All About Brett Boy!

[monkeygirl38]

Well, I suppose it is time to move over to the MOMMY journals now! Brett is 7 weeks and 5 days old today.

His birth story: (same as in my pregnancy journal)

Let’s see…as most of you know, I was technically in labor since March, so I’ll start there. I had been having what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions for a couple of weeks. On Wednesday, March 16 (25 weeks pg) I went to lunch with my Mother-in-Law. As we were walking into the restaurant, I tripped and fell on the sidewalk. It embarrassed me more than anything, so I got up, brushed off, and went on in to eat. On the way home, I decided I better call the Dr. and tell him what I did, fully expecting him to tell me to go home, take a Tylenol, and put my feet up for the rest of the day. Instead, he wanted me to come to L&D to be monitored and do a sonogram to check the placenta. That was fine by me – I was excited to get an extra sonogram! So to L&D I go. Picked up my mother at work – she was a nervous wreck! I kept telling her I was fine, but she wouldn’t listen. Jay beat us to the hospital and was pacing by his truck when we got there, mad that we didn't drive faster!

Once in L&D, they hooked me up to the monitor and sure enough, I was contracting. No biggie, I still thought they were just Braxton Hicks and was excited about the sonogram. Dr. W came in and every thing looked wonderful with little Brett. They estimated him to be about 1.0 – 1.5 pounds and kicking away! They were about to release me when the Dr. decided to do an internal check just to be on the safe side. That is when my little world came crashing down. Dr. W. had a sober look on his usually happy face and backed up to the wall and said. “Tell me about these contractions.” I said “I told you last time that I was having BH.” And he said, “No Dana, you are in active labor!” I was ½ cm dilated and 70% thinned. From that moment on is a whirlwind of medications, needles, and nurses. I was admitted right then and started on Magnesium Sulfate in the I.V. to stop contractions. I was given 2 steroid shots (one that night and one the next) and started on antibiotics just in case they couldn’t stop it. I was also started on 2.5 mg of Brethine (which I took every 4 hours day and night till I was 35 weeks) and a shot of Stadol. They finally turned off the mag.sulf. Thursday night and allowed me to walk for the first time in two days Friday morning (a short trip across the room to the bathroom). They let me go home Saturday night with orders of strict bedrest (bed – bathroom – recliner – start over). I was also put on home uterine monitoring that I had to do twice per day for an hour each. For 3 weeks I couldn’t leave home except to go to the dr. once a week!

The next week (26 weeks) I failed the 1 hr glucose test. They want the 1 hr reading to be less than 140 and mine was 152. So I went home to pout and cry. Now I am not only on bedrest, but am on a special diet as well! The next week I fail the 3 hr glucose test (1 hr – 235, 2 hr – 215, 3 hr – 180) so I am off to see the diabetic nurse. Keep in mind, that I don’t have ANY of the risk factors for gestational diabetes. I was less than 25, no where near over weight, non-smoker, and no family history!! Go home and cry some more!

From that point, things started to settle down into a routine. Finally, at 28 weeks, I was allowed to go to church! I could actually see OTHER PEOPLE! It was sheer joy! By 30 weeks, I was 1 cm dilated and 80 % thinned. At 32 weeks, I was told not to be more than 45 minutes from the hospital because I was 2 cm dilated and 100% thinned and Dr. W could feel Brett’s head when he would check me! He expected me anytime to show up in full labor although he was still hoping for 36 weeks.

Things continued to rock on till I was 35 weeks. I went for my regular, weekly visit and my blood pressure was up (I can’t remember the numbers now.). He asked about my contractions and I told him they were about 10-12 minutes apart and had been that way for days. (I had at least 1 contraction every hour or two since March!). He sent me back to the hospital, hopefully to have a baby! They hook me up to the monitors and OOPS – I was more like 3 minutes apart! Dr. W. wanted to do an amniocentesis to see if Brett’s lungs were ready. I am not going to sit here and tell you that it didn’t hurt…but I will say that the epidural was a LOT worse to me than the amnio! Anyway, the results came back that his lungs were very immature and that if he were born, he would more than likely be on a ventilator. So, once we had to stop labor. I begged them not to put me on Mag again…it makes you sick as a dog! So instead, I was given another shot of stadol, increased my Brethine to 5.0 mg every 4 hours, and added a Procardia every 4 hours. I was sent home on Friday back to complete bedrest again! Dr. W. really wanted me to stay pregnant 2 more weeks for Brett’s lungs to develop a little more.

