The Almost Finished Table

Poor Baby

Here are a few of the pictures with the IV, the one with Jared shows how yellow her skin was.

Julia's Story Part III

About 5 hours later or in our minds an eternity a nurse brought Julia to us, she had not been in the NIC unit long she had to just have a few treatments to help her lungs open up. She had swallowed some of the amniotic fluids when she was stuck in the birth canal. They had brought her to the nursery to give her a bath, a few shots, weigh and measure her, and put an IV in her hand for her antibiotics for her infection caused from my fluids being gone for 23 hours. When I first held her they wanted me to try and nurse her, it was a little weird at first but we got the hang of it pretty quick. We only got to see her a short while and another nurse was there to take her to the nursery for some more lab work. When we got her back we got on the computer and Skyped to the Grandparents. We spent the next few hours holding her and just looking at her, Jared stayed the night on the couch in the room I am pretty sure he didn't move not even when Julia cried. He was very tired and I was still running on adrenaline I don't think I closed my eyes. The next day Jared went home to shower and check on the dogs, his Mom was flying in that afternoon so he also went to pick her up. They arrived back to the hospital around 4:30 and Grammie got to see Julia for the first time. Jared's sisters had made bets on if she would cry when she got to the room, she didn't she said that she had cried so much the day before she was all cried out. Jared went home that evening and stayed with the dogs and got the house ready for us to come home... The next morning early the nurse brought Julia back to the room after one of her antibiotic treatments and when I looked at her she had an IV in her little head! All the nurse said was "oh be careful with that." Be careful with that!!!!!! It was so sad to see her with this IV line and a syringe hanging off her head. It was like I was almost scared to touch her, I didn't know what to do. The nurse came in later that morning to tell us that Julia had to be on the antibiotic for 5 days, so what did that mean? Well that meant that I would be discharged and she would have to stay at the hospital for 5 days. This was news to us no one had told us this so we were caught totally off guard. Jared was still at the house sleeping and I called to tell him that she would not be coming home because the infection. Jared was on his way to the hospital and I was in tears! How do you carry a baby inside you for 9+ months and have to leave her and go home like nothing happened?? Jared arrived and while he was on his way another nurse came in and made a comment about her Jaundice level. Again this was the first we had heard about this, they said that her level was above 10 and that it was high and they would have to watch her to see if it came down. So another reason that she had to stay in the hospital. The next shift had come in and all the morning nurses were gone, we met the nurse that would be discharging me she had heard the whole story and said that she would try her hardest to see if there was any way to keep me in the hospital so I could be with Julia. She couldn't convince her boss due to legal issues I could not stay. She was able to let me stay till the end of her shift so that I had a whole day to be with Julia and feed her, and pump as much as I could so that they could give her my milk. It was 7 and we had to leave, we packed up our things and they discharged me. We headed to the truck and I cried all the way home. We stopped to get some dinner to take home so I could eat and head back to feed her again that night. We got to the house and all I could see was empty baby stuff, I could not stop crying thinking that my little baby was not here where she belonged. She was with a bunch of people she didn't know and wondering where her Mommy was. That night we went back to the hospital we brought what I had pumped and I nursed her for the last time that day. We left and went home we got to bed about midnight and were up by 6 to be back at the hospital to feed her and see if any of the test results had changed. The good news was her Jaundice level had started to come down so we were optimistic. They told us maybe Wednesday we could bring her home. I stayed at the hospital all day and Jared came to get me at around 6. This became our routine for the next 3 days, I would go to the hospital and hang out with her and nurse and pump as much as I could so she would have food when I was gone. I would come home at around 6 and have dinner and pump some more, we would go back to the hospital and feed her some more and then come home and sleep. Wednesday came around and the doctor came in to talk to us about her Jaundice level she said that it was 21 and that they needed to take her and put her under some special lights. How did the number go from a 9.5 to 21 in just one day??? They took her from me and the nurse said that I could see her for 30 minutes at 2 to feed her. We sat in the little nurturing room and didn't know what to do. They said if the level went up she could have brain damage or mental retardation, they also said she could have to have a blood transfusion... they took her and said nothing else to us. The lactation nurse came in to talk to me about breastfeeding and we asked her if she knew anything about Jaundice and its effects. She reassured us that they would not let her levels get up that high and that the lights would bring it down fast. She also said that breastfeeding is the best thing for it because it is a natural laxative and it would help her to poop out all the toxins. She also said that the reason she had Jaundice was due to the trauma that she went through with the suction cup. Basically the bruise it caused was breaking down and all the old blood was making her levels go up. We were so relieved that she had explained it to us. Jared left to go and get some food for me and I stayed to pump and nurse. At 1:15 the nurse came back in with Julia, I was confused because she said that she couldn't come back till 2. She said that they retested her and she was at a 12!!!! The test was wrong, I burst into tears and called Jared. She didn't have to go in the lights anymore!! Later that day we had a few visitors and we all hung around waiting to see if she could go home with us. A nurse had come in to check her vitals like they did every shift change, she left the room and a little later the doctor came in to talk to me. Jared had gone to the house and Jackie was there with me. The doctor told us that he had heard a heart murmur and they wanted to do a echo cardiogram in the morning. He said that this is very normal for babies and we had nothing to worry about, I asked if this was something that would keep her from going home tomorrow?? He said as long as it came back clear we would be headed home. The next day we all came to the hospital to wait for the results, a female doctor came in and said she had some good news and some bad news. The good news was the Jaundice level was low enough for her to go home and so was the CRP or infection level. The bad news was they saw something on the echo and a Cardiologist would have to look at it before she could go. He could not be reached and saw patients until 6 or 7 at night and couldn't see us until then. That meant another day of sitting at the hospital not knowing what was going on. 15 minutes later we had a knock at the door... It was the Cardiologist!!!! He had come over at his lunch break to look at her. He talked to us and said that she had a very small hole in her heart that may close on its own in a year, 15, or maybe never. He said that it was not a big deal and that it would not stop her from doing anything she wanted to do in life. He said that it was a genetic deformity that me or Jared had passed to her. It was nothing that we had done wrong that it sometimes just happens. He gave her the all clear and we started the discharge process!

