RSV and our NICU stay

I am so happy to report that our little one is doing fine, but we did have a stay in the Stan.ford NICU this week.

Last Thursday I noticed Drudoc coughed when I picked him up out of his crib. I didn't think much of it until the coughs kept coming. By Friday afternoon we found ourselves in the Pediatric urgent care. The attending doctor said that he did not have whooping cough nor pneumonia but just a cold. She indicated that it should last 7 days with it peaking its worst by day 3 or 4. She said we could take him up north for the weekend and that she wasn't going to give us a nebulizer, she thought he'd be just fine.

Saturday morning came and we were supposed to head to Sonoma County, but just as I was loading him into his car seat he vomited all over himself, me, and the carseat. I decided that this little boy needed to be home to have the best chance of overcoming this cold. So Berilac went ahead without us.

Saturday evening I called Berilac and asked him to drive home (an hour and a half drive) because poor little Drudoc had been coughing without stopping for nearly 30 minutes. I couldn't find a comfortable position for him ... he was starting to vomit up every other meal and coughing is what was triggering that. I needed to help him stay upright in order NOT to gag and vomit his food ... but he's so heavy, I couldn't see myself holding him upright all night long.

Sunday things seemed to stay the same, along with Monday during the day.

But by Monday late night/early morning I noticed that Drudoc was laboring to breath. His respiratory rate was 65-75. The on-call nurse asked us to bring him in immediately. We took him to Pediatric urgent care, when we arrived they took his oxygen levels and his sat level was between low 80's to low 90's. The attending Pediatrician told us that they would need to admit him to the NICU. They took a nose swab because Stan.ford NICU was not currently taking flu infected infants. We waited in an observation room with poor little Drudoc getting oxygen and trying to breath through his incredible congestion. My heart was breaking as I'd never seen Drudoc cry so much ... he really didn't like the cannula or the oxygen monitor at all. When the swab results came back negative (for RSV or flu) they sent an ambulance to transport us to the hospital.

We arrived to the NICU on Tuesday morning before noon. Nurse Lilly encouraged us to get some lunch while she took samples for some tests they needed to take - a couple of blood tests and a few swabs, as well as an X-Ray. Berilac and I went down to the hospital cafeteria and I sobbed through my turkey burger. The nurses and Berilac were trying to encourage me that I didn't do anything to cause this, but I wasn't concerned about being a bad mom or doing something wrong - I am very confident in how much precaution I take with the safety of my son - rather, I was crying because I was scared I was going to lose my son. When you've lost 4 babies ... you more easily find the possibility of losing another.

When we were back from lunch the blood results had come back and they were all normal. Drudoc was hydrated and didn't need an IV, nor did he have an infection - so he didn't need antibiotics. The swabs came back negative for flu A and flu B as well as for the H1N1 ... but it came back positive for RSV. Evidently, the original swab was not as specific as the NICU swab. Now the staff knew that their role in our case was just to support him as he recovered from the virus ... "time is the tincture" was their saying. They really only needed to suction his mucus (nearly every other hour) and provide him a low level of oxygen. They told us that compared to the many cases they see in their level 1 NICU, Drudoc's was a mild case. Severe enough to be hospitalized, but mild compared to most they've seen.

Berilac and I spent the evening there - we left around 12:30A that night. We went home and tried to get some rest. The staff kept encouraging us to take advantage of this time, with our son being under some amazing care.

The next morning, I thought I felt a sore throat upon waking up. I headed down to the hospital to breastfeed Drudoc, while I was there, I mentioned my possible sore throat and the staff asked me not to come back if I think it was a real sore throat (and not just a dry throat from sleeping with my mouth open). I went home and took a nap. To be safe, Berilac headed to the hospital without me that evening after work to care for and feed our little one (all the while I was pumping and providing my breastmilk for Drudoc to consume) ... my heart was breaking as I sat at home missing my boys.

This morning, both Berilac and I woke up with sore throats! We called the NICU and they asked us to bring down the milk, but to avoid spending time with Drudoc, so I pumped and headed down. When I arrived I was fortunate enough to catch the doctor after her rounds. She indicated that Drudoc had gone nearly 24 hours without oxygen support and he hadn't needed to be suctioned since last night. She told me I could take home my little one that afternoon.

Even though it was a short stay, and things weren't as dangerous as they could have been, I was so grateful; I went out and bought supplies to make a thank you gift basket for the staff. They took such good care of our little boy, and he's doing so much better thanks to God's healing and their gentle care.

