Call me the swaddle king

Hey everyone, I'm super bored right now.  Laura is up and about and Micah is getting better. We've been given the ok to nurse Micah. It took her a while to finally get him to latch but thanks to that awesome nurse who has been caring for Micah he's nursing like a pro, if for some reason it were some type of profession. Laura and I both spent the night at the hospital last night so she could feed him every 3 hours. We got news today that Micah should finish his last round of antibiotics on Friday evening and will be discharged right after. That's great news! No one wants to be in a hospital longer than needed.

Let me just add that Micah is the perfect little baby boy. I know he has just been in our lives for a few days but amazingly he is not a cryer! He cries a little when he is being bothered like when we change his diaper, and take his temperature but as soon as we finish he stops and that's pretty much it. When he wants to let us know that he needs something he just lets out a series of little baby grunts. Kind of like he wants to establish a new form of communication that only we know and understand. Once I learn it, I'll be able to teach the dogs and we'll be set.

Since this whole trip caught us totally off guard we were totally unprepared. We had a few changes of clothes, and that's pretty much it. After the second day at the hospital we knew we were going to have to make a trip back home. We needed clothes, snacks, and some kind of entertainment. So early this morning around 7 am we made a quick trip home for a quick grab and go to be back in time to feed Micah. Let me just say I have the best family in the world! All of them (led by my sister) got the house ready for our arrival. They were apparently hoping  we would be discharged today and knocked out a some house chores I'd been meaning to tackle for a few weeks/days. They changed the air filters, washed some clothes, set up the pack&play, and even hid the cables running down the wall-mounted tv in the living room. Seriously, THEY HID THE CABLES!!! That's just amazing. I wanted to go back and sneak Micah back home.

I love them all. I would never tell them directly because my family doesn't show those weaknesses, but I do love them.

So I'm having a conversation with my brother; updating him on Micah and he asks "So did you give him the "snip snip" down there?" I didn't understand him at first but once I did said "Oooooohhhh, not yet dude, I don't know, what do you think?" As if leaving the fate of my son's prepuce for my brother to decide. He says "I don't know dude, let him be like the Europeans, just free-ranging it." I have no idea what that meant but then he adds "He'll be just like Gerard Butler!". By this point, I'm just plain confused and say "How does this have anything to do with Gerard Butler?" He says "Well he's European, and the girls like him. They also like the guys from One Direction." And that ladies and gentlemen is a typical conversation with my brother. 

Free-ranginn, ya hear me?  FREE-RANGING!

And just to end on a positive note, I am now the self proclaimed swaddle king. I've been steadily observing the nurses swaddle and I now can swaddle Micah into the most beautiful cocoon. I just have to be careful that I don't swaddle him to perfectly that he stays in there, grows wings, and then flys away forever. 

Stuck in the NICU.

Hey ya'll it's Paula Deen! I actually don't know why I wrote that. We're stuck in the NICU with Micah in a very country area so Laura says that I've been talking in a country accent for some reason. I was reading over my last post this morning and proof reading some errors when I realized that I didn't really write much about Micah. It might get a little graphic, so if your grossed out by the human anatomy then you might want to grow up. 

I had read sometime ago that a baby's skull is actually in peices and when they're born they're heads are shaped like cones so they don't destroy their mommy's while coming out. Well during Laura birth, as she was pushing the top of his little cone head was coming out and I remember thinking that Micah was going to be a small little thing. I was even worried that he was a bit premature; he was so small. But once his head came out I was like "whoa!" As soon as he was pulled out, the midwives places him on Laura for the skin to skin contact with him mom and that ms when everyone cried. Laura mentioned that at that moment the pain disapeared and she just want to hold him to her. After a few minutes he was cleaned a little, weighed and measure. He was 8.2 lbs and 21 inches long. Micah has so much hair! Most people who have seen his picture comment on that first thing. This kid is ready for his first hair cut and a trip to the barber shop for a straight blade shave. He has the sideburns I waited until I was about 14 to grow in. 

He definitely has my nose and mouth. But we're not sure on the eyes. He's still a little swollen so they might change. I think he might have his mommy's squinty eyes. What do you guys think?

