RAISING JOEY

Words mean everything

I went yesterday for my 2 week checkup at my OB’s office to have my incision checked and I saw the doctor who delivered Joey. This doctor and I have always been close since I started seeing her a couple of years ago. We’re both Catholic, pro-life and have children with special needs, not to mention, we just get along great. Neither of her children have Down syndrome but they both have heart defects and were prenatally diagnosed with their conditions. When we received Joey’s prenatal diagnosis she was one of our biggest supporters and has been ever since. The evening I went into labor with Joey she wasn’t on call but was the next day starting at noon. Well, I started pushing at 11:00am and was still pushing when she came on at noon. Joey was delivered at 1:09pm. I often joke around and tell her I was waiting for her to have him, lol!

Anyways, back to yesterday… she told me something that meant more to me than almost anything else anyone has ever told me. She said that Joey’s birth was one of her most enjoyable births ever. She remembered one of my in-laws saying how perfect he was and the look of joy that was on all of our faces. She told me that she’s never seem a family truly enjoy a birth like Joey’s before. That really meant a lot to me that she told me that. Thank you Dr A for being such an awesome doctor & friend!

And just a little update. At my appointment everything looks great, my incision is healing perfectly and I’ve already lost 25 of the 40 pounds I gained while pregnant! I took Leah in this morning to see her pediatrician for a weight check. She gained 10 oz in 8 days! And I was scared I wasn’t making enough breastmilk, lol!!!

Leah’s birth story

It all started on the September 18. Most of  you know how miserable I was getting and how ready I was to have Leah. Needless to say I was desperate enough to try castor oil to induce my labor, well… it worked! I took my oh so lovely mixture of castor oil and orange juice at 4:30pm and by 9:00pm I was having contractions.

I labored at home till around midnight when I decided it was time to call my OB, so we called my mother in law to come over to watch Joey and we headed off to the hospital. The OB resident was quick to check me and to my surprise, I was 4cm dilated!! I apparently picked the busiest night of the year to have a baby, every single labor and delivery room was full when I got there. So I had to wait in triage for a L&D room to open up for over an hour which meant I also had to wait for my epidural. Thankfully they got me a room and my epidural as quickly as they could.

3:00am still 4cm & Leah hadn’t dropped… 6:00am still 4cm & Leah hadn’t dropped so the doctor started me on pitocen to help my labor along… 9:00am STILL THE SAME!

It was then that my doctor told me that if my dilation didnt’ change & Leah didn’t drop any by noon that I would be having a C-section. Needless to say, they made my pitocen IV as strong as they could and even then, NO CHANGE!

At 12:30 I went in for a C-section. I was so scared, having a C-section was my biggest fear! I was carted off to the OR while Patrick got suited up in his OR gear. It wasn’t as bad as I expected although they had to up my numbing meds a couple of times since everytime they did the pinching test to see if I could feel them, I could.

It took 5 minutes for Leah to be delievered and 45 minutes for me to be sewn back up. Leah Rose was born at 1:08pm and weighed in at 7lbs, 8oz and was 20 inches long. Then I went off to recovery and waited for a room to open up (since I picked the busiest day to have Leah!).

I actually got the LAST single room available at the hospital in the L&D unit! I was sooooo grateful that I didn’t have to share a room! My nursing staff was awesome and took such good care of me and Leah.

Leah took to breastfeeding right away, although it took me a while to catch on to proper holding and other techniques to help us out. Joey didn’t breastfeed so I had no clue what I was doing!

I stayed in the hospital for 4 days. The morning I was discharged from the hospital, a OB resident came in at 5:00am to take out my staples (fun, fun)! 5AM!! Then Leah’s pediatrician came in for a final check on her and my OB came and checked on me. It was then I found out that I probably can’t have children “the regular way” unless they’re tiny like Joey was (5lbs, 9oz). Apparently even Joey’s size is why I pushed for 3 hours and then hemmoraged after I had him! My pelvis is too small to babies to pass through, which breaks my heart.  But if it takes a C-section to have another baby, then so be it. I just need to take a couple years off from being pregnant, lol!!

