Portia's First Month

Adjusting to having a new baby at home is tough.  I never thought how difficult it can be at times; no one and no book can prepare you.  But we are doing well, we have been following a book called Baby Wise and so far it has been working great!  Portia eats when she is suppose to and sleeps when she is suppose to.

Right now we are still having to supplement her with a bottle after we breastfeed.  Since she was a preemie it's hard for her to do the whole breastfeeding thing well right now.  But she seems to be doing well with it.

On Monday, July 25th, when Portia was only 11 days old, we had the scariest moment of our lives!  I gave her a bath in the early evening and laid her down for a nap.  Bill came home and woke her up for her next feeding, but Bill didn't think she looked right.  She felt cold and was pretty lethargic, I just assumed that is was from the bath.  But then she wouldn't wake up to feed and at that moment I realized something was wrong.  Bill took her temperature several times and it was low every time, it was around 95 degrees, we immediately contacted the doctor's office and spoke to the triage nurse.  She wanted us to take it one more time rectally and if it was still low she wanted us to go to the pediatric ER at St. Francis.  It was still low so we packed what we could and rushed to the ER, the pediatric ER closed at 1am and we arrived at 12:45pm.  Portia was looked at right away, Dr. Ethan Warlick was extremely concerned because she was hypothermic, apenic, and seemed septic, he started to run tests immediately.  She had 4 nurses that poked her to draw blood for numerous tests, she even had xrays and a lumbar puncture!  It was so hard to watch because there was nothing Bill and I could do and all Portia did was cry and arch her back.

Dr. Warlick decided to admit Portia to the pediatric ICU at the Children's Hospital at St. Francis.  We arrived over there around 2:15am, she was put under warming lights as we were leaving the ER to help raise her body temperature and once we arrived in the PICU the nurses started an IV and antibiotics right away and they continued to obtain cultures and blood to run more tests til about 5am!  They started the antibiotics immediately because her doctor, Dr. Malik, thought she had some kind of bacteria or viral infection and wanted to start treatment right away even before the cultures came back , to fight the infection immediately. Dr. Malik prepared us for the worse type of infection, which was spinal meningitis, we were so scared, and all that we could do was pray for her healing!

The next 24 hours were the longest 24 hours we had ever experienced.  We just had to wait and see if anything grew on Portia's cultures.  But Portia was responding well to the IV's and the antibiotics.  Thankfully the PICU rooms were all suites and Bill and I were able to sleep and stay in the room with her. Throughout our stay we had so many visitors, we are truly blessed to have such a great support system.  Numerous friends, family, and Lifechurchers came to bring us food, to pray with us, and just to love on us and Portia.  The hardest thing about the stay is that we weren't able to hold Portia the first few days we were there.  She had so many tubes and IV's in her.  She had a feeding tube, an oxygen tube, fluid IV's, and 3 antibiotics going.  Then finally on late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning we had a breakthrough.  On late Wednesday we were able to bottle feeding her, and one of Portia's nurses did the late night feeding at 2am and discovered the bottle nipples we had been using were too difficult for Portia to use.  Meaning she was burning more calories and energy than she was taking in.  The nurse switched the type of nipple and it was a night and day difference!  The nurse said that could have been Portia's problem...she wasn't getting enough to eat and became dehydrated!

We continued to wait for all the test results to come back, and so far the 24 hour and 48 hour tests all came back negative!  Dr. Malik wanted us to stay throughout 72 hours just to make sure nothing came back positive.  The nurses were able to take out the feeding tube and oxygen tube on Wednesday and on Thursday Dr. Malik discontinued her antibiotics because Portia was doing so well!  She was more responsive, holding her body temp, eating well, and gaining weight!  When Portia was admitted she had dropped to 5 lbs 15 oz and when we left on Friday she was back up to 6 lbs 3 oz!  Dr. Malik was truly amazed at Portia's recovery and was thankful that we brought her in so soon because she was extremely worried about her when we brought her in on late Monday night.  Dr. Malik said we were looking at staying in the PICU for at least 7 days and we were discharged in 4 days! 

