting against my hip bone after my water broke....further evidence that he would not have been able to deliver vaginally.
His left eye, nose, lips and forehead were black and purple with bruising. It has taken several days to heal.
I was very agitated after returning to our room...I couldn't get comfortable. The spinal took several more hours to wear off so I had absolutely no ability to move or feel my lower body and the side effects of the other medications caused severe trembling (shivering/shaking) for at least an hour after delivery. I wanted so badly to just hold and cuddle with little Milo but my body wouldn't cooperate.
I was able to nurse him briefly after my body calmed down but it was the skin to skin that really benefitted both of us! They plopped him inside my gown, as close to my bare skin as possible and just let our bodies know we didn't lose each other. It helped Milo's breathing tremendously and soothed my poor broken body.
They gave him his first bath and cleaned him up so nicely.
He wasn't happy!
His poor little face!
Over the next few days he struggled with his blood sugar levels...he was nursing well but my milk supply had not come in yet so we supplemented after nursing to get his numbers higher. He also had trouble maintaining his body temperature! The remedy for warmth was prescription skin to skin...which I was all too happy to provide!!!
Although I was really enjoying bonding with our new little guy....I missed Sebastian and Paisley like hell! Mamie was great about using FaceTime before bed.
The kids didn't quite understand the see but can't touch form of communication...neither of them have ever spent a night away from myself or Jonathan other than our births.
I was so excited for them to come visit us in the hospital and meet their new little brother!
She was very interested in touching every part of his body.
If Sebastian held him...she sure wasn't going to miss out!
They brought him a teddy bear too! It was a very special first meeting for both of them.
We were hoping to break out of here on Tuesday the 19th but Milo's bilirubin skyrocketed so we had to stay for treatment. We are hoping to leave this afternoon but only time will tell if he is ready.
Thank you for everyone's support, love and prayers!
