Well I almost made it...

.... to 36 weeks. I had been having random contraction since my 35week appointment but most of them fizzled out by midnight, so I assumed that things were just getting things ready like my pregnancy with Caitlyn. However ,starting Thursday July 8th,I had a few signs that labor might be coming soon when I lost my mucous plug. I didn't get too concerned or excited as I had read that that can happen several days/weeks in advance.

Then Friday morning after getting out of the shower, I had a the "show". I called my OB to see if I should be concerned. They said to keep an eye out for contractions but other than that, it only means things are progressing. Saturday July 10th started like any other day, I felt fine and didn't have any more show or contractions. That evening I started having mild contractions every 3-5 minutes but they weren't getting any stronger. Dave and I went for a short walk with Jocelyn to see if they would fizzle out or if they would get stronger.. they didn't do either. I decided to lie down for bed a few hours later and see if the contractions would subside as they had done in previous days. However shortly after laying down I felt a gush, I got up and said to Dave that either I had just peed my pants or my water broke. Unfortunately, I was wrong, I discovered I was bleeding. I tried to be calm but was really freaked out and worried about Preston. We raced to get stuff together and raced off to the hospital.

It was about 11:45pm when we showed up at Labor and Delivery. They quickly got me on a monitor and eased my fears when we could hear Preston's heartbeat. They then checked me, I had gone from a 1cm, and 80% on Tuesday to 3cm and 80%, and was still contracting every 3-5min. They said the bleeding was likely from my cervical changes. They notified the on call Dr., Dr. Kirkman whom said to give me a shot of terbutaline to see if that stopped the contractions and then to monitor me over night and see if I made any cervical changes.

At 3:25am the nurse came into check me and I was still at 3cm, but now 90% with my bag of water bulging. She said to call her if I felt any changes or if I felt anymore bleeding, otherwise they would check me in the morning. She said they wouldn't do anything to get labor really going at that point but if I got to a 4 or 5 then they would likely break my water and let me deliver. She also said they would continue to monitor Preston's heart rate as with each contraction his heart rate dropped. I asked if I should be concerned and she said it was likely his cord was either wrapped around his neck or being pinched and that worst case scenario if after a contraction it is slow to come back up then they would do an emergency c-section, but for now they were going to watch it.

At 7:30am on July 11th after a very long sleepless night they checked me again and I was at 4cm, 100%. Candis my nurse said "well it looks like your going to have a baby today, the Dr. is on his way up to break your water, when would you like your epidural." I said as soon as possible as I was so exhausted from the pain of contracting all night.

Last picture of me pregnant, right after they told me I was going to meet Preston soon.

At 8am the anesthesiologist came in to place my epidural, luckily my last Lovenox shot was at 7am Saturday morning so I had just cleared the 24hr. window. At 8:30am Dr. Kirkman came in and checked me, I had progressed to 5cm and was now fully engaged. He broke my water, fluid was clear which was great news. Since all my previous labors were quick after my water had broke the nurse came in and checked me often. At 9:15am I was 6cm and +1 station, 9:30am I was 7cm. By 10 am the nurse noticed some major decelerations in Preston's heart rate so she thought I might be fully dilated. Sure enough, at 10:15 I was 10cm and Preston was a +2 station. She called the Dr. to come as we were ready to deliver.

At 10:20 after only 2 pushes. Baby Preston came into this world screaming even though his cord was wrapped around neck, which explained all the decels in heart rate we saw all night during contractions. He weighed 4lbs. 11.9oz and was 18inches long, with Initial Apgars at 8/9. He was then taken to NICU to be monitored. The nurses in the NICU did some breathing therapy on him which supplies his lungs with a little extra pressure to help the lungs expand fully. He was on that machine for only an hour.
At 11am we found out Preston's glucose level was good, temp control was good, breathing rate was good and blood pressure was good. I was able to go to the NICU at 1pm to do some Skin to Skin holding for an hour, and then was taken to my postpartum room. Once my legs were done being numb I went down every 3hrs to feed him. I was surprised at 9pm when the NICU nurse came and brought him to me and said that he could be up in my room but they would monitor his glucose levels through out the night.
Monday morning we were told his levels were dropping and he would be readmitted to the NICU and have an IV put in to stabilize them. As his feedings got better through out the day the pediatrician said they would start weaning him off the IV and see how his levels did. The kids came up to see their new brother and My mom came up to spend a feeding time with me. It was hard to have him in the NICU but I knew that was the best thing for him at this point. The nurse over Preston in the NICU, Wendy, was awesome. She knew I had been down that road before and really let me sorta take the wheel with how I wanted to feed him. We first tried breastfeeding with a nipple shield that had an N-G tube inserted under it which was attached to a syringe of breast milk. The idea was to get him latched on and supplement each feeding with 10mL of breast milk. He did great but the shield was annoying. Monday evening we tried to ditch the shield and just insert the tube at the corner of his mouth while he was nursing from me directly. It went great and was so much easier.

Tuesday morning I went down for a few more feedings before being discharged. His glucose levels had been stable through out the night and they were down to the lowest IV setting, but the pediatrician hadn't been by yet. I was discharged at 10am and figured that with luck Preston would get to come home by the weekend. I cried the whole way home, but knew it was what needed to be done so he could come home healthy.

At 11am, I got a call from his pediatrician saying he was doing great and pending his 3pm glucose result, which would be 5hr off his IV, that we could bring Preston home. I was ecstatic. We went back at 12pm to drop off his car seat so he could do his car seat trial (basically, they watch his heart rate, oxygen levels and breathing rate for 1.5hrs while he is in his car seat).

Preston doing his Car Seat Test.

At 3pm we found out, he passed his hearing test and his car seat trial. We took his glucose level and then nursed. A few minutes later, we learned his levels were at 66 and anything above 45 was great so we would get to bring him home.

So excited to be bringing home my baby!

We removed all of his monitor leads and IV, and got ready to take our baby home with us.

At 4:10pm, we walked out of the hospital together as a family with our 4lb 9oz miracle!!

Here are a few pictures of Preston meeting everyone in our home for the first time up close and not through the NICU window. He is such a miracle and we are so blessed to have this little peanut in our family. I feel like such a lucky mommy to be able to bring home such a strong albeit small baby.
His 5 day well baby check-up was on Thursday July 15th, He weighed 4lbs. 7oz and was 18 inches long. The Pediatrician was so impressed by how great he looked and wasn't too concerned about his small weight loss. He informed us that the NICU nurses were just raving about Dave and I and what a cool couple we were and how refreshing it was to have parents who were so relaxed. Wendy and I had had several talks during feedings about first time NICU parents and the difference when you know what to expect. Preston goes back for his 2 week check-up on the 26th of July.