Jaundice

So anyone who has had a baby knows how common jaundice is. Alena had just a tiny touch of jaundice while she was in the NICU, but it was never anything that we got concerned about. She never even had to go under the bilirubin lights. Well, when they were discharging Bryson from the hospital the doctors said he was starting to look like he had a little touch of jaundice and we should call to follow up with our pediatrician once we were home. We went home on a Sunday, called the doctor Monday and they had us come in on Tuesday, August 9th. By this point our little guy was looking really yellow which you can see in these pictures.

These totally don't even do it justice, he was yellow from head to toe.  Even the whites of his eyes were yellow.  Dr Carter wanted us to go and have his bilirubin levels tested to see what his level was to decide if we needed to do anything for it.

For those of you that don't know, bilirubin is the waste of broken down red blood cells.  It is normally processed by the liver and then passes into the intestines and is passed in poop.  Babies can have an excess of bilirubin in their systems for 3 reasons, one because their blood circulates more quickly because they are smaller so the red blood cell waste builds up more quickly, two because their livers are not developed to the point of being able to handle the amount of bilirubin produced, and three because the bilirubin is reabsorbed from the intestines before the baby passes it.  If there is a build up of bilirubin in the system it causes jaundice which is a yellowing of the skin and eyes.  If the build up level gets too high it can actually cause deafness, cerebral palsy and other brain damage.  You can see why it is important to treat jaundice as quickly as possible and why the Dr wanted to be sure we checked Bryson's levels.

We took Bryson straight to the lab, they poked his heal, got the blood they needed and told us we would hear from the doctor soon.  About an hour after we got home the doctor called.  The first thing he said was, "Guys these numbers aren't good.  We sound the panic alarms if the level is 20 or higher and little Bryson is at 19.7."  I asked him what we needed to do.  Knowing he came back that high really had me worried.  I asked the doctor what we needed to do, fully expecting him to tell us to head back to the hospital so he could be treated with the bilirubin lights.  When babies are jaundiced they can lay on a little bed of lights that is essentially a form of a tanning bed.  The special lights break down the bilirubin in the system even farther so that it can be released from the body in both urine and poop.  This helps it exit the body quicker and bring down the bilirubin level.  Rather than tell us to go to the hospital though he said that a set of lights was on its way to our house.  I was so relieved, I didn't want to have to go back to the hospital.  He told us to have Bryson on the lights whenever he wasn't eating.  The more light exposure he gets the faster the bilirubin is broken down and the sooner he could be off the lights all together.  He told us to take Bryson to the lab again the following day so that we could see where his level was after some time on the lights.

Well at about 10:30 pm on the 9th the lights showed up.  They taught us how to use them (pretty easy) and then I feed him and laid him on the lights.

 
Doesn't he look so cute.  There was a flat bed with lights all underneath him and then a paddle that laid over the top of him while he laid inside the little suit that fastened to the bed.  I think the next 3 days were the hardest for me since Bryson was born.  All I wanted to do was snuggle my new little one but all I could do was feed him and put him back on his lights.  I would just sit by him, hold his little hand and cry.  That's what hormones will do to you my friends.

 We called it his little blue space suit.  I think it is cute, but I still hated having to have him on them all the time.

His level on the 10th was down to 18.5, so he stayed on the lights.  Level on the 11th was 15.8, stay on the lights.  When we took him in on the 12th his level came back at 13.  At that point Dr Carter said he didn't have to be on the lights all the time but I still had him sleep on them that night.  We tested him again on the 13th and it came back at 14.5.  The doctor said that so long as we felt he was eating and pooping consistently that we didn't need to have him tested anymore and we could keep him off the lights, but if we felt like he was starting to look more yellow to call and he would put in the order for more labs.  Well, we didn't feel like we were seeing any change but when we took him in for his 2 week appointment on the 18th he said he thought he still looked yellow, so he sent us back to the lab.  Other than the jaundice Bryson looked great.  He weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz (passed up his birth weight) which was the 16th percentile and he was still 21 inches long, the 67th percentile.  He is a long and lean little boy, just like his daddy.

