TITUS JAMES IS HERE!

Titus James

12/22/2010

4:35am

7lbs 13oz 20in

So I went in for my induction at 7:30pm on 12/21 and Tim's flight was supposed to land at 10:50.

At 8:00 they began my first dose of antibiotics (to be done every 4 hours until delivery). At 8:30 they started the pitocin. I came in at 2cm and 50% effaced, and the initial dose of pitocin put my contractions at 2-4 minutes apart. 

At 10:30, my OB arrived to break my water, and boy did my contractions pick up! Man, I tell you, contractions really do seemingly hurt worse when you don't get the ramp up time that you get in natural labor. Anyway, I called for the epidural and the anesthesiologist came and started at 11:25.

After he got the catheter in, but before he got any of the meds through it and into me, my BP crashed. It went down to 55/33 and I was almost completely out. All of a sudden my BP started to rise again, BUT, Titus's HR completely disappeared. :( My Labor & Delivery nurse started trying to jostle him and look for him on the monitor. He finally came back on, but his HR was around 50 and wasn't rising. All of a sudden, my room was flooded with people. In all the commotion, Tim arrived into the room, just as an oxygen mask was put on me and I was rushed out of the room, straight into the OR. I basically got to wave at him as I left the room and my mom kinda filled him on what she knew. Once in the OR, everyone was working super fast. I'm slightly hard of hearing, so I couldn't make out anything with them wearing masks over their mouths and I wearing the oxygen mask. 

Finally, the anesthesiologist, who still hadn't started any of the epidural medication but had never left my side, leaned over and told me the 3 options: 1. If things stayed where they were, I'd be put under general and they'd deliver the baby and Tim wouldn't be allowed in; 2. They'd get enough of a rise to hold off for the time it took for the epi to kick in and then deliver and Tim WOULD be allowed in; or 3. everything would get his HR back up and stabilize enough to wheel me back into my room and let me continue to attempt a vaginal birth.  Things with me started to stabilize and Titus's HR began to slowly climb again! So after a half hour of monitoring, I was wheeled back into my room by around 12:30am!  

From there, the pitocin was held off for an hour and a half, and I was given a half dose of the epidural. After the hour and a half (2am), they restarted the initial dose of pit (which they never went more than the initial dose) and again, his HR plummeted and my BP tanked. So, again, the pit was stopped and things stabilized! It was then decided that I would continue to labor with no pit, but I was at this point exhausted and give another 1/4 dose of the epidural. 

So with 3/4 dose of epi, I continued the "slow and steady approach" to labor and delivery. They, at this point, said that they would let me labor as long as I needed to and wouldn't augment it in any other way! (I LOVE my OB!) Seriously, I was thinking this would take awhile since I was only at 4cm! 

At 4am, my L&D nurse told me to let her know when I felt pressure. I told her that I had been feeling that for a little bit now, but only when I had contractions. She was a little skeptical if I really knew what she meant, but she checked me and I was at 7.  While she update my chart about checking me, I told her that the pressure was continuing now beyond a contraction, she looked at me, and decided to check me again, and I was at 8 approaching 9. She decided that it was not time to leave the room. She stayed and 5 minutes later checked me again and I was 9 approaching 10!! 

Titus at this point started to drop his HR again. (Oh... throughout the whole labor, I couldn't roll off my left side without his HR tanking). So my nurse just had me start pushing as she literally yelled down the hall for everyone to come and to call my OB! Within a minute or two all the pediatric nurses were there... and within 5 minutes my doc was there and just in time! His head was crowning, and due to his HR, I was NOT allowed to "stop" pushing... it was just GO GO GO!! 

He was out in 10 total minutes (born at 4:35am) and it was discovered that the culprit of his dropping HR was that the cord was wrapped around his neck and then his torso as well!! My doc was able to unwrap him, and DH got to cut the cord!

Titus ended up with what looked like low blood sugar, having already passed meconium, and was "jittery", so he was taken immediately to the nursery for observation (Tim went too).

At 7:20am the next morningI began hemorrhaging. :( I lost a bit of blood, but my nurse was able to stop it.

At 8:20, while attempting to nurse Titus again, I began hemorrhaging again, and this time it wasn't stopping. Rapid response was called, and Titus and DH were again sent to the nursery. Everything was happening so fast: a drip of pitocin was started, I was given a shot of Methergine, and had Cytotec inserted. LOTS of pressure was applied to my abdomen and after about an hour, all the bleeding finally stopped. I lost a total of 400cc. A catheter was put in, and the pit drip continued for hours to make sure it had all stopped. 

Now, we're home, and I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Titus is doing well. Anastasia loves him but is adjusting to the fact that he does not go home with someone else at the end of the day.

