Taylor is one month old!

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Little Buddy,

I can’t believe you are a month old already. This month has flown by. It seems like we were in the hospital in another lifetime. I love having you here, even though I am so tired. I love your baby sounds and your baby smell. Your sister always says “Taylor is saying Eh Eh again Mommy!” You have big hands and strong fingers which you love to grip my finger with. You continue to be a great eater. You tolerate a lot from your sister and you seem to be a kind of easy going guy.

You have acquired the nickname Wuzzy (or Little Wuzz). Your sister keeps calling you potato. Usually at night you do one stretch in the bouncy seat, one in the sling, and then you come in bed with me for the last stretch. You are less frantic now when you are laying next to me and it has actually become pleasant. I enjoy snuggling with you in the morning, and watching you sleep. You have mastered rolling from your side to your stomach and you like sleeping on your tummy. I only let you do it when I’m in there with you though, because it makes me nervous!

Today you woke up and suddenly had baby acne. It wasn’t there yesterday– it literally appeared overnight. I know it’s just a phase but your skin was so beautiful and smooth. You’re still beautiful though. Right now as I type you are on my lap on the boppy. You’re half asleep and you keep alternating between smiling and sticking your lower lip out. Suddenly you are so much more aware and alert. Just within the last day or two- you look around at EVERYTHING so intently. You really make good eye contact now. You love to stare at the curtains in the living room. You have also been a little calmer during diaper changes and you have started to look at the doggies on the wall by your changing table. I just keep looking forward to the first time you smile at me!

I’m so glad you’re here. I didn’t believe that I could love another child this much. I just want to kiss your face all the time but then it wakes you up.

Love, Mommy

Slinging the baby

Filed Under Firsts, Input Needed, Newborn- Taylor, Slinging | 2 Comments

I have been putting him in the sling a little bit just so I can have my hands free. At first he didn’t seem to like it and I got kind of frustrated. I think I needed to pull out the slack from the middle but I kept pulling the edges (this will only make sense if you have a sling). It must have been twisted funny… but the last few times he has enjoyed just looking around. He loves to stare at our dining room chandelier and at the Golden lighting fixtures. I keep him facing out so that he doesn’t think about eating. He has fallen asleep and kind of catnapped in it but no “real” naps yet.

He also seems to like the Baby Bjorn (I honestly don’t know why anyone would like being in that position with their arms and legs stuck out crazy). Unfortunately he is still a little too small for it and his face just smooshes against my chest and I get worried that he can’t breathe. I think he is right at 7 pounds right now so I need to look up the weight for the Bjorn. (Okay just looked it up and it says starting at 8 pounds so we will wait a little while before trying again). I didn’t have this with Bailey, but I used to use one with the baby I took care of several years ago. He was a huge baby though so it wasn’t comfortable for too long. I am looking forward to using this carrier with Taylor.

Here he is the first time in the sling.

I would be curious to hear from any mamas who have another type of sling. Ours is the Kangaroo Kids Ring Sling. I have been curious about the Moby and the Mei Tei… can’t remember which is which at the moment though. I have also heard good things about the Ergo carrier.

Three Weeks Old

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I can’t believe my little guy is three weeks old already. It seems like he has been home forever, but it has only been two weeks. It also seemed like our hospital/NICU stay was a lifetime ago. I will never forget those days, but they are not in the forefront of my mind anymore. I don’t lean close to make sure he’s breathing quite as often as I used to.

Taylor is such a good baby. He just likes to be held ALL THE TIME. Some people say to quit “spoiling” him, but honestly he has no idea what spoiled means. He is not “manipulating” me. He wants to be loved and to feel secure. I am not going to deny my child of that. He has been through a lot. Maybe I appreciate him more because of what we went through. Maybe I am making up for all the snuggles we couldn’t have during the first week. Yes, I do get tired of holding him. But I will not just let him scream as he sits by himself in a bouncy seat. His little chin quivers and he wails and then when he finds me back with his eyes, and he hears my voice, he calms down. It’s nice to be able to make someone so happy with just my presence.

