The Collin Henry Story-Post Gestation

I'm going to just copy and paste the note I put up on Facebook! It pretty much summarizes our birth story! Then after that I'll give an update! :)




Hello All! First of all, I just want to thank everyone who is so sweet and kind to call/txt/FB me! I am seriously so grateful! It's a blessing to know that so many people are in support of me and my growing little family. I know a lot of you were probably expecting replies from the txts but I just didn't have the energy for it. After surgery I did really REALLY well. Actually. Ok! Let's just go ahead and start from the beginning. First of all, it was a GREAT thing that the car ride to the hospital was my last car ride being pregnant. It seriously about pushed me off edge. Every time I've dared get in a car this week, I've paid for soooo much. Mostly with back pain. But also a lot of pelvic pressure too. So, I was SO very happy when that car ride was over. haha! Once here, they got me right in, hooked up to monitors etc just to make sure C and I were doing good. My blood pressure was great and my blood sugars were slightly elevated, but that was probably due to the fact that I wasn't allowed to eat past midnight. The c-section that was ahead of me ran about an 1hr behind. So basically Theo and I just chilled out, cat napped and watched some tv. lol Then, it was really weird for me. But they made me walk to the O.R. Hahaha! Last time I was wheeled in on a bed. Anyways, they were all so nice. BIG difference in my last c-section. I sat myself up on the table. They gave me a spinal tap shot which worked AMAZINGLY!!! I was nervous about feeling pain, but I actually felt nothing. The only problems I had was at times it felt like I couldn't breath, and that was scary. They basically just spoke to me calmly and helped me breath slowly. Then I also dealt with a HUGE nausea episode! That was scary! It about sent me into a panic, but they gave me something for that and after that I was fine! I could feel as soon as they pulled Collin out! (No pain!) He cried RIGHT AWAY! I'm pretty sure he was mad at us for taking him out! LOL!!! I definitely cried this time around. I kept saying "Does he have hair?!?! Does he have hair?!?!" They brought him around so I could see! And YES!!!!!! He has curly dark brown hair! :) Maybe not as much as Isaiah has now, but he has a decent amount! I was SOOOO happy I was crying! LOL! They were all like "OMG! How much does he weigh?! He's huge! Weigh him!" LOL!!!! Yes....he was a whopping 9lbs 5oz! No wonder I had so much pain. It's not like we didn't know he was gonna be big though. But this means he basically beat his brother in weight. Isaiah was 9lbs 7oz at 40 weeks and Collin was 9lbs 5oz at a week earlier than that. haha! So chances are at 40...Collin would've been 10lbs. LOL! Anyways, so we still don't have a height measurment on him. They sucked as much water out as they could from his lungs, but he was only in the OR for maybe....5min...before they wisked him right away to the NICU. So......the deal is.....Collin's lungs apparently are a bit underdeveloped. He retained a lot of water in them and being that he wasn't delivered vaginally he really had no help to help squeeze it out. As soon as he was born the Pedatrician said she knew he was gonna struggle. Apparently he kept changing body colors really fast. So when they took him to their small NICU nursery they hooked him up to oxygen and this other thing that is supposed to coat the lungs with a soapiness so that it's easier for him to clear it out. The pediatrician was hoping he'd be better this morning, but she said it doesn't look like he's made much progress. There aren't many pictures because they let me kiss him and take a couple with our camera before they took him away, but ever since then he's been hooked up and in nursery. So no one's been able to hold him and I haven't been able to nurse. I'm pumping in the meantime which is REALLY hard! I just have colustrum and my pump isn't doing a very good job of getting much of that out. Though apparently that's normal. Right now Collin's getting fed through a tube. They can't keep his belly too full because then he gets worked up and can't clear out his lungs. Theo and I were definitely thrown a curve ball with this little guy. Just wasn't expecting it all. I was able to get up and go to the nursery (via wheelchair) later last night to see him. We can't even really touch him cause then he gets worked up and they said the key is to get him to stay calm. Apparently he's peeing and pooping well though! The Pediatrician says that he will be okay, but we just don't know how long it'll take for him to be okay. I'm struggling because I haven't been able to hold my baby. I think he needs it. I think he also needs the breast milk. BUT....I am pumping some and what I do pump...he gets. So that's good. In a bit here I'm going to try and get up move around and hopefully go see him again. Meanwhile I'm also taking advantage of this and sleeping. Which feels SOOOOOO much nicer since I'm not pregnant. LOL As far as my healing. The scar bled VERY little and they've already taken the bandage off. They say it looks good. I can't see it yet. LOL I don't appear to have any other issues. Blood sugars seem to be okay, but I'm still on an IV. I'm on an IV filled with I don't actually know what. hahaha! But I'm also allowed to eat. Yesterday because I was so exhausted, I fought to keep my eyes open, I didn't eat very much. Plus everything still felt a bit weird on the inside. LOL! But this morning I had a very big breakfast of sliced ham, scrambled eggs, cereal, peaches and an english muffin! It was actually good. LOL!!!! Theo so lovingly spent the night with me. He didn't get great sleep because the sofa bed thingy they have is....well....not the best. haha! But he's been helping take care of me! I love him! Yesterday I was also very emotional. I also started shaking REALLY bad for a good deal after the c-section. They said it was my hormone levels going wack cause all the sudden I wasn't pregnant any more. LOL That was annoying but they did give me something to help with that. I did fight nausea all day yesterday. But today I'm a LOT better! Mom is doing well with Isaiah at home. Isaiah hasn't met Collin yet because he's not allowed in the nursery. Well....I'm not positive he's not allowed, but we're not taking him in there. And like I said, we'd have more pictures if he wasn't hooked up to all the tubes and etc. We do have some on our camera, but I don't have my uploading cord with me. I might try and get that at some point. SO! That's what's going on! It feels VERY un-natural to have no held my baby yet. After he came out in the OR he was crying and as soon as they put his check to mine he stopped! Which made me cry more. LOL!!!! He was just the sweetest thing I've ever seen! I'm so in love! So anyways, right now, we're just relaxing as much as we can. Me? My main goal today is to drink drink drink, eat and sleep. And then pump! :) Hopefully see C-Man more than once today! But gotta take things slow. Still not feeling 100% but REALLY good! Stay tunned! :)