I'm so happy to report that Drudoc arrived home late this afternoon and is now sleeping peacefully in his room. We are sequestering him there until his well baby visit on 2/24. No visitors, lots of handwashing, and lots more prayers.

I'd like to thank all of my friends and family who prayed for us over these past couple of days - we are so grateful for your love and support. And thank you Lord for keeping our little boy safe.

The Birth Story

We were scheduled for an induction on Friday, December 18th. I arrived being 2 1/2 centimeters dilated, 50% effaced, -1 station, and bag of waters bulging. We so thought that I would go into labor naturally prior to being induced, but I guess that wasn't how our story would unfold ...

Friday, December 18th, 6:00AM
The plan was for us to call in to Labor and Delivery at 6AM and have them tell us what time to come in. We were originally scheduled to arrive at 7:30AM. We called in at 6AM and they had us call back at 8AM, we called at 8 and they wanted us to call back at 10 ... the morning kept on like this as we tried to take cat naps in between calls to see if we should come in. You see, the night before the scheduled induction I had a very hard time sleeping and was lucky if I got 4 hours of sleep ... so each time we were postponed, I tried to take the opportunity for a nap. Many calls and many naps later - we finally checked into L&D at 2PM. We were given room number 1, which was tucked all the way back, against an outside wall ... so we wouldn't have to worry about screams coming in from every side! Directly across the hall from the room was the L&D waiting room.

December 18th, 2:00PM
The first order of business was to sanitize the ENTIRE place. The doula, my mother-in-law (MIL) and Berilac all grabbed wipes and got to cleaning ... it was something to keep us busy for 2 hours while we waited for them to start the Pitocin.


December 18th, 4:00PM
Around 4PM they took blood work and started the Pit drip. I was lucky to be at hospital that induces slowly. My doula told me that if she HAD to be induced at any hospital on the Peninsula then THIS hospital would be the ONLY place she'd get induced.

December 18th, 8:00PM
At about 8PM I started really feeling the contractions. I was planning on having a pain-med free birth (or at least I was trying to) so it was at about this time that I started breathing through the contractions as they came - they were about 90 seconds apart at this point.

December 18th, 10:00PM
It was only a few hours later (with the Pit turned up to help labor along) that the contractions really started to get unbearable. On a trip to the restroom I felt a gush before I could make it to the toilet and it turned out that my bag of waters had broken.

Only 3 people were allowed with me in the labor and delivery room. The two people I definitely wanted in there were my hubby and my doula. I've always dreamed that my mother and my mother in law could also share these moments with us, but given that the hospital only allowed 3 people in the room, and given that family had to travel into the area to be with us ... we decided that only Berilac and the doula would be in the room for delivery and we'd play labor by ear. Well, during this stage of labor my MIL was with us (as she was staying with us from out of state) so she stayed with us ... all the way through the hard stuff.

December 19th, 1:00AM
As I mentioned earlier, when I went in for my 39 week appointment, just 4 days prior to induction, I was 2 1/2 cm dilated, 50% effaced, with bulging waters. When I went into L&D, they didn't check me until I was well into labor ... so I have no idea what my actual stats were when I came in. At 1AM, they finally checked me and I was 6 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and still -1 station - I was so excited to have made that much progress!December 19th, 3:00AM
It was amazing experiencing the contractions ... as they went from tolerable to completely unbearable. With each stage of intensifying pain, I tried to figure out a way to "stay in control" and "stay on top of them" ... and I did SO WELL for about 9 hours. I started by breathing through the contractions, then moved to praying through them, then I switched to thoughts of knowing that my body knew what it was doing and to work with it, from there it morphed into making a sound that kind of sounded like "open" as I tried to envision my cervix opening ... then those mean nurses turned that Pitocin up again ... and all I could do was moan and writhe in inescapable pain. I spent two hours in what my doula thought was transition. I was having very strong back and abdomen contractions that were lasting 90 seconds with 30 second breaks in between. I was sweating, I was shaking, and sadly I was gagging from my pregnancy induced acid reflux ... so those 30 seconds of break I had weren't really too helpful. It was at this point that my doula suggested we take a look and see how far I'd progressed. The doctor came for the internal ... and I was still 6cm dilated and now more than 80% effaced ... but not by much.


I.WAS.DEVISTATED ... I thought for SURE all that work I had done had gotten me somewhere ... but it hadn't.