We are having a rough time with sleeping. He does not like to lay flat in his own bed, alone, to sleep. He sleeps in three places: His swing (thanks again Kelli!), his bouncy seat, or in bed next to me. I am not a huge fan of cosleeping, honestly. I would rather not have someone nipping at me and rooting around all night. But if it means that I can actually be somewhat relaxing and somewhat resting, it’s worth it. Unfortunately, Jonathon is sleeping in the living room in the meantime because he is afraid of smushing the baby.

Bailey is still doing MOSTLY very well with him. She does have her jealous/mean moments though. For example, she figured out that she can push his bouncy seat down, and it will pop back up and make his head flop around. Lovely. I have been trying to give her extra grace and extra love, but she has also been having a lot of time outs because there are certain lines that we won’t let her cross. Overall, though, she really loves him and wants to constantly hug and kiss on him. The biggest problem is usually that she won’t leave him alone!

Getting Out

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Today I managed to take both kids to the mall. I was dying to get up to Gymboree and pick up the Popsicle Party stuff I had on hold. Plus, I wanted to show Taylor to my manager and say hello. I am honestly looking forward to getting back to work (just once a week) and I even talked to her about putting me on the schedule two weeks from now for just a short shift!

I will say that it is more effort to get both kids out of the house. I am kind of thankful Taylor is a boy, because at least I don’t have to worry about fixing his hair or finding accessories to match his outfit. Or putting his earrings in. So he’s pretty quick to get ready, but I have to make sure he has eaten well before leaving. I also travel a LOT lighter than I did when Bailey was this age. I just bring the small black diaper bag from the hospital, for BOTH of them. He is breastfeeding so we don’t need any food related items. Basically I bring diapers for him, an extra outfit, and a burp cloth and then for her I just bring a diaper. I usually throw a binkie in his carseat just in case, and a blanket- which can double as a nursing coverup.

It takes longer to get the kids in and out of the car now, because I use the stroller for his carseat if we are walking any distance at all. We have a rule that Bailey has a choice, she can either hold my hand or hold on to the stroller. She usually “helps” push the stroller. She has done really well with this rule. One thing I have to take note of though. Our mall is really nice. The stores are average to upscale. The area is middle class to upper middle class. But the parking garage? Is disgusting. There are huge puddles all over the floor, the ceiling leaks and water drips on your head. There are cracks everywhere. I don’t know if all metal buildings are like this but it is really gross.

So we got our shopping done yesterday at Gymboree, and then I got brave and went to Motherhood to get a new nursing br@. While we were there, I let her play with the toys in the kid area and I sat in a fitting room with the curtain open (so I could see her) and fed the baby. Then we headed home. I was pretty pleased at how it went with both of them.

Here is a sneak peek of one of her new outfits!

First Days at Home with Taylor

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I have to say that the first two days at home were really rough. Taylor did NOT want to be put down. Big Sister did NOT want to leave him alone. She also kept jumping and climbing right next to him, and I was constantly having Jonathon or my mom take her somewhere else so she wouldn’t smush him. Yeah, it was rough. But he also got so many kisses from his sister, and she “helped” with so many diaper changes, and watched him as he slept, and talked to him, and showed him her toys. It was really rough on all of us, but looking back, it was a priceless time growing together as a family of four.

Here are a few pictures from those first few days.

NICU Day Six- Going Home!

Filed Under Big Sister, Breastfeeding, Firsts, Home Sweet Home, NICU, Newborn- Taylor, Siblings, Two and a half years old | 2 Comments

On Tuesday morning, I knew that Taylor wouldn’t be going home. I left Jonathon at home with Bailey and went up to the hospital by myself to be there to feed him. After his first feeding, guess what his nurse came over and told me? His bilirubin levels had dropped to 12-point-something overnight and he would be going home! What? She said he needed to continue phototherapy the rest of the day and then he could leave, and be monitored by his own pediatrician for the next two weeks.

I called Jonathon and told him I was coming home to get him. We had my dad come over and watch Bailey, and we went by Target and went to get lunch. When we got back up to the hospital, we changed him into some snuggly fleece NEWBORN size jammies. Which were clearly about eight sizes too big.