Well we went to the lab and his level came back at 16.  Dr Carter said if we tested him again the following day and it was higher then he would have to go back on the lights.  We took him in again on the 19th and it came back at 15.  Since it didn't go up they decided we could be all done with the lights.  His little body was managing it as well as it could so we just waited for him to get passed it completely on his own.  Luckily within the next few weeks he wasn't looking yellow at all.  We finally had a healthy pink baby instead of a yellow one.  Quite the ordeal, but we are so glad that that was all we had to deal with.

Here Comes Baby: The Birth Story

As I said in the previous post, I went to bed Thursday night at about 11:30 pm wondering how many more times I would go to bed still pregnant.  Little did I know that would be my last time.  I was surprised at how quickly I fell asleep that night, I was clearly exhausted and I fell quickly into a deep sleep.  Just after 2:00 am I woke up needing to go to the bathroom (very normal) so in I went.  While in the bathroom I noticed some very strong pain in my back (also very normal for me at this point) so I decided I would soak in a nice warm tub for a while before getting back in bed.  I filled the tub and noticed the pain getting strong again.  I waited through it and when I felt it again a few minutes later I thought to myself "I think I might be in labor".  The next pain came and I realized I had to really breathe to get through.  I realized I didn't have a clock in the bathroom or anyway to really know how far apart my pains were or how long they were lasting.  I thought, "If I have another one soon I'll go get the timer."  Minutes later another pain started, I closed my eyes and began to breathe.  While breathing I felt a warm gush between my legs (remember, I'm in the tub) and I thought "Did I just pee again?"  Sorry if that was TMI, but once the contraction was over I opened my eyes and realized I hadn't peed, my water had broke.  All I could do was smile and think "MY BABY IS COMING!!!"

I tried calling to Mike to get him to wake up and help me out of the tub, but he didn't hear me.  Another pain came very quickly and I realized that it was even stronger than the one before.  I knew things were happening fast.  I climbed out of the tub, wrapped myself in a towel and went out of the bathroom.  I looked at the clock and it said 2:28.  That meant I had had 6 contractions in less that a half hour.  I woke up Mike and told him my water had broken and I was contracting really close.  As I was telling him on came another one.  He ran to get the timer out of the kitchen and I began getting dressed and pulling the last of my stuff together while trying to make phone calls to my mom and my sister Heidi.  I was noticing that the contractions were getting more and more painful and they were coming every 3 minutes and lasting 45-60 seconds.  I just kept thinking this is really fast, this is really fast.  It was hard to get everything pulled together and get Alena up and in the car with me only having about 2 minutes at a time that I could try to accomplish anything.  Finally at 3:30 am we had everything together and we were in the car on the way to the hospital.

The drive to the hospital felt longer than I expected it too.  I was feeling so much pressure and feeling like I needed to push.  That made me start worrying because I really didn't want to have my baby in our car (Eewww).  We were going to drop Alena off at Mike's mom's house but I asked him to call her and ask if she could meet us at the hospital.  I really felt like we needed to get to the hospital fast.  Another thing that was really worrying me was how localized the pain was to my c-section scar.  I was really worried that something was going to go wrong.  The amount of pain I was feeling in my scar caught me off guard.  I hadn't planned for the worry that would cause me and it made it nearly impossible for me to relax.  The thought that kept coming to mind was, "I need my mom, I need my mom".  I hadn't realized until that moment how much I was grieving the delivery I had hoped to have with my first baby.