Julia's Fancy Hat

Here is the hat that Grammie got her, it is a little big but she will grow into it soon. We have to wait for her to get a bit bigger to play dress up with the rest of her clothes.

Julia On The Updated Lammy

Julia's Story Part II

On the drive to the hospital we were both very relaxed. We saw that the lights were flashing telling us to tune into the information radio station, it said there was a Major accident right on our exit to the hospital off the I-10 bridge. There are only 2 bridges that get us from our side of the bay to Mobile. We exited and took the other bridge to get to Mobile no stress still cool and calm. We arrived at the hospital and walked in heading straight for Labor and Delivery. (4:20) We signed in and within minutes I was in the back in a gown waiting for the Doctor to come and check me. They used a little swab to see if I had peed my pants or if in fact the fluid leaking out of me was my water breaking. The nurse told me if it was amniotic fluid that the tip would turn a blue color... um yeah how about the darkest blue I have ever seen! So I guess this was it I couldn't deny it any longer, I was going to have a baby and maybe even that night. Jared came in and the doctor checked me to see how dilated I was, I was only over a 2 and 70% thinned out. He asked if I was having any contractions? I said I didn't think so, but I didn't even know what they felt like at this point so maybe. I got wheeled up to my delivery room, hooked to an IV, and some monitors for my contractions and for Julia's heart rate. I was told that I could no get out of bed until she was born, not even to go to the restroom! The doctor came in about 2 hours later and checked me I was moving slower than he liked so he said the next time he checked he may have to start some Pitocen to get things moving. Jared and I decided to pass the time we would take some funny pictures acting like we were scared and a few others. We also played a game of Phase 10 and I won! We had no idea what was about to unfold... We started Pitocen at 10:30 p.m. and they slowly increased the doses throughout the night, I became more uncomfortable the higher the dose and the more times they checked my progress. I was moving along increasing cm by 2's. I started throwing up and the contractions were about 2 minutes apart, I thought that I must be near the end. In the early a.m. I broke down and asked the nurse for something to help with the nausea and take the edge off the pain. Lowest level possible, she gave me some phenergren and nubane. This only made things harder, I would fall asleep between contractions which like I said were 2 min apart and then when I woke up it was like I was in a daze. The rest of the night seemed like a blur and then I remember the doctor coming in and saying I was at a 10 and her head was right there! This was about 6:30 a.m. and he was sure I would deliver her by shift change 7, I started pushing... 5 hours later I was still pushing and her head had been crowning for hours. At this point I was running on nothing but adrenaline, no pain meds in me I felt every little thing. The doctor came in and said we had to make a decision and get her out of me. Nearing 24 hours after my water breaking, the doctor said suction or C-section?? I voted suction since they said she would already have a cone head from being stuck so long. This is when they inform me that mt pelvis is too small and that is why all my hard pushing couldn't get her out. I would have liked to know this 20 hours ago! They went to get ready and set up and in moments little baby Julia had a suction cup attached to her, I pushed and they pulled and Jared watched...everything! Soon after she was out and flopping around, Jared cut the cord I got to see her for a split second and she was whisked away to the NIC unit. We sat there and couldn't believe it was over and we had a baby girl, I was a Mommy and Jared a Daddy. But it just didn't feel right, where was our baby? when could we see her? Was she ok? To Be Continued....