One week later (36 weeks) my blood pressure was still up and even higher than the week before so Dr. W. decided that ready or not, Brett had to come out! Back to the hospital a 3rd time, exactly 11 weeks since all of it began in March.

(Continued in next post)

[monkeygirl38]

(continued)

I spent Wednesday night (6/1) in the hospital with no real activity. I think Dr. W. just didn’t want me at home with my b/p up. At 7:30 on Thursday morning, Dr. W. came in and broke my water. My contractions started picking up in speed and intensity. They told me that I could have my epidural whenever I wanted it. I really wasn’t in pain at that point and wanted to wait as long as I could b/c I was afraid it would slow labor down. They told me I could have something in my I.V. to take the edge off if I would rather start with that. At 9:30, Dr. W. came in and check me and I was 5 cm. At 10:00 am I was beginning to really hurt with each contraction and they weren’t that far apart so I told Jay to tell the nurse I wanted something but not the epidural yet. So in they come with Stadol (which knocks me OUT!!)…to La La Land I went! Once that had me asleep, Jay told my nurse, Regina (whom I just LOVED!), to go on and do my epidural because he didn’t want me to wake up in pain. Jay was so sweet…he couldn’t stand the thought of me being in the least bit of pain and wanted to do all he could to prevent it! So, while I was knocked out they came in and did the epidural. That was the only thing that really hurt. I shed tears with that (even with the stadol!) After that, I was back asleep till 11:30 – Dr. W. came to check me and I was 7 cm. Back to still till 1:30 – check again and I was 9 cm (I was completely thinned out about 4 weeks before this). At that point I realized I had to wake up that this was getting close.

At 2:30 pm, Regina checked me and said I was almost 10…just had a little piece of cervix left and she began breaking the bed down and getting out all of the sterile paper and equipment. At 3:00 she checked again and I was complete! I started pushing at 3:10 with Regina. Jay was on my left side and my mother was on my right (ya’ll know how close mother and I are…I wanted her to be there and Jay did as well. She took the best pictures as soon as Dr. W. held him up – nothing graphic – just Jay and I and our emotions....she printed them off her digital camera and noone has seen them but us. They just have too many emotions that I want to keep private.) Anyway, Regina told Jay that she could see Brett’s head, and asked if he wanted to see – of course he did! They wanted me to look and went to get the mirror set up. I kept telling them I didn’t want to look, but Jay told me it was amazing and I HAD to see. So I agreed – it was the most amazing and empowering thing my eyes have ever seen. I always said I didn’t want to look – I am so glad Jay pushed me to look! From that point on, I watched the entire birth! Regina was wonderful – she really made the experience enjoyable. She was firm with her instructions and wouldn’t let me get frustrated. She hardly left my room all day. She did the perineum (sp?) massage and once I started pushing was stretching on me the whole time. Thanks to her patients, and skill I didn’t have to have a episiotomy – I had a very small tear inside that took two stitches to fix! I pushed 6 times and little Brett was born!

We were so scared that he would have breathing problems since only 1 week earlier they said he would have been on the ventilator, but never even needed oxygen! His apgars were 8 and 9! Jay got to cut the cord – which just made me bawl! I think I cried for an hour after he was born from sheer relief that he was healthy!

In all honesty, even with all the complications, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I truly LOVED being pregnant. Labor was NOTHING like I had made it out to be. Everyone thinks I am crazy when I say this, but I would put him back in and do it over and over again! I know a lot of it has to do with the fact that I never really had bad pain, but the little pain I did have – I would still do it all over again! I just can’t tell you how amazing it was/is to bring a life into this world. Now, raising them…well, that is another story!

We spent Friday in the hospital and got to come home on Saturday. By Sunday, I really couldn’t tell I had had a baby – I felt like my old self other than my feet swelled for a few days if they weren’t propped up and Monday was bad when my milk came in. That was gone by Wednesday and I was my old self again! We had a stressful few days though – on Wednesday (Brett was 6 days old) Jay’s grandmother died. So we had a 6 day old baby and had to help plan a funeral! (Jay’s mother is an only child and both of his sisters were out of town!)

