The longest post ever!

Wow what a month it has been. I have been meaning to update for my own sake so that I have my thoughts and memories saved to looked back on one day, but it's amazing how overwhelming it is to try and begin to describe just exactly what the last month has been like.

While I've taken plenty of weekly bump shots, I hadn't gotten around to uploading them until now... so for the sake of looking back below are the last few weekly pictures of my growing belly.

31 weeks

32 weeks

33 weeks 

34 weeks

35 weeks 

During the third week of April I came down with a cold that included the chills, a fever, swollen glands, sore throat... you name it, I had it. I was completely miserable. The last thing I wanted to deal with was being sick so close to the end of my pregnancy and having to use sick days that I had been saving for my maternity leave. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to kick it so I finally went to the OB on Thursday, April 25th, and saw the PA since my OB was out on vacation. I had actually had bronchitis already once back at the beginning of March so the PA gave me a prescription for a second z pack, and  Robitussin with codeine. By Monday, I was still no better and my cold had moved into my chest to the point that I could hardly talk without coughing and wheezing and was having a really hard time breathing... so back to the OB I went.

This time, my normal doctor was in, and he took one look at me and sent me to the ER for a breathing treatment and consult. They gave me an hour long albuterol treatment and sent me home with a prescription for a nebulizer and albuterol treatments... which seemed to help, but only for an hour or two at most and the directions stated to only use every 6-8 hours... it also made me feel really jittery and shaky. By Tuesday night, I was certainly no better, and my DH was getting more concerned. The coughing and wheezing made my whole body ache and I swore I had bruised a rib, lol. I called my mom who happens to be a respiratory therapist, and was working that night, and she came over as soon as she got off at 7am. She had me do a breathing treatment and put her pulse ox on my finger. It was no wonder I was feeling so crappy because apparently my heart rate was going from the mid 80s before the treatment to the 140s after. My mom was pretty pissy and insisted I call the OB again. So back to the doctor we went...again.

Once there, my OB took one look at me...again... and decided to send me back to the hospital and this time called a pulmonologist to consult. It was then decided to admit me overnight and make sure I didn't have any more serious issues like an unknown blood clot in my lung. This was highly improbable though as I have been on lovenox for the entire pregnancy, but they wanted to be sure. They took me off the albuterol and put me on xopenex which helped to ensure that my heart rate didn't keep going up with every treatment. Here's me during a treatment the first or second night I was there. 

The first couple of days were pretty rough with breathing. I could only take half the normal dosage of xopenex because of the baby, and it was scheduled for every 4 hours. I got a lot of relief the first hour or so after each treatment, but by the third hour, I was having a horrible time even talking or breathing deeply. The coughing was making me so sore that my OB ended up ordering physical therapy for me, lol... a silver lining I guess. I have to admit having someone come and give you a massage everyday is a nice perk. 

They also started me on an IV of solumedrol which is a steroid and has a side effect that includes increased sugar levels. Of course that snow balled into then needing to take insulin shots because my sugars were over 120 after almost every meal. I felt like a pin cushion between the heparin they had switched me to, the sodumedrol, and now the finger pricks after every meal and insulin shots. Sheesh. I have always HATED needles, but this really made me get over that quick I guess. 

The week was long and I pretty miserable to say the least; however, by the following Monday I was beginning to feel a bit better... enough so that the pulmonologist was able to reduce my solumedrol to oral medication which meant I might be able to go home, from a pulmonary standpoint at least. YES!

However, when I had my routine u/s that night, it showed that my amniotic fluid was at 5 which is the borderline for being considered low and a concern...lovely. My peri and OB both agreed that it was best to move me to L&D for better monitoring from the pulmonary floor where I had been all week. We then started to talk about the best course of action for the baby. Everyone agreed that getting to 37 weeks was ideal and that they would do a repeat u/s in the morning to check my fluid again. If it was still low or lower we would need to discuss delivering early. 

Surprisingly the next u/s showed that my fluid had gone up to 7 and my OB and Peri seemed open to the idea of letting me go home as long as I did daily monitoring at their office. I was thrilled! So after a week in the hospital, DH sprung me and brought me home to lay on the couch. I was relieved because at that point I thought that meant I had bought myself a few weeks of bed rest and the opportunity to finish up some last minute tasks. Ha, I was wrong. 