Julia's Story

Friday March 18th I woke up around 8 feeling more rested than I had in Months! Jared had duty the night prior and I was hoping not to go into labor while he was in Pascagoula Mississippi an hour away. He called me to tell me that he was on his way home, and I decided to get an early start and take a shower and get dressed before he came home. We had so many things planned for the day that we needed to do before his Mom came and before I got induced that Sunday. We needed to get a video camera that we had been putting off and we planned to even compare prices a few different places. Jared came home and got ready while I made myself a big plate of french toast and a glass of milk. We put the dogs in their kennels and headed off to Best Buy to see about getting a video camera. Best Buy went off without a hitch, we decided that we would look a few more places before we spent the money they wanted. Next stop Lowe's, Jared wanted to show me some bolts that he was going to use on the table. He intended to have it done later in the day... We walked up to Lowe's and I had a strange feeling like I may have peed in my pants a little, well being pregnant I figured anything is possible at this point. I told Jared that I was going to go to the bathroom and he waited outside the door for me. I guess that I was in there longer than I thought because when I came out he had a funny look on his face. I jokingly said "Ha I thought my water broke!" he was like " Well...did it?" I said I didn't think so and we continued to look at bolts. (1:15) As we walked out to the truck I felt another little trickle and I told him, he asked if I wanted to head back to the house or go on to Walmart and finish our shopping? I said maybe we should just go to the house so I can change and put a liner in so if it was pee it wouldn't leak in my pants. We headed to the house and I changed my pants and we were off to do some last minute shopping for food and random items. (2:00) We arrived at Walmart and headed into the store, as we were walking I was holding Jared's hand and I felt another bigger trickle... I squeezed his hand and said I need to get to the bathroom, we started walking fast in that direction. Of coarse the bathroom in the front of the store was out of order so we shuffled to the back of the store, I was squeezing my legs closed as tight as I could while walking. I went in to the bathroom and realized that my pants were soaked through! I came out and showed Jared my pants... I was still pretty determined to continue shopping! I decided to call my Mother and ask her if she thought that it might be my water breaking, she said that I needed to call the doctor and I need to get checked. I then called the doctor's office and they told me only to come in if I was having contractions 4-5 min apart. Well I don't know what a contraction feels like!!! As far as I knew I wasn't... (2:15) I called Jared's Mom to see if her water had ever broken and just slowly leaked out??? She said that they had to break her water every time so she didn't know if that was what was happening to me. As I was talking to her Jared was looking at video cameras, and all of the sudden I felt something running down my legs!!! I motioned to Jared that we needed to go and started for the door. We got to the truck and decided we needed to cover the seat so I didn't get stuff all over, we didn't have anything so Jared put his floor mat on the seat and I sat on it. I called the hospital's labor and delivery unit and asked what I should do?? They told me that I needed to come in and get checked to see if that was what happened. We headed to the house, Jared was starting to drive pretty fast but at this point I was still calm and collected. We decided to stop and get some food since I would not be able to eat after I got to the hospital. Chick-fil-a it is! We pulled into the drive through and then we were on the way to the house. I went and took a shower and changed while Jared ate. I ate half my sandwich and decided I didn't want to have to barf it up later so I should limit how much I eat. We had all the bags ready and packed so we threw a few things extra in and Jared set up the kitchen for the dogs, no telling when we would be back! (3:45) we headed to the hospital to have a baby! To be continued....