- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Hawaii Babies
SanHawaii08
member
name, pips, and a birth story! (super long)
SanHawaii08
member
first off, thanks everyone for the kind words - they really helped bolster my spirits. and LO had a good night, so I'm feeling much better today! it's such a roller coaster. they warned us he'd get worse before getting better, but of course, now I'm hoping he only gets better from here (but still trying not to get overly optimistic). he's in critical stable condition, just a lot of monitoring and waiting for his lungs to heal, so we can slowly wean him off the respirator over the next few weeks. his chest tube is also probably coming out soon, which is great. Jaime - the doctors did consider doing a bypass, but he was been doing well enough being intubated and with the chest tube, that i don't think that's an option anymore, so yay! and Sarah - you're absolutely right - the nicu is a scary place. 
some of the other babies are SO much smaller and sicker than our LO, which helps keep things in perspective for me - the fact that he's full-term is definitely a big thing going for him. the hospital we're in uses the same attendings and residents as does children's; W's mom also spent many years as a nicu nurse, and she's comfortable with the measures they're taking. all of this has been good reassurance that we're in good hands. I will be discharged today, but will be able to stay as a guest if they have an empty bed.
so - we decided on a name! his name is Eric 
no middle name yet - we've left it up to our moms to come up with a chinese middle name.
some pips, and a long birth story below (since I don't have much else to do but rest, pump, and visit Eric often, i've had a lot of time to write! 
)
one little man, so many tubes so, the birth story -
I got woken up by a contraction at 2:40am and they were regular
enough and bad enough, radiating around to the lower back, that I
couldn't go back to sleep. It was also pretty textbook ( i
was losing my mucous plug, and started having diarrhea). I decided to write one more
spec - the last thing I needed to do for work - to see if that would
take my mind off of the contractions for a bit. An hour later, I
thought to myself - gee, I wonder if they've slowed down or aren't as
strong? and a few minutes later, got my answer - nope! the spec was
just that interesting, haha. MH woke up, we made
spaghetti and meat sauce - I wanted real food if it was going to be a long
day - and
starting gathering stuff for our hospital bags.
I was still contracting
regularly, 4-6 min apart, when i went to my regular 8:30am
appointment. I was totally thinking I'd get sent home, since i could
still walk and talk through the contractions. but when the midwife
checked me, i lost the rest of my mucous plug (side note: it was huge!) and I was already 4cm, -1 station, and effaced to
1/2cm. However, since that was my first internal, we weren't sure if
things were progressing, or if I had been hanging out at 4cm for a
while. She asked me to walk around for an hour or two to see if the
contractions got stronger. After about an hour, I could no longer walk
or talk through the contractions, so we headed to L&D.
Long story short, things were going reasonably well until about 5:30pm, when
I was still stuck at 7cm; the midwife was expecting I would have been
further by now, but the urge to push was just
too strong, and my cervix was getting
swollen. By that point, I
had been up for 15 hours, was getting pretty tired and couldn't *not* push, so we decided to get an
epidural. ...the pain was manageable, until i decided to do the
epidural. The next few contractions, while waiting for the
anesthesiologist (thank *goodness* they weren't in a csection), were
*horrible*...I found that most of laboring med-free
was
a mental game more than anything else. If my cervix had cooperated, I
would have gone without, but in the end, I'm glad we did it, since it
allowed me to nap and conserve energy while my cervix finished opening up. At 7:30, I was 9cm, and my water
broke, which is
when we first saw the meconium - however, there wasn't a ton, probably
b/c his head was blocking most of it, so we weren't too worried. We
did have a team of folks in our room when he came though, just in
case. I started pushing around 9:25pm, and after 40 min, out he came! and a *huge* gush of
green gunk (the meconium) came with him too, so it was good the doctors
and nurses were prepared. he was crying and moving vigorously, which
was a good sign - they basically cleaned him up, suctioned him a few
times, and let me hold him briefly before whisking him away.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: name, pips, and a birth story! (super long)
| Olowalu, Maui ~ August 6, 2008 |
| Family of 4 ~ April 2, 2011 |
| Family of 5 - October 24, 2012 |
Oh, he's so sweet! And I love the name you've chosen! He's definitely a fighter already, and it sounds like he's in good hands. Hang in there, mama!
Congrats, and thanks for sharing your story.
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
He's a beautiful baby, and I love the name! It must be so hard to see him in the NICU with the endotracheal tube. Hope he's home soon. Thanks for sharing your birth story.
Congrats and best wishes!
{planning bio} {married bio} {baby blog}
Congratulations again - Eric is adorable!
You were quite a trooper during labor, and although I know the NICU must be a scary place, it sounds like he's in good hands. I hope he'll get to come home soon! (((hugs)))
What a cutie!!! It sounds like they are taking good care of Eric & y'all will all get to go home soon.
Thanks for sharing your story with us
I love Hawaii!
Tara & Ian . 4/24/2008 . The Kahala Planning . Married
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
Eric is a beautiful name and he's so cute - love the hair!! Poor guy, though, with all those tubes.
I'm keeping you all in my prayers and I'm positive he'll come out of this with flying colors!
Are you able to go in to the NICU to bond with him - at least touch him and let him hear your (and DHs) voice?
Take care and keep us updated!
He is such a cutie! What a great strong name! It sounds like your little man Eric is in very good care at the NICU. Here's hoping he will be home soon.
Keep us updated
(((Hugs)))
thanks ladies
we had a good day yesterday!! today is going to be a big day for Eric - they'll be turning down the settings on his oscillator (which has been doing all his breathing) and are planning to move him to a regular ventilator, so he can start breathing a little on his own. they're also increasing his feedings, going to try lowering the morphine, and possibly remove the chest tube - though that may not happen until tomorrow, which i'm fine with. don't want to go too fast and have a setback...
I was a bit apprehensive about pumping - the first few times *really* hurt!
I'm a bit more used to it now, and played with different sized nipple shields to find what works best. i started to get colostrum yesterday - i just got almost 12mL, and it's been increasing 1-2mL every session. and yes, they're using a feeding tube. my understanding is that eventually, we'll move to syringe feeding, and then finally to the breast.
thanks Ericka - I'm still catching up on posts, but just wanted to say that I'm sorry Elle had to be aspirated
she looks like she's doing great now though, and she is so cute!! she looks so much like you 
your photog did a great job!
Yes, we're regulars in the NICU now
we do talk to him and touch him a little, but I try not to too much, as he responds to our voices and touch (which we love!), but we really want to just keep him comfortable and resting as much as possible right now. If he does well on the regular ventilator, i think we'll get to hold him! I'm *really* looking forward to that...
Awww, he's adorable Sandra. Congrats to you and your family. He looks so healthy and strong, I hope his stay in the nicu isn't too long and that you get to take him home soon. You will have a ton of snuggling to make up for!
My thoughts & prayers are with you and Eric
EDD 1/31/13, MC May 17. EDD 3/31/13, MC July 26. I miss you so much already my angel loves
This is great news! Sounds like little E is making great progress.
Sandra, you are so upbeat and radiating positivity despite what is happening with your little Eric! Your post and pics have brought tears to my eyes (a happy release, in all honesty of several pent-up emotions I have held over this past week...more work drama...but that's for another thread)...
Big hugs to you and W and baby E! He's so cute and quite robust looking in the photos, despite the tubes and wires, and I just know that he'll be in your arms and home soon. I hope you're taking good care of yourself, resting when you can and I am thrilled to know that pumping is working out for you (at least for now). I am sending heaps of positive and healing vibes your way!
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog