Birth Story Chapter 2: Neonatal Ward and the Baby Blues

On the afternoon of Forest’s birth, the pediatricians made the call that Forest needed to be looked after in the neonatal ward for a bit. 

This was a highly emotional moment for me to have my brand new baby wheeled away. However, he was extremely fussy and I was extremely tired so used the opportunity to catch a few hours of sleep before tackling the challenge of establishing breast feeding while supplementing with bottled formula. 

Every book I read told me that giving a bottle in the first week could cause nipple confusion and be detrimental to breast feeding efforts. This may be true for some babies, but for us, it was a complete myth. Despite getting ‘topped up’ with formula after every breast feeding session, Forest was latching like a champ. 

The only issue was my sanity. The neonatal ward was about a 10 minute walk from where I was bunking in the hospital, which means I was dragging my exhausted stitched up booty out of bed and across the hospital 9 times a day to feed our guy. Not really conducive to getting the rest I needed after child birth, or the bonding I hoped to establish with Forest in those initial days. 

Not to mention the fact that the recovery ward where I was staying at the Aberdeen Maternity Hospital is akin to a torture chamber. Imagine, battered and bruised from a traumatic birth experience and stuck in a room with 5 other women and their babies and only one bathroom. There was ALWAYS a baby crying or a buzzer of some sort going off. I couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital and was under the impression that as soon as Forest’s blood sugars were up in a healthy range, we’d be discharged. WRONG. 

After 48 hours, they finally let Forest come and ‘room-in’ with me in the recovery ward, but we had a least one more day to wait for discharge since I apparently ‘consented’ to a 72 hour anti-biotic regimen ‘in case’ he had an ‘infection’. (P.S. New mother’s should never be considered ‘in their right mind’ to consent to any medical treatments for their children. I do not remember consenting to this and if I did, I definitely missed the part where they were going to keep us on lock down for 3 days.)   

At first I was really excited about Forest staying with me and thought I’d get a lot more rest having him right by my side at feeding times. WRONG AGAIN. Forest was absolutely inconsolable that first night. The only time he would sleep was after a feeding when I held him on my chest. 

The moment I put him in his cot, he would start wailing. I was so frazzled and sleep deprived that I honestly couldn’t handle it. It was one of the lowest points in my whole life. I was actually calling God's bluff on the whole 'I won't give you more than you can handle' business.

I just remember looking around and thinking: ‘I don’t recognize my life. I don’t recognize my body. I am unrecognizable.’ It was awful. When the midwives came around to do their rounds, they asked how I was faring and I just broke down crying. 

I was sure they thought I was plum crazy and were going to take my child away from me for being an unfit parent. Instead, they were very understanding and supportive. Emma, the best midwife ever, explained that day 3 is notorious for being a ‘baby blues’ day, even in the best of circumstances. And here I was, stuck in the hospital with a borderline healthy but fussy newborn, away from my husband and surrounded by crying babies and chaos. No wonder I was emotional, especially with that lovely hormone cocktail controlling my body. 

They offered to take Forest to the nurse’s station so that I could get some rest and I reluctantly agreed to have my baby wheeled away once again.  I felt much better after a cat-nap…until they told me that Forest was toeing the ‘jaundice’ borderline and if he crossed over, that’d buy us 2 more days in Scottish hospital jail. Once again, I lost it. 

I just wanted to be home with my husband and my parents and in a space bigger than my 7X7 curtained off space in the hospital ward. I prayed and prayed as we waited for the latest test results to come back, but the pediatrician had already been by to give me a pamphlet on the dangers of jaundice and the importance of treatment.   

However, the tests came back fine (Praise God!) and I was told that I’d only have one more night in the hospital as long as Forest’s infection markers came back normal. Still, despite the good news, I was quite weepy. Sensing my continued distress, Emma whispered to me, ‘do you think you’d feel better in a private room?’ and I laughed and said, ‘uh...yea!’, and within seconds they were dragging my bed and belongings into my own room…with a door and a private bathroom and everything! 

Pure luxury!

I felt like Kate Middleton or something. More on that experience later…Stay tuned for chapter 3!

2 Weeks Old!

Forest is *two weeks old* today and our baby boy is growing like a weed. Two days ago he weighed in at 6 lbs 7 oz which is significantly up from his birth weight. I wouldn't say time is flying by, but I'm sure once these sleep deprived newborn days are over it will all be a blur. 

Anyhoo, lots of you have been requested more photos of the little guy so I'll try to feature his weekly photos every Wednesday. Here are his official *2 week* pictures. 

Solja Boy?

And here are just some shots taken during his 2nd week of life. 

First game day. Too bad the Tigers couldn't pull off the win:(

First walk in Johnston Gardens

I'm working on Chapter 2 of my birth story and hope to have that up sometime tomorrow.  Stay Tuned! 

P.S. Thanks for bearing with me during these chaotic days. I'm hoping that once we settle into a rhythm, I'll have more time and energy for documenting this stage of our lives.

