Henry's Firsts

First Bath

First Hooded Towel

First Encounter with Seahorse

First Time in a Basket

First Time with Hands in Pockets AND

First Time Supporting the Longhorns

First Time at Memorial Park

First Time Hanging Out with Draik and Raegan

First Time Enjoying the Lake with Pops

First Hotel Stay

First Bear Attack

First Bumbo Use

First Gun Show

Henry's Birth Story

Again, sorry for the delay, priorities have been elsewhere the past few weeks!

As you already know, we were admitted to Memorial Hermann on Monday, March 29th, for continued monitoring of my low platelet count and possible pre-eclampsia. My platelet count had been falling steadily throughout the month of March, the levels fell from 150 to 136 in one week and was then down to 115 within a few days. Labwork was redrawn when we were admitted to the hospital, the results of which were 109: low, but not dangerously so.

Monday and Tuesday were fairly uneventful- between blood pressure checks and lab draws I passed the days by reading, watching mind-numbing television, or simply wasting time on the internet.

Wednesday morning (March 31st) began as the the day before had: ordered breakfast from the hospital's room service program, watched a little bit of The Today Show, and waited for the doctors to make their daily rounds. Dr. Boone (with our OB practice) came by around 8:00 am to let us know the results of the labs drawn the night before. Unfortunately, platelet levels had fallen again and were now down to 96, which meant that we were getting a little too close to the danger zone. The anesthesia team will not perform a spinal or epidural for any platelet counts under 90; it was explained to us that if the puncture isn't able to close completely, there can be swelling around the spinal cord which could cause permanent paralysis (I'm well aware that this was a very rudimentary explanation, so if anyone reading has more information please let me know!). If my levels continued to drop through the day, we would be forced to have a c-section under general anesthesia which would have meant that Daniel would not have been able to be in the room and I would not get to meet Henry until after recovery. Dr. Boone was waiting to hear from Dr. Cook to determine how we should proceed, however, knowing Dr. Cook and the caution that he had exhibited throughout the pregnancy, Daniel and I had no doubt that we would be meeting Henry very soon.

After speaking with Dr. Cook, we were added to the OR schedule for the day- of course we were at the very end of the list thanks to that breakfast I had already finished. Luckily, it gave us enough time to let everyone know and for our parents to come down and make it in time for Henry's birth! When 4:00 finally rolled around we were more than ready to get the show on the road.

They came and got Daniel and I around 4:30 and brought me to the operating room while Daniel waited outside and got dressed in his surgical gear. The anesthesia team didn't waste any time in getting me prepped for surgery. It's funny that I've dealt with hundreds of patients preparing for surgery but have never actually been the patient- wow, was it nerve wracking. There were probably 7 people running around setting up the room before the doctors arrived- the entire time I kept trying to figure out who had the same roles as my neurosurgery OR friends (scrub tech, nurses, etc) which kept the nerves at rest for a few minutes.

The had me sit on the table and turn to the side to place the spinal. In case you didn't know, this was one of my greatest fears going in to the labor process. In the few moments that I spent trying to age the Resident who was doing the procedure, he prepped and completed the spinal with ease. I only felt a small pinch at the beginning, absolutely nothing to worry about. Afterward, he said I had a great spine with plenty of space to work in (good to know for future procedures). They rushed to get my legs on the table before the anesthesia set in which only took a few seconds.

When I was settled in, they let Daniel come sit by my head and wait for the show to begin! Drs. Nanda and Cook arrived and we were ready to go. I truly couldn't feel anything below my shoulders and was very surprised to find out that they had begun the c-section when they announced that the first cut was made at 5:10.

Within moments I began feeling some pulling and tugging (no pain however) and heard Dr. Nanda say "I can't get the head" repeatedly and with increased urgency. We later found out that they had to use the vacuum to assist with his delivery because I had developed a large fibroid throughout the pregnancy that we did not know about. I still do not understand how it is possible to have an ultrasound one week prior to delivery, in which they spent quite a bit of time taking head measurements, and not notice a very large fibroid behind which the baby's head is stuck. Regardless, Henry became an "outside baby" at 5:14- a mere 4 minutes after the c-section began.

This is where Daniel's and my delivery experiences begin to change. I honestly did not even realize Henry had been born, I thought they were still having trouble getting him out. Daniel however was able to see everything going on and knew that we had a baby who was not crying immediately and who was requiring work from the nurses. In an amazingly short period of time 5 people ran into the OR- at this point I was still not nervous and for some reason believed that there must be someone in trouble they were having to get to (you would think that I would have had more common sense and realized that we were the ONLY people in the OR, if anyone was in trouble it was me or Henry).

