March 22, 2008 – Zachary Nathan has arrived!!!

On (good J) Friday, March 21, 2008 Zach entered the world at 9:15am weighing in at a whopping 4 pounds 13 ounces and a length of 18 ¾ inches! Zach and I are both doing very well. I will be released tomorrow but Zach will be staying behind in the NICU – though he is doing great. His lungs were developed enough that he did not need to be put on a ventilator. He is currently hooked up to IV fluids and antibiotics (as a precaution). He started out on a feeding tube yesterday – which he absolutely hates. He has managed to rip the tube out on several occasions – and I don’t blame him!! Today, he has been bottle feeding so well that they will be taking the feeding tube out for good. Let’s hope that he to feed as well as he has been with a bottle! The next ‘big’ step will be for him to start eating a little more with each feeding. As this happens, they are turning down and will eventually remove his IV fluids and antibiotics. The NICU doctors are not saying when they think that he will be released. When we spoke with the doctor this morning, he mentioned that Zach would stay a minimum of a week – max 3 weeks but we would have to see how he does through the next couple of days. Of course, Nate and I are hoping to have him home in a week… J Please keep your fingers crossed!!

Zachary’s Birth Story

On March 20, 2008 (after two weeks of bed rest in the hospital), I was scheduled to be induced. Around 9:00pm, a nurse came to our room started an IV for me and wanted to move us over to a room in labor and delivery. After a small delay (Nate was watching the end of a March Madness college basketball game that was very close and would have been a HUGE upset and asked the nurse if we could wait a minute to see who ended up winning – nice, huh?!), the nurse took us over to a room. The hospital’s maternity ward has recently been renovated and they have very nice rooms with big flat screens and a nice, comfy and modern feel. But, for some reason - the labor and delivery room they took us to was an older room – and we were automatically wondering why we got the old room?! (Apparently, we got a little spoiled…) Anyway, they got me situated in the room and around 10:30pm gave me the cytotec pill. Nate and I were a bit antsy so we didn’t fall asleep until about 12:30ish am. Around 2:30 in the morning, I woke up because I started having some mild contractions which continued to get worse and worse. Since I was having consistent contractions, they decided not to give me another dose of cytotec. Around 6:00 am, the contractions were getting VERY unbearable so our nurse I paged the nurse and asked her what my pain options were. She had the attending doctor come in and check me. (I had not been checked since leaving Pottstown on March 6^th.) She found that I was 3cm dilated. I requested an epidural. Within a half hour, the anesthesiologist arrived. (He looked like a knight in shining armor to me… J) After receiving the epidural, we decided that this would be a good time to try and get a nap in and relax a little since we were going on about 2 hours of sleep. Just as we were getting settled – we started hearing banging and scraping in the room next door. Apparently, this room was under construction and the construction crew was there bright and early to begin work! We were trying to figure out why they wouldn’t have a ‘buffer’ room between a room under construction. The doctor and nurses were very apologetic but still! So, anyway – Nate ran to the cafeteria to get some food since it was impossible for him to nap because of the noise next door. When he came back, I was still just sort of relaxing and he was sending some e-mails. The banging and noise next door had subsided so I was going to try and get a good nap in. But, minutes later - our nurse and an OBGYN came into our room and asked me if I was feeling any pressure ‘in my bottom’. I wasn’t…I was too busy enjoying the epidural…and couldn’t feel anything really. Apparently, my contractions were pretty steady…and strong…and Zach’s heart rate all seemed to be pointing towards me being 'ready'. Because they didn’t want to check me often, the OB/GYN was a little torn as to whether or not she should check me again. After all, it was only around 8ish and I had just been checked 2 hours before hand. She made the decision to check me and - I was 10 cm dilated!!?!?!? We were all pretty surprised that I went from 3 to 10 so quickly. She went to get the doctor who was delivering Zach as others came in and transformed my hospital bed into a delivery bed – that was kind of amazing. Suddenly, the room was filled with the doctor, nurse, a student intern who politely asked me if I minded if she watched and learned during Zach’s delivery, and the NICU team. What an audience!! Anyway, I ended up pushing for about 20 minutes - which was tough because I was so numb from my epidural being so ‘fresh’. I couldn’t feel anything – no pressure...nothing. Thank goodness I managed to do a good job anyway as I wasn’t pushing for very long. They did have to use suction on Zach’s head near the end because the doctor noticed his cord ‘pulsating’ – which I could feel…that was odd….and it was causing him to get a little too stressed out. (I am happy to report that his ‘egg head’ has already transformed into a normal looking baby head… J). Zach made his official appearance at 9:15am and weighed in at 4 pounds and 13 ounces. He is 18 ¾ inches long.

