Baby
boy number 2 was due on January 25th; it came and went with no baby.
My doctor didn’t want me to induce because I wasn’t really progressing. I was okay
with the no induction because I was not a huge fan of the last induction. I, however,
was not okay with the fact that I was not progressing. On January 27th
I had a doctors appointment that I was not excited to go to. I was afraid the
doctor would say the same thing he had said for the last month. Luckily, he
said I was dilated to a 3 and then said “Want to have a baby tomorrow?” I still
didn’t want to induce but I felt being induced at 3 would be a whole lot better
then being induced at a 1. We said “yes” and he told us to show up at the
hospital the next day at 7am. The rest of the day was spent with my two
favorite boys, just enjoying our last day as a family of 3. I only cried a
little putting Hayd to bed.
On the 28th, I woke up at 4:30am with contractions. I had three
before Todd woke up and once he did wake up, we started to get ready to go to
the hospital. Side note… I took a shower and was hoping to do my hair. When I
went to dry my hair, my blow dryer wouldn’t start… needless to say I did not
get to do my hair. As soon as I started having contractions they were
consistently at five minutes apart and about 30-60 seconds. We called my parents
to come on out, and left our place a bit before 7. By the time they got me into
my room, I was a 4 so I ordered the epidural.
I didn’t get the epidural till 8:30am. I must say, labor sucks, but
non-inducing labor is sooooo much better. Life in general was so much better
once that wonderful epidural started working. At first only my right side went
numb, but thank the epidural Gods, both sides finally became fully numb. Labor
progressed fast after that. The baby’s heartbeat kept dropping so I was put on
oxygen till he came out. At 11ish I told Todd that I felt like I wet myself.
When the nurse came in she said my water had indeed broke and I was at an 8.
She also said that he basically was coming out. She told me not to push or do
anything, and they prepared the room for the baby. My doctor was actually in a
surgery but the nurse told him he had to come now. Once he got into the room I
started pushing. They kept telling me to take quick deep breaths and keep
pushing. Apparently the baby’s heartbeat kept dropping so they wanted me to get
him out fast. Three minutes of pushing later, out came a new baby. Todd said he
basically shot out and everyone in the room kind of gasped at how fast he came.
Apparently I’m an excellent pusher. Bode Grant Altom was born at 11:25 am,
weighing 7 lbs 4 oz and 21.5 in long. They put him on my chest and I
immediately noticed he was bluish in color. He was crying but you could tell
fluid was getting in the way. They quickly took him away from me to try and
clear out liquid and put him on oxygen. Vitals still weren’t picking up so the
nursery nurse called the NICU team. In a flash my room was filled with people
and even faster my room was completely empty. Todd went with the NICU team, my
doctor went back up to surgery, and I was left alone. It was an extremely odd
and scary feeling.
Bode
in fact had some fluid build up in his lungs (there’s some medical term but
heck if I remember it). After my epidural wore off, the nurse moved us to my
recovery room. Our first stop was to the NICU where I finally got to see my
baby for more than 30 seconds. He was all hooked up to all these tubes. His
breathing was under control with the help of oxygen, which allowed me to hold him
for the first time. I remember asking Todd before Mr. B came, “Will I love this
baby as much as Hayden?” The answer is YES. I am so in love with this little
man. I was so happy to finally get to hold him, but so sad he was in the NICU. They
told us that they did some blood work to check for infection. We were told that
one test would take at least 48 hours to get back, so Bode would for sure be in
the hospital for 48 hours. With adults, doctors wait to get test results back
to figure out what plan of action they should take. With babies, they just
assume they are sick and start treating them immediately. That being sad, they
started Bode on antibiotics. We were told that these test results would tell us
if we could go home after 48 hours or if Bode would have to stay for 7
days. I had to finally leave him
and they wheeled me back to my room. I love the time in the hospital after you
have a baby; this one was very different. By the time we were able to go back
to the NICU, Bode had moved to the back of the NICU, which is a good thing.
Todd was able to hold him for the first time and I was able to try
breastfeeding him.
The
rest of our hospital stay was spent in our room, visiting the NICU, and asking
a lot of questions. We felt like no one was really giving us good information.