AND... TIM MADE IT FOR DELIVERY!

I'll post pics later... :) 

Wow... Not good at keeping you up to date!

:) At least I'm a little (and that is VERY little) better at blogging than emailing! Well, kinda. I THINK about blogging... I just don't do it often. I don't even REMEMBER to email! :)

Anyway, as of last post, we were living in Monterey. Tim was almost done with classes. Ana had just turned a year; and I was a little over half way done with this pregnancy.  NOW, things are different! :) As they should be!

Tim:
He graduated top of his language class!! YAY!! Even received the highest academic award for the entire graduating class! He is now completing his training at Goodfellow AFB, where his teachers are already watching him for his success. :) Thats our Tim!! I can't say much else about what is going on with the career aspect of him. I don't know much else! He is now on to the part of training and his job that he can't talk about, even with me. Its hard to ask questions about how his day has been without seeming like I'm prying for information. I'm not prying, by any means, but my questions are carefully worded, as are his answers. Oh well... this will just become a part of our everyday lives from here on out and we'll have to get used to it. I'm glad that he's following protocol and not telling even me; that way I don't have to worry about censoring myself in conversation with others! :)

Anastasia:
At Ana's 15 month appointment, she weighed in at about 18lbs 9oz and was 29 inches. This dropped her to 2% for weight and brought her UP to 20% for height! So SHE'S GROWING UP!  Ana showed off for the doctor and had a "conversation" with her. The doctor is VERY pleased with her communication skills and places her at about a 24 month level! Gross motor skills are right where they need to be for a 15 month old, and her fine motor skills are advanced. The doctor also discovered a "whisper" in her heart. She was born with a murmur, and so the doctor seemed content when I didn't show outright panic when she told me.  It just meant that we received a referral to a pediatric cardiologist.

Wow... was the cardiologist appointment an ordeal, or what?! Its routine to receive an EKG at an appointment. This procedure is completely painless!! Probes are stuck on the chest and torso and ankle and then a machine is turned on, and about a minute later its done. Ana LOOKED at the machine and wires and started screaming! She screamed and stomped her feet through the whole process of getting prepped and while the machine was on. She screamed through the weighing process, the stethoscope, the blood pressure monitor (which the nurse said she could use the reading from due to the screaming), etc. I felt sorry for the nurse and any other patient in the office. There is no way that people did NOT hear her and I'm sure if there were other new patients, that they were now TOTALLY freaked out! The doctor came in, and Ana was quiet. It was so weird! She let HIM listen to her heart! No freak outs or anything! He was pretty sure that her murmur is a Still's Murmur. A benign, innocent murmur that will come and go throughout her childhood and into early adulthood. He knew she had been born with a murmur due to her charts, but I asked if it was something that had just reappeared or if it were something that had been there and been missed. He was unable to tell for sure, but did say that if she acted the way she had with the nurse with the screaming, then it would have been very easy to miss! Ok... note to self, its most likely been there... she HATES doctors and regularly freaks out! He did order a echocardiogram to confirm the diagnosis, but said that IF she freaked out again, that he was SO confident in the diagnosis that she would not need to be sedated for a good echo, that she would just need one around the time she turned 2.  So, to the echo, we went prepared with Veggie Tale dvds and her blankie and paci (which she had at the first appt) and Grandma to help distract her. She did extremely well for the echo!! The technician was able to get a good reading of everything she needed and assured us not to worry because she didn't see anything alarming but that the doctor would call us if he did. Well, its been a month with no call, so I'm assuming all is good with the Still's Murmur diagnosis! :)

Now, at almost 17 months old, Ana has earned the nickname of Snot Bucket. She is sassy, feisty, bossy, a climber, a runner, a squealer, a giggler, a cuddle-bug, and a really fun person to be around (most of the time). She is into ANYTHING and EVERYTHING and has a huge imagination!

Titus:
Titus is due in 8 days! He's big! And although the doctor and nurses say he moves a ton, I'm not convinced, because compared to Anastasia, he is super calm! Since Anastasia is a carbon copy of me, we're hoping that Tj takes after Daddy... if not, we're done! 3 of me is a lot! :) And Tim says thats not what he signed up for!! :)

Me:
I'm doing ok. Turned 28 yesterday. Its weird to think that 2 years from now I'll be 30! But a lot has happened in the last few years from graduating college, to getting married, to having Ana last year and about to give birth to another baby this year, that its weird to imagine all the changes that can happen in the next 2 years! It'll be exciting though, for sure! :)

Well.... expect another update soon! Hopefully Titus (Tj) doesn't hang out too long! I'm ready for him to be here!! :)