June 25, 2011 is a day that Cole and I will never forget. It is the day we welcomed our precious little boy into this world! Baby Lee wasn't due until July 30, but he decided to make an early appearance and came 5 weeks early. I was exactly 35 weeks the day Lee was born. To say the least, we were in shock that he was born so early. We were nervous hoping that he would be ok since he was not full term yet. We also still had so much to do to get ready for his arrival. But, as we have learned through many circumstances in our lives lately, God is in control, not us. If the Lord wanted Lee to be born early, we had to trust that he was in good hands and the Lord was walking with us and watching over our sweet boy. Lee's birth story is not short as I was in labor over 30 hours. I had to write it all down though so that we don't forget it, so here it is....
My whole pregnancy was so smooth. I was never sick, my blood pressure was always great, no problems on the sonogram, the doctor said everything looked wonderful and I was right on track each appointment. I always felt great being pregnant - I felt really lucky that I had such an easy pregnancy. That is why I was completely caught off guard when I started having contractions on Thursday, June 23. I was at work and started feeling some cramping. I noticed something felt different, but I kind of just brushed it off. That night, the cramping (aka contractions - who knew??) started feeling worse. By 4am I couldn't sleep and was up off and on until about 7 am. At 7am, I knew something wasn't right, so I called the doctor. The on call doctor called me back and said I needed to come in that morning. I was at the doctor's office by 8:30. Cole met me there even though I told him it was fine and not to worry about leaving work (good thing he didn't listen to me). Dr. Lombardi saw me that Friday morning. He checked me and said I was 1.5 cm dialated and 50% effaced. He then proceeded to tell us the directions to labor and delivery where I needed to go and be admitted. That was a shock for sure! He explained that what I was describing as "cramps" were probably contractions and that I needed to get hooked up to monitors to make sure. He also started explaining if we were to have the baby that day, he would most likely be fine but would probably have to stay in the NICU for a little while. He said that we were past the point where they would give the steroid shot to make sure the baby's lungs were developed. As he was talking, I think I was just looking at him with a deer in the headlights look. Again, it was a good thing Cole met me at the appointment so that someone was absorbing what was going on. Also, I would have been a basket case if I had to check myself into labor and delivery alone. The bottom line is, I have a wonderful husband! So, Cole and I got directions from the doctor on how to get to labor and delivery since our hospital tour (that was supposed to be that previous Monday)got cancelled. We got checked in and they hooked me up to all kinds of monitors and machines. Sure enough, I was having contractions...every 4-6 minutes. Now, we did make it to 2 of the 4 Lamaze classes at this point, so I did realize that these contractions were at the point where you are in labor and you are supposed to call the doctor. It all kept slowly sinking in. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions. Nothing happened. They then gave me a pill to stop the contractions. Again, nothing happened. They checked me again and I was still 1.5-2 cm dialated and now 90% effaced. At that point, they decided to put us in an actual labor and delivery room. We basically waited in that room where I continued to be observed. Through the afternoon, I still wasn't progressing any. The doctor had me get up and walk around the halls to see if that would help progress anything. That didn't work. Since I was early, they weren't going to give me any medicine to progress my labor. So, at about 5 pm, the doctor said since I still wasn't progressing, that we had two options 1) stay overnight and continue to be observed or 2) go home and come back when the pain gets worse or if my water breaks. Although it seemed crazy to go home when I was still having contractions every 3-4 minutes (it's been about 12 hours of this now), Cole and I looked at each other and said let's go home. We had been sitting in the labor and delivery room making packing lists and lists of things we needed to get done before Lee arrived. So, we headed home with my prescription for ambien (big mistake) in hopes to get a few things done and get some rest - ha! When we left, the doctor said she might see us at 2 am or my contractions might just stop. I knew deep down when we left that we would be back soon (at least sometime that weekend). There was no way that these contractions were going to just randomly stop. So, we get home and I have to say that the next few hours at our house were quite comical. They weren't comical at the time as I was in a lot of pain and couldn't really do anything. But now, looking back, it was like something you would see in a movie. Cole was running all around the house trying to pack a bag for himself, me and the baby. I was laying on the couch or on the bed in pain trying to tell him in between my contractions where everything was that he needed to pack. My contractions were lasting a minute long and were 2-3 minutes apart. I couldn't talk to him or move whenever I was having one. So, the process was