8:00am-1:00pm - Worked my next to last day
Went home to get Chris for my doctor appointment & felt a little something like I peed on myself and was having some pressure down low, which I had been having similar feelings for a while so it wasn't really a new issue. I didn't think too much about it.
2:00pm - Got to Clinic for my appointment & felt another little gush....thinking I peed on myself again. I mentioned everything to my doctor and he felt like it was probably just pee because water breaking is usually a big gush and it completely gets everything wet. He said that sometimes if you have a bladder infection or something that it can cause the bladder to contract & make you pee a little at times. He sent me to the lab to get a urinalysis & then we could check back on the results when we came back for my sonogram at 4:00. He definitely thought I was bigger than I should be & was anxious to see how big the baby was....or if I might have lots of fluid in there. So I went to the lab, completely emptied my bladder & headed back downstairs to leave.....when I felt another gush!! That's when I thought something wasn't right because I had just peed....so Chris convinced me to stop back by my doc's office to let them know. Dr Lamar had already left for an emergency at the hospital, so they had Nancy the nurse practitioner check me. They put this special paper in the fluid & it immediately turned blue, meaning it was amniotic fluid. She said we needed to head to the hospital to get checked & they would let them know and Dr Lamar, but that it didn't mean we were having a baby. Sometimes they will let you leak for a while if everything looks ok. I mentioned that it was a good thing tomorrow was my last day of work....& she quickly said, "No, today was." Wow....that was true!! We then got a little nervous, but were just kind of shocked because we never would have thought anything weird like this would happen. I got all hooked up, Dr Lamar came down real quick to do a sono & check my fluid and the baby. The baby was good & he said I had TONS of fluid in there. He was shocked that my water was actually breaking & they did a few more tests to make sure. It was definitely broke & pretty quickly I started having contractions. They weren't really too bad & I came to realize that the pressure I had been feeling down low was contractions.
4:00pm - After talking with Lamar & Dr Yap (pediatrician), they both agreed that the baby was going to come regardless & that a day or so would not make a difference.....but could actually make it more stressful on him. So we trusted them & decided to go ahead and have a c-section to deliver Mr. Axton. Dr Yap couldn't predict anything until the baby actually got here....but he said the difference in a 30 week baby & a 32 week baby is very significant. There was a possibility of the baby going to Cook's or possibly having to be on a ventilator, but he said that the baby could be perfectly fine with immature lungs, which is expected when it's this early. They began prepping me for surgery & we let our families know what was going on. I wanted Meritt to be there when the baby was born, so the grand parents took care of her & bringing a few things I wanted....especially my camera. :) It was so strange because I was in the weirdest mental state. I wasn't really scared or nervous or crying....nothing. I was calm & in shock I think. Chris prayed over us & got a little emotional, which then got to me a little because I knew he was really scared. I think I felt a sense of peace and knowing that it was all meant to happen this way.
6:37pm - Baby Axton was pulled out of my belly....screaming & crying!! Hearing him was the greatest sound I had ever heard....because I knew that meant he was breathing & ok. Getting the spinal was a lot more painful that I remembered the epidural being last time. They also put this warming thing on be during surgery & I thought my arms might be tied down, so I was panicking a little....until I asked the anesthesiologist if I could move my arm to scratch my nose & he showed me how to get it out. I felt much better after that. I was feeling the meds pretty good & was having trouble staying awake, which happened with Meritt too. I don't like feeling so out of it. I could see my belly in the reflection of the light, so I actually watched them cut me open & saw my precious baby's head full of dark hair come out....it was pretty neat! Dr Lamar said that he looked like a full term baby!! That was reassuring. Chris told me that the baby looked good & I told him to go with Axton while I went to recovery. Dr Lamar got me stapled up & couldn't wait to go find out how much he weighed. We had many blessings on our side that Axton was a good size for being so early (5#14oz)....so maybe the gestational diabetes I had actually helped out by putting extra weight on our baby boy. :)
I was in recovery for a while....in & out of sleep....and Chris would come check on me every once in a while. He brought the camera to show me a few pictures of Axton since I didn't get to see him right away. After recovery, Chris said they rolled me into the NICU/nursery to see him, but I don't really remember it. He was in an incubator & all hooked up to monitors, so I couldn't see much anyway. I got to my post partum room around 9:30 or so I think, and my sister stayed with me so that Chris could go home to get Meritt settled. Gramie stayed at our house with Meritt the first night. I was so drugged up & kept falling asleep while I was talking to my sis....or while trying to text/facebook on my phone. :) Since I couldn't breastfeed Axton, I had to start pumping so that my milk would come in.