Well, I know this became more of a novel than a story, but hey – that is kinda what my first experience with pregnancy turned into! Let me just say that even with all the complications, it was the most wonderful experience of my life and I miss being pregnant!

[monkeygirl38]

I know everyone wants pictures!

Leaving the hospital:


1 Week:


4 Weeks:

[meliz]

He's adorable! Congratulations. I am glad things finally worked out so well for you all.

[nisha]

D.....Thanks so much for posting your birth story!!! Your little guy is SO precious!!! Great to have you back

[IUgrad02]

DANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm only stopping in very, very quickly while on vacation. It's actually 2:46am, so I'm dead tired and not sticking around long enough to read all of the new posts... but I wanted to say hi to you and tell you how excited I am that you're back around to post again so frequently! I'll be following along in this mommy journal for sure!!

I'll be home August 1. I'll talk to you soon!! Bye!

[monkeygirl38]

Meliz -- Thanks so much for the congrats! Things couldn't be better -- after all I went through, I would have never dreamed Brett would be this healthy!

Nisha -- Good to see you! I can't get over how much Kyrie has grown!! I think she looks just like her daddy!

Hey Megan!! Well, how dare you go on vacation and not tell me! I hope you went somewhere fun! BTW -- when you have to start back to school? Our county schools here start back next week!! I think it gets earlier and earlier every year!

[monkeygirl38]

If you can't tell, I LOVE my new digital camera....I'll try not to bore you with too many pictures...

I took these Monday night...

He is beginning to fill up his car seat!


We propped him up on the couch and got him to grin (the way he is sitting makes him look so big...he is only 10 pounds!)



And finally...bath time! I have to get in the tub with him b/c he just screams if you put him in the baby tub (even with the little sling that comes for infants!):

[monkeygirl38]

Ok, now for the real update...

When Brett was 5 weeks old, he got to where he fussed alot when he was taking a bottle. By Wednesday of that week, he was screaming day in and day out....it was awful! Went to the dr. -- he had a slight viral infection that was aggravating his tummy...gave us medicene and he was almost imediately better! When we stopped the medicene 4 days later, it started again but worse! Back to the dr. that week. They took him off plain Enfamil formula and put him on Lacto free (Jay is terribly allergic to milk so they thought that was Brett's problem too). That made no difference, so we went to soy. It was a slight improvement but not much. Then last Monday, they changed him to Enfamil Nutramigen (it is already digested and easier on his stomach). It was a bit better than the soy, but he would suck on the bottle about 3 good sucks and you could then hear his stomach roll and it would cramp up and he would start screaming! I mean scream till he ran out of air! It was horrible! I would just walk the floor and cry with him!

Finally, last Wednesday, we took him back to the dr. and took bottle and had her try to feed him so she could watch his reaction and hear his stomach. She diagnosed him with an immature GI system and mild acid reflux. She started him on medicene that he will take till he is around 4 months and it has made a different child out of him! He just smiles and coos and will slurp down a bottle! She says that most babies with this problem are ok by about 4 months...I guess they have time to develop by then. He also has to stay on that Nutramigen -- which is like twice the price of regular formula!! Oh well, if it makes him feel better -- Who cares!

At two weeks he was 7lb ~ 19 in
At five weeks he was 9lb 4 oz ~ 21 in
At seven weeks he was 10lb ~21 in

I am thrilled with "daycare" if you can even call it that! A friend of mine (I have known her since we were about 6!) is keeping him at her house. She had a little girl that is 1 year and 1 day older than Brett so she just has the two of them and says she doesn't plan on keeping anymore -- just him! Anyway, she only lives 2 or 3 miles from me so it is easy for me to take him and pick him up! And her little girl, Carsyn, just LOVES Brett! I mean she has a fit when I leave with him in the afternoon -- crys big tears and says NOOOOO..... BAAABBBBYYYY!!!! It is hilarious! I keep telling her that one day she will beg me to take him! Brynn calls me a couple of times a day to let me know how he is doing and how much he ate, etc... Most days she is rocking him when I leave and rocking when I get back! It was hard to leave him, but she is the next best thing to me staying home with him -- and unless I win the lottery or find some generous stranger to pay my house payment -- that isn't an option!

Well, I think I have got you up to date on Little Man...I better get back to work!

[MissRyry]

LOVE the new pics!!! Thanks Dana! I have to take a bath with Brandon or he just screams with fear.

>'.'<