I love this picture with me holding him!

And one with Daddy-

I love the “drunk on milk” baby pictures. And this baby sure does like to eat!

We kept telling him that the carseat was a good thing- that it was time to go home. He wasn’t easily convinced.

One last family picture in the NICU. It was bittersweet leaving, honestly. It was the only home my baby had known. The place where I spent hours and held him and watched him get better. And cried thousands of tears. The nurses were so loving, the other moms were so supportive. I can’t quite explain but it was strange to leave.

We were welcome home by one very excited big sister, though!

Here she is holding Taylor for the first time. With help.

NICU Day Five

Filed Under Breastfeeding, Difficult Stuff, Grandparents, NICU, Newborn- Taylor | 1 Comment

On Monday morning, I called the hospital first thing when I woke up. They told me Taylor had passed his carseat test and done so well during the night. Jonathon had planned to come up to the hospital with me, so my mom came over early to watch Bailey and we got up there in time for his first feeding.

While he was eating, our nurse, Katrena, came over and told us that he would be able to go home by early evening. He was scheduled for pictures, then his circumcision (no debating here, thanks) would be done on my OB’s lunch hour, then after they observed him and made sure he was peeing okay he would be released.

We went and got his pictures done. As with typical newborn pictures, they are just okay. Of course his eyes aren’t focused and he’s kind of a lump, but he looks cute anyway. Not posting them on here yet because I haven’t decided which picture to use for birth announcements.

After his pictures, Jonathon and I went to the breastfeeding room so I could pump. When we came back to the NICU and were waiting to be let in, Jonathon was like, “I hear Taylor crying!” I kept saying no, that’s not him, blah blah blah. They let us in and I saw the nurses putting him under a blue light, wearing only a diaper. My first thought was, “Why is he going under there, I hope they know he is leaving soon!” We walked up and the nurse looked at me and then I just knew and started crying.

She kept saying, “We’re so sorry! We wanted to get him settled and calm before we called you back in.” The neonatologist had decided to get one last check on his bilirubin levels and they came back way too high. She said it was good that it happened while he was still in the hospital, because if his numbers had spiked like this after he went home he would have been admitted back into the hospital. Basically he was jaundiced, which made sense because I kept thinking he looked more yellowish. They said he would probably need a few days of phototherapy. The light breaks down the bilirubin in the blood when the liver is not yet working properly.

Here is Taylor in his “tanning bed” complete with sunglasses velcroed around his head.

I guess here I should admit that I completely lost it when they told me he wouldn’t be going home after all. This whole experience was such a roller coaster ride. To be told that morning he was leaving, and then hours later to be told that he was staying days later… it was just more than I could handle. Someday I will write more about what it’s actually like to have a child in the hospital. Right now I’m still alternating between processing and pushing it out of my head. Oh and I’m going on little sleep too, so my posts aren’t so eloquent right now!

Jonathon and I took a break and went out for lunch, and went up to his work to pick up some gifts and visit and share pictures of Taylor. We went back to the hospital for another feeding, then went home for dinner. My mom offered to come back up to the hospital with me after dinner. That evening, there was a girl I knew from church working in the NICU. She was assigned to transport but shifted things around and ended up being Taylor’s nurse for overnight. It was so good to talk to someone familiar. She also said that honestly she didn’t think he would go home until at least Wednesday or Thursday.

Sunday, NICU Day 4 continued

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I had lots of time alone in the late evening. So I took some self portraits of Taylor and me.

Sunday night before I left, Taylor’s nurse, Kim, got him set up for his carseat challenge. Each baby in the NICU has to do a test where they sit in their carseat for two hours without having any heartrate drops or breathing problems. They have to pass this test before they are released. His nurse was thinking he might get to go home in the next few days, so she said to go ahead and bring in his carseat. If they don’t pass, they have to try again on another day, so they typically don’t like to do it on the last day.

Here he is all set up for his little test. Nothing “after market” can be added to the carseat so he was without his cozy infant headrest. Hence the crazy head tilt.