Birth Story Chapter One: Labor and Delivery

So Forest’s birth story quickly turned from an essay into an epic novel. I’ll probably tell it over a series of posts because I know a lot of you are curious about what having a baby over here in Scotland is like and I want to give you all the nitty gritty details. 

Our story begins on Tuesday, October 29. For a few days my midwife had been coming around the house every other day to monitor my blood pressure. It had started increasing and had officially crossed into the danger zone of hypertension. Pregnancy hypertension is commonly a precursor to a much more serious condition, pre-eclampsia. There are lots of symptoms that can be indicative of pre-eclampsia (pervasive headache, facial swelling, hypertension, general feeling of unwellness) and I had pretty much all of them except for protein in my urine. 

My midwife sent me to the hospital for further monitoring, and she suggested I take my hospital bags, just in case. I thought they might push my induction date up from November 4 or do another membrane sweep, but had no idea that I was walking out of my house and wouldn’t return again until we were bringing Forest home 6 days later. 

I checked into the pre-labor ward for monitoring and it wasn’t long before a Doctor came around to assess me. 

I was shocked when she said they’d do a sweep and then depending on how far I’d progressed, they’d either give me an insertable  prostaglandin  ‘pessary' ( I call it the ‘tea bag’ because that’s essentially what it looks like) to get things moving or if I was already dilating on my own, they would just take me into the labor ward to induce me when there was a room available. 

When they did the exam and sweep, they saw that I was already 3 cm dilated so could just be given a syntocinon drip (similar to Pitocin in the States) to kick start active labor. They told me I’d have to remain overnight in the pre-labor ward in case a spot opened up for me to be taken in, but told me to get comfortable because the wait could take days. 

Puffy face

Jonathan had to leave me at 10 pm which caused me to have a minor freak out. 

I was in a ward with 6 beds, and the girl next to me had been given the ‘tea bag’ to kick start labor and she was moaning and groaning away.  Naturally, she got bumped up ahead of me on the waiting list, which was fine with me because hearing her in pain was not helping my anxiety. 

I decided to take a Benadryl and try to rest as much as possible. I figured best case scenario, they’d take me in sometime the next morning or afternoon.  Well instead, I got a wake up call at 4:35 AM telling me to call my husband, it was time to go! I immediately called Jonathan and…he didn’t answer. And I called him again, and…he didn’t answer. The midwives were coming to wheel me away and I still hadn’t gotten ahold of him. They told me to keep trying to call him and he’d meet me in the labor ward, but I had to go ahead and get started while there was an opening. Talk about panic attack city!

Finally, on my third attempt to call, Jonathan answered and I let him know it was baby time and he arrived at the hospital in record time. I told the midwives to go ahead and get that epidural ready. I had heard of some girls not getting one in time and since the syntocinon can make contractions even more intense, I definitely wanted it to be clear that I wanted the drugs! 

Well never fear, when I got to my delivery room and met my midwife team, the anesthesiologist was also there to greet me. Just in time too, because my very last urine sample showed signs of protein meaning I almost surely had developed pre-eclampsia before going into labor. Not wasting any time, they broke my waters with this chopstick looking thing and started the induction drip. 

Once that process had started, the anesthesiologist began the process of administering the epidural. I thought I would get some push back for wanting the drugs so early, but they were actually commending me saying it makes it so much easier when you aren’t writhing in pain the whole time they are trying to give you the epidural. And I will say that it was the best decision ever! 

The way they administer the epidural is a bit different in Scotland (from what I hear) than in the States. They set it up and then give you a low test dose to make sure everything is working right. Then they give you a full dose which you are allowed to readminister in smaller increments every 15 minutes or so. I would say that I was in full labor for about 40 minutes before the epidural took full effect. I was glad that I got to experience what contractions felt like, but since mine were mainly localized to my lower back, I was super glad that I had some pain management going on. 

In my opinion, the nausea was the worst part, but they rectified that by giving me anti-nausea meds through my drip and giving me an ice pack for my neck. Somehow I managed to get through the whole ordeal without spewing my guts, though I definitely had a few close calls.

The epidural itself wasn’t completely numbing. I was able to lift myself up for exams using my legs, or shift from side to side when instructed to and was able to feel the pressure of contractions without feeling the discomfort. The plan was to let me progress for 6 hours and then see how far I’d dilated at that point. However, the midwives noticed that with every contraction, baby’s heart rate was significantly dropping, which can be a sign of fetal distress. 

At around 5 hours in, they called in the doctor to assess the situation, and when he examined me, we were all shocked to find out that I was fully dilated and just about ready to push. However, at this point, my contractions had nearly stopped altogether and since the doctor couldn’t rule out that there was a cord around baby’s neck, he decided to take action. The plan was to prep me for an emergency c-section, but if in that time the baby was ready to come out, they would deliver with the assistance of forceps. 

