i really thought this pregnancy was going so well.
i really thought this time i might actually make it to full term.
but, alas, i was wrong.
Tad Herschel Leavitt is here. 8 weeks early and adorable as ever.
The Story:
On Wednesday, August 19 the boys and I were all dressed and ready to spend the day at the lake. We just had to stop to run one errand along the way. As we left the store, I picked up Holden and we all started walking to the car. And, along the way, my water broke. Total surprise. I hurried the boys to the car and buckled them in in a panic. When my water broke with Holden, I had literally just a couple minutes before he came out, and I was terrified that was what was going to happen there in that parking lot. But the minutes passed by and I felt nothing. I called Matt at work and he hopped in his truck and headed home to meet me. When I got home, I plopped the boys in front of a show, got changed, and threw a couple things in my purse for a possible hospital stay. And, when Matt got home, we headed out. Matt's parents took the boys for us while we went to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital, I still wasn't showing any signs of labor. They checked me into triage and beganinterrogating me asking me a billion questions about what just happened. And after a little while, I started questioning if my water had actually even broken after all! Perhaps I had just peed my pants!? Shoot.. that would be embarrassing. They did an official test to make sure my water had, indeed, broken and knew immediately that I wasn't lying after all. Phew!
I was admitted and, since I was still not in labor, the plan was to do everything we could to help the baby before it arrived. I was given 48 hours of antibiotics by IV to prevent infections that can occur after prematurely rupturing your water, and 2 doses of steroids to help the babies lungs develop. Those 48 were boring and I longed to go home. But I survived, and on Friday, August 21, I was released. The plan now was to try and keep the baby in for 2 more weeks. At 34 weeks gestation, the baby is developed enough that a premature birth is less dangerous then the baby staying inside a ruptured sack. I would be visited daily by an at-home nurse and would follow some basic rules to take it easy.
The day I was released, we finally bought a carseat for baby, new seats for our boys, and a stroller - something that I had been meaning to do for months!
On Saturday, I had my first visit from the at-home nurse. She got me all set up with the paperwork and gear I needed to monitor the baby. It was kinda weird having a checkup on your couch.. but it sure beats being stuck in a hospital. Little did I know, that first checkup would also be my last!
I woke up on Sunday, August 23 at 7:00am to contractions. Real ones. I hadn't felt those in a while! I snuck out of bed and counted them on our couch. They were very consistent but not too uncomfortable. I counted them for just over an hour before going to tell Matt the bad news. I really didn't want to head back the hospital.. I just got home! As soon as I told Matt, he was up and getting things ready for us to leave. I, on the other hand, was taking my sweet time. I guess I was in denial and hoped that things might turn around... but the opposite happened. As I was dilly-dallying along, the contractions instantly became more uncomfortable, and I was all of a sudden more motivated to pick up my pace! Matt woke up the boys, packed them a bag, and organized for his parents to take them.. again. We dropped them off at about 9:40am and got to the hospital by 10:00am. The boys were so sad being dropped off that time. They always have a blast with grandparents and cousins (which was the plan for them that day) but they were worried about me and our goodbye had lots of tears. Not what I needed! But, of course, we were told that that they recovered from that very quickly!
Back to triage we went. This time, I was definitely in labor. I was only about 2cm and 70% along, but they were not sending me home. I was moved to labor and delivery room #1, and the fun officially began.
At that point, contractions were still very doable. I was actually considering going without an epidural. I don't have anything against an epidural, but I had gone without one when Holden was born and thought I might be able to do that again. That changed quite quickly once the pain picked up though! By 12:00pm, I had decided that I did want the epidural. I was checked for progression at that point and had only gone from a 2cm to a 3cm in 1.5 hours. I felt like I had to be much further along, considering how uncomfortable I was, so they called in the anesthesiologist and she took away basically all my pain. What a saint!
When they sat me up to place the epidural, they had me lean on Matt (who stood beside the bed) for support. Neither of us had eaten at all that day, so we were hungry. And the hunger got to Matt in that moment! As they were inserting the epidural, Matt started to feel very queasy and ended up having to be helped to his special dad bed by the window for a lay down and some orange juice. He felt super embarrassed haha.. but I don't blame him for getting queasy, knowing how hungry I was!