December 19th, 4:00AM
The doctor offered to break the water in hopes that things would really take off. We decided that I needed to get upright in order to help the dilation process ... the nurses, at the same time, upped the Pitocin and all hell broke loose. The pain was so incredible I wasn't sure how I could survive. Prior to coming into L&D, my plan was to be in the shower during this time to "take the edge off" ... however, the telemetry equipment wasn't working in my room and in being on the Pit, they wouldn't allow me to not be monitored ... and so, I couldn't get into the shower. I labored like this for 45 more minutes, bouncing on the ball, making noises I didn't even know I could make, requiring that MIL hold a fan in my face, while hubby held my hand tightly as the doula provided counterpressure on my back ... our little team was amazing - I can't begin to describe how intense we worked, all trying to get through this labor thing together ... after 45 minutes I asked to be checked again.



Still ... no progress.


December 19th, 5:00AM
So in all of that time, no progress and a ton of unbearable, back-to-back contractions. This is when I demanded to talk with the anesthesiologist. God showed favor that day. We didn't have to wait for the doctor to get out of a 3 hour emergency surgery, nor did we even have to wait 30 minutes for him to get onto the department floor ... no, it was as if that man was waiting outside my door. He came in, explained everything then asked me what I wanted to do ... well, I didn't ask you in here to make a new friend ... let's get this thing going! I requested a "light" epidural, as I wanted to be able to feel the sensation of pushing and to be able to work with it. He agreed. Between contractions he worked quickly to give me the drugs I needed. Within minutes my right side was in complete relief. The doctor asked how it felt and I told him that it was only working on one side, but that I didn't care ... one side of pain was NOTHING compared to what I'd been going through for hours :-) we laid me on my side and the numbness spread through my entire trunk and both legs ... ahh ... relief! I really liked that doctor. He explained everything to me and addressed all my concerns with answers and respect. It was only later that I learned that he didn't give me a "light" epidural, but rather a spinal/epidural combination ... which, as I understand it, is heavier than a plain epidural!!


So there I was 5AM ... epidural administered, instructed by my doula to rest up for delivery ... and all I could do was sit in the dark for 3 hours and worry about getting an amniotic embolism. (If you are not familiar with this and you're pregnant or intending to become pregnant, don't look it up ... just don't ... ignorance is bliss).

December 19th, 8:00AM
We learned that, a few hours after getting the epidural, I had progressed to 9 cm with a lip of my cervix still in place. And we continued to wait and rest ...

December 19th, 10:00AM
The nurse checked us again and we were finally completely dilated, and at +1 station!

... we continued to wait the extra hours while the baby descended from zero station to negative 2.

December 19th, 12:00PM
It wasn't until nearly noon on Saturday that we were ready to push.

December 19th, 1:35PM
One hour and 45 minutes later, at 1:35PM, little Drudoc was born. As I mentioned before, he wasn't a small baby: weighing in at 8 pounds 11 ounces and 21 inches long. He was large enough to cause a second degree tear that required sufficient stitches, but I did not hemorrhage and the placental delivery was unremarkable.

I remember pushing him out and the doctor saying ... well keep pushing! (evidently I thought I could stop when I got the head out!) the room went quiet as Berilac announced: "It's a boy, honey, here's our son" ... and he and the doctors placed him on my chest. I wish I could say that I cried ... like I had so many times watching "A Ba.by Stor.y" and wishing beyond hope that someday I could experience the utter bliss these people were fortunate enough to experience ... but instead my response was: "it's a baby, it's really a baby, and it's alive" ... I'm sure the staff thought I was a nut case. But seriously, I could hardly believe that we were fortunate enough to experience this amazing joy. Then the baby (healthy as could be) started wailing in cries and I responded with ... "what do I do with him?" .... ah yes, a typical new parent.

Berilac cut the cord, the nurses washed him up and we started breastfeeding right away. The three of us spent some time together in the L&D room before Berilac went out to the waiting room to announce that we had had a baby boy.

Welcome to the world baby Gamwich!

On Saturday, December 19th at 1:35PM, we welcomed baby BOY Drudoc Gamwich into our family. (His real name is NOT Drudoc, but we don't share our real names here - so you'll just have to go with it ;-)

After 20 hours in labor and delivery, stalling out at 6cm for many hours, and an epidural ... our precious son made his way into this world.

Job 1:21, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.

Praise the Lord for today, He has given.

Little (or not so little) Drudoc had some pretty good stats:

8lbs. 11oz.

21 inches

Screaming at the top of his lungs.

