the day we finally went home.

by the time we finally went home i had spent 6 nights in the hospital. i was beyond exited for my own bed, to see rhodie and mookie, and for non-hospital food.

we came home to a fridge full of food thanks to steve's family and the best carrot cake i've ever had in my life thanks to jess. our niece anastasia had decorated the house with welcome home signs and balloons.

man it was good to be home. our family was finally together. the dogs took to salem right away. they are jealous at times but they seem to understand that salem is fragile and needs lots of a attention. we are grateful for that.

catching up.

so i am still way behind on blog posts introducing you to our little guy. i'm going to see what i can do to fix that today! sorry if it is a bit rushed, i just really want to be caught up to life!

where are we in this story? oh yeah... still in the hospital.

we were told i would be in the hospital 3 nights with salem because of my c-section. on the morning we were supposed to leave, the pediatrician came in and told us that he was a little jaundiced. she convinced us to stay on more day/night since my insurance was required to pay for 4 nights if needed and this way the equipment needed to treat him would also be covered. we reluctantly agreed even though i was so beyond ready to get out of there.

it ended up being a good thing. it was nice to have the support from the nurses and to ensure salem was heading in the right direction.

we also learned how to finger feed him while in the hospital that extra day. it was important that salem stay hydrated and that he peed and pooped as much as possible. i was encouraged to supplement with formula to ensure this happened and finger feeding was recommended to cut back on nipple confusion since i'm breastfeeding.

Introducing...

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

salem's first visitors

the first hour or so after we were wheeled back to the room were spent as a family... as far as i can remember. i recall my midwife, the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, some nurses and so on coming in and out but it was about an hour or so of just me, salem and stephen. i wish i could remember it better but what i do know is that i was full of love, joy, peace and contentment with my new family.

we were exhausted but also excited to start introducing salem to our families.  my mom, dad and sister kel came up that night.  i have no picture of kel from that night but she was back the following day so thankfully i got one then! i wish my sister liss lived closer so she could have been here for his arrival but i'll settle for her upcoming visit in june! 

grandma irwin and salem

grandpa irwin and salem

thursday, the day after salem's arrival we had a steady flow of visitors! 

one of my all time favorite people and a mommy role model for me. salem's "aunt" molly.

my sister in law colleen aka aunt kiki

my sister came back with all 4 of my nieces and nephews. they were so excited to meet "nugget" but disappointed to hear that we had given him a real name. i love these kids. i am so glad salem will have cousins in town and can't wait to watch their relationships develop. 

kel introducing all of the kids

they were so fascinated by how tiny and new salem was. 

 

cute cousins.

savannah and salem

 

addy and salem

 

jojo didn't want to hold salem but thomas was all over it.

steve's parents and sister colleen live in town but his sister ann, her husband andrew and their daughter anastasia live out of state. they decided to come in town the weekend before salem was born and stayed for several weeks. andrew wasn't in town yet at the time of this visit and for some reason we don't have a picture of steve's dad on our camera. i'll post one if/when i get copies from ann.

ann, steve, anastasia with salem and nana mcclernon 

 

another happy cousin picture

 

salem with his aunt ann

and finally....

"aunt" christie aka aunt boozy and "uncle" daniel aka the german

salem was very comfy with aunt boozy

"uncle" travis and "aunt" jess

 

travy is in love with salem

and jess may be his biggest fan. 

the arrival of salem francis

sorry for the delay in the continuation of this story. it is amazing how much less time you have when a little tiny person is dependent on you 24 hours a day. i will pick up where i left off...

tuesday 4/12 i was given cervadil again and awoke early on 4/13 to start pitocin. my water was broken (by my midwife) that morning so we knew that nugget was coming one way or another.

i was still only dilated to 1 at noon despite all efforts to get labor going. i was having serious contractions and getting no where fast. my midwife began to suspect that all of our hard work was going to end in a c-section and began to prepare me for that reality.  i was given an epidural in preparation and that was the most terrifying thing ever but i survived it and was grateful for it once it was done.  

around 5pm my midwife returned and confirmed that despite a small amount of dilation (i went to a 4 once the nurses were putting my legs in weird positions and i had foreign objects (contraction monitor, catheter and fetal heart rate monitor hanging out of me), our nugget wasn't going to come out the way we wanted him to. she told steve and i that a surgeon was there to do another c-section and she would see if he could stay around to complete mine. we thought at that point we would have a few hours to get used to the idea but minutes later the surgeon came in and announced he was taking me right then because the other woman wasn't in active labor yet. 

