THE STORY

For those of you who want the whole story: This is mostly for my records, but I thought I would share:
PRE-HOSPITAL: Wednesday, August 24th, I reached my 35 weeks 6 days of pregnancy. I had been having diarrhea problems for 3 weeks, not feeling well, spending most my life on the couch or the toilet, being kind of miserable. I kept thinking, "I can't do 4 more weeks of this...pregnant, sick, yuck." Well, at about 11:15am I got up off the couch to go to the bathroom and I started leaking. Normally if I am wetting my pants, my muscles can take over and stop it, but liquid just kept leaking out. Luckily I had been wearing a diaper because of the frequent diarrhea. Throughout the day, when I'd stand up from being on the couch, more liquid would freely flow. When Alex got home from work at 7 I said, "I think you should call the hospital and see what they say. My water may have broken, but I don't really know." He called, I talked to a doctor who said, "based on your description, you better come in and get it checked out." Alex asked if he could take a shower first, so he showered, I finished watching final Jeopardy, and at 8:00pm we headed to the hospital thinking that they'll check me and we'll probably get sent home.
GETTING CHECKED IN: We got to the hospital and I changed into the lovely gown, and they needed to get a pH strip of the fluid. Sure, now nothing comes out. Finally got a sample that showed up positive for being amniotic fluid. The nurse tried to check me, but couldn't get much, and then tried twice to get an IV in. 3rd try got me the IV and they started a saline drip, antibiotics (because my group b strep test results from Monday's appointment weren't back or recorded yet), and pitocin to start labor. I had been having some minor lower back cramping, but as soon as the pitocin started I got MAJOR back contractions. They were super close together and extremely painful. I probably lasted 20 minutes and then asked for an epidural. Alex called our neighbors, Daniel and Melissa, to have them come give me a blessing. Melissa asked if we needed anything else, and Alex had her bring nail polish because I've always said I wanted my toes painted when I'm in labor. They came, and I was given an incredible blessing that everything would be alright for me and the baby. The anesthesiologist came and did the epidural and it was the most wonderful relief I have ever experienced.
CHECKING: My doctor was out of town, so an on call doctor came in to check me. With the epidural, he was able to tell that I was 3 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and he thought he could feel her nose and lips, meaning that her face was towards the canal instead of the back of her head. They can still be born that way, but instead of being cone-head, they might be cone-faced and a little swollen by the time they were born. He called for an ultrasound just to check positioning and make sure everything would work out ok. The nurse told me that with first pregnancies people are usually in labor about 8+ hours, then 1-3 hours of pushing. I was then starting to prepare to have our baby within the next day. Ultrasound was turned on and......she was breech. Her head was under my ribs, like I always knew it was, and her toes were down by my cervix. The doctor checked me again and said, "Yep, there's her foot with 5 little toes." He had felt toes and her bum instead of a nose and lips like he thought the first time. Silly!
THE NEWS: Since my water was broken, and there wasn't much amniotic fluid left, they couldn't even try to force her to turn. Also, since her foot was poking through my cervix, they said it could be dangerous to have her normal, but we should probably do a c-section. I said, "Ok, we could do a c-section. That'll work if it gets her here ok." Definitely not in my original plans, but people have babies like this all the time, I guess it would be ok. The anesthesiologist added something to my epidural to numb me even more and they started to prepare everything to wheel me to the operating room. I thought, "NOW? First I had 4 more weeks to prepare for this, then I had at least a day, now I have 2 minutes and we'll have our baby. Yikes!!"
THE OPERATING ROOM: I was wheeled down the hall into the operating room at 11:58 (the whole time I was thinking, "this is like a movie. It can't be real. I'm being wheeled down the hall of a hospital, through the double doors, placed on a skinny little table with the light above it). Then I started getting nervous. I started shaking quite a bit and had to poke my leg and make sure it was still there. How am I going to handle this? They made sure I was numb, put up the shield, had Alex sit up by my head and hold my hand (definitely needed that), gave me a little oxygen, and cut me open. The whole sensation was really weird because I couldn't feel any pain, but I could feel them doing stuff; like I was numb, but there was pressure and some pushing. Really weird. A few minutes later they said she was out. 12:11 am. I waited for a cry and, sure enough, there she was. My little angel that came straight from heaven right into that operating room to be with us.