Although the epidural didn't work 100%, it was such a blessing. It made me much less stressed. But it also made me soooo shakey. For the remainder of my time in labor I was shaking uncontrollably.
During the rest of labor, they had to really monitor the baby's heart rate. Every time there would be a contraction, the heart rate would drop quite low. They tried filling my uterus back up with fluids, but that didn't seem to help much. So, instead, my nurse was just constantly rolling me from one side to the other when baby wasn't doing well.
Side note: I think the most common phrase I used this delivery was, "I'm not ready". Because.. well.. I wasn't. Neither of us were. And I was super stressed about how small this baby would be. I like teeny little newborns just as much as the next person, but they told me to anticipate him being less then 4 lbs, and that just seemed way too small.
Anyways, back to the delivery story.. When they first checked my progression, at 10:00am, I was 2cm. At 12:00pm, I was 3cm. So when they checked me at 2:30pm, I assumed they would tell me I was 4cm... but I was 10cm and apparently ready to push. What?! Umm.. I was so not ready for that news! But, despite the fact that I wasn't ready, things went incredibly fast at the point. All of a sudden my bed was transformed into something for me to deliver a baby on and the doctor, resident, nurses, and team of 6 from the NICU gathered in my room for a baby party. 2 pushes was all it took and our handsome boy was here. I suppose that is a perk of having a tiny baby - it sure doesn't take much to get them out! His official time of birth was 2:46pm on August 23, 2015. 4 pounds 1 ounce, 17 inches. He was crying when he came out - something neither of our others did - so that was pretty exciting for us. And, for the first time in 3 kids, there wasn't a huge panic to get him on some sort of machine to breath for him so Matt was able to cut the umbilical cord. After that, baby was handed over to the NICU team and toted off to the NICU.
Matt left for the NICU too. He came back to my room with pictures and details about how our little fellow was doing and then, about 2 hours later, I was able to go see him for myself. He spent the first day on a C-pap machine but since then he hasn't needed any help breathing. And he only needed to have feeds through his IV for the first 3 days. Since then, he has been taking all his feeds by bottle and gavage (feeding tube). He is such a trooper! He has done so much better then Chet and Holden did in their first week and we feel very blessed. Unfortunately, even though he is progressing very well, he will most likely be in the hospital for about 4 weeks. Tad was born at 32 weeks + 2 days gestation and babies don't usually get to go home until they are at least 36 weeks. Bummer. I want him home so bad it hurts.
We didn't officially decide on the name Tad until the next day. We are always a little slow to figure that part out. But Tad Herschel Leavitt is the perfect name for that sweet boy. Chet has cleverly give him the nickname Tadpole and we love it.
Recovery was pretty smooth. I had really bad cramping after, that I have no recollection of from my previous deliveries, but that's about it. I could totally do that again! Not that I am..
It has now been 1 week since Tad joined our family. Tad has been moving forward everyday. We have never had any bad news - it's nuts! And, heck, we are pretty 'good' at this whole NICU thing, in the sense that this is our THIRD round. We know the drill, and have mastered the art of being patient. But, despite all the good, this time around has definitely been filled with the most tears. And I have no idea why. I am pretty good at putting on a show when we are around others, but most of my time at home and at the hospital is very teary-eyed. I am sad, and frustrated, and ridiculously needy for Matt. Our boys used to ask why I was crying and now they just expect it! Hopefully it will pass soon. I decided to try going for my first post-baby run today (almost 1 week to the minute after Tad arrived!) in hopes of that cheering me up. Because, in the words of Elle Woods (Legally Blonde), "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don't shoot their husbands, they just don't." (Not that I have had any desire to shoot Matt.. quite the opposite!)
I am so grateful for our new family member. I was having serious doubts about wanting our family to change over the past couple months - I was scared to mess things up. But, as cliche as it may sound, our family wouldn't feel complete without him now. Tad is 100% sweetness. I love snuggling him and staring at him. I can do it for hours. And I have loved seeing the excitement and love that Chet and Holden have for him. It amazes me how tender their hearts are for him. It will be so much fun when they get to spend more time together.