i was prepped and whisked away to surgery. i held it together pretty well during the actual procedure - it was once salem was out that i lost it. i cried wanting to holding him but wasn't allowed to. he was 7 lbs and 14.5 oz at birth and 20 inches long.  steve was able to hold him almost immediately.

i started having a crazy reaction to all of the medication i was on while they were sewing me back up. i couldn't feel myself breathe or swallow. i asked for CPR at one point much to the amusement of steve and every one in the room.  apparently i was given so much medication because during the surgery the doctor tore my uterus slightly and so it took way longer than it should have to get me closed up. 

side note -- when i had been given the epidural earlier in the day, i was told to wiggle my toes. the nurses said i didn't stop wiggling my toes from the time i got the epidural until post surgery.... that is many hours people. who knew i was so crazy? i was wiggling away while being cut open.

want to see what it looks like after laboring for 2 days, being cut open and drugged out of your mind? not pretty... i guess we're stuck with this first family picture though so i may as well show it proudly.

after what seemed like forever, salem was given to me and we were wheeled back to our room. it took me a long time to come out of the fog i was in but even though i was incredibly messed up on all the medication, i was able to see how beautiful and perfect he was.

oh - by the way, i learned after my surgery that i have a rare pelvis shape that doesn't fit babies. this can't be determined during routine checks and my midwife wasn't able to confirm this until i was opened up on the table. who knew?

there is much more to come about salem's arrival, our hospital stay and the challenges we've been dealing with. i just wanted to get a few pics out there and give the run down on how our sweet baby showed up. i will leave you with one of me and salem where i am looking halfway human and a more enjoyable family picture!

still waiting.

nugget isn't here and i'm starting to fear how challenging he will be once he does arrive!

i had my regular weekly appointment yesterday and midwife determined it was time to get him out. i was a day over due and my blood pressure was steadily climbing. worse? i had protein in my urine - a sure sign of preeclampsia which is dangerous for both of us.

i checked in to the hospital at 8pm last night and after a night of a drug called cervidil and being pumped full of pitcocin all day, little progress has been made. he dropped a little but thats about it!  i'm still very pregnant and technically not even in labor at this point  despite all the contractions.

tonight is round 2 (phase 3 of induction) of cervidil and we'll start pitocin again in the morning. hopefully he'll have dropped some more so they can break my water and get things going. or maybe it will break on its own.

we're both doing well. my blood pressure has been under control since i arrived and i passed all of my labs. nugget is happy as can be.  hoping that i'm still able to deliver vaginally but if he doesn't start making his way down soon and it becomes unsafe for either of us, a c-section may be the answer.

i'm grateful to have a great provider and great nurses here at the hospital who are doing everything they can to help me along. also grateful for all of you and your emails, texts and calls.

we'll keep you posted!

come on out, please.

2 hours from the due date and nugget isn't making any moves. 

i am a planner. i like things to happen when they are supposed to happen. i liked knowing that yesterday was supposed to be my last day at work for awhile but i'm not so sure. i liked knowing that tomorrow is the due date, the date i've been planning for since early august. 

at my appointment on wednesday, my midwife told me not to get too excited about going into labor any time soon. it seems the nugget is still riding high (sure doesn't feel that way to me though) and he is apparently quite cozy in my belly. all of his crazy moves and stretches have me convinced he is out of space and i keep trying to coax him out. i tell him he has parents who want to hold him, four legged siblings who want to sniff him and kiss him, soft blankets, tiny little clothes to wear, new carpet to crawl on (i realize this is a ways off), and a whole bunch of people who are anxiously awaiting his arrival. still he stretches and kicks and pushes this mommy around and gives no indication he is on his way out. 

last tuesday was beautiful and i left work a few hours early. i sat outside on our deck with the dogs and soaked it up. i had the (not so) brilliant idea to expose my (frighteningly white) baby belly to the sun thinking if nugget felt the warmth and and saw the bright light he would want to come out. nope. all it resulted in was a not so pleasant sunburned belly. that is the one positive of him taking his time - he's given my belly time to recover so that i didn't have to experience monitors stuck all over a sunburn. can you imagine? ouch.