It's a BOY!  Gavin Edward arrived on 6/6/12 at 3:34 am!  He weighed 8 lbs, 2 oz. and was 21.5 inches long!  Definitely a big boy!  Mommy was super wrong on those girl vibes which is just fine.  I'm very excited for Silas to have a brother!  So, here is the story of T2's birth.  On the night of 6/4/12 when I went to bed my blood pressure was 151/90.  I was concerned, but hoped it was a fluke since I hadn't had any readings this high before and opted to see what it was in the morning.  When I woke up on 6/5/12 it was 157/90.  I made a call to the doctor and they asked me to go to the pregnancy assessment center.  Fortunately we had our bags packed, but BJ had worked midnight shift and would potentially be heading into this adventure without sleep.  Once at the assessment center they started monitoring my blood pressure which kept coming in at 120/70 on average (totally normal).  I found this to be very strange and we started joking that we were going home.  I did lose it a little when we waited about 3 hours for someone to talk to me and upon finally returning to check my status they requested that blood be drawn meaning we would be there longer.  I yelled at a nurse and a resident in frustration (which I did apologize for later).  A hormonal pregnant woman put in a little box of a room with construction noises coming through the wall, high temps, and a sleepy husband is not a good combination.  Results of the tests showed that there were trace amount of protein in my urine.  My doctor said that they could send me home and we'd continue to deal with increased blood pressure at home or we could induce so off to the labor and delivery room we went.  I felt very anxious.  It's not like I didn't know what was going to happen, but it became very real!

They hooked me up to an IV and started pitocin at about 3:30 pm.  Fortunately they didn't have to use cervadil because I had dilated to a three (which I had been at for two weeks).  My nurse was NUTS which was really a good thing and she kept me laughing.  When the doctor came in to check my cervix, the nurse sang, "twinkle, twinkle little star" to keep my mind off of it which just resulted in making me laugh.  I sat on the birthing ball for awhile to relieve some pressure and help make the baby move lower.  Renee and Amanda came and sat with me which was a nice distraction.  Our parents were all making their way south to spend time with Silas and wait for the arrival of their newest grandchild.  During the wait, I had asked the nurses how some women looked so flawless in their delivery pics which spurred the decision for Amanda to straighen my hair and put makeup on me.  The funny thing is that people commented on how great I looked in the pictures! 

We contacted a Triad grad who had watched Silas in the past and asked her to hang at our house while he slept so the grandparents could come to the hospital.  The arrived shortly before midnight.  A new nurse, Anne, had arrived at 7 pm and was with me during labor.  She was much calmer than the day nurse, Rasheda, which was probably a better combo for when things got serious.  I had progressed very little during the evening and Amanda and I were begging for them to break my water.  They had given me my epidural which was fabulous and I was encouraging the process at that point.  The nurse kept telling me that we wanted my labor to mirror a natural process not that of being induced.  My only frustration was that I was STILL at a 3 at midnight and the doctor had said it goes faster with your second and it would most likely progress quickly once they broke my water.  However, it seemed there wasn't a doctor available to break my water and in fact no one from OBGYN Consultants was working.  I wasn't shocked that this had happened. 

At midnight, a resident came in and broke my water.  I was so relieved for something to be happening.  From midnight to 1 am, I progressed from a 4 to a 9.  They said they could feel a tiny bit of cervix still exposed and we had to wait until 3 am for anything to happen.  It felt like forever.   I was actually very comfortable and fell asleep several times.  At one point, my oxygen level dropped and Gavin's heart rate did as well.  I felt like I was having PTSD from Si's delivery when the same thing had happened and they put me on oxygen and flipped the bed upside down.  I started crying which concerned Anne and she was very good about telling me what was going on.  Similarly, a group of people all entered the room at once and I knew that meant things were not going well for baby.  Once they moved me a little he resumed the appropriate heart rate.  I was so eager for the process to be over with and to find out T2's gender.  In general, I just wanted to be done!

In the end, I only pushed for 7 minutes which included being told to wait on one contraction and pushed Gavin out with 4 pushes.  The doctor said I was fortunate to have not gone two more weeks since Gavin was such a big boy!  I couldn't believe it when they said boy and it made me giggle.  They started working on assessing him immediately and didn't even let me see him which was surprising.  I had even said I would hold him gooey right away so this surprised me.  I kept trying to see him, but couldn't see much.  I was shocked by all his dark hair!  A resident worked on deliverying the placenta and sewing up 2 tears.  At that point, BJ went to the waiting room to tell everyone they could come back.  He told them the gender, but not the name so I could be there for that.  It ended up that the grandpas had left and only Nana and Grandma were at the hospital.  They came in and took pictures and held him.  After that I tried to breastfeed, but Gavin was pretty unresponsive and didn't show any signs of rooting.  He was also making a whimpering sound which concerned me.  The doctor that assessed him came in again and said everything was fine, but they called in a pediatrician for a second opinion. 