My apologies for not posting sooner ... but life has been hectic with recovery, Christmas, and a newborn.

I will share the birth story later, I just wanted you all to know that our little miracle is here and we are so extremely grateful.

In like flynn

So after calling L&D at 6AM, 8AM, 11AM, and 1:30PM ... we finally were allowed to come on down at 2PM. We checked in and got the room prepped: wiped down every surface with Clorox wipes, unpacked some essentials, got the IV going, etc. By 4PM they started the Pitocin.

We are trying to keep me distracted and chatty until the real pain begins. So far, it's more hurry and wait.

It will probably be awhile until we update again - my hope is that next time it will be an announcement ... but that probably won't happen until tomorrow.

Thank you again for all of your prayers!

39 weeks and no room for them in the inn

We had our 39 week appointment on Tuesday and were excited to find out that progress has been made! As of Tuesday we were: 2.5 cm dilated, 50% effaced, almost engaged, with a bulging bag of waters. My doctor was excited to tell us that we didn't need to come in for a Cervidil on Thursday night because my cervix was now "favorable". She did a sweep and as I left I signed off with "See you on Friday" ... and she responded ... "if not sooner!"

Immediately following the appointment I called my doula and she too was excited about our progress. She said that in her experience women who go in with such a favorable cervix for induction usually only have to get a few doses of pitocin and then things take off naturally. I SURE hope that's how it goes for me!

The rest of the ride home, I took time to call friends, as I was bubbling over with excitement! When I got home that afternoon I headed out for an aggressive walk and was really thinking ... "uh oh, this is going to happen now and I'm not packed!" Well, nothing happened Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning I was losing my mucous plug and (TMI alert) experiencing bloody show. I kept walking and doing other things to help out ... but alas ... nothing. We are still here ... pregnant.

Last night Berilac came home from work (it was his last night before the Friday morning induction and 2 weeks off to enjoy his new baby). We spent the time finishing packing and getting ready to wake up at 5AM this morning to get showered, fed, and ready to call in to Labor and Delivery at 6AM. It was a very anxious time for me. I had flashes of fear, you know, when your tummy drops really quickly ... and then I'd take a deep breath and try to slow down the old heart rate. It was SO HARD trying to fall asleep last night knowing that I would wake up this morning to the day that we have our child. So intense.

Well, this morning we wake up, on time (which is rare for us ;-), get showered and had a large breakfast and called in at 6am to learn that everybody wants a piece of Labor and Delivery today! Evidently, all their post partum rooms are full and so are all of their L&D rooms, and they can only move L&D patients to post partum when they've been cleared out.

So for Berilac, me, and baby Gamwich ... there's no room in the inn for us.

It's currently 9:30AM pacific time, and after we got the news at 6AM we decided it would be best for me to take a nap and cuddle with the doggy (two things that will be in short supply soon enough), I woke up at 8AM to call back to L&D and check in with them to see where things were at and the very lovely charge nurse there asked me to call back at 11AM.

And so we wait ...

Keep us in your prayers, it's going to be a long day.

38 weeks

We had our 38 week appointment on Wednesday, though we were only 37w5d. Everything looked great. We've been doing neonatal stress tests (NSTs) weekly since 36 weeks, only because I've had so much anxiety about a cord accident. All of our NSTs thus far have looked great.

In the appointment, the bp looked great (107/61), urine test came back fine, weight looks great (so far I've gained 20lbs in this pregnancy), and our fundal height was measuring above 39 weeks.

Because I have been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions since about half way through the pregnancy, the doctor has been doing internals since 36 weeks. Unfortunately, there has been no change since our first internal: 1 cm dialated, 0% effaced, -1 station, ballotable.

I am trying to patiently wait and trust the Lord with the timing of things. But I'm definitely the planning/anxious type - so I bounce back and forth, it's hard.

I'd really like to go into labor naturally before 39 weeks, that would be my first choice. If I'm trying for a pain-med free birth, I'd really like to be able to attempt that with "natural" labor contractions and not Pitocin induced contractions - which I've heard can be SO much more painful. However, if we end up needing to go in on Thursday night for the Cervidil (to ripen the cervix) ... my hope is that that alone will swing things into high gear, starting natural contractions and we'd be able to not have to start any Pitocin. So anyway, all this to say, that we are fervently praying for a tolerable labor and delivery experience, that is safe and healthy for both mom and baby. I try not to get too worked up about it, because I know that doesn't help a thing.

