On Sunday night, September 18th, Anthony went to bed a little before midnight. I was having trouble sleeping for the previous few nights, and this was no exception. Finally, I laid down, and last looked at the alarm clock at 1:07 a.m. before falling asleep. A little while later, I felt something warm on the sheets behind me. Something wet. Strange. I looked at the clock - 1:57. I got up and saw a big wet mark on the sheets. Did I really just wet the bed?? After heading to the bathroom, and getting cleaned up, I learned quickly that what I was leaking was amniotic fluid, and it was still coming. After some quick phone calls to the on-call OBGYN and my mom, I knew we were heading in to the hospital for some steroid shots, and that it was time to wake up Anthony. Poor guy, twice now he has been woken up to the words, "My water just broke". Only thing is, last time, it was at 39 weeks pregnant with Amelia, on September 2nd, 2010. This time, I was just 32 1/2 weeks pregnant. Not good.
We got checked in to the hospital at 3:45 a.m. Monday the 19th. My contractions had begun, and went from 8 minutes apart, to about 5, then at the closest together, to about 3 minutes apart. I was dilated to a two and 25% efaced. They gave me medications to stop contractions, i.v. antibiotics, and most importantly, steroid shots to strengthen Squirrel's lungs. The goal was to give him 48 more hours before delivery, to give the steroids time to work. We made it! My contractions and real labor did not show up again till Wednesday evening, at 11:30 p.m. When I knew this was the real thing, I quickly called Anthony, who got my Dad and little brother Nate to the house to take his place with our 4 oldest. He arrived at the hospital just as they were finishing giving me my epidural. Our son was born at 1:36 a.m., Thursday September 22nd, 7 weeks early, weighing 4 lbs 14 oz., 17 1/2 inches long. He cried good and loud, and I got to support his head while Dr. Rocky Seale cut the umbilical cord. Then they whisked him away to the Newborn I.C.U.
Today is Friday, September 30th. Squirrel is still in the NICU, but doing very well. He has graduated off of his I.V. and out of his isolette. Now he is in a regular little crib, and handling two feedings a day by bottle. The rest are given by feeding tube. He is a great little fighter, who only needed to be on oxygen for about 24 hours of the last week of his little life. He will be in the NICU about another month or so, maybe home in time for Halloween, but if not, home by his due date, which was Nov. 9th.
We love our little Squirrel, and cannot wait to bring him home!
( UPDATE! S came home Sunday, October 9th. His 18 day-stay was much shorter than we were told to expect! He passed his due date on November 9th, and is just two days shy of 11 weeks old as of today, December 12th. He weighs between 9 and 10 lbs. now! For now, he appears to have no lasting effects of his prematurity. We are so blessed and so grateful!)
Friday, September 23
Sunday, July 17
Counting to 5
The post just previous to this one had just a whole bunch of numbers. I do not know if everyone figured it out, or not... but it was making our big announcement. We tried to make it a bit tricky to decipher. Did we succeed? No one commented, so I don't know if it was understood or not.
BUT, anyway, here is part two of the announcement.
IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!
We are excited to be adding our 4th son to the zoo around Nov. 9th, and we plan to call him Spencer Owen Park. I think we need to make Amelia, who is just 10 months old, a t-shirt that reads, "Oh, Brothers!" She will just have to really appreciate her girl cousins.
Friday, June 3
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