Yes that is a sock on his hand. His scratch mittens will NOT stay on… too big!

I went home after he got set up for his carseat test and I pumped one last time to leave for overnight. It was about 11:30 and my dad came to pick me up. I was waiting for him to pull up outside and noticed this sign. Does anyone notice the overwhelming amount of commas? I know I am picky about grammar and punctuation, but really? No one proofread this before posting it in front of a major hospital?

NICU Day Four

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On Sunday morning when I got up, I called the NICU first thing. They told me that Taylor had a wonderful night and not only was he off all his oxygen and forced room air, but that he was doing well regulating his body temperature. That meant a move to the other side of the nursery! The sickest babies are in the middle close to the nurses’ station/desk. The medium sick babies are to one side, and then when they start doing well they move to the other end. I was so happy to see Taylor at the other end when I came down to visit.

The other big difference is that he got moved into an open crib instead of one with the warmer above it. This crib is just like the ones the “regular” babies sleep in during their hospital stay! The cute sign inside his crib was courtesy of Nurse Susie.

His nurse told me we could put regular clothes on him too. It just had to be something where his foot was free for the wires to come out. Here he is FINALLY wearing real clothes!

I officially had to be out of my room that morning by 10:00 (they had let me stay one extra night since my baby was still there). Jonathon was up there to help me get our stuff to the car and he stayed a while to visit. After he left, I began the longest few days of my life, basically living in the breastfeeding room next to the NICU. I just sat in the back “booth” with the curtain closed and read and wasted time online. I just had to sit and wait until it was time to go feed the baby again. He was on a three hour schedule with feedings at 11, 2, 5, and 8 around the clock.

My parents came up to visit that evening and they both got to hold Taylor for the first time. My mom was so nervous and didn’t want to hold him at first but I didn’t give her a choice.

NICU Days Two and Three

Filed Under Being a Mom, Breastfeeding, Daddy, Difficult Stuff, Firsts, NICU, Newborn- Taylor, Siblings, Two and a half years old | 1 Comment

On Friday morning when I woke up (after a NOT good night of sleep, thanks to all the nurses coming in my room all night long) my OB came to visit. She said she heard Taylor had been moved, and asked how he was doing. Right after that, I went straight down the hall to visit my baby. Each time I went to the NICU, I had to call in from the phone outside the door and they would unlock it for me. They also had the foaming hand sanitizer everywhere to use. I can’t even tell you how raw my hands and knuckles were from washing them over and over every day.

When I went in the NICU they told me that they were getting ready to move Taylor off the CPAP because he was doing better! That was great news. He had been wearing a hat to hold the tube in place, so he got the hat off. I was finally able to rub his fuzzy little head! At this point he was on high humidity oxygen instead. Oh, you don’t know how good it is to feel your baby’s head until you haven’t been able to.

I was also SO jealous of the moms who had babies in the regular nursery who weren’t even holding them. It really made me mad to see those cribs parked in the nursery. Some of them even had signs “only feed every three hours” or “no pacifier please.” I just wanted to scream at those moms and say, “You can hold your child whenever you want to! Don’t be so selfish!” but yet when Bailey was in the regular nursery I know I left her there so I could nap, etc. Funny how perspective changes.

Jonathon came up after lunch and we went back down together to see Taylor. At this point he still did not want to hold him. I think honestly he was intimidated by all the tubes and wires. He kept saying that it was more important for me to hold him but I think that was an excuse. Up until this point I had also been pumping at least every three hours all day and night. I think when you can’t be with your baby it feels like the only thing you can do to help… By that evening his nurse told me she thought he was ready to try a bottle feeding. They knew I planned to breastfeed but they said we had to start trying with the bottle first. He had been too sick to nurse after his birth (although we didn’t know then why he wouldn’t). So his first feeding was at about 34 hours old. They used a syringe to put pumped milk into just the nipple of a bottle and we got to hold it in his mouth. He drank it right away and we were so happy. They had warned us that a lot of preemies (they were calling him a “late preemie” since he was born between 34-37 weeks, although he was also technically full term but exhibited a lot of preemie characteristics…) can’t coordinate their sucking and swallowing yet so this was great news.

