Birth Announcement!

Well, now that he is a week and a day old, I guess I should put up an "official" announcement! :) I've been meaning to for the past 4 days since we've gotten home...

Samuel Jared Busenitz

Born Monday, August 10th, 2009, 11:54am

7 lb. 14 oz.

19 and 1/2 inches long

We may call him Sam, Sammy, or Samuel. Of course, I think he is cute as can be, and snuggly, too - all the things a newborn should be. We love him and are so glad he is here!

The short story: Labor

Labor was a scheduled induction (which we kept a secret) starting at 7 am Monday. Pitocin started at 8 am. I got an epidural (I wasn't waiting to feel the back labor this time!), and then the doctor came and broke my water around 9:30 or so. We laid around and watched some old James Bond movie and relaxed. The baby's heartrate was steady (unlike Kate's had been). The nurse went to the room nextdoor to tend to someone else. At 11:15 I paged her and after checking me, she was ready to page Dr. Piquard. She told me to wait to push :) Dr. Piquard arrived and about 15 minutes later, Sam was born! They put him on my chest and Jared got to cut the cord. So different than with Kate who came out blue with the cord around her neck! Total labor was less than 4 hours.

The longer story: NICU

When we got to our recovery room later that afternoon after my epidural wore off (it was a GREAT epidural by the way - labor itself was painless) our mother-baby nurse noticed tiny petechiae (they looked like freckles) covering Sam's back, backside, and back of his legs. Not knowing if the cause was just a quick birth/exit that caused "bruising" or something else, she consulted the pediatrician. The drew blood and discovered that Sam's platelet count was low (70,000's I think) and told me that mine had been low that morning when I arrived at the hospital. Still not knowing the cause, the pediatrician wanted Sam to be evaluated by the neonatologist when he made his rounds later that night - therefore he was taken away to the NICU at that point (about 7:30 in the evening).

Luckily, our hospital has a level III NICU and a neonatologist nurse practicioner 24/7. The neonatologists from the children's hospital are there at some point everyday, too. So, later that night, one (I can't remember his name) evaluated Sam and then came and spoke to us. The doctor said low platelets can be a sign of like over 100 different things. But the two common things that he wanted to check for first were infection - for which they would put him on antibiotics by IV for 7 days in the NICU and something else that had to do with antibodies in my blood reacting with his blood - for which they would do a platelet tranfusion. The latter sounded serious to me but he said that a single transfusion usually takes care of the problem.

Well, before we went to sleep that night, we found out his platelets were back up into the normal range. Yay! We slept in our room and the NICU called us every 3 hours to come down to feed Sam. I think I acutally slept pretty well... just in 2 hour segments. In the morning on Tuesday, they redrew his blood and his platelets were still normal. And his petechiae were fading. They never did nail down what had caused it.

However, overnight he had had a couple oxygen desaturation spells, where it dropped from near 100% into the 60% range. (They are hooked up to all sorts for monitors in there.) We weren't there when they happened, but the nurses seemed to think it just happened when he was coughing or spitting up something while lying down. But, of course it had to be reported and then the doctor said he needed to be observed for 48-72 hours in the clear, without that happening, before he could be released from the NICU.

So we camped out at the hospital. Kate, meanwhile, had a ball with her Aunt Heidi, Uncle Brice, and cousins (thank so much guys!). We went down to the NICU about 1 out of every 3 hours round the clock to feed and snuggle Sam. We watched lots of free movies in our room, too :) It wasn't nearly as bad as I though it might be, having Sam in the NICU. It probably helped that he was seeming stable, happy, and we were just crossing our fingers for no more oxygen drops that would put us back. So that was what we did Tuesday, Tuesday night, Wednesday, and Wednesday night. On Wednesday, he was released back into the care of the pediatrician, but remained in the NICU. The only visitors he could have while in there were parents and grandparents.

On Thursday morning, the pediatrician thought he looked good enough to go home that night - so that is what we did! Jared went and got Kate and the dog and took them home for the day while I stayed at the hospital, then he came back for his circumcision in the evening. Two hours later, we went and got a Coscto pizza and went home!

Sidenote: I had been discharged on Wednesday evening, but luckily the hospital let us board one additional night for free - since there was an empty room (which there isn't always!) and since I was breastfeeding. That was great.

I have to say, our nurses were fabulous, so nice. A couple of them remembered us from two years ago, when we had Kate. Many times I thought of my friend Abbe :) - a NICU nurse. I think that one of the main reasons I liked our hospital so much - the nurses.

So, now we are home and adjusting to life with a newborn again. Or should I say, a newborn and a toddler who is also adjusting to a newborn :) Recovery seemed a little more painful this time, but I have my prescriptions, and this week I feel worlds better. Tired, but happy.

WE ARE VERY THANKFUL FOR BOTH OF OUR BLESSINGS!!!