Now, in my birth plan I had clearly stated NO FORCEPS!!! But the doctor talked me through it and explained that with me being 10 cm dilated, forceps presented practically no danger and the risk of even having forcep marks on baby’s face was minimal (he skimmed over the part about the episiotomy...). And also, being that far along in labor can make a c-section rather complicated and risky.  If I was ready to push, he would just use the forceps to assist in pulling as I pushed baby out. 

He explained that I may not have a choice. If any part of my cervix was still covering baby’s head, they’d have to do the c-section. If in the 30 minutes of prep time, my body took that final step in preparing for delivery, then forceps might be the easier option. Either way, I was going into the theater and prepping for surgery. They increased my epidural dosage until I was completely numb from my chest to my toes, and once that was complete, they put my feet in stirrups to make a final assessment on what the best action would be to deliver baby safely. 

I was relieved when the doctor said forceps were possible and I wouldn’t have to undergo a c-section, which made me realize in that moment that I wasn’t as opposed to forceps as I originally thought, especially in the hands of a capable doctor who uses the tool on a daily basis. They told me to push which was the most ridiculous feeling because I was totally numb, but my mind told my body to push and apparently it worked because two contractions later, baby boy was born at 10:22, just about 5 hours after being induced. The doctor was surprised to see that baby didn't have a cord around his neck, but suspected his distress was just a natural result of a quick and intense labor.

I was so grateful that my body progressed so quickly and that I was able to deliver vaginally. They let me hold him for a few seconds (long enough to confirm that he was indeed a ‘Forest’ instead of ‘Harris’ or ‘Asher’, our back-up names) before whisking him away for some exams to test his overall health. 

Totally a 'Forest'

Baby scored a 9 on his Apgar exams, but since he didn’t quite meet the 6 lb mark(he was ¼ of an ounce away), they did more extensive testing on his blood sugars, which were fairly low. 

They continued monitoring him for the next few hours while I recovered in the delivery room, but his sugar levels were steadily declining and Forest was quite fussy and jittery (classic symptoms of low blood sugar…aka ‘hungry monster’). The pediatrician decided to feed him high calorie formula on top of my attempts to breast feed but he still couldn’t get his sugar levels into a healthy range. 

At that point, they made the call to send him to the NICU, which is another chapter of this birth story for another day…

 Stay tuned!  

Bump Day: 42 weeks! (AKA Forest is 1 week old)

So today I will be retiring the weekly bump day pictures. Never fear, however, because since Forest was born on a Wednesday, it's the perfect transition into his weekly shots. So here we are at 42 weeks, bumpless (well, getting there) and with our bundle of joy (and poop).

Happy 1 week birthday Forest! I know it was a tough one, but we survived and every day we are getting closer to finding our rhythm! Here are some pictures from his first week on earth:

I'm working on my birth story but it was quite a lengthy saga so may take a while to get it all down. Stay tuned!
 

Hotel California: AKA Aberdeen Maternity Hospital

Just a quick update as I'm about to spend my 4th night at ARI Maternity Hospital. The Doctors won't give me a firm exit strategy for busting out of this place and I'm starting to feel a bit like I'm being held hostage. 

The good news: Forest is about to be transferred out of NICU and allowed to room in with me.

The bad news: Though he's basically healthy, he has several very normal deficiencies (low blood sugar, infection markers, elevated jaundice) that coupled together have made the pediatricians want to put him on an anti biotic regimen that has him stuck in hospital jail until his final tests come back tomorrow. If they come back fine and IF he doesn't develop jaundice then we can MAYBE talk about going home tomorrow night but really, Sunday morning is the earliest we can expect to be home bound. If his jaundice levels go up then he'll have bought us another 48 hours in Hotel California. 

I'm just ready to be home! For those of you unfamiliar with the public health care system in Scotland, there is no such thing as a private maternity room. I currently have 5 roommates (well, 10 if you count their babies) and we all share one bathroom. Plus, Jon has to leave between 8 pm-9 am leaving me as a single mom for 13 hours straight. Not ideal. 

It hurts even worse being here since my dad arrived this morning. He came by to visit and meet little Forest. I wish I could be home to spend more time with him on his very short trip to Scotland.

Anyway, that's the update. I'm working on my birth story while I'm here but there is no wifi (shocker) so I won't post until I'm back home. Hopefully that is very soon. Until then, here are some pictures of 3 day old Forest. Please, please please pray for his physical health and for his momma's mental health. 

Bump Day: 41 weeks! (Aka Birth Day!)

Just a quick post from the hospital to let y'all know that * Forest Alexander * was born at 10:22 yesterday morning, after 5 hours of labor and 2 big pushes. He is quite a little man, weighing only 5 lbs, 15 oz. Because he's so small and seems to be spitting up a lot and not retaining blood sugars, they are taking care of him in the neonatal ward for now. 

We are hoping to supplement his colostrum with high calorie formula until my milk comes in. It's been a bit of an emotional 24 hours, but we will do whatever it takes to make sure our boy is healthy and happy. 

There's lots more to this story and I will be happy to share it with you just as soon as we get home from the hospital. Until then, your thoughts and prayers are appreciated!!