Judah’s birth day (part 3)

After what seemed like forever, the nurse came back in the recovery room.  I could tell that it was even hard on her to see me so upset.  She said that she wanted to remove the warm blankets, cool me off, and then retake my temperature.  So we did all of that.  I even took a drink of some cold sprite to cool me down a little.  When we retook my temp, it wasn’t quite down to normal, but very close.  The nurse left the room again.. and when she came back she had good news!  I was going to get to see my baby!  This time I was crying tears of joy and gratefulness.  I was cleaned up and rolled into my new room where we would spend the rest of our hospital stay.  Justin and I tried very hard to be patient, and the nurse finally brought our baby boy in to see us. 

It was like no other experience in my life.  Holding him for the first time was so wonderful.  So unreal.  Such a dream come true.

I held him and examined every little part of him.  He was perfect.  So tiny yet so big!  I couldn’t believe he was ours.  I wanted to spend hours and hours with him and not send him to the nursery… but Justin and I were both worn out.  I was falling asleep holding him while sitting up in bed.  We hadn’t slept much at all in well over 24 hours.  We decided to go ahead and send Judah out for the night while we got some rest.  He was still in to see us every 3 hours for his feedings.

Over the next couple of days we had tons of visitors, but also got to spend some good quality time getting to know our boy.  I was surprised at how easily I was recovering from my c-section and ready to get home. 

But then came another surprise.  Judah’s blood work showed that he had jaundice and would have to stay an extra day.  Thankfully the hospital allowed Justin and I to stay in our room an extra day as well.  I couldn’t handle the thought of going home without Judah.

Seeing him under the light was very hard and emotional for me.  I had to remind myself that we were very blessed.  He wasn’t in the NICU.  He was going to be just fine.  We would have our baby home and in our arms within a couple days.  Not all parents are so fortunate.  But still… it wasn’t easy.  My “momma bear” instinct was in full force.  I wanted to protect my baby boy and wanted him 110% well.

After staying under that light for almost 24 hours and only coming to see us during feeding times, his bilirubin levels were down just enough for us to be discharged.  It was a very happy time!  I got Judah dressed in his going home outfit, Justin packed up the car, and our friend Jenna captured it all on camera and video for us. 

Oh happy day!

My sweet boy’s birth and first few days was quite the adventure.  I wouldn’t trade him for anything in this world.  He is my pride and definitely my JOY! 

Judah’s birth day (part 2)

After I was all set up in the operating room, Justin came in.  They gave him a stool so he could sit down by my head.  I don’t remember us talking much.  I was shaking uncontrollably from nerves and from the medicine that was running through my body.  Justin told me later that the shaking freaked him out a little bit.  He wasn’t sure if that was normal, and it was very hard for him to see me like that.  I was just fine though! 

I felt lots and lots of pressure and tugging.  The doctor asked Justin if he would like to watch Judah be pulled out.  Justin stood up and looked over the curtain.. but sat right back down.  It was too much for him!  I can’t say I blame him on that one.  Once Judah was completely out, Justin stood up to see him, and they showed him to me.  I immediately started crying and saying “he’s perfect.. he’s just perfect”.  My doctor said she definitely underestimated his size. She had to make my incision larger than the average incision in order to get Judah out.  Poor baby ended up with a bruised head and arm.

Justin had my camera in there with him, so he went over to the area where the nurses were cleaning Judah up to take pics.  I could see everything from where I was.  I just stared and cried and was overcome with joy and happiness and gratitude.  My emotions and feelings really cannot be described. 

My anesthesiologist then took the camera from Justin so he could take a pic of the three of us together. 

After a couple minutes, it was time for me to get put back together while they took Judah to be cleaned up a little more and weighed and measured.  Justin went with the baby, and I stayed alone.. but I was so happy I didn’t care one bit!

Once in the nursery, Justin found out that our big guy weighed in at 8 lbs, 9 ounces and was 21 inches long.  Big Boy!

Justin then got to take him out to show to all of the family and friends that had waited for so long to meet him.  One of the doctors made a remark about how many people were there waiting around at midnight.  All I know is that Judah is one loved little boy!

During this time, I was rolled into recovery with warm blankets on me.  I was starting to get some feeling back in my legs and the shaking stopped a little bit.  Some of our family members came in to see me for a few minutes, but with it being so late, everyone left pretty quickly.  Justin and I just sat and waited for the nurse to bring our son in to see us.  The minutes dragged by so slowly.  Finally a nurse came in, but she didn’t have Judah with her.  She said she had some bad news.  My heart sank.  She said that Judah and I both had a fever right after he was born.  They weren’t sure what was causing the fever, but because I could be sick, I wouldn’t be allowed to see or hold Judah for at least 24 hours.