My mom drove me to my peri appt at noon on Thursday for my u/s check. When we got there the tech did her usual thing and said that baby was measuring 7 lbs 4 oz. and in the 93% at 36w4d. She left and said that Dr. E would be right in, and my mom and I continued to chat about the rest of the day and things I still needed to get in the next few weeks before the baby came. I was going to make a list and she said she would pick things up for me until I was feeling better enough to get out myself. A few minutes later, Dr. E walked in with a big smile on her face and said, "I've got great news... we're going to have a baby today!" Cue me bursting into full blown tears. 

I started to sob which is probably NOT the reaction she was expecting, lol. She asked what was wrong and I told her that I was just completely exhausted. I think the stress of being sick and then her announcement was just very overwhelming in the moment. Once I calmed down, she explained that my fluid was low again and that she felt that it was in the best interest of the baby, given his good size, and the fact that I was still really sick, to bring this situation to an end. She was very confident C would be just fine delivering a tad early and that the fluid being low was reason enough alone to decide to deliver.

After calling DH  to let him know, my mom and I were sent over to my OB's office for him to check me and to decide exactly how we would deliver. Back when I had been in the hospital, DH and I had talked a lot about different scenarios and discussed both a c-section and attempting a vaginal delivery with my OB. We all agreed that it was in my best interest to go ahead with a c-section given that an induction at this point when I was still really sick and on breathing treatments every four hours would possibly result in one anyway. 

So it was decided... I would have a c-section... at 4:30pm, lol. Looking back, it seems so surreal to think that I went to my doctor appt at noon and never went home before being admitted back to the hospital for delivery. 

I have to be honest, it all happened so fast that I didn't start to freak out until right about when the below photo was taken. Here is DH and my OB just before I was sent in to get my spinal. 

I think I was most afraid of the idea of the spinal anesthesia, but it honestly was NO BIG DEAL. In fact, having my IV lines stuck over and over again during the week I was in the hospital was a lot more painful... I had been told on several occasions that I had very pretty veins, but that they kept collapsing as soon as the line was in, but I digress. 

Back to the c-section. I remember having the spinal done and being surprised at how easy and relatively  painless it was. They had me lie down and they put the curtain up, and I remember asking if they were sure it was working because I could still wiggle my toes. The anesthesiologist kept reassuring me that it was working and that I would feel tugging and pulling, but I wouldn't feel pain...of course, prior to the c-section I thought this made absolutely NO SENSE. 

He also told me that I would probably feel like I couldn't breath but that I definitely could. He said my chest might feel heavy and he didn't want me to panic since he already knew I was having a hard time breathing anyway ( fortunately, I had gotten another breathing treatment right before going into the OR). I have to say that the anesthesiologist was so kind and tentative; in fact, DH and I were so impressed with almost everyone I encountered during my stay. He kept us pretty preoccupied during the start of the surgery to the point where I honestly wasn't sure that they had actually started. I remember thinking that they were just "planning their strategy" on how they would begin the c-section because I only felt minimal touching on my stomach and certainly didn't think it was strong enough to be the actual surgery. 

But at 5:15pm, on Thursday, May 9th, 2013, I heard a baby's cry and it was the most surreal moment of my life. I couldn't believe there was an actual crying baby in the room... and he was ours! It went so much quicker than I expected. I would guess that he was out within 20 minutes of the start of the surgery and he was perfectly perfect. <3

6 lbs 14 oz, 19 1/2 inches. 

My Sweet Boy 

He has his daddy's lips. 

First family photo!

Dad's ugly cry is hidden by his face mask. 

After I had had a chance to see him for a few minutes they had to take him to the nursery. His sugar level was low at 31 and I found out later that they had to give him some formula to bring it up. They also delayed his bath because his was a little shaky which they attributed to all the medicine I had been on during the last few weeks. He ended up being monitored for about 4-5 hours before I finally got to see him again in my room around 10pm. 

Worn out, but blissful.

Happy with mom. 

I spent the next three days in the hospital, and I would say the first two days were the roughest. The worst pain was actually in my right shoulder which I was told is very common. My breathing got better almost overnight too. I told the OB the next day when he came to check in on me that I couldn't believe how much better I was feeling already, and I know it sounded silly, but that I honestly felt like I could breath almost as soon as I heard him cry and he was out. 

Riding home on Mother's Day 2013. How fitting, right? I can't believe we have our own tiny human and they let us take him home!