Today Walker turned 5 years old. Hard to believe that it has really been 5 yrs since we brought our tiny just under 6 pound baby home.
I wanted to share some then & now photos along with his birth story that I copied from our private blog. This was posted a few days after we got home.
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"I was so drugged up at times I may not remember everything. As I talk to people that were there and to Darin I'll add more things as I can remember them."
As of my appointment Monday the 21st I was already having contractions and dilated to 3 cm. I was put on medication to stop the contractions and that same night had the strongest contractions I'd felt so far. I was also shaking uncontrollably the medication just seemed to make things worse. So Tuesday morning I went back to the Dr and she took me off of them. They put me on a machine to measure contractions and I was told they had stopped. After we left I continued to have contractions off and on Tuesday night and Wednesday. I was told to not worry until they were 5-6 minutes apart. I was only having them 15-20 minutes apart or so I thought.
Thursday the 24th & early morning Friday the 25th
I woke up Thursday feeling odd but no worse than the bast few days as the day progressed the feeling got stronger and stronger. As of Thursday night I was having pretty strong contractions but told Darin to go ahead to work if they got worse I'd let him know. Even though I was still timing the contraction between 15 and 20 minutes apart I had a strong feeling we needed to go to the hospital so at 1:15 am Friday morning we were off. We checked in at 1:30 am (As of 1:30 am I had been up since Thursday morning at 6 am and Darin had been up since about 5 PM.) and I was put on the contraction monitor. It showed I was having contractions 3-5 minutes apart already I just couldn't feel them. They took my blood pressure and found out it was 170 over 134 I was immediately put on blood pressure monitors, I was then told I had developed preeclampsia. They hooked me up to three Iv's magnesium for the blood pressure, given antibiotics since they did not have my Group B strep test back, pitocin to help induce stronger more frequent contractions and a saline drip to help with dehydration. I was also told I needed to have him within 24 hours or I would have to have a c-section as my body was treating him as a toxin. After we were settled in I had Darin give DeAnna a call and let her know I was here. She showed up around 2:30 am. The medication they had me on was making me drowsy so I was in and out of it until about 7 am. I asked Darin to give Cody a call so that I could have a blessing. Cody was able to come around 8:30am. I was doing fine until they came in and broke my water around 9 am, that was the most intense pain out of everything that I had felt so far. They also inserted a catheter which was very painfull. I was completely exhausted from lack of sleep and zonked out shortly after that. I woke up around 1 PM to find I was already 6 cm dilated and 80% effaced. The pain was manageable but getting a little more intense with the pitocin. Around 2:30 PM the gave me a low dose epidural to help lower my blood pressure even more as both of our pressures were staying high. The epidural didn't hurt as badly as I thought it would and not near as bad as getting my waters broken. The hardest thing was I started having really strong fast contractions and had to sit up and be still during them while he was inserting the tube. Again I was knocked out due to the medication and epidural. After about two hours I woke up to a nurse saying I needed to have an oxygen mask on and that they had to take me off the pitocin and lower the dose of epidural because his heart rate became irregular. Around 6:30 PM they put me back on the pitocin and I was able to take off the mask. They also gave me another shot of epidural. I continued laboring like that until 10:30 PM Friday night. At that time I reached a 10 and felt the urge to push. My nurse & midwife were great and allowed me to push when I wanted instead of telling me when to. After almost an hour Walker was born at 11:22 PM
Friday August 25.
He weighed 6 pounds and was 19-1/2 inches long. We were able to take pictures and have him with us for about an hour. Darin's sister Rebekah was able to see him for a few minutes before he was taken to the intensive care part of the nursery. Since he was born 4 weeks to the day premature and due to that had a few problems in the beginning. He had fluid in his lungs and was not able to breath right. He was put in an oxygen hood and had a fluid IV, he also was hooked up to heart and lung monitors, temperature monitors and blood pressure monitors. Darin was allowed to come and go in the nursery that night and see him as much as he wanted. I was only allowed to see him for a few minutes as they did not want me out of bed. I was still hooked up to my Iv's as well as a catheter, my blood pressure was still very high and I was put on bedrest.
Saturday the 26th
I was not able to see him much Saturday but Darin was able to spend lots of time with him. Walker had to have a feeding tub put in through his nose (if his breathing wasn't strong enough he had to be feed through the tube, if it was he could get a bottle). But he was able to get off the oxygen. We had a few visitors, Mom, Kim & Josh came. They were only allowing the grandparents in to see him as long as one of us was with them but they made an exception for Kim & Josh. Darin took them in one at a time to see him. They were not able to pick him up but at least they were able to see him. Shane & Sarah also came out to visit. It was nice to have the company. Later on Kim & Mom came back an brought Aries to see his new cousin. He was very excited. Also We were told that if Walker ate well and had no problems tonight he would be able to come in with us tomorrow.