I stayed in the hospital for 3 days. We would go see the baby every few hours, but everything just seemed so weird. I was pretty sore sometimes in the hospital, but could get up & walk around. The nurses taking care of Axton were wonderful & I completely trusted them. So...we had to leave our baby in the hospital for 21 days, but would go visit at least twice a day. He made such great progress & did so well for being almost 2 months early. We had almost gotten in a routine of going to the hospital & everything was so strange....we were in shock for a while that things happened so unexpectedly. It was tough being at home without our baby & almost felt like we didn't even have a baby sometimes. We went through some pretty extreme feelings & emotions, but very thankful for our family & friends prayers and support. Our friends, Erin & Dutch, had gone through a similar situation a couple months prior with their babym Finn... and they were a great support for us as well. This experience brought us so much closer & gave us a greater Faith....in God, life & our strength as a family.
Our lives are forever changed & so incredibly blessed by our 4th member of the Morgan family!
Here I am in triage having some contractions & water gushing. :)
Mommy & Daddy....soon to have TWO kids!!
Not sure when this was taken...but I'm guessing before or after the baby was born. :) I don't know what she was thinking or if she knew what was going on.
This is the first picture that Chris took of him before they got him all hooked up to everything.
He had to be on a CPAP machine for the first few days, but that was very common & much better than the ventilator. We were so blessed that he was so healthy, otherwise!
It was hard seeing him like this, but I knew he was ok. I hadn't seen his face in person without the CPAP or his hair either.
The next day I got to see my sweet girl. She seemed a little confused about why I was there, but we just kept telling her that Mommy had the baby.
Keeping her entertained in the hospital room. I've never been away from her at night for this long & I wanted to spend some time with her while I was in the hospital. I was very concerned with wanting her to understand & not be scared.....but she did fine & you would have never known anything was different.
First time walking to the nursery to see Axton. The little blankie thing is something the nurses give the babies that are in there & Mommy's can hold it to them when they visit to get their scent on it. I loved it!
Proud Daddy
First picture as a family of 4
I LOVE this pic!! Meritt seeing her baby brother for the first time....priceless.
She wanted to touch her baby brother....& even tried to tickle his toes through the glass. So precious!
The next day (2 days old) we got to hold him for the first time. It was a wonderful moment!
His skin was so new that it was really reddish-orange & I got to see the tons of dark hair he had. It was really wavy & slicked back from the hat they had on him. :)
He grabbed onto my finger immediately.
We didn't hold him long, so that he could get back on the oxygen.
I wanted a picture of Daddy's hand with Axton to show how little he was. :)
Adorable mum that Aunt Julee had made!
This is a little card they put on the baby's bed in the nursery for the parents to look at & it shows their status each day.
Baby boy was pretty swollen the first few days.
3 days old & no more CPAP! He's making great progress & on a nasal canula now.
The respiratory therapist wanted to put him on his belly for a little bit & he actually loved it. His respiratory rate was a lot better this way. :)
This pic makes him look so chubby! They kept having to re-do his IV because it would get inflamed or come out, so they put it in his scalp. :(
Cuddling with his "lovey" as I called it.
4 days old and look how big that preemie size pacifier is!
Holding Daddy's finger
He was pretty jaundiced, so he spent his 4th day under the ultraviolet lights.
I got dicharged from the hospital & needed some cuddle time at home with my baby girl. :)
5 days old - Visiting Axton & getting to hold him again
Popeye :)
6 days old - Yay...he opened his eyes! No more IV in his head & he likes to pull out his feeding tube in his mouth a lot. The nurses all love him!
1 week old - Thanksgiving! We all went up to see our precious baby boy Thanksgiving morning before the whole family came to our house.
Thanksgiving family picture!
When Axton got off the CPAP & on the nasal canula, I think he was at like 35-40% oxygen....and then depending on how well his stats are, then they will bring it down gradually. It was a BIG deal to get down this low & meant he was doing really good. Every little step forward was so important & we would get so excited. This was a big step....getting to 30% oxygen....and then it didn't take long for him to get off after that. The number we wanted was 21% because that is "normal breathing air" as they would say.
9 days old, Axton got his first bath. Here he is all sprawled out before it.
Our sweet neighbor, Amy (Burkett) Wolfe, was one of Axton's nurses & she gave him his first bath. :) Amy & I also went to school together.
He didn't really like his body being washed....but he sure loved his hair being washed. :)
All clean & first time to have any clothes on. He looks like such a big boy....but notice how long the sleeves are on him & it's a newborn size. It was so great seeing him without all of the tubes on his face!
After his bath, he got a new clean bed across from where he was, on the other side of the nursery. He was now next to his "girlfriend" (I'll tell that story later) and would stay there the rest of the time.