Joey’s Birth Story

The FlipFlop Mamma has inspired me to share Joey’s birth story with everyone since she shared both of her’s last week. And since I went into the hospital one year ago today, I’m posting this today!

Joseph Patrick
March 14, 2006
1:09 PM
5 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches long

Well, I’m actually going to start out 4 days before he was born…

Friday, March 10 started out like any other day for the first couple hours, then I started having contractions. Since they were 7 minutes apart and it was Friday afternoon I figured I better go get checked out since it was Friday. I drove myself to the doctor since my hubby was still at work. Of course I was only 1cm dilated and my cervix was only 50% thinned. Sent home… barely slept that night.

Saturday, March 11, I was still having contractions about 7 minutes apart but they weren’t as strong but I was starting to feel very uncomfortable. That afternoon we took our dog Chewie to his new home since he was too wild and hyper to have around a new baby. This broke my heart. I cried that whole night. Chewie had been my best friend since I moved to Connecticut and one of a few friends I actually had. Again, barely any sleep.

Sunday, March 12 was my baby shower over at my in-laws house. I was feeling even more uncomfortable than the day before. I just wanted to get the shower over with so I could go home and lay down. During the shower, I lost my “plug”. Slept a little, but not enough…

Monday, March 13 it seemed like my contractions had almost gone away and I got a HUGE surge of energy. I washed all of the baby clothes we received at the shower. I put away all of the gifts. Rearranged Joey’s dresser, cleaned the house, I can’t even tell you what all I did that day. Around 5pm I was cooking dinner and BOOM, contractions!! About 6 minutes apart this time but the pain was much worse. Since they still weren’t exactly 6 minutes apart each time, still irregular, I knew not to call my doctor. Instead, I got in the bath tub and labored in there as long as I could. By then, it was about 10 pm and I couldn’t handle it any longer.

Off to the hospital, we get to Yale and the doctor on call checks me out. Still 1cm and only 50%!! I couldn’t believe it, I lost it. I started bawling my eyes out telling the doctor how tired I was and how long I had been having contractions. He decided to admit me on bedrest for the night and to give me something to help me sleep.

Tuesday, March 14, about 7 am, I had barely slept at all that night and whatever he gave me to sleep did relax me enough to rest although the contractions were getting very strong and close together. The doctor came in and checked me again. 4cm!! They transferred me from the room I was in up to labor and delivery. Epidural here I come!! A couple house later, the doctor broke my water and by 10 am, I was ready to push.

I started pushing and pushing. My nurse, Indie was helping to coach me through the pushes, and was yelling at me to “focus on your rectum” (yeah, you heard me right, which my husband found very funny yet annoying)…after 3 hours of pushing, at 1:09pm we welcomed Joey into the world. I had given the hospital a copy of my birthing plan. I wanted everything to be as normal as possible. I didn’t want people to treat my baby differently just because he had Down syndrome. I didn’t want him to be taken away for evaluation & testing, I wanted to have my time with Joey like any normal birth. There was a pediatrician there who quickly checked his breathing and heartbeat so he was handed back to me. He was beautiful, so perfect. I didn’t care about him having Down syndrome, I knew he was my child and that’s all I cared about. He was safe in my arms.

But my story doesn’t end there… about 1 hour after I gave birth to Joey and we were transferred to our room, I felt funny. I told the nurse I thought I was peeing. She told me impossible but I argued with her until she checked. I was hemorrhaging!! She yelled for help and after a couple minutes the bleeding was stopped, my stitches ripped out and I had no energy. The nurses checked my blood count and of course, I was low. They started pumping me full of fluids and gave me this nasty tasting pill to help my blood count raise back up. Luckily the pill worked because if it wouldn’t have, I would have had to get a blood transfusion.

But you know what, after the days of labor, 3 hours of pushing and the hemorrhaging, it was all worth it. I love Joey and would go through it all again in a heart beat!! (I just hope this next labor isn’t as long!!)