Saturday was the day I was supposed to go home. My day nurse was awesome, though. She told me first that I could stay through dinner and then came back later to tell me she had arranged for me to be discharged after dinner but keep my room for another day.

Sometime early afternoon on Saturday, Taylor got off his oxygen and moved to forced room air. Then later that day he got taken off that too! This was my first glimpse of him without his nasal cannula. I kept saying, “He looks like a regular baby now!”

His poor little face was so sore from all the tape, though.

Jonathon finally held him for the first time since he was admitted to the NICU!

That evening, Jonathon brought Bailey up for a visit. Our nurse Kathy did a great job hiding all his wires and everything inside the blankets. I didn’t know if she would be concerned or even notice them but we didn’t want him to look “sick.”

She also enjoyed playing “This Little Piggy” with his toes… so cute…

That evening, my parents came up to visit. I brought my mom in to see him and the nurse surprised me by asking if I wanted to try nursing! He did great. I couldn’t believe it, he latched on correctly with the first try and just ate. So unlike his sissy, who took DAYS to figure out how to eat. It was so frustrating with her… so easy with him.

Moved to the NICU

Filed Under Birth- Taylor, Difficult Stuff, Doctor Stuff, NICU, Newborn- Taylor | 2 Comments

About a half hour after Taylor was born, he started making little grumbly noises. You know how babies grunt and grumble when they’re itty bitty? We thought that’s what he was doing. Just before we got ready to move to our new room in Mom and Baby, the nurse started seeming a little concerned about him. She mentioned that she would check on him again in a few minutes. When she checked back, she said she would like the house pediatrician to come see him.

We moved to our other room, and Bailey and Grammy and Grandpa came to visit. After they had been there for about ten minutes the pediatrician came in. She checked Taylor over for about five minutes and then told me that she would be taking him down to the Special Care nursery (nice way to say NICU, lol) to run some tests. I was a little nervous at this point- all kinds of things flash through your head, from heart problems (I had a CHD) to cystic fibrosis to collapsed lung to tumors. Seriously. She said they would let me know when I could come see him, that it would be an hour or so.

I need to get his full medical charts from the hospital just to satisfy my own curiosity. I know some of the tests they did included CT Scan, x rays, and lots of bloodwork. The neonatologist, who was one of the nicest ladies ever, came down to my room to discuss the results. She sat down next to my bed and that’s when I really panicked. But the news wasn’t too bad. She told me he had been diagnosed with transient tachypnea which was basically temporary rapid breathing. They thought it was caused by two things: Immature lungs since he was two days shy of being a preemie, and fluid in his lungs. During a normal labor and delivery, the baby spends time in the birth canal, which compresses their lungs and helps remove the fluid. With such a quick birth, Taylor didn’t get much time in the birth canal! She said this condition is more common with c-section babies.

She also told me they would be starting him on an antibiotic just to be on the safe side. I believe he got both ampicillin and gentamyacin twice a day through his IV. She said his blood count was “borderline” for infection and they would re-evaluate after 48 hours and either take him off the IV or run a full seven day course. So we knew he had a minimum two day stay in the NICU. I was so disappointed that he would not be a “normal” baby at the hospital. I wouldn’t be able to hold him whenever I wanted, and keep him in my room during the day, and have visitors come see him. It’s funny how much that can throw off your whole experience with a newborn, when it’s not how you expected it to be. Especially after having a first child with no complications and a normal hospital stay.

I don’t think anything could have prepared me for going down to the NICU that afternoon and seeing my little guy look like this.

I wasn’t able to hold him for a few more hours. At this point he was on a CPAP and they said as long as he was doing well on that he would not need to be intubated. The tube in his mouth was a feeding tube but they were actually using it to release the pressure from his belly. Since the CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) forces air in, they said it would give him gas unless they helped remove it. The leads on his chest were for his heartrate and respiration rate monitors. The duck was for temperature control, since he was under a warmer. His whole right arm was wrapped so that he couldn’t pull his IV out of his hand. He was getting fluids through the IV most of the day and then the antibiotics just twice a day. His foot had a pulse ox monitor. At first his oxygen saturation levels were around 85-90% I think, whereas ideal is 99/100.

