That’s right! Oliver made his debut 4 weeks early! He was born September 8th at 11:07 pm and weighed 6lb. 8oz. I’m not sure when the contractions started, but Friday the 6th I was achy and had developed a fever. This continued through the night and into Saturday morning. Starting Saturday, it was also painful to walk. I noticed I could feel (what I thought were) my Braxton hicks contractions more, but thought it was just because I was sick. At the insistence of my sister, I contacted the on-call doctor at my OBs office. The fever through him off, so he suggested I go to labor and delivery to get checked out. I waited for Jared to get home from work, we shuffled Elliot over to a friends house, and made our way to the hospital. I don’t think either Jared or I thought I was in labor, so when the nurse said I was contracting every 2-3 minutes and was 5-6 cm dilated we were in shock. Jared quickly left to pack a bag (the hospital bag I kept putting off because I still had 4 weeks to go!) and to check on Elliot.
This labor was completely different than what I experienced with Elliot. After getting the epidural I could still feel the contractions on my right side. The Labor delivery nurse gave me another pump of the epidural. 15-30 minutes later I was still experiencing pretty intense contractions, but again only on my right side. I received another pump of the epidural, but still felt pain. Let me clarify that I think I could have handled the contraction pains, it was the actual delivery pain I feared. The nurse called the anesthesiologist and he gave me a bolus, which is medicine shot directly through the epidural in my back. This did the trick! But only after the shot was administered did the LD nurse decide to check how far along I was dilated. When she checked I was at a 10 and ready to go. Because I had just received this extra dosage of med the nurse was worried I couldn’t push. She gave me a trial push, with the other solution being to wait until the meds started wearing off…heck no! I pushed! It was enough to convince the nurse to call the doctor. And at 11:07 pm Oliver made an appearance!
Little man wasted no time in worrying his mom and dad. His glucose tested too low, so after nursing and testing it again, we had to give Oliver formula. It continued to test low. On the nurse’s last step before sending him to the neonatal nursery, his glucose levels rose. We didn’t get settled into our new room until about 3 in the morning. They served me a turkey sandwich (no thanks.) and continually came in to take my blood pressure and pump me full of antibiotics. Because I had a fever (and my white blood count was so high at the time of delivery) little man was also checked on hourly :( We got no sleep! The next day was better. Elliot came and met his brother. He wasn’t too interested in seeing Oliver and seemed nervous about being in the hospital. It was hard to see him leave knowing I couldn’t help him make the transition into being a big brother easier. That evening Oliver’s Jaundice test indicated he was in low risk range. Our pediatrician apparently didn’t want to take any chances and Oliver was taken to the nursery where he spent the next 20 hours under the bilirubin lights.
I was discharged the second evening and had to wait to see if Oliver would be coming home with me. The doctor checked his bilirubin and said he could be discharged. We weren’t in the clear though. Because Oliver’s Jaundice levels were borderline we had to go in each day (all week long) to get blood work done. All ended up being well, and the Jaundice is gone!
Oliver is now 3 weeks old. He had his 2 week check up last week. He is weighing 7lb 4oz and is 20 in. The doctor thought he looked good. He did hear a heart murmur, so we will be getting an echo to check that out, but the doctor wasn’t concerned because of the location he heard the murmur. We are also setting up an appointment to get Oliver’s kidney’s checked out because of what was seen in the ultrasounds while I was pregnant. There is hope that whatever the problem was has cleared its self up (he is peeing just fine).
Oliver is a sweet little man who hardly cries (heard him 3 times?). He does squawk when he isn’t happy about something, particularly baths, but it doesn’t last more than one little sound! He sleeps ALL the time! Nights aren’t horrible, but we are up regularly every 2-3 hours. And right now, thanks to Elliot, he has a cold, so lying on his back causes problems. Overall, we are all doing well! A huge thank you to my mother-in-law and my mom for each flying out and staying a week to take care of us! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! And thank you to the girls who helped watch Elliot when I had to go to the hospital! A big thank you to everyone who brought us dinners that first week!
Lovely husband caught me mid contraction :)
First K-State game! (Yes, Elsie is in a jersey!)
