breaking news

Finally a big sister.

May 3rd saw the entrance of our 12th baby into this world.  He is the 7th son in our family.  I never thought I would have 12 children and that 7 of them would be boys.  I love all my children and feel very blessed to have them.

 "my new baby brother"

He is a good baby and took to nursing like a champ; despite the fact that he spent the first day of his life in the NICU.

My blood pressure had been high for the last couple of weeks and when I went in for my appt with my midwife on Thursday the 1st of May, she sent me straight to the doctor.  Let me just insert here that our midwife is not one to send you to the doctor/hospital on a whim.  She knew that something was going on, and wanted to find out what.  In the end, we all knew that the Lord knew what He was doing when He gave her that nudge.

Thursday the doctor did lab work at the hospital and said that everything looked fine.  He sent me home with orders to stay in bed and to call if things changed according to a list of instructions he gave me.  He knew that I wanted to have a homebirth and was willing to work with us in order to make that happen.  A very rare find indeed - a doctor that doesn't criticize homebirths and/or midwives. 

Friday I woke up (actually I woke up all during the night) feeling worse and with my blood pressure not going down.  It still hovered in the high range that neither midwife nor doctor particularly liked.  I headed back to the doctor.

Back at the hospital they did more labs, which still looked normal.  However, since I was 38+ weeks he decided to admit me and induce labor.  They started really slow since I did have a previous c-section.  That night the contractions were not regular in any shape or form. 

When the doctor checked me again not much progress had been made PLUS my little rascal had his arm up over his head.  NOT the way to have a baby. lol  For the first time I chose to have an epidural...the doctor was going to attempt to push the baby's arm past his head in order for the head to come down and have a normal delivery.

Sounds good in theory, right?  Well, as soon as the arm was pushed back, the cord came down.  Even worse.  The doctor played "push the cord back - get the head to stay down" a couple of times, then it was past play time.  Into surgery for a c-section.  Luckily I had already had the epidural, so it was nothing to put more in there.  I'm so glad I was able to be awake. 

Our doctor got to ride down the hall on the end of my bed.  Once there everyone functioned like a well-oiled machine.  The whole procedure took minutes and soon enough our baby was on the outside.  The scary thing was that he wasn't crying.  Waiting for that first cry was hard enough, then to see and hear the hand pump going over his head was worse.  They worked on him for a little while and when he was ready they took him to the NICU.  The let me see him for a few minutes before wheeling him away.  He actually was moving and his color was excellent, they just wanted to monitor his breathing and oxygen levels.  His apgar score when up from a 2 to a 9 in 10 minutes.

 changing the baby

Visits to the NICU went well.  He then got to go to my room Sunday evening.  He took to nursing like he had been doing it for ages.  We did have to supplement those first few hours because for some reason I wasn't getting any colostrum let alone milk.  But by Monday evening he was exclusively nursing and has been ever since. 

Tuesday we were discharged and came home to lots of brothers and sisters ready and waiting to welcome their new baby brother.  They have been keeping us in the bedroom, waiting on my hand and foot, and generally "fighting" to be the next to hold him. :)

Several people have asked what I needed.  I have a baby registry on Amazon if you feel inclined to send me something.  I know that some people think that after several babies you just automatically have what  you need.  Not true.  Things wear out, get lost, and babies always need new things.  So while I did have a few things such as sleepers and t-shirts, I would welcome new stuff (or even used) for the baby.




And that's how my week has gone. :)


Until next time... JenT