Graham's Birth Story {part 2}

Happy Thursday! looks like after today we've made it to the long weekend!

Part 2 of Graham's birth story is not nearly as easy as part 1 was!

Right after Graham was born he was placed on my chest for a few minutes. He was then taken by a nurse to be cleaned up and have his APGAR scores done. Once this was done they wrapped him up and put him back on my chest. As we were snuggling I realized that it sounded like he was grunting to breathe. I didn't remember Jack doing this so I asked the nurse if it was normal. She took him from me to listen to his breathing. It was determined that he was having some trouble breathing on his own and they decided that the NICU doctor needed to be called to come assess him.

right after they told me they needed to take him to the NICU

At this point I'm starting to freak out a little bit but decided to wait to hear what the doctor said. I really assumed that he would come in listen to his breathing and tell me it was completely normal and we would move to the recovery room and go about our night. I'm not exactly sure of everything that happened next, the doctor came in, listened to him and then started rambling on and on about every worse case scenario that could happen.

I was group B strep positive and did not have the full 4 rounds of IV antibiotics so at one point I remember the doctor saying something about a possible infection among a million other things...not exactly what a new mom who just had a baby 30 minutes ago wants to hear. It was right about now that I burst into tears and began to sob uncontrollably...hello hormones!

It all happened very quick...one minute he was in my arms and the next he was being prepared to be taken down to the NICU for observation. I asked if Patrick could walk with him down there and they told me no...er...say what? Patrick was trying to gather all of the information he could from the doctor.  meanwhile I am a basket case thinking the worst case scenario. {he's always so good like that..the calm, cool, and collected one!}

The wheeled Graham out of the room and started to get me ready to be moved to the recovery room. My wonderful nurse reassured me that he would be just fine and most likely back in our room in a couple hours. She told me a lot of baby boys that are born early have what is known as "whimpy white boy syndrome" where they are lazy breathers. I decided to trust what she was saying and pulled myself together.

We got back settled in our room and my epidural began to wear off. By this time I was itching to get down to the NICU to check on Graham. Once the epidural wore off we were able to go down there. I really had no idea what to expect. We got down to Grahams little pod and he was in one of those baby incubator things. He had wires all over him and a breathing tub under his nose taped down over his cheeks. He looked so tiny and helpless. We weren't allowed to take him out but could stick our hands through those little openings and touch him.

I have to say the NICU nurses are the best nurses around. They are so sweet and attentive and answered all my millions of questions that I'm sure were quite ridiculous to them. They told me that he was starting to breath better. They had begin to treat him for a possible infection but it would take 48 hours to know for sure if he had it or not. They were treating regardless...thankfully after 48 hours the test were negative and there was no infection! The nurse told me he would probably be back in our room at least by morning if not middle of the night. I said to bring him down whenever they were ready!

We went back to our room to try and sleep...ha. This is a joke..I was an emotional wreck that I didn't have my baby with me by my side. I asked the nurse for something to help me sleep. I'm thankful I did because I was able to get a somewhat good nights sleep...for a hospital, and being 6 hours post partum.

We woke up that next morning...still no Graham. We quickly ate some breakfast and went down to the NICU. I was missing my baby!  More of the same from the night before. No one could give us a definite answer as to when he would be able to leave the NICU but that it was nothing serious. I guess they were still monitoring his breathing and wanting to make sure he would tolerate feeds. This continued all day Thursday...and again on Friday. By this point it was Friday morning and I was going to be discharged....cue the tears, again! It was not in my plan to leave the hospital without my babe. After a lot of back and fourth between us and the nurses and the doctors it was decided that Graham could be moved from the NICU to the Special Care Nursery where they would treat him for jaundice and continue to monitor him. After more tears from me {shocking I know} Patrick and I decided that we would go home for the night to get a good nights sleep. This was the best decision we could have made for my mental health. We had wonderful nurses in the SCN and they gave me the direct line to their desk if I wanted to call at any point.

This was Halloween and the sweet SCN nurses bought all the babies these onesies..this was a NB size and he was swimming in it

This continued on Saturday and again on Sunday. By this point we were all ready to be home. I was missing Jack {and missed halloween with him} and wanted to bring Graham home so we could finally be a family of 4. Thankfully by Sunday afternoon Graham's levels were good and we were discharged! {cue the choirs singing!} We got home that evening and finally were able to see Jack and introduce him to his new baby brother. It was the sweetest introduction and my heart melted right then and there.

And then on Tuesday we ended up back in the hospital! {Insert crying emoji face here} His jaundice levels went back up. We spent another 2 days here and finally on November 5th {Jacks 2nd birthday} we brought Graham home for good!

It definitely was not the birth plan that I had ever envisioned but with the help of some amazing nurses it was not nearly as traumatic as it could have been. We are blessed to have a happy and healthy baby whom we couldn't imagine life without!

I know that this was a long post but there are so many details from that first week that I wanted to write down. While some things I would love to forget, I will be happy to have this to look back on and remember what exactly we went through to have our tiny babe here with us!