We were so thankful for God's healing on Portia and for the wisdom her doctors and nurses had.  We were sent home with an apena and heart monitor to monitor her for the next 30 days just to make sure she didn't have any other apenic episodes.  But we are just so thankful to be back home!

This was on Thursday...she was a brand new baby!

We were able to finally hold her and dress her!  Best feeling ever!

On our way home...bye bye PICU!

She's Here!!!

God totally answers prayers!!  I have been praying over the past few days for some relief and Portia was ready to make her presence. 

On Thursday, July 14th, I just got home from my parent's house about 7pm.  I went on a walk and went swimming with my mom earlier that day, and ate dinner with her and my dad.  Bill was meeting with clients out in the Pryor and Foil area, so I decided to watch Twlight when I got home.  As soon as I got up to press play on the DVD player my water broke (which was at 8:30pm)!!  I really thought I peed my pants, but it didn't stop flowing, so I knew it was my water breaking!  I freaked out because I was home alone and had no idea what to do.  I sat on the toilet and started making calls.  I called Bill first but he didn't answer his phone, so I had to text him that my water broke, then I called my mom, no answer, then I called my best friend, Heather, that thankfully lives across the street from me, she answered and came right over!  I called my doctor, but one of his partners, Dr. Coleman, was on call and told me to go to the hospital right away since I was early.  Bill and I decided to use a Doula (labor coach), I had not met her yet because we set up a time to meet on Friday, but I still called her and she said she would meet me at the hospital.

We got to the hospital at about 9pm and I was admitted.  My parents and my Doula, Marlita, were there before I was in my room, Bill showed up shortly after and was so excited!!  We decided to do a natural birth and that is why we hired a Doula, to help coach us through our labor.  When I was admitted I was 90% effaced and not even dilated to a 1!  So I had a long way to go :-)  I did not get much sleep through the night, all the excitement and anticipation kept me up.  I was feeling good through all the contractions through the night and early morning on Friday.  Dr. Nilson came to see me early on Friday morning, he let me know we were on a timeline (since my water broke), we had 24 hours to get her out, and he wanted to see me process quicker than what I was doing.  He gave me an hour from when he saw me to get to a 4, and if I wasn't at a 4 we would start Potocin.  I got nervous because I didn't want Potocin, I didn't want to go from nothing to something really quick.  We did some techniques that my Doula recommended and we got to a 4 and 100% effaced within the hour!  So Dr. Nilson allowed me to still go natural!

I still progressed slowly, I was at a 5 at around 11:30 am then a 6 shortly after, but I stayed at a 7 for several hours and I was worn out!  A 7 was tough to deal with, the contractions were pretty intense and accompanied by fatigue and hunger it was not a good combination. We changed laboring positions often but nothing helped, I was losing my focus to work through each contractions very quickly.  I wanted to get my epidural at around 2pm but I continued to work through it.  Around 4pm, my contractions were getting further apart (7-10 mins) and I was still not progressing past a 7 and I was ready to be done with the fatigue and pain, I wanted rest. 

I went through 20 hours of natural labor, looking back I still can't believe I did it.  And I could not have done it without my amazing Doula and my incredible and supportive husband!  At 4:30pm I received my epidural and was finally able to sleep and relax.  I still felt each contraction but did not feel any pain, it was a nice relief.  After 30 minutes of receiving the epidural I was still at a 7, so I started Potocin to get moving.  I progressed from a 7-9 very quickly, then a little after 6pm I was finally at a 10!!!  I only had to push for 20 minutes, 3 times, and I gave birth to a precious baby girl!  She was 6 lbs 9 oz and 20 1/8 in long!  Pretty impressive for being born at 35 weeks.

I was not able to hold her right after, since she was born before 36 weeks she had to be taken right away to the NICU for tests and observations.  But after they cleaned her up, they brought her back to me for a quick 5 minute hold....my heart melted the first time I held her!  She just kept looking at me, it was amazing!