When we lived so close to all of my family in Arizona, I was fortunate enough to have been present for many of the births of my nieces and nephews.  Natural childbirth is a difficult thing and it was always a great support to have all the sisters close by to offer encouragement and be there for that special time as a new little spirit entered the world.  The plan for Alena's delivery was that I would have my mom, my 4 older sisters, and my younger sister Heidi there with me for the delivery.  I had planned to do it without an epidural and that strong support system was going to be very necessary.  Little did we know that she would come 6 weeks early and they would have to rush me in for an emergency c-section before anyone was able to get there to be with me other than Mike.  Don't get me wrong, I could never have gotten through any of it without Mike, but the support of a woman, especially a sister that has experienced the same thing, is invaluable.  I realized at that point as we were driving to the hospital that I was embarking on unknown territory and I didn't have that strong support that I had always envisioned because all but one of them were in a different state.  I was lucky enough that my sister Heidi was living up here in Utah in Provo and was able to come up to be with me during my labor and delivery.

With every contraction I was getting more and more tense and more and more emotionally worked up.  Every time I just thought, "How can I do this without my mom? I'm not strong enough to do this without all my sisters."  We got to the hospital and got up to the triage.  They checked me and found that I was at 4 cm, nearly 90% effaced and that my water had indeed broken.  It was time to settle in and have this baby.  Mike and I were both very excited can you tell?

 

They checked me in and got me moved to a labor/delivery room.  Heidi got to the hospital just as they were moving me, and I was so relieved to see her.  Through all this time my contractions came consistently every 3 minutes and they were each lasting about a minute.  They got me to my room at about 4:45 am and asked me if I would like an epidural.  My plan had been to do the delivery without one but I already wasn't coping well and Mike could tell.  I caved and asked for one.  I had too much pent up stress to have been able to handle it on my own.  We had to wait while 2 other ladies got their epidurals before me, but at 6:00 am the anesthesiologist came in and inserted the epidural.  The nurse checked me when they put it in and I was at 6 cm and almost fully effaced.  The epidural didn't work on my left side at first so they had to give me an extra dose of medication and after about an hour I was fully numb.  I could still move my legs around a little and feel a little of the tightening of the contractions, but I wasn't hurting anymore.  Now it was just time to sit back and let the contractions do their thing while I tried to get a little rest.

We watched a movie and visited and listened to the "labor music" I had brought with me.  It was nice to feel so relaxed and comfortable at the hospital.  The nurses and doctors I had were all wonderful and we were so happy Bryson was on his way.  At 9:00 am they started me on a level 1 pitocin drip to up my contraction strength just a little bit.  At 10:00 am they upped the drip to a level 3.  The contractions didn't get any closer together but they got stronger and I was able to feel them just a little more, but they weren't uncomfortable.  After they upped me to a level 3 (which is still very very low, they usually up you till you are at 20) Bryson's heart rate started dropping with each of my contractions.  They tried having me lay in different positions and they had me go on oxygen to see if it would help his rate stay stable.  Don't I look attractive  :-)

They put me on internal monitors for his heart rate and my contractions.  They wanted the readings to be as accurate as possible, but they still saw too much fluctuation.  They stopped the pitocin at 11:00 am and I was at almost 9 cm and fully effaced.  I knew that meant that I probably could have started pushing with in the hour, but they wanted to make sure that Bryson's heart rate stayed stable before we started trying to deliver him.  We popped in another movie and watched the monitors and anticipated his entry into the world.  At 1:00 pm the doctor came back in and said that they felt his heart rate was looking really good and they wanted to see where I was at.  She checked and I was a full 10 cm and 100% effaced.  She asked me if I was feeling like I needed to push yet.  I said I wasn't really feeling anything and she said if it was ok with me we would wait about another hour and let the contractions bring Bryson a little further down the birth canal.  I said that was fine.  The less work I had to do the better right.  Mike started getting really antsy and I finally had to tell him that he had to sit down and relax because he was making me nervous.

The team came back in at 1:45 pm and prepped everything.  My nurse started telling me that with a first time vaginal delivery it was normal for it to take 90 minutes to 2 hours of pushing.  I was confident I could do it faster than that.  I was having this baby now and nothing was going to get in my way  :-)  I started pushing at 1:55 pm and our sweet little boy was born at 2:25 pm.  30 Minutes, Boo-ya! 

Our little Bryson Michael weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz and was 21 inches long.  He was the most beautiful little boy it was wonderful! 