It is so hard to not just stare at the monitors all the time. There is constant beeping and then just watch the numbers skyrocket or drop. In his case, typically his RR would go way high (what should have been 25-40 would shoot up to 80+) and his oxygen sats would drop to the 80s. Sometimes the nurses would rush over and adjust him, other times they would just poke a button on the monitor and tell me not to worry about it. They kept saying, “Don’t watch the monitors, watch your baby. You can tell how he is doing by watching him.”

I think that first day, I got to hold him once in the afternoon, and once in the evening when my mom came up. He was not allowed to be held by anyone other than me or Jonathon because he was “too sick” which was heartbreaking to hear.

I went down to see him one last time before bed, and I just stood next to his crib and cried.

Brother and Sister Meet Each Other

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After Taylor was born, I was able to get up and walk around within about a half an hour. Not having an epidural was REALLY nice as far as recovery. I was on an IV with fluids basically in case they needed to give me something suddenly. After the delivery I was on Pitocin by IV. I had no idea they did that as a standard practice. Apparently it’s to cause contractions and shrink the uterus back down. I was surprised to hear that they were giving it to me though! Anyway as soon as the IV was out I was up and around, and ordered breakfast, and then they moved us to our regular room.

My parents brought Bailey up to visit soon after we moved to our room. My mom said she was SO excited to meet Baby Taylor. I had been looking forward to this moment for a long time and also stressing out about it. I was afraid it would set them up for sibling love, or hate, or something. It seemed like such a BIG moment. But it was just normal. It was my two kids, just checking each other out. Bailey was excited and wanted to touch his eyes, nose, ears etc. She said, “Hi Baby Taylor Owe-lin, I’m your big sister!” It was so sweet.

She also thought my hospital bed was pretty great and wanted to climb around on it. After crashing against my stomach several times she was removed from the bed.

Taylor’s Birth Story

Filed Under Are you kidding me?, Birth- Taylor, Doctor Stuff, Newborn- Taylor, Second Pregnancy | 11 Comments

Now that he is a week old, I decided it was high time to write Taylor’s birth story before I forget the details. Things have been a little crazy at our house since he came home.

On Wednesday, February 17th my nesting mode kicked into high gear. I was on a mission to make sure EVERYTHING was finished. I took Bailey to her last cooking class, then went and did grocery shopping. During her nap, I baked brownies, wrote some thank you notes, and got a few packages ready to mail out (clothing etc I sold online). That night, I went to church with Bailey to work doing childcare for the Wednesday night events. I sat in a chair and relaxed and it was actually a pretty low-key evening. Bailey and I stopped by the church library to get a few new movies. I asked to have them for a month just in case I had the baby early, so I didn’t have to worry about returning them.

On the way home, I started having what felt like an achy lower back and period cramps. That had happened on and off for about a week but just a slight, dull ache. Once I got home I ate a bowl of cereal and took a warm bath and I felt much better. I woke up a few times during the night thinking my back was still achy but it wasn’t even worth taking Tylenol for. Around 5:45 a.m. I woke up having what I thought were mild contractions. Around 6:00 I woke Jonathon up and told him what was going on. At this point the pain was still just crampy.

I got up and washed the dishes that were in the sink and switched the laundry to the dryer. The contractions were consistently about 5-8 minutes apart but starting to be stronger. I called my mom to see if she could get ready in case we needed her to come over. She suggested that I call my doctor’s exchange and ask them what to do. The doctor on call said that since it was my second baby and I was already at least 3 cm I should go ahead and come in to L and D. My mom headed over and I got in the shower. Bailey woke up at some point during this and was excited about Grammy coming.

