November 17th is Prematurity Awareness Day and to celebrate, I will reflect back on the first 10 weeks of Richie's life!
First, I can't believe it's been 10 weeks already! That's crazy to me. It all started on August 16, 2009, when I first had preterm labor. I was 29w6d and 2 cm dilated and 60%effaced. I was given beta methazone for my baby's lungs and a shot to stop contractions. A fetal fibronectin swab was done and came back positive. I was sent home on bedrest.
Two weeks later, I went to my Dr's appointment. It was September 1st and I was 32 weeks pregnant. No progress was made and a repeat fetal fibronectin swab again came back positive. I was sent home on bedrest.
On that Thursday, I started to feel more contractions. Since they were more than 5 in an hour, I called my Dr.'s office. They told me to watch them for a couple of hours and see if they got worse or stayed the same. If they got better I could stay at home. They didn't get better, so in we went! I didn't pack anything, I didn't bring anything but my purse and a book for Fred.
It was a busy day in L&D - I attribute it to the full moon! I had to wait to be seen and when they finally checked me, I was 3-4 cm dilated and 80% effaced, with a bulging bag of water. Yikes! I got another shot of terbutaline and they told me they were admitting me for at least the night to try and stop them.
We started an IV with penicillin for Group B Strep and fluids. I started taking another medication to stop the contractions. Then we waited (and no eating for me, just in case!). That night, the contractions were getting worse, not better. I had a lot of back labor and my contractions weren't registering that strongly on the monitor. The nurses had to actually sit by my bedside and feel my stomach whenever I said one was coming. I honestly don't think they really believed that I was having as many contractions as I was.
At 8 am, the Dr. came in and said she'd consulted the neonatologist and together they decided they were going to let me have my baby that day! Terrified, excited, exhausted, surprised - all words that were pretty fitting. I was 5 cm at that point and 100% effaced. I got my epidural and waited.
At 1:30, I was 10 cm - ready to go! I started pushing around 1:45. Because he was sunny side up, he wasn't budging much. He started to be in distress and they threatened me with a c-section, but he came out at 2:51 pm! He didn't cry, but I was never worried because I saw his eyes looking all around. I think he scored a 1 and 4 on his apgars, but then was upgraded to an 8. I got to hold him for about 1 minute and the whole time he was making little cries that sounded like "yeah". Then they whisked him away. Here he was just a few hours after he was born and when I got to see him again:
Our NICU stay was both easy and hard. I was easy because Richie didn't have any health problems or need anything major done to him. His head scan was clear and he breathed room air starting on day 1. He did have jaundice and was under the billi lights for almost a week. He also was in the isolette for about another week. But most of his time was spent as a feeder/grower. I think that's the best way to spend your NICU time, if you have to be there. He had a little neighbor that had been born at 27 weeks and was on oxygen and looked like he would be there for a while. I felt so bad for those parents - they didn't even live in the state! They had been visiting family for their baby shower. Scary.
I say our NICU stay was hard because it SUCKED HARD CORE to leave him there every night. When we drove away from the hospital the first time, it was so much harder than I thought it would be. I was so jealous of all those parents that got to take their babies home with them when they left. It was even hard while I was still in the hospital because I had an empty bassinet in my room, directly across from my bed. In hindsight, I should have asked them to move it. The last few days, I spent all day right at Richie's bedside. Labor and Deliver had to use the parenting rooms for post-partum patients, so me and another mom just hung out in the Special Care Nursery annex, where our babies were. It was the 3 babies, the two of us, and one nurse.
Once we introduced a bottle, Richie started getting feeding down like it was nobody's business! It was amazing how fast he caught on and how soon afterwards we were able to go home! It was so wonderful knowing we would be able to take our little guy home. Here he is the night before discharge:
He came home at 5 pounds, 13 ounces. It was an adjustment being home, but it was SO MUCH NICER than being in the hospital! Here Richie is one day before his one-month birthday and only 5 days after discharge. Two days earlier, he had gained weight and was up to 6 pounds, 3 ounces.
And at two months, we are so blessed to have him in our lives. It's hard to picture life without him, even though he's only been in the world a short time! At his two-month check-up, he was 9 pounds, 6 ounces and gaining steadily!
And even though I'm stressed, overwhelmed, and majorly sleep-deprived, I wouldn't trade being Richie's mom for anything in the world.
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