Monday, April 25, 2011

Luca in NICU

After Luca was born he stayed in NICU for one month and five days before getting to come home on April 18th. We were so happy to finally get him home.
Luca hanging out with his giraffe buddy
This is the first time Luca wore clothes and he did a show and tell at the nursery window for his family to have a peak at him. Saturday March 26th

The Day Luca Came

Wednesday March 16th 2011 was a very stormy day turning into a even stormier night. I was on bed rest at the hospital waiting to have my baby; I was anticipating a 2 week stay at the hospital due to the fact that the baby was so early and I was having issues with my blood pressure.

Nick had just gotten off of work and was hanging out at the hospital with me. I had to go to the restroom so Nick helped me unhook all of the monitors and he walked me to the bathroom. I noticed when I was in the bathroom that my underwear was wet and I knew that I didn't have an accident so when I went back to bed I told the nurse. The nurse thought I had an accident but she indulged my anyway by checking the fluid to see if it was urine or amniotic fluid. The nurse pulled out the test strip and checked, then she checked again, and just to be sure she checked one more time. Nick asked what the color on the strip meant and the nurse said that if it was urine the color of the strip would be yellow but the strip was blue, a pretty dark blue and she said that it was amniotic fluid.

The nurse quickly left the room and called Doctor Hall; he was at the hospital within a couple of minutes and he checked me himself. He then said, "OK, this is as far as we go, how would you like to have your baby today?" I asked him if we could just pretend there wasn't any fluid and go on with me on bed rest. He chuckled a little and told the nurse to start prepping me for a c-section in about an hour. I was scared and I think that Nick was a little scared too. I was worried because our little guy was going to be so early and so little and that he may not survive the ordeal.

After Doctor Hall left my room I asked Nick to call his parents and see if his dad could come down and help Nick give me a blessing. After that call everything happened so quickly. My nurse came back in and started prepping me and she found out that I had eaten lunch earlier that day. (A person is not supposed to eat at least 6 hours prior to having anesthetic, due to the fact that it can make them sick and if they were to throw up they could aspirate and possibly die.) I had to drink the yuckiest stuff to neutralize the stuff in my stomach in case I did get sick during the surgery.

Shawn, Linda and Katie showed up and I got my blessing. Becky from NICU showed up and told us what was going to happen once the baby was born and what to expect in the NICU. Then the anesthesiologist's assistant showed up and went over everything that was going to happen during the surgery. At that point Doctor Hall came into the room and said the surgery was going to be delayed an hour due to there being an emergency c-section. After that we just waited.

At 8:00 pm my nurse Nichole and the anesthesiologist showed up and told Nick to put on his surgical clothes and get ready. I was then wheeled into the operating room. After they gave me my epidural Nick showed up looking like a lost tourist because he had the camera draped around his neck. I was so happy to see him. The epidural started working and I felt strangely numb all over and I felt this weird tugging sensation and I asked Nick when they were going to start. He looked over the sheet and said they had already started. I didn't feel any pain, just some weird tugging, but from what Nick saw he thought is was pretty cool.

At 8:38 pm Doctor Hall pulled a screaming baby with tons of dark hair out and handed him to the nurse. Nick and I were able to see him for about 15 seconds before they whisked him away to be checked and made sure everything was alright.

Luca was born at 8:38 pm, weighing 3 pounds 5 ounces and 16.5 inches long. He had tons of dark hair, a good set of lungs and was absolutely perfect.
Shawn & Katie in the Labor & Delivery room before Luca was born Nick in his surgical outfit Shauna during Luca's c-section Luca in NICU after he was born

Third Trimester

The third trimester is where the trouble really started in my pregnancy. The day I started my third trimester I got food poisoning from eating chicken fingers from Harmons and I got admitted to the hospital that night but I was released at 4 in the morning. My doctor was called when I was in the hospital and he told the nurse that I needed to be seen in his office the following Monday.

Nick and I went to the appointment and Doctor Hall was concerned about my blood pressure and he said it is probably nothing but he was going to watch it anyway. We went a week and a half before being admitted to the hospital again. Late on a Friday night I woke up feeling horrible, I got sick in the bathroom, had a horrible headache, my left hand and foot was very swollen, and I had horrible abdominal pain, I though I was going to die. We were only in the hospital for a couple of hours again before being released. Dr. Hall wanted to see me again the following Monday.
At this point Dr. Hall realized we may have a problem with preeclampsia and that if my blood pressure didn't get under control the baby would be coming sooner than later. Long story short, Nick and I visited the doctor three times a week and I was being admitted to the hospital at least twice a week.

After one of the really bad readings (210/104) I was admitted over night and they started me on blood pressure medicine. The baby was only 30 weeks along then and the doctor was very worried they were going to have to take him that night. But our luck held out and I was released the next day on the condition that I was on strict bed rest.

The weeks slowly pressed on and I had a paranatologist (baby doctor specialist) visit at the hospital on Monday the 14th of March and he and Doctor Hall decided the best thing to do would have me be admitted to the hospital until the baby came. I was 32 weeks along and they wanted me to try and make it to 34 weeks so the baby would be a little more developed. So when Nick and I came to the hospital the last time before having the baby I was under the impression that I would be on bed rest for 2 weeks but the baby, Luca, had other thoughts completely.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Forever Again!!!

Well it has been forever since I we have blogged and really had anything to blog about. I guess I need to play catch up for the past year +.
We have been doing well, still living in Roy and loving our house and back yard. The puppies are still the same but we did get an addition to our little family last June when we got a kitten. He is half Siamese and half bobcat (we aren't too sure about the bobcat part but it fits his personality).

Life was going pretty much the same except that in April of 2010 I started on the HCG diet and started loosing weight. That was one of the hardest things to do because of the limited number calorie and foods that I could eat. Long story short, in the end I lost 35 pounds. It felt wonderful!!! I started the second round of drops in late August working towards loosing the last 20 pounds when the drops stopped working. We were a little confused but decided to go off the drops and consult my doctor. I decided I didn't want any surprises when I went to the doctor so I took a pregnancy test the day before my appointment and it came back positive. I was so happy and scared at the same time because I didn't want to loose another pregnancy.

We were able to make it through the first and second trimesters without too many problems. I was sick the whole first trimester but the second was a breeze. The trouble started when I reached my third trimester. But that story is for another time. I feel that we are pretty caught up again and I hope to stay caught up this time.
Our kitty Marshmallow