What we learned two days after Bode was born, was: Bode had to be off of oxygen
for 24 hours before he went home, after those 24 hours he had to pass his 90-minute
car seat test, a daily blood test showed that some level was a little high (it
had to be less then 5, it was at 6) which meant that no matter what, he had to
have 7 days of antibiotics (when we finally got the 48-hour test results back,
it didn’t really matter. They were negative, which was a good, but he had to
stay anyway.)
Todd
left me Thursday morning to go take care of Hayden. I spent the rest of the day
basically in the NICU with Bode. That was probably one of the hardest days of
the week. I felt so lonely and so hopeless. There was nothing I could do to
make this situation better. When I was back in my room, nurses kept coming and
checking on me, a lot more then they did the previous days. Apparently I looked
like I was having a rough time. I also had to fill out a depression test and
talk to the NICU social worker, fun times. After Bode’s 5 o’clock feeding, I
finally checked out of the hospital with two of my three boys. It felt
extremely odd walking out of the hospital without a car seat.
The
rest of Bode’s stay consisted of a bunch of trips back and forth from the hospital.
I kept telling Todd that I felt like I was living two separate lives. At home,
things basically felt normal, but then I was off to the hospital to live my
other life. Every night I left the hospital, I cried and prayed he could come
home Tuesday. On Saturday they tried taking him off of his oxygen but they had
to put him back on later that night. This made me feel like we were never going
to be able to take him home. Monday morning, Todd dropped off some breast milk
at the hospital and texted me that they had taken him oxygen once again and was
doing well. Every time I went into the hospital I got worried he would be back
on his oxygen. If he had to go back on, he wasn’t coming home Tuesday. Tuesday
morning, Todd went back up to the hospital and found out that he had made it his
24 hours and had past his car seat test; we were 99% sure he was coming home
that day. Around 9:30am, I got the call from the nurse that Bode was for sure
coming home!
A
week later, Hayden finally got to meet his little brother. When he first walked
into the room, Bode was sleeping in his car seat. Hayden immediately pointed
and said “Baby!” He walked over to him and we said it was “Bode”. Hayden then
saw the present Bode gave him, which was bubbles, and Bode became an after thought.
After he played with bubbles for a bit, Hayden did hold Bode and gave him a
kiss. Hayden has done so well with Bode. He loves to help in anyway possible,
pats his head, and is constantly asking where he is if he can see him. I thought
Hayd would want nothing to do with B, but it turns out he just might be an
awesome big brother.
The
first week home has been a bit crazy. Todd left us Thursday-Saturday for a work
thing. As soon as Todd left, Hayden woke up with a fever! My newborn (who only
has woken up twice in the middle of the night) was not the one keeping me up
that night. Poor Hayden threw up and could not get comfortable enough to fall
asleep. That night and the next day were spent going back and forth from our
room to the living room. We made it through those couple of days and then Todd
came back to us!
We
are getting into the swing of things with two kids. It is a lot easier dealing
with two when there are two parents present. Bode is so far a great baby. He
hates getting his diaper changed, getting bathed, and getting clothes on, but
other then that, he is a pretty content little guy. He does take forever to eat
but we’re working on it.
Its
crazy how your love can grow. Not just for this new, little sweet boy, but my
love has grown so much for Hayden and Todd. I love seeing how awesome Hayden is
at being a brother. I’m just so amazed at the sweet, bigger boy we have raised.
He truly has a compassionate heart and I am enjoying watching him grow. Todd is
the best daddy and hubby ever. I don’t know what I would do without him… wait…
I do, he did leave me for a few days and it wasn’t the most pleasant of times.
I am so thankful he is so hands on, helpful around the house, and still willing
to wake up for a feeding at night even though he has gone back for work. I wish
he could be retired. I just love all my boys. I am one lucky
girl! I am so thankful for all the thoughts and prayers on our behalf these
last couple of weeks. At times I didn’t know if I was going to be able to hold
it together but I could feel all the support from others and especially my
Heavenly Father. We are indeed blessed and I am excited what adventures these
little boys are going to take us on… I just hope we can stay out of the
hospital and sick-free for a bit… or a long time…