Finally we heard our little guy cry and it was an absolutely beautiful sound. I had been having nightmares that Henry would sound like the newborns we had roomed next to during our last hospital stay- the ones who closely resembled donkeys screaming. One of the people who had rushed into our room came over and let Daniel and I know they were the NICU team and had been called when Henry was born because his first APGAR score was only a 3 (out of 10, a very low score). She explained that Henry wasn't breathing when he first came out and had to be bagged in order to start (all of which Daniel witnessed while I was blissfully unaware). The APGAR scores are recorded at 1 minute and 5 minutes of life- Henry had improved from a 3 to an 8 by his second reading. Thanks to this improvement he did not require any additional care or treatment in the NICU and the team left the operating room. I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with the speed and efficiency of care that Henry received. I've never been a patient, never seen how the game works when a true emergent situation occurs, but I was amazed to learn that the team had been called, rushed to a different section of the hospital, and evaluated my baby before I even knew he was outside of my body. It's due to this reason that I will never hesitate to be a patient or have any future children (in the distant future, don't get too excited Mom) at Memorial Hermann, Texas Medical Center.

Dr. Cook asked Daniel if he would like to go see Henry at the nurses station and I urged him to go. Sidenote to delivery staff: if the baby is located on the other side of the blue screen divider and the mom isn't stitched up yet, you should make sure that the father isn't too squeamish or that all surgical areas are hidden from view. Poor Daniel ended up with a view of my insides that I'm sure he'll never be able to forget- which I think is kind of funny because I would like to have seen the surgery and wish I could have it on video. I digress.

We were held in the OR for quite a while waiting for a certain type of needle to be delivered to the room that Dr. Nanda preferred to use. While most of the drama was finished we had one final issue when my blood pressure dropped very low and had to be given a dose of epinephrine to get it back up again. Daniel was able to hold Henry while we waited- we just stared in amazement, it was such a joy to finally meet our little man.

Here are a few pictures from Henry's birthday!

Adventures in Tummy Time

I know I haven't kept up with the blog but I'll try catching everything up over the next week (they say that you're more likely to do something if it's in writing).

Anyway, Henry had a big day during tummy time today and luckily I had the camera out to document. Without further ado, may I present 'Tummy Time' told from Henry's point of view...

It started off the same as any ordinary day... Mom put me on my stomach as usual.

I chewed on my arm...

I pitched a little fit...

and I tried to fall asleep, after all I was on a pillow not an exercise mat.

Mom managed to outsmart me (she's quite a bit bigger than I am) and made me lay flat on the ground.

Now, this where my day becomes interesting- I somehow managed to free my right arm from underneath my large head which resulted in a sideways position. This was new so I decided to experiment and see what might occur through trial and error.

First, I decided to swing my little arms.

Nothing.

Next, I decided to again swing my little arms but add in a peculiar mouth position.

Again, nothing, but I wasn't ready to give up yet.

Now: swinging arms, peculiar mouth, and lifting right leg

Foiled yet again.

One last try: swinging arms, peculiar mouth, lifting right leg and using my abnormally large big toes as counter balance

wait.... something is definitely happening...

SUCCESS!!

Then, Mom finally let me have the nap I had been longing for. :)

The End

Quick Update...

Looks like we'll be meeting Henry sooner rather than later as pre-eclampsia seems to have come back into the picture. While my blood pressure is still steady at or below 120/80, other symptoms are increasing. Now the main point of concern seems to be my platelet count which has been dropping steadily over the last few weeks. Our last lab run showed my platelets at 136; anything below 140 is concerning and if the level manages to reach 90 then I'm no longer eligible for an epidural and would have to be put under general anesthesia if a c-section is necessary.

Another unfortunate point is that since I haven't started dilating yet, it's very unlikely that an induction will be successful so we will likely end up with a c-section regardless.

Dr. Cook has decided to admit us to the hospital for yet another 24 hr protein count and continued blood pressure monitoring to verify that it's not spiking periodically throughout the day. He has prepared Daniel and I to expect a baby before the end of the week. I'm a little torn with this as we obviously want to meet Henry and don't want to put myself at any further health risks but it is a little difficult to process the idea that the safest option for both of us is for him to come almost 4 weeks early!

35/35 already??

Wow, can't believe how fast these last few weeks are passing. We've reached the 35 week mark which also means there are only 35 days remaining. Yikes.

Today we went in for a growth ultrasound to see how big the little guy is getting; he's currently weighing in at 6 lbs which means that if he goes to 40 weeks he should be somewhere around 8.5 lbs. Keep in mind that these ultrasounds are definitely not known for accuracy and can be off by a pound in either direction.

Also, even though we're only at the 35 week mark, his head circumference put him at a gestational age of 39 weeks. (Another yikes.) Dr. Palmer (our maternal-fetal medicine specialist) took one look at Daniel and I and said "that's genetics for you, no way that the two of you weren't going to have a big-headed baby"!

They found a few points of concern today so it looks like we'll be getting additional ultrasounds every week until Henry decides to become an 'outside baby'. There was some urine backing up into his kidneys because his bladder was too full, evidently this is pretty common for boys (which I took to mean as: they're more trouble than girls from the very beginning), and his heart was throwing an extra beat every now and then. Dr. Palmer thinks that both problems are related to my sugar intake and can be fixed by diet change alone. EVIDENTLY the fact that I had apple juice with breakfast and jelly on my pb&j for lunch (paired with a sweet beverage) could be at fault. So I've decided that this week will be nothing but water, grilled chicken, and vegetables, then we'll see how next Wednesday's ultrasound goes! (To ease anyone's concerns, she really didn't think that we will see any lasting problems from either condition and everything should rectify soon.)