While I was in the shower my contractions got noticeably stronger. I got out and tried to put on makeup and get ready. About halfway through blow drying my hair they really started hurting and I gave up. I think the contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart. At this point I just told Jonathon we needed to leave. It was about 7:20. Once we got in the car everything went a little crazy. The pain really got bad but I was trying to decide whether or not we should drive through McDonalds and get some breakfast. (Obviously I was not really being rational at this point!) Then I decided to scrap that idea and hurry up and get to the hospital so I could get my epidural. The contractions started coming almost every minute after this and I was panicking a little bit. I was yelling at Jonathon to go around the traffic- of course it had to be morning rush hour- and at one point I thought I should get out and walk instead. He cut a few corners and we made it to the hospital. The last five or ten minutes I could feel a lot of pressure from the baby. I kept saying, “This is not okay. He’s going to come out.” I was panicking.

When we got to the hospital I jumped out of the car to go up to the maternity floor. I told him to park and meet me inside. The woman at the desk was all calm and slow and I was like, “MY BABY IS COMING OUT!” I think she thought I was exaggerating, then I about doubled over against the couch and she got on the phone to call a nurse. I was checked in at 7:55 a.m. and they took me straight back to a delivery room. When we got in the room I told them I needed to pee before getting into bed. When I sat down to pee my water broke but I don’t think I was even aware of it. I was fairly sure I was going to die from the pain. They put a gown on me and helped me into the bed. The house OB checked me and I was 8 cm at this point. I remember having either two or three really strong contractions where I freaked out. The nurse was yelling at me to look in her eyes and breathe with her.

I started asking where the anesthesiologist was. They said they had called her and she was on her way. I was saying, “I can’t do this, I swear I can’t, I need an epidural.” But it also felt like I was ready to push. They told me I had two options, I could either wait and lay still and get the epidural, or I could go ahead and push him out. The nurse said if it was her she would just push because it would help with the pain and it would be over sooner. I asked if it was okay since I was only at 8. They said that I was probably at 10 and they went to check me and they were like, “oh, he’s right there and he has hair!” I believe I pushed once for his head and either once or twice at the shoulders. I could feel him slide out. The actual pushing didn’t really hurt compared to the contractions so I was glad I just went ahead and did it. But that’s the story of how I gave birth without an epidural!

The house OB was the one who delivered Taylor. My OB walked in just a few minutes later. Apparently the anesthesiologist got there while I was pushing, too. They let me hold him right away and he was MAD. He was still really covered in white stuff from being a little early. They cut his cord (Jonathon didn’t care about doing it this time, he said it was kind of weird and not a big deal). She said I had torn a little bit but it was very minimal. I said that I did NOT want stitches after I had done all that without drugs. She said since it stopped bleeding with pressure that I could skip the stitches. Taylor’s APGAR scores were 8 at one minute and 9 at five minutes.

He was 7 pounds exactly, and 19 inches long. He arrived at 37 weeks 3 days.

Look at his proud daddy!

In love with my little man…

First family photo

Heading off to my room!

Feb 24th Taylor’s First Ped Visit

Filed Under Breastfeeding, NICU, Newborn- Taylor, Pediatrician | 1 Comment

Taylor went to see his OWN pediatrician for the first time on February 24th. She hadn’t seen him in the hospital because the neonatologist was in charge of his care while he was there. There were mainly two things she was checking- his color (from the jaundice) and his weight. His weight was still at 6 lbs 4 oz (same as when he was discharged) and she said his color was okay but to keep an eye on it. We scheduled another visit for two days later.

He was not a huge fan of getting weighed. The scale doesn’t show his actual weight because it hadn’t gone back to zero before I put him on for the picture. Oops.

He was also not a fan of getting his Hep B shot. We delayed it and didn’t have it done in the hospital, so this was his first shot. Although he has had countless blood draws, IVs, heel sticks etc.

“Get me out of here, Mom!”

When we were discharged from the NICU they gave us a form titled “A letter to my doctor” which summarized everything Taylor had been diagnosed with and treated for in the hospital. Good thing we had this because they hadn’t faxed over his final paperwork yet so our pediatrician was a step behind! She had talked to the doctors several times during his stay but didn’t have the final report. Nothing in this report was a surprise to me at all… but I was so happy to see #4. Breastfeeds well! Finally, I have a child who is a good eater. Thank you, God.