taking a while. Then, Cole went to get me some food since I didn't eat all day. He then came back and put the car seat and pack n play together since we hadn't done that yet. I took a shower (another plus of going home) and then took an ambien to try to get some sleep. As I said earlier, that was a huge mistake. I will never take ambien again. Basically it helped me sleep for 30 minutes and then I was up because the pain was too much. At that point I literally stumbled across the house to go to the bathroom (we have a bathroom in our room). Not sure why I went all the way across the house. Then I came back to our room and told Cole to make the lady get out of our bed. I guess I was hallucenating or something. I thought there was a lady in our bed with a bunch of gagets to help me with my contractions. Needless to say, Cole was very confused by my comment. About an hour later I told Cole I had to call the Doctor because I couldn't sleep and the pain was getting worse. The doctor told me to go ahead and go back to the hospital at this point. It was about 1 am. So, we checked back into labor and delivery and I got hooked back up to all the machines. They checked me again and I was 3-4 cm dialated. They then confirmed we would be having our baby that day. All I could say is please give me my epidural!! Everything is such a blur to me up until I got my epidural. I was drugged up on ambien, tired and in pain. Not a good combo, but the epidural was my saving grace. After that, Cole and I were finally able to get a little rest. I continued to progress throughout the rest of the morning. We finally welcomed Lee into the world at 12:07 pm on June 25. Much to our surprise (and the doctors), Lee was 6 lbs. 9 oz. and 19 3/4 in. long! That's a big boy for being 5 weeks early. Right before he was delivered a team of 4 NICU doctors and nurses came into the delivery room. I was really worried as soon as he was delivered because he wasn't crying. He finally made some little noises which made me feel better. The NICU team took him and started working on him. He was grunting so they weren't sure if there was fluid in his lungs or if his lungs weren't developed. They let me hold him for approximately 30 seconds, enough for Cole to snap two pictures, and then they wisked him away to NICU. Cole went with him to make sure everything was ok. I then quickly realized it was just me and the doctor left in the delivery room about 5 minutes after he was born...not the way I had pictured our son's birth. But, I was thankful that the NICU team was there and able to help Lee. They finally took Cole and me up to the NICU to see him. He was all hooked up to machines and monitors so we couldn't hold him which was very hard. Here is a picture of our little guy when we first got to see him.
My whole pregnancy was so smooth. I was never sick, my blood pressure was always great, no problems on the sonogram, the doctor said everything looked wonderful and I was right on track each appointment. I always felt great being pregnant - I felt really lucky that I had such an easy pregnancy. That is why I was completely caught off guard when I started having contractions on Thursday, June 23. I was at work and started feeling some cramping. I noticed something felt different, but I kind of just brushed it off. That night, the cramping (aka contractions - who knew??) started feeling worse. By 4am I couldn't sleep and was up off and on until about 7 am. At 7am, I knew something wasn't right, so I called the doctor. The on call doctor called me back and said I needed to come in that morning. I was at the doctor's office by 8:30. Cole met me there even though I told him it was fine and not to worry about leaving work (good thing he didn't listen to me). Dr. Lombardi saw me that Friday morning. He checked me and said I was 1.5 cm dialated and 50% effaced. He then proceeded to tell us the directions to labor and delivery where I needed to go and be admitted. That was a shock for sure! He explained that what I was describing as "cramps" were probably contractions and that I needed to get hooked up to monitors to make sure. He also started explaining if we were to have the baby that day, he would most likely be fine but would probably have to stay in the NICU for a little while. He said that we were past the point where they would give the steroid shot to make sure the baby's lungs were developed. As he was talking, I think I was just looking at him with a deer in the headlights look. Again, it was a good thing Cole met me at the appointment so that someone was absorbing what was going on. Also, I would have been a basket case if I had to check myself into labor and delivery alone. The bottom line is, I have a wonderful husband! So, Cole and I got directions from the doctor on how to get to labor and delivery since our hospital tour (that was supposed to be that previous Monday)got cancelled. We got checked in and they hooked me up to all kinds of monitors and machines. Sure enough, I was having contractions...every 4-6 minutes. Now, we did make it to 2 of the 4 Lamaze classes at this point, so I did realize that these contractions were at the point where you are in labor and you are supposed to call the doctor. It all kept slowly sinking in. