We had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, August 9th. I'll spare you the details, but Dr. Haskett said that it was very likely that I would go into labor within the next 24-48 hours. And he was right.
That night I woke up at 2 am with contractions. I got up and showered and went and laid down on the couch in the front room. I decided that if it was really "go time" that Steve ought to get as much sleep as possible. The contractions were steady at about 10 minutes apart until 5 am at which point they stopped and I went back to bed.
Wednesday was fairly uneventful with periods of contractions throughout the day. This continued through the night.
When we woke up Thursday morning, I wasn't having contractions, we decided to continue with our plans that day. This included Steve helping his brother move into his new apartment. Sure enough, as soon as he left, the contractions started again. This time they didn't stop. I started texting Steve when they were 10 minutes apart. Then 8 minutes apart. Then at 6 minutes I called him and asked him what he was doing. He was still with Jim helping him move. I told him that he ought to come home so that we can go to the hospital.
By the time he got home, the contractions were nearing 4 minutes apart. They weren't terribly painful, just uncomfortable. It was funny to see how panicked and anxious he was and how calm and collected I was. He was running back and forth looking for things, which I had already rounded up and had waiting by the door. My doula had arrived and was sitting with me. We invited our neighbor up to help administer me a blessing, which I think was a much for Steve as it was for me.
We drove the the hospital. Lucky for us, it was around 4:30 which meant we hit traffic on the freeway (not to mention that there was construction galore). By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were 2 minutes. We walked in and got situated in the delivery triage room. The nurse checked me and left. She came back in an hour and checked again. As there was no progress in dilation, she discharged us. She was hopeful that we would be back soon, so she recommended that we go walk around the park to get things going.
After a quick stop at Wendy's, we drove the park right across from the Mt. Timpanogas Temple and walked around for about an hour. There was a reception going on in the amphitheater so we got to enjoy some music (and if I wasn't dressed in a huge t-shirt and basketball shorts and on the verge of popping, I would have attempted to round up some refreshments). At this point, my contractions, which were still 2-3 minutes apart, had increased in intensity to the point that I could no longer walk. We decided to drive back to the hospital and wait there.
We pulled out the blanket and waited on the lawn. Contractions were starting to get painful, so we decided to try again. Inside we went and enough progress was made that we could be admitted.
I intended on having a natural delivery without any drugs. I did my best. But Oh. My. Goodness. These contractions were brutal!!!! I remember them saying that the contractions were supposed to be 15-30 seconds long with 1 1/2 minutes. Mine were the exact opposite. The contractions were nearly 2 minutes with only 15 seconds resting. I tried everything I and the doula could think of to help relieve the pain. Even the bath didn't work. I just remember glimpses of turning to Steve and just saying "I can't do this! This is way hard!" and then the next contraction would kick in.
I guess I was making a bit of noise because the nurse came in and sternly asked me if I needed something, meaning an epidural. I gave in. A dozen contractions later and the anesthesiologist was in explaining my options. I opted for what I remember as being called the "spinal tap" (whether or not that is what it really was, who knows.) All I know is that it kicked in fast and wore off fast. At that point I just wanted relief and signed the paperwork.
I think they he may have been too low on the spinal tap because I could still feel about 90% of everything that was going on. However, it was time to get serious. It turns out that Trevor was posterior, or turned face forward. This meant that his head was coming out in a way that the circumference was significantly larger than if he had been turned the other way. In other words, it was PAINFUL and that was why my contractions were so long and so hard. Luckily the doctor was able to go in and rotate Trevor so that he was coming out the easy way. (He did that mid-contraction which was... weird...). A few pushes later and he was here!
Our little Trevor Joseph Allred, 7 pounds, 11 ounces (plus a few... he came out whizzing all over the place) and 20 inches long.
My favorite comment from Steve was "He's purple. Is that normal?!?" I guess I forgot to clue him in on that. Plus the cone head and goopey part was a little weird. Steve was concerned that it was an alien baby.
They cleaned Trevor up a bit and laid him on my chest to warm him up. They explained to me he was having some troubles breathing as noted by his flared nostrils and labored breathing. After a couple minutes with me, they took Trevor to the nursery to check him out. I sent Steve to go with them as my doula was still here to help me out.
I was wheeled down to my postpartum room and put in bed. I was not ready to go to sleep so I called the nurse to wheel me into the nursery and I sent my tired doula home. When I got into the nursery, Trevor was hooked up the the CPAP machine with so many other things hooked up to him, IV's, thermal sensors, and O2 Sat monitor. Still he was so cute and adorable. Although, the CPAP helped initially, Trevor was still having some issues breathing, so an x-ray was ordered. The doctors found that he had a small pneumothorax, or a small air bubble outside of the lungs. It was small enough that they just needed to keep an eye on it. Another couple hours on the CPAP and the bubble was gone.
Among all the other tests performed, they found that Trevor's white blood cell count was slightly elevated. (I think it needed to be .25 or under, and it was at a .27). This meant that he needed to be on IV antibiotics which meant that he needed to be in the NICU.
I cannot tell you how much we loved the NICU. Although it was not ideal, the nurses and staff were so friendly. I loved sitting in there and chatting with the nurses and watching all the other cute tiny babies. I loved the cute little twins in the NICU. I think Trevor outweighed them both put together. Compared to all the other babies in there, he was HUGE!Trevor progressed very well in the NICU. His first afternoon in the NICU, we were able to take the thermal monitor off (the one that monitored his body heat and turned on the overhead heat lamp if he got too cold). That afternoon we had several visitors and had him out of the bassinet so much but he maintained his temperature. It was so mice to have one less wire/cord to worry about while holding him and trying to feed him.
Feeding was another concern. Where Trevor was on an IV, his blood sugar didn't ever get low enough to trigger hunger, only his empty stomach was a trigger. We had to be on top of his schedule and work with him so he could learn how to nurse properly.
On Saturday morning, his final dose of antibiotics were given and everything else looked great so we were able to bring Trevor home with us. It was the best birthday present that Steve could ever ask for, to bring home a baby!
We are so grateful for the hospital staff and the advancements in medicine that helped diagnose and treat Trevor.
We feel so blessed to have Trevor in our lives. It's hard to imagine how we ever lived without him!