March 20, 2008 – Tonight…the ‘fun’ begins…

So, the day has arrived for the ‘induction’ process to begin. Needless to say, I’m ready to get this show in the road!! Unfortunately, I have to wait until tonight for the process to begin. Let’s hope that today goes fast!! So, here are the details as I know them…

Around 9:00pm tonight, I will be moved to labor and delivery and given a pill of a drug called cytotec (which I have learned is the ‘pill form’ of a hormone called prostaglandin that a women’s body normally produces when they go into labor). According to my doctor, this hormone will sometimes cause women to go into labor…but it’s meant to soften up my cervix to prepare for labor. I will be given another dose of cytotec around 4am if I am not dialating. All the while, they will be monitoring the baby’s heart rate and me to see if I’m having contractions. If I am not progressing, they will eventually start me on an IV of pitocin to bring on labor…and hopefully, all goes well and Zach arrives at some point on Friday. YAY!!!!!!

March 19, 2008 – We made it to Week 34!!!

Today, we officially hit Week 34! YAY!!! And, I’ve managed to survive almost two weeks in the hospital! I can’t say that time has flown by – but I’m very anxious for tomorrow into Friday. Let’s hope that Zach cooperates and we have an uneventful natural birth. He’s been ‘behaving’ since our last ‘incident’ on the 9^th - so let’s hope he continues to be a happy baby.

March 17, 2008 – Still no baby… J

Well, we made it through the weekend with no appearance of Zach – yay!! I’m still feeling good – with the exception of feeling a bit antsy of getting out of here – but at least we’re on the downhill spiral (as far as time spent on bed rest goes). As of now, we’re still scheduled to be induced on Thursday evening – so hopefully Zach arrives with no complications at some point on Friday. Nate and I did talk in a bit more detail about the induction ‘process’ with the doctor yesterday and he explained to us a bit more how it would work and explained that they will be treating the induction differently than a ‘term’ induction. They plan to ‘take it easy’ so as not to stress the baby and will slowly/gradually give me the drugs needed to induce labor. Needless to say – I’m a bit nervous/anxious/excited….

Nate and my mom got a tour of the NICU yesterday afternoon. They decided to go on a little adventure to look for the NICU – and ended up getting a tour! As of yesterday afternoon, there were only two babies in the NICU and two (or three…crap, I forget) in the ‘transition room’ – almost ready to go home. One of the babies in the NICU was only 2 ½ pounds! They didn’t actually go into the room – since that constitutes washing your arm for a good minute but it was good that they got to see it. I’m also going to spend the next couple days mentally preparing myself for Zach’s delivery. The nurse warned Nate that there would be A LOT of people in the delivery room and once Zach was born – we’d get a moment to say ‘hello’ before they scoop him up – assess him…and get him to the NICU to make sure everything’s ok. Ever since we’ve been confronted with the fact that we have a preemie baby – I’ve thought about this…it’s just now becoming more of a reality!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

March 14, 2008 – We’re still pregnant…

I just wanted to post a little update to let everyone know that we are still pregnant – yippee! Each day that goes by the better… J They took me downstairs for an ultrasound yesterday late afternoon to get Zach’s measurements and everything is still looking good. He hasn’t grown since the last time they measured (Sunday, I think…) but the doctor didn’t seem super concerned about that. The measurements that I do know is that his head is 8 cm across and his femur (thigh bone) is 6 cm long – how tiny!!!!!! They are still guesstimating his weight around 4 or4 ½ pounds. I don’t have as much amniotic fluid as I did before but that is to be expected and it’s not at a critical point. Zach is still head down and according to the doctor – in the perfect position.

We also received ‘news’ yesterday that the induction list for next Wednesday (March 19^th) is full. So, they have pushed my induction date to Thursday (March 20^th) instead. I spoke with the doctor about this and he explained to me that ‘on paper’ – they were full. Anyone could have their baby before then and if they did – I would be back to the 19^th…but technically – it’s now the 20^th. He said that one day should not pose a risk at all to me or the baby and assured me that they would still be watching me closely. So, I guess we’ll see what happens…. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here for a week already…we’re halfway there!!

