Friday, October 9, 2015

Judson's birth!

So Judson is now over 4 months old. And I'm just now getting around to writing down his birth story. Whoops!
Anyway. We got to the hospital at 4:30am the morning of Monday, June 1st. My c-section was scheduled for 6:30. They prepped me then a woman needing an emergency c-section came in, so my doctor had to deliver her first and mine was pushed back.
Finally it was time to be wheeled back into the OR. Sterling had to wait outside while I was prepped some more. They gave me a spinal that hurt liked freaking crazy. I had an epidural with brynleigh, no problem. But for some reason this one was awful horrible, sending spasms of pain throughout my body. A few minutes later, I started feeling super sick. Nausea and full body aches that felt like I was hit by a train. I actually thought I was dying there for a bit. Sterling got to come in finally and helped me communicate how awful I was feeling. I got some oxygen and meds and finally started feeling a little better.
Then came the part where they cut me open and all that good stuff. Everything was fine until they tried pulling Judson out and he was stuck in my ribs. A couple minutes of my doctor and the student doctor banging around in my ribcage (also extremely painful) and he was out! We got a quick look then the nurses took him to the corner of the room to be evaluated. Everything was fine at first, then they told us his oxygen levels were down just a little, so they were taking him to the NICU for a quick look.
After a couple hours of my constant asking when I get to see my baby, the nurses let me go walk (walk! Mind you, I was just cut open. I was a pretty determined momma) to the NICU to see him.
OH my goodness, was he a sweet little guy! So tiny, so cute. He was hooked up to a bunch of wires, but they let me hold him and nurse, and he nursed like a little champ right away! He was (and still is) the snuggliest little boy.
His lungs were just a little underdeveloped since he was a bit premature  (just over 37 weeks) so he had some trouble keeping his oxygen levels up. He was jaundice as well, so he spent some time under the lights.
Oh, and during my c-section the doctor accidentally knicked my bladder (I had some scar tissue in there that made things a little messy and hard to see) so I had to have a catheter put in for a week. Then, to make things even more fun, I got an awful kidney infection from that while in the hospital, and had to stay a few extra nights. But really, that ended up being pretty nice because I was able to spend 5 of the 7 nights that Judson was in the NICU right down the hall from him, so it all worked out.
So yes, Judson ended up having to stay a week exactly in the NICU.  It was so long and hard and emotional. They thought he'd only be there a day or two, then it just kept getting lengthened. It felt like he was never going to come home. Thankfully the nurses and doctor in the NICU were great, except for the one nurse who decided to tell the already-an-emotional-wreck-me that we should expect Judson to stay 3 weeks. Who knows where she got that from since no doctor ever thought that, but she felt the need to get me all worked up over that.
We finally had to leave the hospital on Saturday and that was seriously one of the hardest things I've ever done. I was used to heading to the NICU every 3 hours around the clock to nurse and cuddle, so I hated not getting to be there. (I'm happy to report though that even through our NICU stay Judson never had to have a drop of formula! Yeah for successful pumping!) We would leave as late as we could Saturday and Sunday night, run home to sleep and see Brynleigh then race back first thing in the morning. It was so hard. And we missed brynleigh like crazy too! That was another hard thing, she got to come visit us at the hospital most days, thanks to our moms, but I just felt so disconnected from  her, I missed her so much! And she never got to see Brother in the hospital. So we just kept telling her about him and showing her pictures, but we weren't able to actually let her meet him til he came home.
Then finally, Monday morning we were able to bring him home! Seriously the best feeling. Man, having a NICU baby is insanely hard. It was scary bringing him home too, because his oxygen levels would still drop a bit so I was paranoid and checking him for blue lips constantly. But he was great! He never had any other problems and has been perfect!
Now that this birth story is finally written down, stay tuned for an update!

Sterling took this picture while I was still in recovery and hadn't really seen Judson yet.
My first time holding him!
Under the lights.
Brynnie meeting brother!
Coming home!
She loves him.