Friday, October 23, 2009

Short & Sweet Birth Story

I went into labor on Sunday night. It was VERY quick! My water broke at 2:45 am & by 3:15 (how long it took me to wake Tim up!!) the contractions were at less than 3 minutes apart.


We got to the hospital around 5:15. I was dilated to 3cm.

We found out very quickly that Luke was breech& that I’d be having a c-section.

I was wheeled into the OR at 9:15 and Luke made his arrival at 9:40.

He is 19 inches long and started out at 6 lbs. 3.6 ounces. His head circumference was 33 cms. (He’s a tiny little peanut!)

Within the first 36 hours he lost a lot of weight due to poor latching issues. He got down to 5 lbs. 11 oz.

Then things started looking up for about 12 hours before we found out that Luke had lost more weight, down to 5 lbs. 9 oz., and was severely dehydrated.

I was forced to start supplementing him with formula, which just broke my heart. I spent an entire 1/ 2 a day in bed crying over it & how sick our little boy was.

About ½ way through that day I got my act together and started talking and working out a plan of action for getting Luke healthy.

Around 6:00 that day, we found out he was mildly jaundiced & would need a bili-blanket.

Throughout the day we continued to supplement with pumped milk, formula, and only attempted nursing after Luke was finished eating.

We found out in the wee hours of the morning that Luke had gained 2 oz. We were now above the dreaded 10% birth weight decrease & would be allowed to take our little boy home. (We were on day 4 in the hospital.)

In the morning Luke was cleared of his jaundice & we were discharged around 7:30 am!

We had a check up this morning with Luke’s pediatrician. He gained 5 oz. since yesterday morning & now weighs 6 lbs even! He was very alert and active for about an hour and a half at the doctor’s office. We were so happy. The doctor said he looked great, keep doing what we’re doing and that he didn’t need to come back until he was 1 month old! Yay!

We’re so happy and love our little boy to pieces!

Obviously we call him “Our little Pumpkin”, “Peanut”, Luke, Luke-y, and “Squeaker”. He makes this funny squeaky noise all the time & I just love it.

Anyway, that’s our birth story & first week with our awesome little boy!

1 comment:

Heidi said...

So how are you feeling, Mama? I know it's hard after a c-section. I hope you are taking it easy and enjoying your bundle of joy!! When did they let you up to walk around? Did you have to wait a day or were you up and at 'em that evening?