Welcome to the world Tad Herschel Leavitt. It's a much cuter place with you in it!
Tad Herschel Leavitt is here. 8 weeks early and adorable as ever.
The Story:
On Wednesday, August 19 the boys and I were all dressed and ready to spend the day at the lake. We just had to stop to run one errand along the way. As we left the store, I picked up Holden and we all started walking to the car. And, along the way, my water broke. Total surprise. I hurried the boys to the car and buckled them in in a panic. When my water broke with Holden, I had literally just a couple minutes before he came out, and I was terrified that was what was going to happen there in that parking lot. But the minutes passed by and I felt nothing. I called Matt at work and he hopped in his truck and headed home to meet me. When I got home, I plopped the boys in front of a show, got changed, and threw a couple things in my purse for a possible hospital stay. And, when Matt got home, we headed out. Matt's parents took the boys for us while we went to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital, I still wasn't showing any signs of labor. They checked me into triage and began
I was admitted and, since I was still not in labor, the plan was to do everything we could to help the baby before it arrived. I was given 48 hours of antibiotics by IV to prevent infections that can occur after prematurely rupturing your water, and 2 doses of steroids to help the babies lungs develop. Those 48 were boring and I longed to go home. But I survived, and on Friday, August 21, I was released. The plan now was to try and keep the baby in for 2 more weeks. At 34 weeks gestation, the baby is developed enough that a premature birth is less dangerous then the baby staying inside a ruptured sack. I would be visited daily by an at-home nurse and would follow some basic rules to take it easy.
The day I was released, we finally bought a carseat for baby, new seats for our boys, and a stroller - something that I had been meaning to do for months!
On Saturday, I had my first visit from the at-home nurse. She got me all set up with the paperwork and gear I needed to monitor the baby. It was kinda weird having a checkup on your couch.. but it sure beats being stuck in a hospital. Little did I know, that first checkup would also be my last!
I woke up on Sunday, August 23 at 7:00am to contractions. Real ones. I hadn't felt those in a while! I snuck out of bed and counted them on our couch. They were very consistent but not too uncomfortable. I counted them for just over an hour before going to tell Matt the bad news. I really didn't want to head back the hospital.. I just got home! As soon as I told Matt, he was up and getting things ready for us to leave. I, on the other hand, was taking my sweet time. I guess I was in denial and hoped that things might turn around... but the opposite happened. As I was dilly-dallying along, the contractions instantly became more uncomfortable, and I was all of a sudden more motivated to pick up my pace! Matt woke up the boys, packed them a bag, and organized for his parents to take them.. again. We dropped them off at about 9:40am and got to the hospital by 10:00am. The boys were so sad being dropped off that time. They always have a blast with grandparents and cousins (which was the plan for them that day) but they were worried about me and our goodbye had lots of tears. Not what I needed! But, of course, we were told that that they recovered from that very quickly!
Back to triage we went. This time, I was definitely in labor. I was only about 2cm and 70% along, but they were not sending me home. I was moved to labor and delivery room #1, and the fun officially began.
At that point, contractions were still very doable. I was actually considering going without an epidural. I don't have anything against an epidural, but I had gone without one when Holden was born and thought I might be able to do that again. That changed quite quickly once the pain picked up though! By 12:00pm, I had decided that I did want the epidural. I was checked for progression at that point and had only gone from a 2cm to a 3cm in 1.5 hours. I felt like I had to be much further along, considering how uncomfortable I was, so they called in the anesthesiologist and she took away basically all my pain. What a saint!
When they sat me up to place the epidural, they had me lean on Matt (who stood beside the bed) for support. Neither of us had eaten at all that day, so we were hungry. And the hunger got to Matt in that moment! As they were inserting the epidural, Matt started to feel very queasy and ended up having to be helped to his special dad bed by the window for a lay down and some orange juice. He felt super embarrassed haha.. but I don't blame him for getting queasy, knowing how hungry I was!
