Proud Big Sister

To say Mady is a proud big sister would be an understatement. She is so in love with Miles and can't get enough of him. She is being pretty patient with the divided time and I think going to preschool helps a ton.

Glow Worm

I guess when you are kicked out 3 weeks early you tend to get jaundice and you tend to get it really bad! Our poor guy is forever taking trips to the hospital to get his heel pricked and then we are told the levels still aren't down enough. So almost all day he has to be on his bilirubin light. He loves it because it's warm but I worry about his skin getting to hot and just wish we could nip this jaundice:(

Heading Home

Finally got the all clear to head home. C-section recovery has been a little more difficult but I think I'm coming along good. Miles is down in weight but we are hoping to catch him up once he starts nursing more. It is going to be good to be home and have our Mady girl with us too.

Enjoying our new little man

Here are a few photos of our new little guy. We are so in love with him and are just basking in the glow of new life.

Happy Birthday Miles

As many of you already know at around 33 weeks I started fighting the beginning signs of pre-eclampsia. I was monitored numerous times weekly and told that if my symptoms got worse to expect to deliver early and tentatively set an induction date of Feb 22nd. On Valentine's Day I went to the doctor for another week of tests and was told that if my levels remained stable that they were going to cancel the induction and keep watching. So I headed home assuming that my March baby would probably end up staying a March baby instead of being kicked out in Feb.
Thursday I received a call from the doctor with my test results and I was told that my levels actually pushed past the stable point and that I should go to the hospital and plan on staying. I should call first to make sure there was room. I called the hospital and they were crazy busy. They had every room full and I should call back later. So began the crazy day of call backs and rechecks until finally at 8:30pm the hospital calls and says they finally have a room. Now about this time I decide to ask if they are actually going to induce or are they just going to hospital monitor me. Induction is on the order. So we head in. We were excited but a little scared too. I was induced with Mady but my body was showing signs for favorable induction. This time my body was showing no signs. I was nervous that my 37 week old baby wouldn't be ready for the world yet but knew that it was now safer for him to be out than in.
We tried to sleep but that's hard when people are coming in every hour to check vitals etc and when your baby continuously moves to evade the heart monitor. When morning finally arrive the doctor came in and I was showing little progress in the induction process. He decoded to add another induction technique which was very uncomfortable and started the pitocin drip. I started contracting every minute to three minutes. I dealt with this for awhile...I had Mady with no pain meds. The nurse came in and checked me...still not making fast progress. She told me it could take a long time since we were forcing someone to come out who was perfectly happy where he was. I decided that even though the thought of an epidural really freaked me out I better go that route because I just didn't think I would handle a whole day. Mady was born in under an hour and I had already been hurting for way longer than that this time. Thank goodness my husband is the greatest and the anesthesiologist is amazing because I got the epidural and it wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined and I immediately felt relief and fell asleep. Little did I know in 5 hours I would be really happy I got the epidural.

I spent the next hours napping and watching tv. The baby continued to evade the heart monitor and the nurses had to spend up to 20 minutes at a time tracking him down again only to have him move again. I was told that they would know when I was 4 centimeters and since they hadn't told me otherwise I assume I hadn't made it there. Nobody had really checked me so imagine my surprise when at 3:20 my water broke and was checked and was already a 7. The nurse said the baby had hair. A few minutes later the other nurse comes in and checks and says actually you are at a 9 and hmmmm that is no longer a head but a butt. He had completely flipped in minutes. About this time my body decides it;s time to push. I remember that feeling from Mady and there is not much you can do to stop that urge. They were telling me how to stop it. Ha and assured me that Dr. Mathus was capable of delivering him breech. Minutes later Dr. Mathus shows up and checks me and now my little boy is presenting shoulder first. He is quite the gymnast. So they decide emergency c-section for me and things got a little crazy. I was really scared. They were adding ivs in my hands and they weren't going in right, they were giving me shots to stop labor and prepping me for surgery and getting Brian scrubbed up to go in. I was asking silly questions like were they going to tie my hands down because I told them I couldn't not handle that and I was nervous because I could still move and feel my legs but the same anesthesiologist from my epidural came in and really calmed me down. What seemed like hours from 3:20 our son Miles Alexander came into this world at 3:59 and hearing him cry was the most beautiful sound I ever heard. He weighed in at 7lbs 8oz which was a lot smaller than they predicted and was 19 1/2 inches long. He has long fingers and toes and a head full of blond hair complete with side burns. Brian went over and took his picture so I could see him and then they let him bring him over to me. He was so calm and was just looking and Brian and I. His labor and delivery were nothing like I had planned but in the end our sweet Miles is here safe and healthy and we couldn't be more in love with our little man.