Baby Caleb

Hey all, I'm finally back. I am happy report that Caleb Jonathan has safely arrived. Things did not go at all as planned...
He was born just after 1:00 (I don't recall the specific time, as I'm sure you can understand after hearing about his arrival, and I don't want to get up right now to look for the paper that has the exact time) on Monday, December 17th. He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz, and I can't remember how long they said he was... Anyway - here is the story of his eventful arrival.

On the morning of the 17th, I had a full day planned. I had asked Tim to stay home from work so that I could get to all of my various appointments without having to worry about fining a sitter for the other kids. Trina had her speech class at 9:00. I was scheduled for a non-stress test at 9:30, my IV Iron therapy at 10:15, then my weekly midwife check up at 11:45. Tim had scheduled appointments to go to the dentist and to get his car's oil change done in the afternoon.

It all started out fine. Tim took Bry and Trina to speech and I went to the hospital for my NST.
For this point on, the schedule got a tad bit off track. During the NST, they kept seeing drops in the baby's heart rate. "Nothing really serious," but enough to make them concerned that the baby was under stress. (Is this the story of this pregnancy or what? It seems like every time I turned around there was something else that "wasn't serious," but was something to be a little concerned about and keep an eye on.) The NST people called the midwife and she told me that the baby was showing enough signs of stress they she felt they should induce me and get the baby here. I said okay, called Tim to tell him that plans had changed and we were going to be having a baby... I went downstairs to cancel my IV therapy and then drove to the hospital where I would be delivering.

I checked in, got settled, and they started me on Pitocin (spelling??). So far so good. They continued to see decelerations in the baby's heart rate during each contraction but still nothing to be too concerned about... About an hour into the pit drip, Tim and the kids arrived (he hadn't been able to get a hold of my mom to come watch the kids yet...) I called my parents next door neighbor and was able to catch him at home. He confirmed that he had seen my mom working outside and I sent him over to give her the message to come to the hospital. Then my midwife (Sue was the delivering midwife that day) came in and broke my water.

About 20 minutes later, my mom arrived. (talk about perfect timing...) Right after my mom got here, the nurse (her name was Jill and she was wonderful!) came in and said that they were starting to be more concerned about the baby. Every time I had a contractionn the heart rate would drop significantly enough that they couldn't get a clear reading of it via the external monitors. They wanted to put in an internal monitor - on the baby's head, so they could get a more accurate reading of what was happening. I of course agreed, and that's when everything went berserk. Jill went to insert the internal monitor and found that the umbilical cord coming out first. (called prolapsed cord) Every time I would have a contraction, the cord would descend first, the the baby's head would put pressure on it and cut off all the oxygen supply to the baby. She called the midwife in, who confirmed the situation.

The next thing I knew I had a slew of nurses surrounding my bed and about 15 seconds later I was being rushed down the hall to the OR for an emergency C-section. The next few minutes while they waited for the Dr to arrive, I was prepped for surgery, given a shot to stop the contractions, all the while Jill was doing everything in her power to hold the baby's head and umbilical cord apart from each other to keep the oxygen supply getting to the baby. (It was VERY painful from MY perspective) The two doctors arrived, I was put under, and I woke up in SERIOUS pain about an hour and a half later.
For the first 24 hours I wasn't able to nurse Caleb. Apparently when there is a lack of oxygen, the body sends everything to the brain, and the other organs sort of shut down. If the baby gets food in the stomach before the organ starts functioning, the food will just rot in the stomach and cause infection or other problems. To be honest, I was actually kind of glad, because it meant one less thing for me to have to deal with that first night. Caleb was on an IV getting sugar water, so he was as content as could be,and he just slept the night away in the nursery. I tried to sleep, but it wasn't until about 3 in the morning when the pain medication finally seemed to catch up to the pain.
I stayed in the hospital until Friday, then came straight to my mom's house where we will stay until this weekend. We figured it would be much easier for my mom to help out if we stayed here. Tim went back to work this morning and I am SO glad I'm not at home, in my split level house with a kazillion stairs, trying to take care of 4 children. After going up to Montana to help my sister after her C-section, and seeing how difficult her recovery was, I was dreading the healing process. I think my doctors must have been better than hers, because I feel like I'm healing well, and I'm getting around much better than I thought I would be.

Caleb is just so sweet. The kids all love him to death and are anxious to help and to hold him. We've taken some better pictures than these hospital shots, but the thing (USB cord???) to download them from the camera is at home, so you'll just have to take my word for it...

Well, that's the story. I feel so blessed that everything went as it did. They tell me that if my water had broken at home, it is likely we would have lost the baby. The morning after the delivery, the Dr. came in and said something to the affect of , "aren't you glad you're not living in the pioneer days? You and the baby would have been markers along the trail." Now isn't that a lovely thought? I am so very very grateful that Caleb is healthy and that everything went as well as it did. As they were prepping me for surgery, I kept thinking of the blessing I received a few months back; that I would have the strength to endure the trials and afflictions, and that I should/would get the proper medical care, and that I would be able to welcome a healthy baby into our family. I'd say that as much as that blessing didn't tell me what I wanted to hear... it was right on the mark.