THE BUMMER: We honestly didn't think we were going to have our baby, so when we came to the hospital all we had was my purse and our cell phones. WE WERE HAVING A BABY AND WE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least cell phones have cameras on them. It would have been sad to miss the first minutes of her life.
OUR BABY: Because she was 4 weeks early, they took her to clean her up and check everything and make sure she was ok. Alex was over there taking pictures and watching and I could sort of see her off to the side. Apgar scores of 8 and 9. 18 inches long. 5 lbs 9 oz. And a purple foot, since it had been kicking through my cervix. Lungs were great, though, thank heavens. They wrapped her up and set her on my chest for a second, but I was still being stitched up. Then Alex got to hold her for a second. They It took quite a while to be stitched. They needed to take her for more tests and checks, so Alex went with her.
RECOVERY: While on the skinny little table, they rolled me sideways to take the epidural out. I almost felt like I was going to fall off, but I had no control over anything. They lifted me back onto a regular hospital bed and I was taken to a little place where I had to stay for an hour being constantly monitored. The blood pressure cuff checked every 5 minutes, they took my temperature, made sure I could wiggle my toes still, put cuffs on my legs that would alternate squeezing to prevent blood clots, gave me a catheter, and I sat there waiting to hear about my baby. They finally brought her in, said her blood sugar was low, had me try to nurse (for about 30 seconds....hardly gave me a chance), and wheeled her away again. Alex went with.
NAME: Alex and I had a list of a few names we liked and had to wait until we saw her to decide which one fit. For me it was definite, and Alex agreed. I then gave some suggestions about some middle names I had thought of and Alex chose, and we settled it. Her name is LEAH SAGE CHRISTENSEN.
RECOVERY ROOM: The place that became my home. Once in my room, they gave me IV pain meds and checked my vitals every 20-30 minutes for the next 5 or so hours. Try getting sleep that way. Alex came to me after about 3 hours. Apparently she would have to stay in the NICU for a while and he needed to be with me. I had the little thing on my finger that checks breathing/heart rate or something. It kept beeping every time I would take a drink, or if my breathing changed. It was super sensitive and super annoying. Then everyone and their cousin decided they needed to come in. Hi, I'm the nurse. Hi, I'm the social worker here at the hospital. Hi, I'm the head nurse. Hi, I'm the.......on and on and on!! Zero sleep. One of the coolest things about the hospital is that they have recently changed over to doing room service. I had a menu and when I was ready for food, I called them and ordered EXACTLY what I wanted to eat, and they would bring it to me 15-20 minutes later. The food was pretty decent, too. I recommend the chocolate cream pie. Had it 4 times!! Poor Alex had to scrounge around, though. Thanks to a few different neighbors who brought food for him sometimes. They do have unlimited juice and soda for the dads. And the nurses are always willing to go out of their way to get you anything you need.....juice every time they came in, lanolin, extra pillow for me, more blankets for Alex, one of their own roll-y desk chairs that was more comfortable for Alex to use, pain meds, ice packs, etc. I was spoiled rotten.
VISITING: As soon as I could semi-move and had feeling enough in my legs that I could stand up, they had me get up and into a wheel chair. You have no idea how much you use your ab muscles until that muscle has been cut in half and you notice every time it is being used. Getting out of bed was difficult, but I needed to see my baby. They took me down to the NICU and she was hooked up to an IV with fluids and antibiotics (because of a possible infection), some other monitors, and was in a heat box. She was SO cute. Alex and I were instantly smitten. So much love overwhelmed us, it was incredible. We could hold her, even though the cords and tubes were in the way. I tried feeding again, but they kept saying her blood sugar levels were low so they needed to supplement with formula. I thought, "Hey, give my boobs a chance to try. Don't be so quick to disregard my attempts to give her food." There is a really cool thing, though, that helped kill two birds with one stone. It is a little plastic device called a nipple shield that goes on me, but is easier for her to latch on to, and then a little tiny tube can be inserted to squirt formula in, but still stimulates me at the same time. That was kinda cool, and I was glad she was getting enough food.