Sunday the 27th
Well we were not able to bring him inot our room with us as he developed Jaundice and had to be put under the jaundice lights. This was also the day I was able to take my Iv's and catater out. I was so thankfull. Now that I could get up and move more I spent a lot more time over by Walker. Sunday mornign was also the first day since he as taken to the nursery tht we were able to hold him and feed him. We were only able to hold him for a little while since he had to be put under the lights but we were able to come back later and feed him a bottle. We also had more visitors as Nana & Sandy brought grandma to see her new great-great-grandson. Darin was even able to take both Nana and Grandma in one at a time to see him. Papa and Jan came out to visit for a lttle while as well.
Monday the 28th
When his pediatricin came in this morning she said he did really well last night and took him off the monitors and if he continues to do well when she gets back this afternoon he will be able to stay in our room with us. We were so excited. Also I had been officially realeased and They were letting me stay on as a border. Visitors really helped pass the time, Cody & Jennifer stoped by with Sam and than that afternoon Barbara & Gary and sister Walker stoped by to visit. When Dr Patterson cam back she said he did really well all day! They took out all his tubes and we were finally able to have him with us for the night. The nurses only came in twice at both shift changes. The nigt went very well. Up every 3 hours to feed him and change him. He was a very clam relaxed baby.
Tuesday the 29th
Dr Patterson cleared us to go home today! The only problem was he still had a small case of jaundice but his numbers are borderline. We have to come back in the morning for more blood work for his jaundice and will find out the results at our first doctors appointment. So all we had to do now was wait on Walker to have his picture taken and to get the paperwork. We left the hospital around 11 am. I was so good to be home fianlly after 5 long days.
He is doing great and is really strong and healthy just smaller than your average newborn. We are home now and he is napping and things are fine.So now our family of two has become three and we couldn't be happier. We have had a pretty exhausting weekend and are extremely glad to be home. Both Walker and I have been able to relax more now that we are here.
I wanted to share some then & now photos along with his birth story that I copied from our private blog. This was posted a few days after we got home.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I was so drugged up at times I may not remember everything. As I talk to people that were there and to Darin I'll add more things as I can remember them."
As of my appointment Monday the 21st I was already having contractions and dilated to 3 cm. I was put on medication to stop the contractions and that same night had the strongest contractions I'd felt so far. I was also shaking uncontrollably the medication just seemed to make things worse. So Tuesday morning I went back to the Dr and she took me off of them. They put me on a machine to measure contractions and I was told they had stopped. After we left I continued to have contractions off and on Tuesday night and Wednesday. I was told to not worry until they were 5-6 minutes apart. I was only having them 15-20 minutes apart or so I thought.
Thursday the 24th & early morning Friday the 25th
I woke up Thursday feeling odd but no worse than the bast few days as the day progressed the feeling got stronger and stronger. As of Thursday night I was having pretty strong contractions but told Darin to go ahead to work if they got worse I'd let him know. Even though I was still timing the contraction between 15 and 20 minutes apart I had a strong feeling we needed to go to the hospital so at 1:15 am Friday morning we were off. We checked in at 1:30 am (As of 1:30 am I had been up since Thursday morning at 6 am and Darin had been up since about 5 PM.) and I was put on the contraction monitor. It showed I was having contractions 3-5 minutes apart already I just couldn't feel them. They took my blood pressure and found out it was 170 over 134 I was immediately put on blood pressure monitors, I was then told I had developed preeclampsia. They hooked me up to three Iv's magnesium for the blood pressure, given antibiotics since they did not have my Group B strep test back, pitocin to help induce stronger more frequent contractions and a saline drip to help with dehydration. I was also told I needed to have him within 24 hours or I would have to have a c-section as my body was treating him as a toxin. After we were settled in I had Darin give DeAnna a call and let her know I was here. She showed up around 2:30 am. The medication they had me on was making me drowsy so I was in and out of it until about 7 am. I asked Darin to give Cody a call so that I could have a blessing. Cody was able to come around 8:30am. I was doing fine until they came in and broke my water around 9 am, that was the most intense pain out of everything that I had felt so far. They also inserted a catheter which was very painfull. I was completely exhausted from lack of sleep and zonked out shortly after that. I woke up around 1 PM to find I was already 6 cm dilated and 80% effaced. The pain was manageable but getting a little more intense with the pitocin. Around 2:30 PM the gave me a low dose epidural to help lower my blood pressure even more as both of our pressures were staying high. The epidural didn't hurt as badly as I thought it would and not near as bad as getting my waters broken. The hardest thing was I started having really strong fast contractions and had to sit up and be still during them while he was inserting the tube. Again I was knocked out due to the medication and epidural. After about two hours I woke up to a nurse saying I needed to have an oxygen mask on and that they had to take me off the pitocin and lower the dose of epidural because his heart rate became irregular. Around 6:30 PM they put me back on the pitocin and I was able to take off the mask. They also gave me another shot of epidural. I continued laboring like that until 10:30 PM Friday night. At that time I reached a 10 and felt the urge to push. My nurse & midwife were great and allowed me to push when I wanted instead of telling me when to. After almost an hour Walker was born at 11:22 PM
Friday August 25.