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions. Nothing happened. They then gave me a pill to stop the contractions. Again, nothing happened. They checked me again and I was still 1.5-2 cm dialated and now 90% effaced. At that point, they decided to put us in an actual labor and delivery room. We basically waited in that room where I continued to be observed. Through the afternoon, I still wasn't progressing any. The doctor had me get up and walk around the halls to see if that would help progress anything. That didn't work. Since I was early, they weren't going to give me any medicine to progress my labor. So, at about 5 pm, the doctor said since I still wasn't progressing, that we had two options 1) stay overnight and continue to be observed or 2) go home and come back when the pain gets worse or if my water breaks. Although it seemed crazy to go home when I was still having contractions every 3-4 minutes (it's been about 12 hours of this now), Cole and I looked at each other and said let's go home. We had been sitting in the labor and delivery room making packing lists and lists of things we needed to get done before Lee arrived. So, we headed home with my prescription for ambien (big mistake) in hopes to get a few things done and get some rest - ha! When we left, the doctor said she might see us at 2 am or my contractions might just stop. I knew deep down when we left that we would be back soon (at least sometime that weekend). There was no way that these contractions were going to just randomly stop. So, we get home and I have to say that the next few hours at our house were quite comical. They weren't comical at the time as I was in a lot of pain and couldn't really do anything. But now, looking back, it was like something you would see in a movie. Cole was running all around the house trying to pack a bag for himself, me and the baby. I was laying on the couch or on the bed in pain trying to tell him in between my contractions where everything was that he needed to pack. My contractions were lasting a minute long and were 2-3 minutes apart. I couldn't talk to him or move whenever I was having one. So, the process was taking a while. Then, Cole went to get me some food since I didn't eat all day. He then came back and put the car seat and pack n play together since we hadn't done that yet. I took a shower (another plus of going home) and then took an ambien to try to get some sleep. As I said earlier, that was a huge mistake. I will never take ambien again. Basically it helped me sleep for 30 minutes and then I was up because the pain was too much. At that point I literally stumbled across the house to go to the bathroom (we have a bathroom in our room). Not sure why I went all the way across the house. Then I came back to our room and told Cole to make the lady get out of our bed. I guess I was hallucenating or something. I thought there was a lady in our bed with a bunch of gagets to help me with my contractions. Needless to say, Cole was very confused by my comment. About an hour later I told Cole I had to call the Doctor because I couldn't sleep and the pain was getting worse. The doctor told me to go ahead and go back to the hospital at this point. It was about 1 am. So, we checked back into labor and delivery and I got hooked back up to all the machines. They checked me again and I was 3-4 cm dialated. They then confirmed we would be having our baby that day. All I could say is please give me my epidural!! Everything is such a blur to me up until I got my epidural. I was drugged up on ambien, tired and in pain. Not a good combo, but the epidural was my saving grace. After that, Cole and I were finally able to get a little rest. I continued to progress throughout the rest of the morning. We finally welcomed Lee into the world at 12:07 pm on June 25. Much to our surprise (and the doctors), Lee was 6 lbs. 9 oz. and 19 3/4 in. long! That's a big boy for being 5 weeks early. Right before he was delivered a team of 4 NICU doctors and nurses came into the delivery room. I was really worried as soon as he was delivered because he wasn't crying. He finally made some little noises which made me feel better. The NICU team took him and started working on him. He was grunting so they weren't sure if there was fluid in his lungs or if his lungs weren't developed. They let me hold him for approximately 30 seconds, enough for Cole to snap two pictures, and then they wisked him away to NICU. Cole went with him to make sure everything was ok. I then quickly realized it was just me and the doctor left in the delivery room about 5 minutes after he was born...not the way I had pictured our son's birth. But, I was thankful that the NICU team was there and able to help Lee. They finally took Cole and me up to the NICU to see him. He was all hooked up to machines and monitors so we couldn't hold him which was very hard. Here is a picture of our little guy when we first got to see him.
Lee had a C-Pap, an IV and a feeding tube and was hooked up to a lot of monitors. Luckily he was able to get the C-Pap off 12 hours after he was born.
Here are pictures of the family getting to meet Lee on his birthday
Duke and My Dad (name TBD)
G-Mom and Gramma
Uncle Rusty and Aunt Ali
Aunt CJ and G-Mom
Uncle Co-Ro and Cole
Baby Lee is so blessed because he had so many visitors in the hospital. Thank you to everyone who came to see us and support us and to those who prayed for Lee to get strong and healthy so he could get out of the hospital quickly. The prayers worked because we just had to spend a week in the hospital before he was ready to go home. More on our time in the NICU and Special Care Nursery to come.
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