THE ROUTINE: People had said that Leah could possibly be in the NICU for a few days, 5-7 at the most, but probably at least 3. I started (struggling to walk more and more) to go down to the NICU every 3 hours to try feeding her. I'd get there, feed and hold her for an hour, go back to the room for 2, then get up and go visit her again. Basically zero sleep again. I wanted to be with her so much, but I needed sleep. Not much luck. This went from the time she was born early Thursday morning, throughout the day, and all that night. At midnight on Thursday night I finally got my catheter out and the IV stopped. Yay! Friday morning the on-call pediatrician said that the 'possible infection' lab results came back great, she could be weaned off the IV and probably come up to our room. REALLY? She won't have to stay there as long as was thought and we might get her in our room with us. Hooray. I finally got my IV out at 8 in the morning on Friday, and was machine free!! I was also given the ok to shower. Sweet!! I was nervous to look at my incision and made Alex look first. By the time Leah's 4:00 feeding came, they brought her to me instead of me going down. She was released from all her machines, too!!!!!
NIGHT: Alex was a life saver, and helped SO much during the night in order to let me sleep. We would both be awake after every little sound and squirm she would make. It was hard to sleep knowing that we were the ones responsible now instead of having nurses be available. People kept coming in, less frequently, though, and took my vitals, gave me pain meds, took Leah's vitals, did the car seat test, etc.
MORNING: Thinking that I needed to be there 72 hours after surgery (meaning late Saturday night, so more like Sunday morning), I was planning another long day and long night. When the baby dr came in he said she was fine to leave whenever, just make sure her biliruben levels were checked first. When my dr came in we talked for a second and he asked if I had any questions. I said, "When can I go home?" He said, "Let the nurses know and they'll get everything together so you can leave." Basically a whole day earlier than I thought. Hooray!! I had my staples taken out, was taught the 'things-to-know-about-taking-care-of-baby' stuff, got a vaccination shot, packed up the room and we were OUT OF THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HOME: Basically right when we got home, my mom was here from Salt Lake to visit and help. Can't live without moms. Thanks!! We also had some wonderful and fantastic friends, Bobby and Cyndi come over to help us rearrange/reorganize/set up the crib/clean up/ etc. We couldn't have done it without you. Alex took a well deserved and much needed nap first, then we got everything put together. We expected to have 4 more weeks to get things done but.....surprise!!! Later in the evening Alex's brother and his wife, Alan and Kim, came up to visit from Spanish Fork. They completely SPOILED Leah with so many cute new things. (Thank you!)
SUNDAY: Alex's parents came up first thing in the morning to be there for Alex to be set apart as the 2nd councilor in the Elders Quorum. (Funny story: Last week, when he was called, the Stake President told us to invite our families to the setting apart. We thought, "Ha, we wouldn't dream of having them come up that long way for something not super special." We told the stake president, "Not unless the baby comes, but we hope not since she's still 4 weeks early." He said, "Yeah, you could have her Friday, parents could come up Sunday for both reasons....Ha ha!" Well, President, it happened. And Thanks to Alex's family for coming up for that as well. They stayed until about 4:30 and my family showed up just before 4:30 and stayed until about 8. We have fun showing her off, however my favorite part about being a mom is that no matter how many people she gets passed around to and how much I don't get to hold her when family is around, she always HAS to come back to me eventually!!! And I never have to say good-bye. She's all mine.....and Alex's!!!
MONDAY: A day without visitors. It was kind of nice to have Leah to ourselves this morning. School started for Daddy, so he was gone to 3 classes this morning. When he was done, Leah had to have her biliruben checked. After that we went to WalMart to grab the last few essentials we needed and while we were there the lab results came back and she was pretty high; getting into the critical range. So, they sent a guy from IHC to bring us a light bed for her to stay in the rest of the day and night. We'll go have her checked again in the morning and hopefully she'll be able to be off of it tomorrow. It makes me sad not being able to hold her right now. Makes feeding time all the more special since I get to take her out for a few minutes!! I guess this blog post would have NEVER been written if I could hold her, so it ends up being a good thing. I needed this written down somewhere!!