March 12, 2008 – Baby Zach is still baking…

I just thought I’d post a quick status update on how we’re doing. So far, so good – we’re still waiting…YAY! While bed rest in the hospital is not at all fun – but every day Zach stays ‘baking’ – the better. Today, I officially hit 33 weeks. Hopefully, we can manage to keep him in another week like the doctor’s are hoping. I’ve been feeling well and they are still monitoring the baby and I closely. I was able to have my IV removed (what a nice relief for my hand!!) and am now on just oral antibiotics. I’m allowed to shower every day – so that in itself is a nice luxury. It makes me feel a little human! The doctors have not seen anything troubling with Zach’s heartbeat since Sunday – they are actually very happy with all the accelerations that they are seeing. According to the monitors, I’ve been having small contractions that I can feel but aren’t painful. Last night, I had 6 in an hour…but this morning only one or two. I’ve just been instructed to make sure I drink a lot of water and keep peeing (easy enough, right?! J). I am scheduled for an ultrasound tomorrow to see how the baby is measuring and how much he’s grown over the past week. I’m just excited to be able to leave my room for it!! I’ll be in a wheelchair…but at least it’ll be different scenery for a little while.

I also wanted to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who may read this for all of your thoughts, prayers, food, phone calls, etc. We sincerely appreciate all the great family and friends that we have and are lucky to have you all!

March 9, 2008 – A little ‘scare’…but no baby, yet.

While on the baby monitor last night, the doctor’s were not liking what they were seeing with Zach’s heart rate. His normal heart rate is in the 15J0’s. His heart rate would periodically drop into the low 100’s and shoot back up to the 150’s. Ideally, the doctor’s like to see some accelerations in his heart rate. Normally, I’ve been hooked up to these monitors for about an hour or two at a time. I was hooked up to the monitor for pretty much the entire night. Around 3:00am, they brought in an ultrasound machine to perform a ‘test’ – which consists of watching the baby and counting certain movements and breathing for a half hour. Zach didn’t score well…he was acting a little ‘too’ sleepy to them. (Ok, so I know I’m not a doctor – but you could see on the ultrasound that he was fast asleep – he had his legs all folded up and was sucking his thumb – after all – wouldn’t you be normally sleeping at that time of the night?!) Needless to say, he didn’t score well on the test. Around 6:00am, we were taken from our room and transferred to labor and delivery. Our nurse at the time told me that I was not allowed to drink or eat anything at this point (from our childbirth classes – we knew this wasn’t a good sign). Once we got over to labor and delivery – one of the nurses informed us that they were planning a c-section (not a huge shocker). They started me on an IV with fluids and Nate ran to the car to get the camera. A few minutes later, the doctor came in and performed another ultrasound (same one they performed during the night) and Zach did much better on this test. He was moving around and being reactive – and the heart rate monitors were showing no signs of concern. The doctor was still a bit concerned because one last thing he was looking for was for Zach to take a few ‘breaths’ – lasting for at least 30 seconds. Since he did not see this – we were kept on constant monitoring all day yesterday in labor and delivery. In the early evening, they brought the ultrasound machine back in and performed this same movement test – and Zach passed with flying colors. We were moved back to our ‘normal’ room…so now, we’re still sitting…and waiting. I will keep posting as I can…

March 8, 2008 – Zach will be making an early entrance into the world…

Well, for those of you who may be checking the site and don’t know yet – apparently Zach has decided that he wants to make an early entrance into the world. We don’t know exactly when but he will definitely be here by March 19^th. For those of you who are sitting there in shock…wondering what the heck happened…here’s our story…

On Thursday, March 6^th – I was on my way home from work and stopped at the grocery store for string cheese. I was done work at 3:30 that day – so by this time it was maybe quarter to 4 or so. As I’m making my way back to the dairy section (sorry for the gross-ness to come), I suddenly felt a little leakage, paused a second, and thought to myself – did I just pee a little?! I continued walking, grabbed the string cheese, and as I approached the self-checkout – felt a huge gush. I attempted to sort of try and squeeze my bladder to stop it – yeah, that didn’t work. The huge gush was enough to make it quite evident that it looked as though I had peed my pants! I start to panic a little (not to mention the embarrassment) and was probably practically running out to my car. (In my haste – I did somehow manage to grab an extra grocery bag – which I used in the car so I didn’t get my seat wet.) Luckily, I was less than 10 minutes from home. I grabbed my cell phone to call Nate but decided not to make that call…just yet. (I continued leaking a little the entire ride home.) I thought I would get home, change – smell my pants to see if it was indeed pee (yuck…I know…) and then call him. The leakage had absolutely no odor whatsoever. I called Nate (thinking I had convinced myself that I could stay calm) and turned into a blubbering idiot within seconds. He told me he was on his way home (and I found out a few minutes later in the car that he had no idea what I was trying to tell him). We got off of the phone and I paged our doctor. The doctor’s office was closed at this point so I had to leave a message with the emergency operator who paged the doctor. She called us back in about an hour (I was still leaking.) and I told her what happened. She told me to go to the hospital and go to the maternity ward. They are able to run a test to find out if it was indeed urine or amniotic fluid. She was going to call – so they would be expecting us.

