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!)
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4 comments:
We are so glad Spencer made his arrival safely! I know how stressful and rewardig it is to have a premature baby... My sister had her twins three months early! Yuck! I am thrilled for your family and cant wait to see the new little guy (have I even met Amelia?). Congrats again! -Bree
Wow, three months early is VERY early! Glad we are not any earlier than 7 weeks premature. You are right, you have not even met Amelia yet, and we squeezed Spencer in the mix. Looking forward to introducing them both to you, maybe at next summer's river rafting trip, I hope?
Well, What animals have you identifed them as?
M is Monkey
J is Bear Cub
T is Cuddle Bug
What about A and S?
Robbie, Anthony and I are having a hard time answering your question. When we started out, M's nickname of Monkey came so easily. He was born in the Chinese year of the monkey, just like his father, just 24 years apart. His name also begins with M. It was a natural fit. The twins personalities still fit their nicknames most of the time. Especially since they are versatile enough for T to be a Teddy bear one minute and a Grizzly bear the next, and for J to be a both a cuddle bug and a stink bug. But then we come to our sweet little A. There is not an animal that she emulates very well, especially not one that begins with the letter A. (Anthony and I laughed good and loud in bed last night at the suggestion of Aardvark! And then we had to use Anthony's fancy Iphone 4S to look up what in the world an aardvark actually is!) She was born in the year of the Tiger, but she is not the one of our kids we think most resembles a Tiger. We thought of switching T's nickname to Tiger, and maybe calling J a Jaguar... You see how it just gets complicated?? S makes a sound like a chipmunk, but to cover both bases, to match initials, we could call him Squirrel. A is the tricky one. S was born in the year of the Rabbit. T and J were born in the year of the Boar. Yeah, no thanks. They are anything but boring/boaring!
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