Although the epidural didn't work 100%, it was such a blessing. It made me much less stressed. But it also made me soooo shakey. For the remainder of my time in labor I was shaking uncontrollably.
During the rest of labor, they had to really monitor the baby's heart rate. Every time there would be a contraction, the heart rate would drop quite low. They tried filling my uterus back up with fluids, but that didn't seem to help much. So, instead, my nurse was just constantly rolling me from one side to the other when baby wasn't doing well.
Side note: I think the most common phrase I used this delivery was, "I'm not ready". Because.. well.. I wasn't. Neither of us were. And I was super stressed about how small this baby would be. I like teeny little newborns just as much as the next person, but they told me to anticipate him being less then 4 lbs, and that just seemed way too small.
Anyways, back to the delivery story.. When they first checked my progression, at 10:00am, I was 2cm. At 12:00pm, I was 3cm. So when they checked me at 2:30pm, I assumed they would tell me I was 4cm... but I was 10cm and apparently ready to push. What?! Umm.. I was so not ready for that news! But, despite the fact that I wasn't ready, things went incredibly fast at the point. All of a sudden my bed was transformed into something for me to deliver a baby on and the doctor, resident, nurses, and team of 6 from the NICU gathered in my room for a baby party. 2 pushes was all it took and our handsome boy was here. I suppose that is a perk of having a tiny baby - it sure doesn't take much to get them out! His official time of birth was 2:46pm on August 23, 2015. 4 pounds 1 ounce, 17 inches. He was crying when he came out - something neither of our others did - so that was pretty exciting for us. And, for the first time in 3 kids, there wasn't a huge panic to get him on some sort of machine to breath for him so Matt was able to cut the umbilical cord. After that, baby was handed over to the NICU team and toted off to the NICU.
Matt left for the NICU too. He came back to my room with pictures and details about how our little fellow was doing and then, about 2 hours later, I was able to go see him for myself. He spent the first day on a C-pap machine but since then he hasn't needed any help breathing. And he only needed to have feeds through his IV for the first 3 days. Since then, he has been taking all his feeds by bottle and gavage (feeding tube). He is such a trooper! He has done so much better then Chet and Holden did in their first week and we feel very blessed. Unfortunately, even though he is progressing very well, he will most likely be in the hospital for about 4 weeks. Tad was born at 32 weeks + 2 days gestation and babies don't usually get to go home until they are at least 36 weeks. Bummer. I want him home so bad it hurts.
We didn't officially decide on the name Tad until the next day. We are always a little slow to figure that part out. But Tad Herschel Leavitt is the perfect name for that sweet boy. Chet has cleverly give him the nickname Tadpole and we love it.
Recovery was pretty smooth. I had really bad cramping after, that I have no recollection of from my previous deliveries, but that's about it. I could totally do that again! Not that I am..
It has now been 1 week since Tad joined our family. Tad has been moving forward everyday. We have never had any bad news - it's nuts! And, heck, we are pretty 'good' at this whole NICU thing, in the sense that this is our THIRD round. We know the drill, and have mastered the art of being patient. But, despite all the good, this time around has definitely been filled with the most tears. And I have no idea why. I am pretty good at putting on a show when we are around others, but most of my time at home and at the hospital is very teary-eyed. I am sad, and frustrated, and ridiculously needy for Matt. Our boys used to ask why I was crying and now they just expect it! Hopefully it will pass soon. I decided to try going for my first post-baby run today (almost 1 week to the minute after Tad arrived!) in hopes of that cheering me up. Because, in the words of Elle Woods (Legally Blonde), "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don't shoot their husbands, they just don't." (Not that I have had any desire to shoot Matt.. quite the opposite!)
I am so grateful for our new family member. I was having serious doubts about wanting our family to change over the past couple months - I was scared to mess things up. But, as cliche as it may sound, our family wouldn't feel complete without him now. Tad is 100% sweetness. I love snuggling him and staring at him. I can do it for hours. And I have loved seeing the excitement and love that Chet and Holden have for him. It amazes me how tender their hearts are for him. It will be so much fun when they get to spend more time together.
Welcome to the world Tad Herschel Leavitt. It's a much cuter place with you in it!