I broke down.  I cried and cried until my face was so swollen I almost couldn’t see.  I asked God why a million times.  I asked Justin why.  I knew this wasn’t the end of the world.  I knew that we were super blessed to have a healthy son.  I tried to remind myself that God was in control and that none of this surprised Him.  But I was still so upset.  I had carried this baby for 39 weeks, gone through almost 24 hours of labor, and then went through a c-section.  I couldn’t be okay with not getting my hands on him.  I needed to see him.

Justin and I both prayed.  I put a message on facebook for everyone I knew to see and asked for prayer.  Then I thought of Judah.  His name means “praise”.  I knew in that moment that I needed to give God praise.  I started focusing on the positive.  I started be grateful for all of the good things.  It definitely helped.  I stopped crying.  Justin just sat close and held my hand and comforted me.  He was upset too, but we knew the outcome of all of this would be good.  Everything was okay.

Judah’s birth day (part 1)

Tuesday, September 20th, seemed like any other day.  Justin and I both knew that we would be headed to the hospital before the day ended for my scheduled induction, but it just didn’t seem real.  We spent the day pretty much like normal and even went to our small group at church that evening.  After small group, we came home and packed up the car and I double checked all of my lists.  I tried out the video camera for the first time and made sure the cameras were charged up.  Around 11:30pm we headed out… only to turn around a few minutes later because we forgot the ipod dock! 

Eventually we made it to the hospital and got checked in right around midnight, September 21st.  I was surprised at how quickly things went.  I expected, for some reason, to have some down time.  But as soon as I got to my room, the nurse had me change into my gown, get in bed, and get hooked up to my IV.  By 1:30am my pitocin was started.  I didn’t feel much different.. things were pretty boring.  Justin went to sleep, and I tried, but couldn’t sleep. I was way too anxious and excited for sleep!  I spent my time playing around on my phone, watching TV, and trying to sleep.

After what seemed like years, a nurse came in around 6:15 am to check my progress.  I hadn’t made any!  Same as my last doctors appointment.  A little bit later, at 7am, a new nurse came on for her shift.  She was super sweet and helpful.  She informed me that it was a busy day for babies!  There were 5 other inductions and a couple of c sections scheduled besides me.  At this point we were waiting on the doctor to come and break my water.  She ended up coming in about 2 hours later.  My water was broken, and wow did that ever feel weird!  I had progressed to 2cm.. but still felt fine other than being really hungry.  I could only have ice!

By noon I was definitely feeling my contractions and asked for some pain medicine to be given through my IV.  It made me feel drunk and warm in the face.  I got all of my visitors (just family at this point) to leave so I could go to sleep.  Justin and I both slept for a little while.. but by 1:30pm I was awake and asking for the epidural!  My pain level had jumped big time!

A few hours passed, and when I was checked I was at four centimeters dilated.  The doctor realized at this point that my body wasn’t responding well to the pitocin.  She had the nurse turn it off to let my body rest.  After they turned pitocin back on, I progressed to 6cm.. but started to really feel a ton of pain.  I couldn’t understand why since I had the epidural.  I can’t even describe how I felt.  I couldn’t talk.. just had to close my eyes, grit my teeth, and breathe.  I just knew something wasn’t right.  Turns out my epidural catheter snapped!  The anesthesiologist said it was his first time to see this happen during his 10 years of practice.  Crazy!  Just my luck :).

The epidural was fixed, but my pain level never went back down completely.  I was given some other pain meds to help, but I still felt contractions.  The medicine made everything from this point on kinda blurry and hazy in my memory. 

All I know is that I had lots of people at the hospital visiting me and waiting for Judah to arrive.  It was late evening, and we were all expecting him at any time!  My body, however, had other plans.  More and more time passed, but I just wasn’t dilating like I needed to.  My nurse told me that if I hadn’t dilated completely by 11pm, she would contact the doctor to see what needed to be done.  Well 11:00 rolled around, and I was only at 8cm.  My doctor declared it time for a c section.  So after all of those hours and hours of laboring and waiting… I ended up heading to surgery.  By this point, though, I was so tired and just really wanted Judah out.. so I was fine with the decision!


They took me down the hall and had Justin suit up in scrubs.  The whole thing was surreal.  I felt like I was in a movie or something.  I was flat on my back being rolled down the hall.  All I could see was ceiling tiles and lights going by.  I actually had a good time talking to the doctors and nurses and listening to their crazy conversations.  I was surprised at how laid back the atmosphere was and at some of the stuff they talked about!