Portia stayed in the NICU for 6 hours and she did great on all her tests.  So she was able to stay in the room with us.  We were discharged on Sunday afternoon, they noticed that her bilirubin count was high so we took her home with phototheraphy lights.  She only had to stay under the lights for 2 days!  Now we are adjusting to life as new parents.

We are so thankful for all the prayers and support that we received.  Portia is truly a blessing and miracle from God!

Our Last Ultrasound

July 11th was our very last ultrasound.  Over the past 3 weeks I have only gained 3 lbs, so the meal plan for the gestational diabetes has been going well.  Portia weighs 7.1 lbs now and Dr. Nilson said she isn't coming for awhile, even though she has been head down for several weeks, she had not dropped yet.  I have been pretty miserable the past few days....I am super swollen, Bill calls my feet "Shrek feet", and the last few nights I have slept sitting up.  This has been the hottest June and July in Oklahoma, the heat is not getting to me too bad, I just think it makes me more swollen...yuck!  I am to the point now where I am just ready for her to come!  I have started doing squats, walking, and swimming to try to get her to drop, so hopefully that helps :-)  We will see...LOL

Week 32 and Counting......

Right before our 32 week appointment, I found out that I have gestational diabetes.  Which stinks, but I am thankful it is something with me, that I can control, and nothing wrong with Portia.  I will have to go to a nutrition consultant to get on a strict meal plan and then I will have to check my blood sugar levels 4x a day!  And hopefully moving forward everything will continue to go well.

Our 32 week appointment was on June 20th.  Everything looks good, but the excess fluid is still there and Dr. Nilson took updated measurements of Portia, and she is measuring at 35 weeks and weighs 5.6 lbs already!!!!  Yea that's right..my baby is huge already!  And you can tell in the ultrasound pics because she is a chubby monkey :-)  With gestational diabetes, the babies grow bigger and faster....I started the meal plan this week and I am really hoping that it will help with her weight gain.  LOL I would really like to do a natural birth but now I am super nervous that she may be a 9-10 lb baby.

We go back to the doctor on July 1st, pray that the meal plan is healing and Portia's weight is maintained :-)

30 Weeks!!!!!

Our 30 week appointment was on June 6th and some things have changed.....good news is my placenta previa is no longer a concern, it finally moved up, but there are some new concerns.  Dr. Nilson found that there was excess fluid around Portia, which could mean a few different things.  1.  I may have gestational diabetes (I did pass my one hour test) 2.  Something is wrong with Portia, like with her kidneys or intestinal/digestive tract or 3. It could be nothing at all.  90 % of the time it is nothing at all, but to say the least, it wasn't a very exciting appointment, but we did get great ultrasound pictures!  The next step we have to take is I have to go in for a 3 hour glucose test and depending on the results we would move forward from there.  Please keep me and Portia in your prayers!!

And yes..in these ultrasound pictures...Portia's eyes are open!!  It's amazing!

Baby Shower #2

At the beginning of June we had Portia's second baby shower.  It was hosted by Ashley at my parents house.  It was a lot of fun and it was soo good to see everyone!  Portia got soo many great things...tons of bows, her bedding, tons of clothes, and all kinds of essential goodies.  We are so thankful to such great friends and family.

27 Week Appointment

Well so far, everything has been going great.  We had a great 27 week appointment, Portia weighs 2.7 lbs and looks great!  Ha, we finally got some good ultrasound pictures this time :-)  She has been growing and moving around all the time!  It's soo neat to feel her move!  We are almost finished with her nursery.  We just have the ceiling to paint and then put her furniture together!  And I will post nursery pictures as soon as it all comes together.

So our next appointment will be in 3 weeks instead of 4 now!  I just can't believe she will be here in just a few months!  The time has truly flown by.  June is going to be a busy month....we have my 2nd baby shower in Broken Arrow, all the baby classes, and maternity pictures!  So looking forward to it all :-)

Enjoy the new pictures of Portia!