We arrive at the hospital, check in, and make our way up to maternity … talking about how we hadn’t made it to our maternity ward tour of childbirth class, yet?! They immediately took me to a room – had me change into a wonderful hospital gown, and put me on a monitor which tracks the baby’s heartbeat and also if I was having any contractions. I gave them a pad that I had been wearing at home for them to swab with their fluid test. Apparently, that one came back a little confusing and the results seemed a bit inconclusive. Because I was still leaking, they did another swab – which returned a ‘blue’ result. The nurses looked at each other and said ‘ok, well – let’s go page Dr. Tucker’. Nate and I concluded that blue was not good. The nurse came back a few minutes later and explained that Dr. Tucker would be over soon. And, she had noticed on the monitor that I started having some contractions. I was having them every 3 minutes. They were nothing unbearable – they were a little uncomfortable, though. Dr. Tucker arrived and performed an exam and found that even though my water had broke – I was not dilating at all. They put me on an IV with fluids, gave me a shot to ‘calm my uterus’ and gave me a shot of a steroid to help the baby’s lungs develop a little more quickly. They put me on strict bed rest – I couldn’t even get up to use the bathroom. Dr. Tucker spoke with a pediatrician and they decided the best thing at this point would be to transfer me to Lankenau hospital…which is a higher care facility that would be able to provide better care for the baby and I – considering that once your water breaks – labor usually takes place soon after (we were told it could be 2 days…it could be a week). So, I got to experience my first ever ambulance ride. It was pretty uneventful. Nate was following close behind and I could see him the entire time – so that was comforting. The Labor and Delivery department were waiting for me when I arrived. Nate ‘found’ me rather quickly (phew!) and it was a whirlwind of nurses, paperwork, getting hooked up to monitors, etc. The doctor came in and we gave him a recap of our evening – starting with the grocery store. Since my entire pregnancy has been pretty uneventful – the only thing the doctor could really ‘guess’ was that there was a weak spot in the membrane of the water sac (I guess you could call it that?!) that ruptured. He performed an ultrasound and found that Zach is head down – so he’s sort of serving as a bit of a ‘plug’ to keep the amniotic fluid in. He then said that means I was able to get up and walk myself to the bathroom (YAY!!!) He took a few measurements of the baby and said he was measuring very well and they ‘guesstimated’ his weight around 4 ½ pounds. There are still plenty of good pockets of amniotic fluid – so that’s a great sign.

So, here’s the scoop…

Because my water broke – the biggest concern right now is infection. They do not want me or the baby to get an infection. Since there is now no barrier between my cervix and the outside world – their main goal is to prevent bacteria with antibiotics. I’ve been on IV antibiotics and have not had any ‘significant’ contractions. Ideally, they would like Zach to keep ‘baking’ for another 2 weeks (where he will be a bit more developed). At this 2 week point, we’re just in a waiting game to see if Zach wants to come out or if the chances of an infection become greater than waiting. So, if I do not go into active labor by March 19^th – I will be induced. Until then, I get to sit in a hospital bed – and wait.

A Preemie Baby…

Obviously, we’re going to have a preemie on our hands – whether or not Zach waits the two weeks to show up or makes an appearance before-hand. We had a NICU doctor meet with us to give us the odds of Zach’s survival and what health issues may occur. The great news – 32 week babies (where I am right at this moment) have a great survival rate – almost the same as a term (40 week) baby. The main concern is lung development and the ability to fight off infection. He was very optimistic. The bad news – he will be in the NICU until he would have a gestational age of 36 or 37 weeks – which means Iwe would be going home long before him. He’s been a happy baby so far with no problems since my water broke – so let’s hope that he will amaze all the doctor’s in the NICU!!

Zach’s Middle Name

For those of you who have been following our ongoing saga of middle names – between Richard and Nathan…we talked about having to make a decision sooner or later. For anyone that knows – I’ve been kind of leaving this up to Nathan since I really do like both names. Nate has decided (and I agree) that we’re going to go with Nathan…(sorry Richie and Richard!! J) I jokingly said that it would be fitting since Zach is being a bit of a pain – he’s taking after Nate, anyway – right?! (he he) So, last night – I was talking to Nate’s mom and found that his middle name being Nathan was even MORE fitting than I originally thought! Nicole was telling us that her water broke when she was pregnant with Nathan ---- IN THE GROCERY STORE!! And, it happened a month early…she had to spend 3 weeks on bed rest…but Nate ended up arriving a week early. Coincidence? He’s taking after his dad already…like father, like son – huh?!

Zachary Nathan would only be fitting at this point…right?!

I’ll try and keep the website updated as much as possible…but we are just taking this day by day…please keep us in your thoughts!