Another little tidbit- looks like Henry might be taking advantage of his Aunt Liz's skills pretty early on! The ultrasound tech discovered that Henry appears to have a pretty good mullet growing. (Yet again, yikes.)

Here are a few pictures- I'll try to help you make sense of them along the way:

Obviously, the u/s technician marked his ear for you- other than that I think Henry looks like a scary rat in this picture, so please don't look too closely

Here you can see Henry's profile shot (on the right side of the picture)- the bubbles that are in front of his nose/mouth are actually cross sections of the umbilical cord- and the white blob towards the left is a fist (*I think*)

This picture has Henry facing you directly (tilt your head to the right and he's looking straight at you)- you can see his right eye fairly well and he has his right fist (notice the Michelin baby arm) smushed up against his chubby right cheek. (Yes, 'smushed' is the technical term.)

This is another profile shot- again, head on the right side and fist on the left- I think this is my favorite because it looks like he's smoking a little cigar. In reality, the "smoke clouds" are again a view of the umbilical cord and he's sticking his tongue out which gives the appearance that he's laughing. Of course there's always the possibility that he's telling a priceless bar joke in utero (I never claimed to be an expert on ultrasound technology).

33 weeks and counting...

So, I decided to download a couple of new programs for photo editing and thought I'd share a few maternity pics from this week. (Only 7 weeks left!!)

Nursery Progress

No health updates this time, just a few pictures from the weekend- so glad there seems to be an end in sight for the nursery!

Assembling the Crib

Finished Product

(Please ignore all of the SIDS risks, they will be removed when Henry actually gets here!)

Henry's Future View

A little good news...

So, a few health updates.... Friday night (2/19) found me sick with quite a bit of vomiting (special thanks to Hollie and Daniel, yet again, for everything). Daniel called the on-call doctor who recommended that we go ahead and head to the hospital to get everything checked out. We ended up having to stay overnight, which was honestly quite miserable but a nice practice run to further prepare us for the real deal.

Our room was directly across the hall from the nursery which appears to be the equivalent of a hotel room or apartment located next to the elevators. I think this was an eye-opening experience for me as I was woken every 30 minutes by sounds that more closely resembled a donkey than a new child. Conversely, Daniel was able to sleep through it all which I'm sure bodes well for his future sleep habits :)

This is not to say that Daniel had it easy by any means. He was forced to spend the night on a "bed" that was nothing more than a 5 foot piece of plywood with 2 inches of cotton batting surrounding. Needless to say we were both miserable by the time morning rolled around.

When we were first admitted to the floor on Friday night they told us that we would be staying until Sunday to allow time for all of the test results to come back. After our first 12- extremely long- hours (during which there was discussion on how we could manage to escape), we were both so relieved to hear "you can stay if you want OR you can go home to finish the testing". We obviously chose to return home and spent the remainder of the weekend recovering from our sleep deprivation.

This afternoon we had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Cook who reviewed the latest lab results; everything from the hospital came back normal and the latest 24 hour protein count was under the 300 limit- so things are looking up this week! I also had the final steroid shot for Henry's lungs; even though we hope that they aren't necessary it's nice to know that he's been given every advantage possible if things change!

There are only so many things you can do...

when you're stuck with your feet propped up on two large pillows. We'll see how long this blogging/website thing lasts; I'm definitely not making any promises. I do think this will be a fairly easy way to share updates and future pictures with everyone so I will at least try and give it a shot.

In the event that you haven't been keeping track (and I don't blame you since half of the time Daniel and I forget where we're at), the 30th week of our pregnancy is currently underway which means that Henry is now approximately the size of a squash. This doesn't seem too impressive until you remember he was only a poppyseed back in August.

Our last appointment with Dr. Cook (the baby doctor) was Thursday and it looks like we will be beginning twice weekly appointments from here on out. A little background in case the news hasn't spread: a couple of weeks ago Dr. Cook became concerned with some swelling in my feet and ordered an array of tests. The majority of the labs came back fine with minimal abnormalities, however, it was found that I am releasing more protein than is acceptable. The cutoff for protein is 300mg/24 hour period and I was at 350mg which is categorized as borderline pre-eclampsia. The good news is that there haven't been any problems with my blood pressure so far, which would be the most problematic part of pre-eclampsia. The bad news is that my blood pressure issues could change very quickly and become a serious situation.

Needless to say, we're going to handle the whole situation with quite a bit of caution. On Monday we will begin a series of steroid shots to further Henry's lung development in case he has to come early and I will only be working part-time from here on out (or until the doctor decides that full bed rest would be the safer option). Prayers/good thoughts are definitely appreciated as it looks like the next 10 weeks might be a bit rocky!

This news has kind of set a kink in our plans- everything around the house seems a little more urgent now. The nursery is coming along very well- thanks to Daniel- and should be finished next weekend, pictures to follow. We crossed the stroller and car seat off our to-do lists this weekend; at the very least, Henry will be able to travel home and should have a place to sleep if he were to come soon!