Ezekiel enters the world…a tad bit early

so yesterday morning, thurs. 3-23-06 Dean stayed home from work to keep Boaz since he’d had a fever Wed. night and I wanted him to take him to the dr.  while I went to my ob appt.  So I left for my appt and made sure Dean had the number to call the pediatrician.   I went back for my ultrasound(bpp) and first thing they checked was the placenta which looked great(at this point in Bo’s pregnancy the placenta had started to deteriorate) so I thought I would be in the clear assuming everything else was fine.  So next she went to check for amniotic fluid.  Last Thursday the level was 13, but yesterday my level was barely 1.5, and then she said that was a pocket of fluid near the umbilical cord so they arent supposed to count it, so basically no fluid in there w/ the baby.   She asked if I’d been leakinig or had my water break, I admitted that I thought I’d just been peeing myself for a few days since I kept having to pee and sometimes felt like I was leaking urine, but didnt think anything of it!   So the u/s tech said I would probably have the baby that day, I thought she was kidding.   so she went to tell the dr and I went to the bathroom and to call Dean to tell him not to go to the pediatrician just yet.   The dr saw me immediately and sent me straight to the hospital, at that point she knew there was a 10 am c-section and that I’d probably be the one after that.

So I stopped at home to say goodbye to Bo and was going to try to pack some stuff, we had little to nothing packed as far as a hospital bag! but by the time I got home I was starting to contract and knew  I should just go to the hospital.  By the time I got hooked up to monitors I was in early labor, had some pretty strong contractrions and we waited til it was late enough after having my had breakfast for the surgery.   After a few failed spinal taps which were horrible, they had me feeling much better.  the surgery was a bit longer than my first two, due to a lot of scar tissue.

they took Ezekiel aka “zeke”  to the nicu where he will be staying for at least 3 days.  his lungs are immature and he’s on a repirator until he can breathe on his own.  he also has a feeding tube in, I am supposed to start pumping some milk in a bit but for now his feedings will be formula in the feeding tube.   his color is still off some but his breathing is getting better than it was yesterday.

I didnt get to really see him for the first time until around 9 pm last night,they took me there when they were transferring me from the post op room to my regular room.   so I was still a little numb and hadnt beene out of bed yet and no one could hold him yet.

Today I got to hold  him for the first tiime.    I went after having eaten a normal breakfast, which I was hesitant to do since they never checked my glucose level and I’d had no insulin in 24 hours but they said they were assuming I dont have gest. diabetes.  so while holding my baby for the first time I got all hot and sweaty and thought I was going to drop him as I felt myself blacking out.   they got me back to my room where they checked my sugar and it’s high.  they are going to check it again in an hour and see if I need some insulin.  I really thought I was going to pass out and not wake up, that’s how horrible I felt.  after being back and resting some I’m feeling a lot better.  so there’s a lot going on, I think I scared a few folks, including myself!

Dean’s parents got in late last night from Ohio and my mom stayed at our house w/ the kids last night but Bo had trouble sleeping without us there, eventhough Dean went home to put him to bed.  It’s a big adjustment for all of us, and having Zeke in the NICU is makinig it seem less real that he’s really here since we cant really see him a lot.  at least I’m up and about some today and I got to hold him which was great, until the almost passing out part!  So we welcomed Ezekiel Reese to our life much unexpectedly, and it’s still unreal to me that I had a baby yesterday!!!   Today boaz turns 16 months old, Ezekiel is still less than 1 day old, and big brother Caleb is at school today wishing  he was at home w/ his grandparents!

oh yeah, so since Zeke was born when I was 36 weeks 6 days pregnant he is considered premature, just one day shy of full term.  but even if he had been born today his lungs werent ready.   there was a lot of concern over the gout meds I was taking, apparently I shouldnt have taken them while pregnant for my sake and the baby’s.  so before my surgery yesterday we weren warned of a lot of the risks and what to expect when he was born, but since he was just one week earlier than when Bo was born I thought he’d be fine.  but since we dont know how long it had been with him having no amniotic fluid, and my being positive for Group B strep, diabetic and on the meds, he had a lot going against him.  but for some reason my body was ready to evict him yesterday and had I not had my ob appt I probably would have ended up here due to the painful contractions I started having.   So for whatever reason,

Ezekiel blessed us by arriving early and now we wait to see what comes next!  so far he’s doing well and compared to the other 2 or 3 lb babies in the nicu with him we know we we are truly blessed!