James is Home!

James is finally home! After being in the special care unit for 5 days it was such a relief to finally bring him home. At first he couldn't come home because of respiratory problems. After that was resolved they were concerned about his eating. Because he had been on an IV he hadn't really felt hungry and wasn't feeding very well. Luckily there was an amazing lactation consultant who gave me the confidence to nurse him even though the special care unit nurses acted like I was in their way. Every day they made a new feeding goal for him, but it was difficult because he didn't like the formula very much and I just wasn't able to be there all day long. Another problem with this was that the nurses put him on a feeding schedule that didn't match his needs. They were feeding him every 3 hours, but he would be hungry more frequently. By the time they fed him he was so upset that he wouldn't eat very much. This is when I started showing up for 4 feedings a day so I could make sure that he was getting what he needed. After that started improving he became very jaundice and so they wouldn't let him come home for that reason. It was very frustrating because every time we made some progress in one area, another problem would pop up. I was more active than I probably should have been and my healing has been very slow. We were finally able to bring James home on Father's Day, and while it's tiring taking care of a little newborn, I'm just so relieved to have him home.
I had a doctor's appointment last week to get checked out and get more pain meds. I have been in so much pain and the doctor figured out that a few stitches have come loose causing me extreme pain. He says that it should heal fine without having to get more stitches, but that it is going to hurt for the duration of the healing :( Sad news. I feel like I haven't made very much progress where my healing is concerned. It is very frustrating because I want to get on with life! I'd love to be able to take care of my apartment and be able to stand long enough to make a meal. I feel horrible relying on Paul so much. He works all day, then has to come home and do all the work around here because I can't get out of bed too much. :( Every day gets a little better. This week I have to James in for his 2 week checkup and circumcision. I'm not looking forward to it! Because his birth was traumatic, we decided to wait until his head wounds healed to circumcise him so his body wouldn't be dealing with so much pain at once. Still, it's going to be a VERY sad day!

Hi guys!

In the car on the way home.

Happy Father's Day!

Paul has been my strength this past week. I couldn't have married a better man. He stayed with me and saw some pretty horrifying things throughout labor (so I'm told). He was so supportive and loving during the whole 21 hours of hard labor. I saw the look of fear when I was hemorrhaging and when James wasn't doing so well. He was up when I was up. He was there for me when I had to leave my baby in the hospital to go home and every few hours he set an alarm and woke me up so that I could pump for the baby. He would have it all set up before even waking me. He drove me to the hospital multiple times a day so I could feed James. He made sure we had dinner every night and never complained once. He dealt with my constant emotional state while James was in the special care unit. I honestly couldn't ask for more. James came home on Father's day and what a great gift it was! So here's to Paul, the best husband and father of my son I could ask for.

Welcome James!

James Rodney Phalen

16 June 2009

8 pounds, 20 inches

My blood pressure didn't get any better. In fact, it got worse on bed rest. On Monday we had a doctor's appointment and it was decided that inducing immediately was best for the baby, even though he'd be 2 weeks early. So we got our bags together and headed to the hospital. We arrived at 5:30 and they put me on a medicine to make my cervix a little more ready for labor. The contractions got really bad, but I managed to get about 2 hours of sleep. By morning I was exhausted and was only 1.5 centimeters dilated, which was depressing considering all the cramping and inability to sleep. My doctor came in and broke my water around 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday and labor started progressing pretty rapidly. About 9:30 I couldn't handle it anymore and gave in and got an epidural. It apparently didn't work because half of my body didn't numb up...which proved quite unfortunate. By 11:00 I had dilated to 4. By 12:00 I had dilated to 6. And by 1:00 I had dilated to 9.5 and was ready to push shortly after. The anesthesiologist came down again and tried to numb me up...but it didn't work. Neither did the local anesthetic :( I pushed for 2 hours with Paul counting out the contractions. At this point they put me on pitocin to help speed the contractions up. The baby was in a posterior position, meaning that the back of his head lined up with my spine, making giving birth very difficult (having to fit through the pelvis and all). My doctor was finally able to turn him (this doesn't feel so good...at all!) and had to help me get him out with forceps. It was quite traumatic for all involved, but at 3:35 on June 16th (also Grandpa Willardson's birthday...only 90 years later) James Rodney Phalen made his entrance into the world weighing in at 8 pounds even, and 20 inches long.

After 21 hours of labor, the cord wrapped around his neck at birth, the meconeum in his lungs, bruises from the forceps, and the downright awfulness of being born, James is in the special care unit right now for monitoring. He wasn't breathing normally when he was born (almost hyperventilating), but he has shown a lot of progress. I was able to hold my sweet baby for the first time today! His head hurts so bad that whenever he is really moved he cries and cries. Today I happened to be there when they were giving him a dose of Tylenol and as soon as he heard my voice he got really quiet and tried to open his little eyes. So precious. I feel so bad for him, but he is looking SO much better today. His bruises are almost gone! He will probably have to be here for 2 more days because the nurses didn't start my antibiotic drip in time (I was tested positive for strep B and he was born sooner than they expected. Really they just want to make sure he gets all the antibodies possible) and so he is hooked up to antibiotics. I'm not looking forward to leaving him here tomorrow :(

My recovery is going to be slow. After delivery the doctor was fixing me up and because there were no pain meds that would work at the time I ended up losing consciousness and hemorrhaging pretty badly. They were actually looking for a blood match for a while there because it was so bad. This morning my doctor even suggested transfusion again because I've been shaking pretty horribly. We've figured out that I just need to eat more often as my body is trying to recover. Everyone here knows about me and they are always telling me that they heard how horrible a labor I had and that I've been a trooper, but I really don't feel like it. It's going to be a painful few weeks, but it's true what they say....that little baby makes it all worth it!

Bedrest...

I've been so swollen the past few weeks. It just kept getting worse and worse. I suspected that I may have high blood pressure because my swelling went far beyond normal and my vision has recently been interrupted with lots of black dots. Well, today I had a doctor's appointment and that was confirmed. I have preeclampsia. At first the nurse told me that I was going to be sent to be induced immediately. I totally started freaking out, bawling, making a scene, etc. I just kept thinking about how I hadn't packed my bag or done my dishes or my laundry. The doctor checked my progress only to discover that I'm only "a fingertip" dialated. Because of that he wasn't enthusiastic about inducing. He was on his way out the door to go camping for the weekend, so I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of giving birth without him there. He hooked me up to a fetal monitor for a half hour to monitor the baby's heart rate and did an ultrasound and checked the fluid surrounding the baby. The baby is fine, still going strong. He sent me to the hospital for some more testing and put me on bedrest until the baby is born. I have another appointment on Monday to check up on the baby again. If my tests come back with bad results (if my kidneys and liver aren't functioning 100%) then we will probably end up being induced Monday night. If the doctor thinks I can wait it out through bedrest then I'll wait until he comes on his own or we will end up inducing on my due date. I'm not thrilled about staying in bed for up to two weeks, but I have to do what is best for the baby and me.