Sunday July 22nd at 32 weeks 1 day into this pregnancy, Sophia and I got up early and headed out to watch daddy do a triathlon near downtown Nashville. It was pretty warm and muggy, so we mostly hung out in the shade. I told Nick afterward that I felt like I had done the triathlon myself. I think the heat kind of got to me, and I was exhausted from not sleeping well the 2 nights before. So the rest of the day I tried to take it easy and drank tons of fluids. I felt ok the rest of the day and was looking forward to hitting the sack early. I was kind of uncomfortable that evening as we ate dinner and watched TV, but this was becoming a common occurrence in the evenings during this pregnancy. About 9pm, I got myself ready for bed and was reading a book on my iPad. Nick passed out quickly as he had had a long day as well. About 9:30 I started to have crampy pain similar to contractions that I had with Sophia, but I had begun to have these occasionally at night as I went to bed, and usually it was just one or two and then subsided. This time, though, they were coming frequently, and were more painful than others I had during this pregnancy. I started to watch the clock and time these, because unfortunately this is pretty much what happened with Sophia who was born at 32 weeks 3 days. The contractions were coming about 5 minutes apart despite drinking water, changing position, etc. I got up and went in the bathroom and started getting some thing together, because I knew that I would need to go to the hospital to get checked out. I woke Nick up around 10:30 and told him I thought we needed to head to the hospital. Sophia was sound asleep and of course, because I was trying to be optimistic about this pregnancy going full term, I had just begun to think about arrangements that I would make for Sophia especially in a scenario like this where we would have to go to the hospital in the middle of the night. We called Eric and May, friends of ours who live down the street, but didn't get an answer and just decided to take Sophia with us to the hospital and then try to make arrangements there if indeed I was going to be admitted and have to stay.
In the car ride, the contractions became a little more painful. We got to Labor and Delivery about 11pm and got settled into triage. The contractions were becoming stronger and stronger, and by the time I was checked at midnight, I was already dilated to 4cm. After being told this, I did not have high hopes that they would be able to stop the labor. With Sophia, I was 1 cm when I was first checked and I received Magnesium Sulfate to try to stop the labor, but I ended up having her a little under 24 hours later. Given that I was 4cm, I didn't even think I would be able to get the Magnesium, but they were trying to get it ordered just to try. I got moved to a labor and delivery room and by this time the contractions were very frequent and painful. Nick got in touch with Eric who was on call at the hospital and May ended up coming and getting Sophia from the hospital and took her home when we knew this baby was definitely coming. When I hadn't gotten the Mag yet, and the contractions were becoming unbearable, I pretty much told the staff that we could probably forget the Magnesium and maybe we should call anesthesia so I could get an epidural because I was pretty sure this baby was coming soon! By the time anesthesia got there, the contractions were one after the other and terribly painful and as I was sitting up getting the epidural, I was having tons of pressure. I kept telling everyone that I was pretty sure that I was at 9 or 10cms even though I was at 4 only an hour before. I figured they just thought I was an exaggerating/complaining woman in labor, but sure enough, when the epidural was done, they checked me and I was 10cm and complete...it was time to have this baby. My water hadn't broken yet, and they were going to just let it break naturally, but the baby's heart rate was starting to drop during contractions and they figured that the cord was wrapped around its neck, so they decided to break my water then so that we could have this baby. They broke my water, and 3 pushes later little Watson Stewart Miller was born at 1:36am, July 23rd!
We didn't know the sex of the baby this time around, and I had been feeling boy in the last few weeks, but you never know. When he was born, he didn't cry immediately , and Nick and I were waiting for that first cry before we even thought to look down and see if we had a boy or a girl. After a few seconds, he let out a good wail, and then we focused our attention elsewhere, and sure enough, he was a little boy!
The NICU team was in the room, and they grabbed him quickly to do their assessment. I could hear him crying and knew that was a good sign. Because I progressed so quickly, I didn't have time to get the steroid injections that they normally give to help the premature babies lungs mature. With Sophia I did get these even though the first had to be given a little early. The neonatologist spoke to us quickly and told us that he was retracting and grunting a little bit, and that they would get a chest x-ray and would be giving him a dose of surfactant which helps to expand the lungs. They have to give the surfactant through an endotracheal tube, but she told us that they would just put it in, give the dose, and then remove it. She told us that they would put him on a CPAP machine which gives positive pressure air through his nose to help expand the lungs, and they wouldn't intubate him unless he needed a second dose of surfactant. She also made the comment that we were clearly NICU veterans, because we were way too calm! Nick and I weren't taking anything for granted, and knew that things could still go wrong, but we were so impressed with the Vandy NICU team the last time, that we knew our little guy couldn't be in better hands.
It was 4:30am by the time I got cleaned up, moved to another room, and Nick and I were able to make it over to the NICU to get a better look at our little guy. It was definitely like deja vu walking into that same room where Sophia spent the first week of her life. Watson is on the opposite end of the room, so at least we have a little change of scenery!
He looked great, he was very pink, and the nurse told us that they had already weaned the oxygen completely off on the CPAP, so now it was just providing room air, but with some pressure to expand the lungs. She also told us that they would try to take him off the CPAP later in the day...great news!
He looks a lot like his big sister did with a head full of dark hair. The CPAP machine was covering his nose, but I thought he had Sophia's mouth. He's also bigger than Sophia was weighing in at 4lbs 13oz and 2 inches longer than Sophia at 18in. He's actually huge compared to lots of the other babies in the NICU.
At about noon yesterday, they removed the CPAP, and though they were initially going to put him on a little bit of nasal cannula oxygen, when they took the CPAP off, he was satting 100%, so they decided to just leave him off of oxygen all together. He did great basically at 100% all day on room air, so hopefully the breathing difficulties are over and we can work on the next order of business!
Sorry this was quite long winded...have to find something to do during a 4am pumping session! I'll try to keep up the blog like I did with Sophia because it is a much easier way to get everyone caught up to speed without having to send out multiple emails to family and friends. Keep us in your prayers as we hope for another fairly uneventful NICU stay!
P.S I just noticed when I previewed this that it didn't separate my paragraphs. I typed this from my IPad, and it must be a little hiccup. Sorry because it makes it hard to read particularly since I blabbed so much! Also, I can't seem to add a picture. I'll try to do the rest of the posts from our computer and I'll be sure to add some pics!