So the update! Collin is doing a lot better. He is off the "elephant nose" and barely on oxygen. What little colostrum I could pump out he's drank! :) YaY! I'm struggling to get anything at all out at this point. I just need him to nurse. But he can't nurse until he stabilizes off oxygen. He's on very little as it is...but he's still on it. So he can't nurse. He's also tongue tied which is something we'll have to take up with his Pediatrician who's out of town til Monday. LOL! Anyways, tonight was my last night here. Unless miracles will happen and they'll let me stay a 4th night. I'm struggling to manage my pain. I want them to switch my medicine entirely. But so far they won't do it. I hate being in pain and spent the majority of yesterday sleeping. I'm tired of this hospital bed. It's not the most comfortable thing in the world. Anyways, they'll probably make me discharge today. Thankfully the nursery is open 24/7 so I can hang around in the hospital lounges and stuff and visit Collin. I don't think I'm emotionally capable of leaving Collin at the hospital while I go home. I just don't think at this point I can do it. What we really need is for him to get off oxygen. Once he's off that if he stabilizes for 24hrs after that he's pretty much free to go home. So basically that's what we're waiting for. He does so well when I hold him, but he's also on the biliruben blanket. So I can't hold him for long. He needs to stay on the blanket as much as possible to bring those levels down. So it's just a slow process. I'm afraid Theo's 10 days of leave will run out and we won't have any family time at home. :( Theo's spent a lot of time at the hospital with me. So that's nice. Last night he went home though. I think he needed some good sleep. Isaiah is happily hanging out with his GranMommy at home. Isaiah finally did get to meet his brother yesterday (9-10-11)for the first time. He touched his fingers and toes. And looked at him weird when Collin started crying. LOL!!!! The funnier thing was that Isaiah was WAY more interested in the other baby in the room. Who was tinnier and asleep. It was another boy. But Collin who was wide awake Isaiah didn't seem interested in hardly at all. It was pretty amusing. So anyways....that's the update. I'm just taking things as they come. Trying to stay positive.