Sunday, February 19, 2012

First "bath"

Here are pics of Rowe's first sponge bath. He only likes when his hair is being washed- everything else is pure torture.




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Friday, February 17, 2012

Going Home

On Saturday morning, after Rowe FINALLY passed his hearing test (they had to test him 3 times), and we both got the ok from the Dr.'s we got to go home! 
 This was the cute little nurse that helped push me out. Does anyone else ever feel bad when you have an older person pushing you in a wheelchair...like much older? She was a cute Haitin (sp?) lady who loved to chat- but sadly I could only understand like 50% of what she was saying!
 Rowe is all buckled in his carseat- ready for the wild ride home!!

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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Meeting Pops & Alex

The next day my Dad and Alex drove down to stay the weekend too- they came straight to the hospital to see us. 
 Not sure what this picture was- but thought it was pretty comical.
 Here is Alex holding Rowe- such a great aunt!
 Halle came up with Dustin to meet us and hold Rowe again. She can't get enough of him and is QUITE the helper! The boys stayed home with my mom- because they were crazy and because both had been in to see the allergist and pediatrician and put on antibiotics. We didn't want them around Rowe too much -hence why i stayed in the hospital for so long.
 This time I really enjoyed my hospital stay- who wouldn't enjoy it? I got to snuggle this face all day long, they would bring me meals (Whatever I wanted whenever I wanted), and the nurse would come get Rowe and night and bring him back every 4 hours for feedings. It was NICE!
 This is the man behind most all pictures, so I had to get a shot of him holding Rowe while at the hospital. Such a great dad!

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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Meeting-

A couple hours after Rowe was born all the kids came up to the hospital to meet him. It was really cute how excited Halle was to hold him, and to talk to him- although disappointed that he really didn't do anything in return.
 Bennett, after much convincing, decided he could hold Rowe for about .5 seconds (notice how Rowe is about to fall off his lap).
 My mom (who was suppose to be there for the labor but obviously didn't make it) was there too-
 Miles wasn't sure about the whole thing- he wouldn't get near me (I was still connected to all the machines) and really didn't want to touch Rowe-

 Here is the closest Miles got- touching him with a finger. After the boys touched him they started playing tag in the curtain in the room, running around playing chase and anything else destructive you can think of. My mom took the kids home and Dustin got to stay with me at the hospital pretty late that night.
 We were super lucky to have a really good friend in town- he was actually suppose to come and eat dinner with us that night! I think we all decided this was worth the canceling of dinner plans! Matt comes to town every couple months for business and we get to enjoy his company and talk for a couple hours.


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Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Birth Story-long story but FAST outcome

You hear from all sorts of people, and you even tell people that every birth is different...each child is unique in how they enter the world. 

For me all my kids have been pretty much the same. I go into the hospital, I might be having small contractions, they break my water, I get the epidural, a couple hours later I am dilated, couple pushes and boom a child appears. 

This one was TOTALLY different. 

Around 5:00am on Thursday morning I awoke to go to the bathroom. I was having some lower back pain and thought that maybe these could be contractions. I watched them and they were coming about every 13 minutes...nothing to worry about because this really could be false labor. I told  D as he was getting ready to leave (he teaches early morning bible study every morning from 5:30-6:30) as he was leaving I gave him the heads up that I thought I was having contractions. I got up around 5:30 because Bennett had been having asthma issues all night so I started him on a breathing treatment then got in the shower.

 I was getting ready and still have "fake contractions"...they weren't really timeable because they would just come and go whenever. I got Halle up for school then called Dustin- he usually comes home inbetween to eat breakfast and then take Halle to school- I asked him if he planned on hustling home because I was still having contractions (the nice blog version) or in other words- "get home now I am having contractions"! Dustin told me to call my OB and see what they had to say, but I told him I couldn't, because of Bennetts nasty asthma attack I wanted to get in and see the allergist first and THEN i would call my Dr. My allergist opened at 9 so after we saw him (i told him) we could go to the hospital. (ha... please laugh) 

At this point Dustin said- "call your dr. now...we can go from there". So I called (at this point, 7am, my contractions were about 10 minutes apart) and she said I think you should go into the hospital. I agreed- so I got kids up, got Halle ready for school and the boys ready to go play at a friends house. Dustin took Halle to school then came back and we took the boys over to a friends house.  We were suppose to go drop off a sign at another friends house so she could pick Halle up from school, but decided last minute that we probably shouldn't. We got on the freeway from our home to head into Houston and my contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart...at 8:30. Traffic in Houston is awful...terrible...so as we pulled on to the freeway I think Dustin started sweating. He was secretly timing the contractions as we drove. 