Another thing we did try this week was acupuncture induction. I went in for a treatment yesterday. If that doesn't kick start things, I go back in on Monday and Wednesday for more. It's hard because I know walking is one thing that's very good for mom and baby - if you're trying to kick start labor or not! And I've been walking every morning for the last three months ... but this past week has been cold and rainy, making it hard to get out of the house! The Acupuncturist told me to walk as much as possible following the treatments - so we'll have to bite the bullet and start braving the weather.

It's hard to believe that in less than 2 weeks we will have a little baby in our arms. Doing the whole parent thing still seems so out of reach and far away. I think denial is playing a huge role in this thought/feeling! ;-) ... heck, we don't know how to do all of this. I'm going to be a basketcase! ... what I do know is that Berilac and I have had our share of rough experiences in marriage, and I can confidently say that God has blessed us through our trials and today we have a very strong marriage. I think that will go a long way in figuring this whole parenting thing out. We just have to learn about all the logistics of caring for a baby ... it's a good thing we've got a ton of books, the Internet, and many friends that have gone before us ... all at our fingertips.

Until next week's update (... and really, hopefully sooner!),
Polly

We're having a baby ... this month?

I've been wanting to post for ages and have started a few posts ... that I just can't seem to finish. So rather than NOT post because I can't come up with exactly how I want to say all that I'm going through ... I'll just jump in and give you an update ...

The countdown is on ... but it's not as long as you think.

Only two and a half weeks until our due date ... but only one and a half weeks until our induction date. We are scheduled to head into the hospital on Thursday night 12/17 for a dosage of Cervidil, then the next morning, we begin the administration of low and slow Pitocin ... if labor takes off, then great. If it doesn't then the OB said we might be able to be released to head home until 12/22 before they have us back for an aggressive Pitocin dose then. We've hired a doula, so hopefully she'll help us in delaying the induction if needed.

I really hope (and I'll ask for your prayers) that baby decides to make an appearance before we have to evict him/her. I'd really like to go into natural labor on or before 12/17. Will you pray for us?

We are trying the self induction techniques ... walking, sex, EPO, pineapple, red raspberry leaf tea, will be starting acupuncture ... and spicy food, once the baby drops ... this whole acid reflux thing is OUT OF CONTROL at this stage in pregnancy!

I stopped taking Lovenox (blood thinner) on Friday night - so we're all set for a non complicated epidural/c-section (if needed) ... though we have taken the Bradley classes and are hoping for an unmedicated birth, which, as you might know, will be much more difficult if we have to be induced.

A lot of people want to know WHY we're planning an induction at 39 weeks. Well, our OB has been talking about this since the beginning. I guess there is a higher risk for cord accidents the longer the pregnancy continues. As well, we've been on blood thinners the entire pregnancy (stopping at 37 weeks) so they want us to only be off of them for a short while (I go back on them post partum for 6 weeks), and lastly ... at this most recent appointment (my 37 week appointment) the doctor took one look at my belly while I was lying back for the fundal height measurement and she said "that is one big baby" ... she is guesstimating 8 1/2 lb baby at 39 weeks. She then asked me "how much did you weigh at birth, because baby weight is mostly comparable to the maternal weight" and I told her "9 1/2 lbs" ... *blush* ... her reply? ... "I'm sorry." The reassuring news is that she doesn't think that the baby is too big for a vaginal birth, which I'm relieved about.

So that's it ... we are full term, we are expecting a baby THIS month, we have less than 2 weeks till our induction date, and Berilac is finishing his MBA program tonight (and dropping off his final paper by 6p tomorrow night). We will have 10 days to "be a normal couple" until baby arrives.

Our bags are not packed, our nursery is not finished ... and get this ... we don't have names yet!! ... I blame it on all the work I've been trying to wrap up (maternity leave starts this Friday, but I've been working from home since Thanksgiving), the fact that I'm as large as a house (literally, I'm worried this belly is going to split open!) and Berilac hasn't had time with his work and school consuming so much of his life.

Sorry for the delay in posting ... I've been SO incredibly busy ... if I haven't had time to pack our bag and/or work on the nursery ... nor get a name! Then you can see why I've been too busy to post ;-)

I can't believe our journey has come this far ... I so pray that the labor and delivery is safe and healthy for both the baby and me ... and that the labor experience is as tolerable as possible.

I'll try to keep you posted in these last few weeks.

With much love,
Polly

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Interested in helping us out? Suggest baby names in a comment if you've got them! Remember we don't know the gender - so boy and girl names are welcome!