Proud daddy with our little guy.

I was so happy to have my baby in my arms. Disregard how haggard I look, I just went through 12 hours of labor  :-)

We were both just so happy to have him with us.

 

I love his puffy face in this one.  He was just starting to open his eyes for me.  He has the greatest blue eyes you ever saw.

I felt so blessed to have such an amazing team of doctors and nurses there for me.  They were all so sweet and supportive.  This is Dr. Clark, she was the attending physician from our practice.  She came in to supervise the delivery.

Then this is the group that was with me through the majority of the labor and all the delivery.  On  the left is Dr Hilary Conway.  She is the resident that actually delivered Bryson. Next to Mike on the other side is Christine one of my WONDERFUL nurses and then Anne the intern that assisted Dr Conway through the delivery. 

 Then my fabulous sister Heidi who I could not have done it without!  She was a trooper and stayed with me through the whole Labor and Delivery even though she was nearly 37 weeks pregnant herself.

I love that you can just see how much Mike adores his little boy.  He is such a good daddy, I'm so blessed to have him.

I love this picture because the puffiness is starting to go down and you can just see how sweet his little face is.

One of the best parts of the day was when Alena got to come to the hospital to meet her new baby brother.  She was so excited to hold the baby.

 

 Bryson started to fuss a little bit and you can see that she was concerned by that.

 

 But once he calmed down you can see that she adores him just as much as mommy and daddy do.

 

Bryson had a bath and Alena still just couldn't get enough of him.

 

 She is such a wonderful, helpful big sister.

We attempted a family picture, but it didn't work out too well.  As you can see, I look possessed, Alena was being a stinker, and Bryson was all fussy.  Life with little kids I guess.

Before we knew it we were all bundled up and headed home.  Now real life begins!!  I LOVE IT!

The Waiting Game: The Pre-Birth Story

There is a little background that needs to be given to help understand some of the views and feelings we had with this pregnancy.  As some of you know Alena's pregnancy was rather difficult and full of surprises.  It started out very hard, smoothed out a little in the middle and then very unexpected at 34 weeks there was Alena  :)  We were so lucky that everything was ok with her and that she is the sweet, healthy, little girl we have today.  Following Alena's delivery (via emergency C-Section) my doctors said that I should expect early babies with each pregnancy from now on.  We weren't too worried though knowing we could be prepared for it and knowing the wonderful technology there is to help such little miracles.

Well, then came the wonderful news that we were expecting baby number 2.  I was ecstatic but realized that it meant a pretty difficult few months ahead.  Not long after finding out we were pregnant I started getting pretty sick.  Luckily knowing how sick I was last time they put me straight on some good medications that helped me not have such a hard time.  Still had a rough time, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. 

Well, at about 18 weeks I was mostly getting passed the sickness and the doctors felt we should start addressing the possibility of another preterm baby.  My wonderful doctor told me that they had been having a lot of success in treating women with previous preterm babies by having them have weekly progesterone injections.  He told me that the added progesterone helped to strengthen the cervix and the sac that the baby is in to try to prevent early dilation and water rupture.  The progesterone also counteracts the production of oxytocin which is what causes women to contract during labor.  The hope was that in having me do the injections from week 18 to week 35 we would avoid another early baby and another NICU stay.  We were all for it!  As unappealing as a weekly shot in the backside was, it was a far better alternative.  So my wonderful hubby Mike learned how to give me the shot and dutifully stuck a very large needle in my rump every Wednesday night for 18 weeks.  

Dr. Branch wanted us to be aware that though the shots could help, they would not guarantee us a full-term baby.  He told us we should still be prepared for a baby to come at 34 weeks like Alena, so prepare we did  :)  We made sure that everything was ready for our little guy to arrive and my 34th week came and went with no activity.  We were very happy that week 35 followed in a similar fashion.  At my 36 week appointment they checked to see if I was progressing and we found that I was dilated just passed 1 cm and was 60% effaced.  Very normal numbers, but we were excited to know that my body was preparing for little Bryson to come.  Waited through another week while having contractions on and off daily till my 37 week appointment.  We had made it to the full-term mark, something we really didn't expect.  At this appointment we had made a little more progress and I was at 2 cm and 70% effaced.  Our little guys was going to be a full term baby which we couldn't have been happier about, but we now had to address another issue with his delivery.