I became very cocnerned at that point.  They were pushing on his jaw and checking his oxygen levels.  It was making me angry that they were touching him and not being gentle.  They also were talking like we weren't in the room.  They said they were concerned with his breathing and took him to the care center on the same floor.  BJ was just as upset as I and turned his head to cry which was hard to see.  This definitely wasn't something either of us expected and we weren't even sure what we were supposed to say or do.  He went with Gavin, but I had to stay in the delivery room.  That part was very hard.  Similar to my delivery with Silas I sat alone in the room unsure of what was going on.  The grandmas had left to go meet up with the grandpas and Silas.  They weren't aware of anything that was happening.  It nearly broke my heart when Silas came in wearing his big brother shirt.  This was not the baby story I had in my mind.  Silas seemed a little ovewhelmed by seeing me in the hospital bed and gown, but eventually crawled up to sit with me.  I think he was pretty confused by it all. 

We were moved to the 9th floor to the recovery room.  BJ took the grandpas to see Gavin, but they weren't allowed to hold him since he was on oxygen.  The grandparents took Silas to get breakfast downstairs.  Everything felt really nuts.  I was still on pitocin and Silas was running everywhere.  It was really crazy.  I felt very out of control and unsure of what was happening with Gavin.  Everyone left and Amanda showed up to hang out with me.  BJ finally got a chance to lay down for a bit and sleep.  However, a doctor came in to talk to us about Gavin and said they were recommending he be transferred to STL Children's Hospital to be put on a ventilator.  They had tried giving him Surfactin, a protein often deficient in preterm babies, but they weren't successful.  This was all becoming way too crazy.  I talked wtiht eh doctor a little about how this all could impact his development and was reassured that he talked about how shouldn't impact his brain.  BJ was pretty angry at that point and told the doctor "to get it right."  The poor guy seemed a little overwhelmed and left the room to start the transport process.  Within an hour they brought Gavin into the room in an incubator  which was terribly hard to see.  His breathing seemed far worse and he was covered in wires.  BJ went with them to see the path to get to Children's from within Barnes.  Once they arrived he wasn't able to be with Gavin while they got everything hooked up there. 

It wasn't until later that evening that I was off the IV and could go see him myself.  All I could do was cry once we arrived.  He was in the C room in the NICU.  The nurse kept offering to tell me about things and explained all the wires and tubes, but honestly I couldn't take it all in.  It's just so wrong to see your baby that way.  There were about a dozen other babies in the same room as Gavin.  He was under a heater and the ventilator was making it impossible for you to hear him cry even though you could see that he was.  It was so heartbreaking.  I'm not sure I have ever felt more helpless in my life. 

We had lots of support during the process which we were thankful for.  Silas came to see Gavin the 2nd day and was thoroughly overwhelmed by what he saw.  Not sure what else we would expect since it was hard for us to take in as well.  That day Gavin was covered in a blanket and had a cloth over his eyes.  Once revealing all the wires, Silas started to cry and said, "not that baby."  Poor guy.  It wasn't the baby we expected either. 

I'm not sure I can even document everything that happened in that seven days.  Each day Gavin made progress which was wonderful, but at times it was hard not to think the worst.  I was definitely pushing myself to be positive.  I was released from Barnes that Friday, and each day Gavin had more interventions removed.  He went from the ventilator to a nose cannula and the level of air provided decreased slowly.  He wasn't fed except for sugar water through an IV for about 3 days.  The he had an NG tube through his nose to his stomach, and then moved onto botttles, and finally to breastfeeding.  The docs monitored him for weight gain and levels of bilirubin which both needed to improve to go home.  Miraculously the last night his weight went up and bilirubin went down!  The doctors can't really say exactly what caused his breathing issues.  They had hypothesized liquid in his lungs, a lack of surfactin, and just issues transitioning from the womb to the real world.  In the end they think he just wasn't developmentally ready.  We were so happy to finally bring our "wireless" baby home and be able to hold him without worrying about arranging a wire or dingers going off!  Gavin's big bro came home a day later from Nana and Papa's house.  He seemed so big and grown up!  We missed him so much and were glad to have both our boys together!  Silas frequently says he is "cute" and "what is he thinking?"  Sure will be interesting to see how they get along in the years to come!