As we were driving the contractions started getting closer together, and as they started getting closer together Dustin really started sweating. I (don't understand) but wasn't that nervous- in all of my labors I was either on pitocin (which makes the contractions super hard) or already had my epidural so I thought the contractions were suppose to HURT. They weren't really hurting. As we got closer, (still on the freeway) Dustin rolled down his window and was signaling with his hand to different lanes and then moving over. We pulled into the hospital driveway (luckily they have valet parking) at 9:00am. 

As we were riding the elevator up I told Dustin I hoped I was at like a 7, because if I got up there and was only at a 5 I was going to die. 

When we got up there, Dustin ran ahead of me and told the labor and delivery that we almost had the baby in the car, my wife needs a room...now. They looked at him like "oh you sweet first time dad", he mentioned that it was my 4th and they started getting nervous.

They got us into the room, and the nurse told me to go change into my gown. At which point I just stripped down and put the gown on...no modesty here. I tried climbing onto the bed but was having contractions the whole time. The nurse noticed my face and said "Why don't we go ahead and check you", she checked me and got a huge panicked look on her face- she turned to the other nurse and said "go get the dr. NOW. She is full". 

At this point everything started happening REALLY fast- a lot happens all at the same time. For documentation I am going to write everything down, but most of these things were going on simultaneously. 

My Dr. walks in and while she is still behind the curtain she says "hey guys", and the nurse replies "hey", which my Dr. thinks is my reply. Thinks that because I sound so cheerful it can't be that bad so instead of looking at me she starts washing her hands. 

The nurse that does the IV comes in and tries getting the IV started...

My Dr. turns around and sees that I am writhing in pain, clenching the sides of the bed with tears rolling down my face. She panics. 

The nurse is still trying to get the IV started...she is on about the 3rd try. 

The Dr. comes and checks me and says that I am fully dilated and my water is bulging, but if they break my water he will come. If I want an epidural they shouldn't break my water. 

(At this point I think I realized there is no way I am getting an epidural, but still denying it)

The nurse is still working on the IV.

Everyone is basically standing around waiting for the IV to get going, the Dr. is at the foot of my bed with the nurses surrounding the bed and Dustin is at the foot too when all of a sudden my water explodes. Literally my water exploded and my Dr. who hadn't put on any of her gear (gown or anything...who is also wearing crocs WITH holes in them) gets drenched from the waste down. They said they had never seen a water break like that- easily 6 feet out and 3 feet tall. Dustin dove out of the way.

The nurse is still working on the IV and FINALLY gets one in. 

My Dr. tells me not to push (seriously?) and I start pushing. With 4 pushes little Rowe came out sunny side up at 9:16am, 8 lbs 4oz and 21 inches long.

They lay him on my chest but because he wasn't in the birth canal long he is having some issues with his lungs so they take him to go clear out his lungs while I finally relax. 

After I have finally calmed down they start my registration paperwork with the hospital. And then say that we need to stay in that room for at least 90 minutes. 

His name is special to us and really came to us while in the hospital- Rowe is my great-grandfather's name, Mads was Dustin's great great great grandfathers name.

I still can't believe he came as fast as he did, and we were truly blessed multiple times. 
Here are the blessings that I recognized- I am sure there are more.
1. We called the Dr. when we did.
2. We chose to not drop that sign off at the friends house (a 15 minute detour)
3. Traffic was relativly light...sometimes it takes Dustin 45 minutes to go the route we went, it took us a little under 30.
4. The hospital was ready for us- I had heard that sometimes they might not have a room right and ready for you and you have to wait a bit.
5. He was sunny side up- the Dr. told me that if he had been facing normal he would have come on the freeway. He was slowed down due to his positioning.

We are so thankful to have little Rowe here with us and SO thankful that he was born in the hospital and not in the car!!! 



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