Time for a new name

Well, I've got a new name for the blog since bedrest was a total fail :-) 

I made it only 5 days into bed rest before little John Wayne Oldroyd II was born via c-section at the University of Utah hospital at 11:55 am on Monday, January 17, 2011. 

I had gone to my doctor appointment on the previous Friday to find out that my BP was dangerously high.  My doctor wanted me to go to the U of U for screening.  I was beyond devestated.  Marcel's bday party was the next day and I just knew that if I went to the U, they would keep me until I delivered.  I was ok with full bed rest for 10 weeks, but just wanted to make that birthday party first.

When we got to the U, my BP was still high (180/110) so they immediately put me on a magnesium sulfate drip to prevent seizures and stroke while they evaluated me.  Let me just say that Mag is the worst substance known to man.  It makes your capillaries open up so your skin feels like it's on fire and gives you the worst cotton-mouth, which blows when the docs won't let you drink out of fear of an impending c-section at any moment.  It's also a heavy duty muscle relaxer so everything just feels shitty, for lack of a better word.  After a day on the Mag, my BP had stabilized and all tests came back showing my organs were doing ok.  The docs told me I would move to a long-term room and I wasn't going to go home until the baby came--unfortunately they had no idea of when that would be (we were shooting for weeks). 

John and I made preparations to juggle work, kids, home, etc. as well as my stay in the hospital.  We spoke with the NICU docs to prepare for the worst in case my body wouldn't hold out long enough.  We were feeling good about everything, and I loved my new long-term room.  I was kind of looking forward to some serious R&R, though it sucked that it had to happen in a hospital.  Unfortunately my stay in my cush new digs was short.  My BP shot up again that next night and I ended back up in labor and delivery on BP meds for observation.  My BP went down, baby was fine, my organs were fine, and everything looked peachy.  I got to go back to my comfy room with the hopes of controlling my preeclampsia with BP meds for a few weeks. 

That night my BP again went up so my bed was wheeled back to L&D for meds and observation.  I was sure that it was just my anxiety disorder causing the problem, and that after I calmed down I'd be back in m room to rest.  Sure enough, my organs were great, and my pressures came back down after the meds.  Unfortunately my little baby wasn't doing so well.  He had been so lively for the past few days but my placenta had learned to rely on the high pressures to sustain him.  With the lowered BP his heart started getting erratically slow so they put me back on the dreaded Mag drip (groan!) to try to pull my pressures back up to a level that wouldn't kill either of us.  Unfortunately I started having strong and consistent contractions which just made it worse on him so the docs made the quick decision to get the show on the road.  Because this boy has never wanted to make anything easy on me, he was breech--that's head up, bum down, which doesn't work for a normal delivery.  He had to come through c-section, which is probably for the best since a regular labor & delivery would've been too stressful for him.

After a few songs of Bob Marley to keep us calm, I was wheeled down to the operating room in a drugged out haze.  Thank god for that, or I would've fallen completely apart!  The c-section was quick and John was able to snap a quick photo of our angel before he was whisked through a window into the adjoining NICU.  I got to stare at his picture while the docs tied my tubes (no way in hell I'm going through this again) and sewed me back up.

We had to wait over an hour before John got to go visit our boy and find out how he was...I was wheeeled in on my bed to visit him a few hours later but I hardly remember this visit because of that blasted Mag drip that I had to stay on for 24 hours after the delivery

So here is John Wayne Oldroyd II in a nutshell--He was born at 27 weeks and 3 days, putting him at over 12 weeks early.  He weighed 1 lb 11.9 oz at birth, but received an APGAR of 7, which is pretty stellar for a guy so small.  He breathes on his own and has only had a few incidents of apnea, which are completely normal for his age.  Thankfully he got in two rounds of steroids before he was born to help those lungs mature!

His home right now is the NICU at the U of U, which is also going to be me and John's second home since we need to spend as much time as possible with him to help him grow.  We're going to have to take this one day at a time, but hope to have him home somewhere near his due date of April 15.  He is so strong, and is fighting so hard.  He's only 3 days old but already he is my biggest hero.