I can't say that I slept great last night ... even without having Charlie at home, I still have to get up every three hours so that I can pump his food. It has taken some getting used to, but I think that I am starting to get the hang of it. Plus, I have been so tired since his birth on Monday that I am not really having trouble falling asleep once I lay down and close my eyes.
So, many have asked how all this happened. As many of you know, I have been on bedrest about 3 weeks now as I developed Preeclampsia over the past month. Saturday evening, Eric and I watched the KU men's game and were very excited to see that they would be going to the Nat'l Championship game. I laid down about 11:30 pm to go to bed that night and immediately staring having pains in my upper abdomen. I really didn't think much of it ... to be honest, I thought it was indigestion. I was starting to have some trouble breathing so I decided to get up and take a shower, thinking the warm water would help east the pain. I did feel better after I took the shower, so I laid back down and was just about asleep when the pain started again -- even more intense!! I got up out of bed and started walking (really I was pacing). I was hoping that it would help with the pain and I could go back to sleep. I was probably up for about 30 minutes walking when Eric (who was asleep) realized I wasn't in bed and awoke immediately. He could tell that I was in pain and called the doctor's call-line immediately. The nurse thought it may be indigestion as well, but because of my history, she suggested that we make our way to the hospital so they could check me over "to be on the safe side."
When we arrived to the hospital, my doctor had made it in as well and started running some tests. Immediately, she was concerned because my blood pressure was through the roof ... 210/160!! My lab work came back and my kidneys had gone into distress, so they made the decision that this baby was going to have to come out. So, I was admitted to the hospital around 1:30 am on Sunday morning. I was given some pain meds that would help me rest of over the next few hours. At about 3 pm on Sunday afternoon, the doctor broke my water and we were on our way to having this baby. An hour late, I was given an epidural to help with pain to get ready for his birth. I was given some more drugs to help induce labor as they hoped it would get rolling pretty quickly and I would give birth within the next 4-5 hours.
Of course, this little man was on his own schedule!!! At about 9 pm, they upped the dosage to get the contractions really rolling and his was not in any hurry. About 11 pm on Saturday, then, he finally started to move for us and we were getting ready to have a baby. It took a while, and during that time, my epidural wore off. I knew that I would feel some pain during the labor, but that was not fun at all. By the time I realized the epidural had worn off and that I was feeling everything, It was too late to do another one. My doctor was able to give me a local anesthetic to help with the pain, which was fortunate as she also had to do an episiodomy to get him out.
Charlie was born then at 1:09 am on Monday, April 7th. He weighed in at 4 lbs, 7 ozs and was nearly 17.5 inches long. Despite the fact that he was 7 weeks early and very small, he is doing great. He will spend some time in the NICU as he fattens up and learns to eat, but we are very lucky to have a healthy baby. He shares a birthday with his Uncle Johnny (my youngest brother) and was born the day the Jayhawks won the National Championship. The men's bball team at KU autographed a basketball for him to commemorate his birth!!
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