I mentioned in my last post that he had inhaled a little bit of meconium resulting in needing to be transported to a NICU in hickory. Meconium stays in the lungs and has to be absorbed by the body. Its toxic so they told us he would have to have either a 2 day or 7 day round of antibiotics depending on his recovery time. Micah is making very good progress and has brought his respiratory rate down significantly, it's still high but better. His doesn't need any oxygen assistance anymore so we were optimistic. Well today the doctors informed us that because of his still high respiratory rate and after looking at X-rays of his lungs they saw that he still has some dark spots in certain areas that they would like to monitor and treat him for 7 days. He's better and hasn't developed a respiratory infection but more antibiotics and monitoring won't hurt. Another great sign if progress is that Laura can now feed him. Before he was getting all his nutrients through an IV. But now were working trying to breast feed him or should I say Laura is, I'm not breast feeding anyone. The nurse attending us at night has been a blessing! She is a great person all together. They're all great but you can tell in the details that this one cares. We stepped out to eat and she didn't know if we were coming back so she gave him his first little bath and had him swaddled and sleeping when we came back. Anyways I'll keep you guys updated of any new news. I'll have plenty of time since we'll be here until next Saturday. Anyone have any good netflix suggestions?

At last!

So after 41 weeks of pregnancy, Micah is finally here. What an amazing array of emotions labor is. I've never gone from feeling so sad and helpless to happy and ecstatic and then back to disappointed and helpless. Let me explain.

First off, I literally had about 3 or 4 unpublished post that I never finished. They made for a good read but are kinda obsolete now considering that Micah is here. One talked about home renovations and feelings of impatience, another one talked about Micah being the last baby standing or in another words being the only one of a group of babies due at the same time to not be born and About getting my jump bag ready. I probably mentioned something about impatience there too. 

The last few weeks were so hectic and suspenseful that I could never finish a blog post. The due date came and went while we sat there twiddling our thumbs. But finally Thursday morning Laura woke me up saying "I don't want to freak you out or anything but I've had 4 strong contractions about 15 min apart." They weren't too painful so she called her midwife and was told to call if they got more frequent and or painful. They didn't, So I went to work that day checking my phone every 10 seconds waiting for "the call" that never came. The contractions would die down and become further apart so we knew something was going to happen but just didn't know when. I took Laura on a few walks to the mall and Ikea to try and hurry along any signs of pregnancy. The next morning Laura woke me up to tell me that she was having really painful 1 minute contraction about every 10 minuntes. Painful enough to wake her up from her sleep. Just to make sure it wasnt another false alarm she got up and showered while I packed the car. The contractions continued and each one seemed to be stronger than the one before. I decided to make our way to the birthing center and if she wasnt ready to be admitted, at least we would be in the vecinity of the center in case THINGS GOT REAL.

I think I forgot to mention before that we decided to switch our birthing facility from Carolina Maternity Center in Ft. Mill to Natural Begginings in Statesville. CMC had their licensed revoked for reasons still under investigation and we had to find somewhere else to deliver. The facility in Statesville was 40 minutes away from our house on a good day, on a bad one, about an hour and a half. Heading up there around 8:15, up I-77N on a friday, at the beginning of a  workday? I was preparing for the worst traffic and was shocked to not have to stop at all! We made it there in about 40 min and I quickly walked Laura in to get measured. She was dialated at 3cm. There I learned that they would like for you to be 4-5 cm dialated to be admitted, 6-7 if you want to try to contract in a birthing pool, and 10 to start pushing. This was all aroud 9 am. This midwife recommended we go have breakfast, than go for a walk at a park or a mall then come back later when it got hard to walk. There was a mall about a mile away with an IHOP so we figured we would kill to birds with one stone. I ate my breakfast fine but looked up to see that my poor wife could barely take a bite out of her food, not because of the contractions but to nerves. I was fine though, I looked across the table and said....

After we were done we walked around the mall for about another 2 hours, where we met with my in-laws. Around that time the contractions got painful to the point that's Laura could not walk anymore. So we decided to make our way back to the birthing center. After another measurment Laura was 4.5 cm dialated and was admitted. We chose a birthing room and settled in, preparing for what was to come. I walked around putting our gamplan into play, lighting lavender oils, and texting friends and family to let them know we were getting ready for the big day. By now the time was around 12:30 pm.