And more importantly.....NO MORE OXYGEN!! He did so well & the NICU staff was agressive, so he doesn't need oxygen anymore. That was the biggest hurdle we had to get over & now we could focus on the other stuff. :)
The next day (10 days old), Axton got his FIRST BOTTLE! When he was on oxygen, they had the feeding tube in his mouth, but now that he was off oxygen they moved it to his nose. It wouldn't be as easy for him to pull out of his nose (although he still managed to sometimes) and would make it easier to start feeding from a bottle.
Chris was working at the hospital, so he got to come up to see him take his first bottle. I forgot I had his Lovey in my shirt....just getting my scent on it while I'm there so that it could comfort him in his bed when I was gone. :)
I think his first bottle was around 20-30 cc/ml....which is hardly anything. But we had to start slow & he did great sucking. The hard part was getting him to take it all because he would sleep through the entire feeding. Poor baby....he's just not supposed to be here yet. :)
Puckering up! I think he wanted a kiss.
Now that he was very stable & progressing so well....we could let a few people hold him when they came to visit. The nursery is strict, understandibly....& we could only have 1 visitor at a time in there with us. Everyone in there is very diligent in making sure all hands are washed & sanitized....so all visitors were expected to as well.
Kandra got to come with me one evening when I went to feed him & hold him.
Aunt Julee came another night.
And then Gramie....holding her 8th grandson!!
Big yawn
Nana came up with Daddy one day after work to get to hold her 1st grandson. :)
First smile caught on camera
13 days old - pulled his tube out of his nose, so we got a good picture with no tubes!
Axton has so much hair that it spikes up into a faux-hawk pretty well. :) I think it's adorable!
He started opening his eyes a little more & I snapped this pic. He looks so peaceful in Daddy's arms.
2 weeks old!! - Throwing a PEACE sign! haha
Daddy feeding his first bottle.....and did a great job by the way!
A little snuggling with Mommy
Another smile. He looks so different with this hat on. They started putting a hat on him at this point because one of the things he needed to do before he could leave is to maintain a normal body temp. The incubators have heaters in them, but they would slowly start to lower it to see how he did.
We came to visit brother before taking Meritt to see Santa Claus at the mall.
He has his own little Christmas hat, too.
These days were really starting to drag & we had hoped that we would already have him home by this time. The biggest struggle was getting him to eat from the bottle every feeding & then hopefully getting to actually breastfeed him. He finally got off the feeding tube & was getting a bottle every 3 hours, even if he didn't finish it all.
19 days old & eating his fingers.
Yay....finally out of the incubator & in an open bed. Now we knew it should be close to time to bring him home. After talking with Dr Yap & the nurses, everyone agreed that he was ready. I wanted to practice breastfeeding him a few times before going home, so we scheduled for him to be circumsized & released the next day.
Here he is, next to his old bed that's cleaned out. We will never miss that place or seeing that bed he spent his first 3 weeks of his life in.
So on December 7, we got to bring our precious baby boy home....on his 3 week old birthday & weighing a whopping 6 lbs 5 oz!! The lowest weight he ever got was 5#9oz, so coming back up to 6.5 was awesome.
We were so ready to get started trying to have a normal life again....at home with our new addition to our family. We had kind of bonded with the parents of the baby girl (aka girlfriend/nursery neighbor/Addyson), Julie & Mitchell Reece, who had their baby just 4 days after us....but theirs was even more scary that ours. We would see each other at time & talk....and come to find out, Mitchell is a coach at Rider & a couple years older than Jesse & Josh. Anyway, they are a young couple & this was their first baby. Chris & I both had a strong feeling about wanting to help them. We had a garage full of baby girl stuff that we would never be using again (because we had pretty much decided we aren't having any more babies after all of this)....so we wanted to offer them everything. We all became friends on Facebook, then they came & took a bunch of the baby stuff we had....and they were so appreciative. We felt so good about it & were so happy that we could give it to people that could use it. We continue to text each other & enjoy giving Julie advice when she would ask. :) I hope we can stay in touch & get updates on the babies.
Axton in his going home outfit
We got one last picture in the nursery....our COMPLETE family going home! Praise God!
Mommy & Meritt bringing baby brother in his new home
Gramie had put a little decoration in the front yard for us. :)
And FINALLY....we are all home...together!
We are incredibly thankful for the nurses, staff & Dr Yap that took such great care of Axton during his first few weeks of life. They were all so encouraging & helpful. The rule of thumb, so people don't get their hopes up, is to not expect a preemie to go home until his due date. Well it doesn't usually take that long & it didn't for us....so we are blessed big time and so happy he is home before Christmas.
Thank you to everyone for the thoughts & prayers for our baby boy! It meant so much to us.
Now we're ready to enjoy our new addition & make lots of memories. :)
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