He weighed 6 pounds and was 19-1/2 inches long. We were able to take pictures and have him with us for about an hour. Darin's sister Rebekah was able to see him for a few minutes before he was taken to the intensive care part of the nursery. Since he was born 4 weeks to the day premature and due to that had a few problems in the beginning. He had fluid in his lungs and was not able to breath right. He was put in an oxygen hood and had a fluid IV, he also was hooked up to heart and lung monitors, temperature monitors and blood pressure monitors. Darin was allowed to come and go in the nursery that night and see him as much as he wanted. I was only allowed to see him for a few minutes as they did not want me out of bed. I was still hooked up to my Iv's as well as a catheter, my blood pressure was still very high and I was put on bedrest.
Saturday the 26th
I was not able to see him much Saturday but Darin was able to spend lots of time with him. Walker had to have a feeding tub put in through his nose (if his breathing wasn't strong enough he had to be feed through the tube, if it was he could get a bottle). But he was able to get off the oxygen. We had a few visitors, Mom, Kim & Josh came. They were only allowing the grandparents in to see him as long as one of us was with them but they made an exception for Kim & Josh. Darin took them in one at a time to see him. They were not able to pick him up but at least they were able to see him. Shane & Sarah also came out to visit. It was nice to have the company. Later on Kim & Mom came back an brought Aries to see his new cousin. He was very excited. Also We were told that if Walker ate well and had no problems tonight he would be able to come in with us tomorrow.
Sunday the 27th
Well we were not able to bring him inot our room with us as he developed Jaundice and had to be put under the jaundice lights. This was also the day I was able to take my Iv's and catater out. I was so thankfull. Now that I could get up and move more I spent a lot more time over by Walker. Sunday mornign was also the first day since he as taken to the nursery tht we were able to hold him and feed him. We were only able to hold him for a little while since he had to be put under the lights but we were able to come back later and feed him a bottle. We also had more visitors as Nana & Sandy brought grandma to see her new great-great-grandson. Darin was even able to take both Nana and Grandma in one at a time to see him. Papa and Jan came out to visit for a lttle while as well.
Monday the 28th
When his pediatricin came in this morning she said he did really well last night and took him off the monitors and if he continues to do well when she gets back this afternoon he will be able to stay in our room with us. We were so excited. Also I had been officially realeased and They were letting me stay on as a border. Visitors really helped pass the time, Cody & Jennifer stoped by with Sam and than that afternoon Barbara & Gary and sister Walker stoped by to visit. When Dr Patterson cam back she said he did really well all day! They took out all his tubes and we were finally able to have him with us for the night. The nurses only came in twice at both shift changes. The nigt went very well. Up every 3 hours to feed him and change him. He was a very clam relaxed baby.
Tuesday the 29th
Dr Patterson cleared us to go home today! The only problem was he still had a small case of jaundice but his numbers are borderline. We have to come back in the morning for more blood work for his jaundice and will find out the results at our first doctors appointment. So all we had to do now was wait on Walker to have his picture taken and to get the paperwork. We left the hospital around 11 am. I was so good to be home fianlly after 5 long days.
He is doing great and is really strong and healthy just smaller than your average newborn. We are home now and he is napping and things are fine.So now our family of two has become three and we couldn't be happier. We have had a pretty exhausting weekend and are extremely glad to be home. Both Walker and I have been able to relax more now that we are here.
Then
and now (before school)
after having his birthday dinner
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