Now what happened over the next lets say 8 hours is pretty much a blur. To pretty much sum it up let's just say that laura switched to various positions while she contracted every 2-3 minutes. Her friend, Sister and I took turns holding her hand and rubbing her lower back trying to soothe the pain while each contraction got stronger and over-powering. Now I like to think I have a sense of humor and I like to make jokes on this blog hoping to pull a chuckle from all of you but on a serious note. Every man I've ever talked to has said that he broke down and cried when their wife gave birth. I don't cry. I probably have not shed a tear in about a good 15 years.So going into this I had a mind set of "Challenge Accepted!" I felt I wasn't going to cry. And I did pretty good up until about the 8th hour of  her being admitted. Her and I were sitting in a dark bathroom. I was holding her hand while her contractions kept coming minute after minute without letting up. Just as one would mellow out and a stronger one would take its place she cried "No, no, no, just make it stop. I don't think I can do this anymore." And right at the moment she opened her eyes for a brief second, looked at me and said " Baby, just make the pain go away..." That pierced me deep and I looked down and away while my eyes instantly watered and teared. A few hours later while she was on her back and finally pushing she would push and make progress, but the physical and mental exhaustion beyond what anyone could handle. She would put her head back and say "I can't anymore, I just can't". But somehow she mustered up the stregnth for one more push, and then one more after that.

In both those occasions the feeling of being absolutely helpless ate at me. I make a living by fixing peoples problems. One fire captain once said that when firefighters show up and you dont know what your problem is, We'll make one for you just so we can fix it! So finding myself in a situation where I could do nothing at all to fix the problem, and worse for the person whose it mattered the most killed me. So Yea, I shed some tears, a few but they were there. If you Sir don't or didn't she's any at the birth of your child then I want to shake your hand and ask you more about what it's like to have no heart.

The whole labour surprised me in many ways. The experience as a whole is nothing like what I imagined. And the moment Micah was born there was not a dry eye in the room. My wife was amazing. She pulled of a 15 hour natural labour. Deep down inside, I imagined her weak pain tolerance would make her change her mind fast about going natural but she carried on through it like a champ. Other people's reaction's were pretty surprising too. My Sister in law and one of Laura's best friends were of great support. Wether it was holding her hand, fetching towels and rubbing her back they were on it. I honestly thought that (and please dont hate me you two) they would be an overwhelming nusiance. But they did great. My sister and My mom pulled it together too. My sister refused to go into the birthing room once the pushing started because she refused to see Laura naked because the labours she's seen have apparently been carried out in victorian dresses. 

Okay Dutchesses, PUSH PUSH PUSH!!!

But she came through for us and cheered Laura through! My Mom was sitting outside the birthing room, hearing all the screams and would occasionally send me a text asking how everything was going. After about an hour and her thinking that the labour wasn't progressing, she sent me another text saying "You need me to come in there?" I replied "Yea sure if your not scared of Vaginas". Her reply was and I kid you not "I'm Strong and Laura needs someone strong to encourage her!" and as I was reading the text, she busted the door down and Encouraged. I guess she couldn't sit back and watch all is weaklings sit there with our weak voices try to motivate.

Everyone played a major role and I am thankful for everyone who text us and were thinking of us. Even if I couldnt respond, thank all of you.

As Micah was coming out , He seemed to have swallowed some Meconium (look it up). Which seemed to be affecting his Oxygen saturation levels and his breathing rate. The Midwives had a hard time suctioning out his air way and decided it was best to have him transported to a NICU to be monitored for a a lung infection and or Pneumonia. As of now its precautionary and he is being put on a 24 hour round of anti-biotics. Depending on his improvement he could be cleared to leave or if an infection develops he could have to stay for a 7 day round of anti-biotics. The average discharge time for at the Birthing center is 4-6 hours after birth and thats what we were looking forward to. The realization of having to spend 48 hours to 7 days in a hospital is very disappointing. But I guess that's life (Get it? The Cornbread joke earlier? Life?). We're just going to have to take it one diaper at a time.