Baby Girl

Jenna was due on February 9th, 2013.  I hoped she would come early, but was not prepared for how early.  I'd gone in for my regular appointment on Thursday, January 10th.  I'd explained to the doctor a few things that had been happening, so he decided to check me.  I was dilated to a 3 and 90% effaced.  I didn't let that slow me down though.  I got preregistered at the hospital after forgetting and making it to the other end of St. George and turning around and going back.  I went and picked up some wood at Lowe's and did some other shopping.  I also did some cleaning when I got home.  Friday didn't slow me down either. 

The morning of January 12th at 3 am, I woke up with pain in my stomach.  I couldn't sleep or relax so I got in the bath tub.  I laid on the couch for a while, but that didn't help.  I tried to go back in my room to relax, but that didn't help either.  I got in the bath tub again, but still no help.  I decided to start timing contractions about 6 am.  They were about 9 minutes apart so I started to get a little concerned.  They started getting closer and closer.  Once they hit about 5 minutes apart, we contacted our friends, the Ruesches, to take Brax.  We'd discussed it with them earlier that week.  On our way to drop Brax off they were only 4 minutes apart.  I didn't want to go to the hospital because I didn't believe it was happening and didn't want to be sent home.  We got to the hospital around 10:00 am.  The nurses were really worried about me having a baby at 36 weeks.  They all had concerned looks on their faces, but admitted me and got things going.  They checked me and I was dilated to a 3 still according to the nurse.  They watched the monitors and contractions weren't showing up so they didn't believe I was having them.  After an hour she came back and I was dilated to a 4.  So, they had no choice but to let me stay.  They moved me into a labor and delivery room.  My water hadn't broken and no Strep B test results were showing.  I'd had the test done on Thursday, but they didn't have anything back yet.  They had to treat me as though my results were positive, which meant they had to give me two bags of penicillin at approximately 4 hours each.  The nurse doing my IVs went to put in the penicillin and collapsed two veins in my hands.  It hurt like crazy.  She finally got it in my arm.  Come to find out, if you don't warm up penicillin before putting it in through an IV it'll burn your skin.  It definitely did.  It hurt so bad.  My hand didn't stop hurting for a week.  Anyway, I'd also been throwing up with almost every contraction so I was dehydrated and they had to bring in the blood lab workers to finish doing my blood samples.  My contractions still weren't showing up, but I could feel them.  They found out that Jenna was posterior (facing backwards).  They kept trying to turn her and she'd turn sideways.  She kept going backwards and sideways, but not the right way.  About 3 pm I decided I'd had enough and didn't want to sit and wait for more penicillin.  They called my doctor and had him come break my water.   After that, things started to progress a little more quickly.  We had called our parents, so my mom, dad, sister Cara, mother-in-law and niece Brinley all showed up and got to hang out with us.  My contractions started to get really hard around 5:00 so I decided I was going to get an epidural.  It helped relax me and my family decided to go out to eat.  They had picked up Brax on their way into town so they took him with them to Five Guys.  My mom and sister were worried they'd miss the delivery so they rushed.  Around 6:30 I told them I felt like I needed to push.  By then everyone was back.  They checked me and sure enough it was time to push.  They got the doctor and we were ready to go.  It didn't take long and it was easy pushing.  She wasn't very big either.  At 6:44 pm Jenna was born weighing in at 5 lbs. 9 oz. and was 17.5 inches long.  Branden cut the umbilical cord and they cleaned her up a little and handed her to me.  They cleaned her up more after that and weighed her then handed her back to me.  I just cried when she was born.  The Spirit in the room was so amazing.  My mom, Cara, and MaeBeth along with Branden were all witnesses to this little miracle coming into the world.  They brought Brax, my dad, and Brin back in after a while.  Branden held her second and then Brax.  Branden let everyone else hold her and then we tried nursing unsuccessfully.  MaeBeth headed home and my mom, Cara, and dad went shopping for a minute and then were heading home.  Nothing prepared me for what happened next.

 The nurses noticed Jenna shivering so they checked her temperature and blood sugar levels.  Her sugar levels didn't read on their instant machine so they got a nurse in to check it through a vein.  It still didn't show up and her temp wasn't what it should've been.  They told me they were taking her down to the NICU for a little while.  I sent Branden to be with her and Brax stayed with me.  They then moved me to a recovery room.  I'd texted my mom and told her that Jenna was in the NICU so they rushed back.  My youngest sister was in the NICU so my mom got worried and they came back.  They helped get me and all my stuff up to my new room.  I was eerily calm and kept telling my mom and sister it'd all be okay.  At about 10:30 pm, three hours after taking my baby from me, I still hadn't seen her nor Branden.  I texted Branden and he said he was on his way up.  He came up and told me all was okay.  I tried earlier to get up to go but nearly passed out so they made me wait.  About 11 pm I was finally able to get up with some help so they got me into a wheelchair and I headed down with Branden and Brax to see my baby girl.  They told me she'd be down there for a day.  They'd wake me up when Jenna was awake, but she still wouldn't nurse.  The next day she still wouldn't eat so they inserted a feeding tube into her nose.  She also had her sugar levels tested every few hours so she had lots of pokes in her poor feet.  I was then told that my baby could be in the NICU for a week or two.  We went from a few hours, to a few days to a week or two.  Wow, it was definitely an emotional roller coaster.  At noon on Sunday, I checked out of the hospital because I couldn't feed Jenna and wanted a good night's rest.  I came home, at lunch, and headed back to the hospital.  I spent time with my whole family in the NICU and headed back home for the night.  I slept for 7 hours and couldn't wait to get to the hospital Monday morning, but had to wait for Branden to get ready and he wasn't getting ready fast enough.  In the mean time I was pumping so they'd mix it in with her formula to give in her feeding tube.  Monday was kind of miraculous because Jenna started nursing that afternoon.  After she nursed well for four feedings they told me I could stay in the hospital for the night to continue on our progress.  I came home and got my stuff ready for the night and spend time with Brax until he went to bed.  I headed back to the hospital at 9 pm for the night.  They called me through the night to come feed her and it was successful.  They also had me start feeding her formula in a bottle at my request.  I didn't want her to stay in the hospital because she wouldn't nurse if she'd take a bottle.  The next morning the lactation specialist came in to make sure she was nursing and the nurse.  That feeding didn't go so well so neither one believed we'd made progress and said she'd be there a few more days.  Every feeding after that went well and the nurse and lactation specialist both saw that.  That night we were able to room in together, meaning she was in my room with me and I was in charge of her full care.  I had to call the nurse every time she ate or I changed her diaper, but it worked.  Since the night went well, we were able to bring our little girl home on Wednesday, January 16th.  The whole NICU process was such an emotional roller coaster that I wouldn't wish on anyone, but I am glad my daughter got the help she needed.  When we checked her out of the hospital she weighed 5 lbs. 2 oz.

My unicorn baby.  The IVs didn't stay well in her hands and her hands swelled so they put it in her head.

I was so exhausted because she woke up every 2 hours in the night.  We were so ready to go home!

Her first night at home!

At her first appointment, two days after leaving the hospital, she still weighed 5 lbs. 2 oz. and was 18 inches long.  At her two week appointment she weighed 6 lbs. 1.5 oz. and was 18.5 inches long.  She is growing so fast and it's crazy to look at pictures of her when she was born.  She is still tiny, but has grown a lot.  She's a very determined little girl and we are blessed to have her in our lives.

Her two week visit!