Since Alena was born by C-Section, we were hoping that Bryson's birth could be a VBAC delivery which is a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean. There are many factors that a doctor considers when deciding to allow a woman to attempt this.  There are increased chances for uterine rupture because of the formed scar tissue and a labor needs to be monitored very closely to ensure that the uterus is handling the contractions okay.  My doctor also had to take into account that my labor with Alena went very very quickly.  He didn't want me to progress too far on my own "Pre Labor" because they want to have you monitored from 4 cm onward.  At my 37 week appointment he told me that if at my next appointment I was near the 4 cm mark they would induce labor to ensure full monitoring during labor.  This got my hopes up  :)  I was already progressing and I noticed my contractions getting more intense and there were even times when they came very very regular.  I figured I was only about a week away from having my little boy!

Well, we made it to my next appointment and I was disappointed to hear that there had been no change that week.  I was still only 2 cm and 70% effaced.  They said not to worry because I was still having my pre labor contractions and they would see me in a week.  I could hardly believe it!  All the contractions weren't doing anything.  I was already 4 weeks more pregnant than I had ever been and I had been mentally prepared for another 34 week baby.  My mind was done being pregnant but my body had other plans.  Day after day I hoped for a change and Mike was so wonderful and supportive.  He tried to keep my mind busy and suggested a night out in hopes that it would be our last one for a while.  We went to dinner and out goofy golfing.  I'm sure that everyone that saw us thought we looked "Goofy" indeed, seeing as how I was waddling around 38 and a half weeks pregnant, but we had a wonderful time.

July 29th, 2011 - 38 and a half weeks

Well, I woke up 3 days later on Monday, August 1st and I couldn't believe it.  I was still pregnant!  Never from the time I found out I was pregnant did I EVER think I would still be pregnant when August came around, but here it was and my little bugger was still inside.  On Tuesday I was 39 weeks and still no Bryson.  I woke up Wednesday to go to my doctors appointment and I just knew that there had to be progression.  I knew that they were going to tell me I was ready to have this baby.  I went in to the appointment very positive and Sam the wonderful midwife that works with my doctor came in to check me.  I was anxiously watching her face as she did the exam and I knew instantly from the look on her face that I wasn't going to like was she was going to say.  Before she could say anything I already had tears in my eyes, "Still no change".  I couldn't believe it.  She could tell how disappointed I was and then Dr. Branch came in and asked where I was at.  Sam told him still no change and he looked at me and said in a playful voice, "This is what you wanted.  You didn't want another early baby.  We did good."  I quickly replied, "You're right I didn't want another 34 week baby, but I didn't want a 40 week baby either!"  I tried to be positive as they talked about the options if I made it to my appointment the following week.  I didn't even want to think about one more week being pregnant.  I'm sorry, but I don't like being pregnant.  The end result is TOTALLY worth it, but I don't enjoy the process, hate me if you want.  We left the appointment and I drove Mike to work.  As soon as he was out of the car I broke down.  I couldn't help the feelings off, "If I had just opted for another C-Section I would have my baby right now because my doctors office schedules them at 39 weeks."  It seriously felt like it was never going to end.  I knew it would, but I just couldn't see an end in sight.  I allowed myself a couple of hours of self pity, but then I knew it was time to just get over it and keep on waiting.

I woke up Thursday and went about my day.  I tried to stay as busy as my large pregnant self would allow, but I mostly lazed around with Alena and waited for something to happen.  Mike came home from work, we had dinner, watched some Netflix and then headed to bed.  Another day come and gone, with no baby.  I fell asleep thinking "How many more do I have to do?" Not realizing the excitement that was going to start only 2 short hours later :)