Evie's First Few Days: The LONG version

Evie came into the world at 37 weeks, 4 days.  She was a little early, but still full term, so no one was very concerned when my water broke on November 14 at 8:30pm.  I was in very easy labor from 8:30pm until 2:58pm the next day (I know the exact time because I was looking at the clock).  The nurses and, I think, my OB/GYN thought I was going to inevitably have a c-section.  I had resigned myself to that fact as well since I was so doped up on pitocin and nothing was happening.  However, at 2:58pm I felt a "pop" and we were off to the races!  I went from 1-2cm to 4cm in 15 minutes and then 4cm to 8cm in less than 2 hours after that.  I finally asked for the relief of the epidural at 8cm, but I would have asked for it a lot sooner had I known I was 8cm already!  That is the best drug ever!  For those of you who have not had the pleasure of a birth with an epidural, I have to say I'm sorry.  It made the experience actually very enjoyable.  I was able to focus on the exciting things going on around me and the miracle that was about to take place instead of the insane amount of pain I was in just a few minutes before.  Not to mention that it was wildly entertaining (to me) to have my legs doing things I didn't know they were doing.  Anyway...I digress.

After my OB/GYN finally arrived at about 8:15pm I began really pushing and our little miracle entered the world at 8:59pm.  She initially received a 10 on the Apgar scale and although that scale really isn't that important, like any parent, I was already proud!  So, the nursery nurse swaddled her and was about to hand her off to me when she started breathing very rapidly at 80 respirations/minute (the norm is about 40).  She was breathing so rapidly that her chest was concave.  A NICU nurse was called and she was watching her, waiting for her to slow down.  She decided to suction her and suctioned 4mL of fluid out of her lungs.  A second NICU nurse came in and decided the best place for her to be was with me, so they handed her to me and she calmed right down.  I was holding her for about 20-30 minutes when they came back in and had to take her to the nursery to get cleaned up and all that good stuff.  And I needed to rest and text (ha!) and get cleaned up myself.  So, all was well at that point.

As we were going to our room, our labor and delivery nurse said that Evie would be joining us in our room in a little while.  About an hour later, the NICU nurse came in instead of Evie and told us that she was breathing very rapidly again and her eyes also crossed and stayed there spasming for a few seconds (a sign of a seizure) while at the same time she stopped breathing and her heart rate dropped.  She wanted to update us and then left.  A few hours after that, she came back and told us about the tests they needed to run to rule out infections and seizures: blood draw (x2 eventually), lumbar puncture, EEG, CT scan & chest x-ray.  What was the happiest day of our lives quickly turned into the scariest.

Since Evie was going to have all her testing done, they told us they'd call us to the NICU when we could go and see her.  So, we continued to "rest" (really, I don't think you could call it that) in the room until it was time to go down.  As soon as we got down to the NICU the EEG was just getting under way.  As if it wasn't traumatic enough to see our HOURS old baby hooked up to IVs, breathing monitors and heart monitors, we then also had to see her having what seemed like 100s of leads attached to her head and a few to her body.  We stood there and cried as she was having her EEG done.  When it was finally complete, we got to hold her!

The NICU nurses and neonatologist were hoping the results for the EEG would be back the same day they completed the test.  They knew one of the cultures wouldn't be back for 3 more days (the others would be back in two).  Well, the EEG results weren't back the first day and it wasn't until 5:00pm the next day, November 17th, that we found out there was an error on the CD and wouldn't find out the results until that error could be fixed.  Until then, we'd just have to wait.  The CT scan showed a very small (5mm) hemorrhage on the back of her head which the neonatologist wasn't very concerned about.  Her thought was that if all newborn babies had CT scans, more likely than not there would be some kind of hemorrhage, as birth isn't easy!  The chest x-ray showed some fluid in her lungs, but nothing significant as, again, most babies have some fluid left in their lungs after being submerged for the previous nine months.  There was good news on the 17th because she got to eat her first bottle!  Her goal was to finish 30mL of formula and she didn't really have a problem with that at all.  This was huge in getting her home.

On November 18th we got a few of the results for the cultures and all were negative.  She was taken off one of her antibiotics, but had to stay on the other, more abrasive one until we got the results back for it the next day.  Also on the 18th, at about 6:00pm, we finally got the results for the EEG, which was normal.  That means there is no reason to believe she would have any additional seizure activity.  After talking to the neonatologist, she said she wasn't 100% positive Evie had a seizure to begin with, but because the NICU nurse and the NICU nurse practitioner both saw her eyes cross and spasm there, they had to be on the safe side and treat it as a seizure.  We couldn't agree more.  Also on the 18th, her IV nutritional supplement was turned off completely as she was a pro at eating.

Poor little Evie had her IV in several spots...her hand, her foot, her head and, on the very last day, in her elbow crease like an adult.  The head IV was the scariest for us initially, but after holding her with it, it was so much easier.  Plus, it is apparently the least painful and lasts the longest.  It didn't seem to bother her!

On November 19th, we finally got the news we were waiting for...the last culture came back and it was negative!  Yea!  Darin and I packed up our hotel room and went out to eat as we were waiting for the final order to be written.  (We were kicked out of the NICU every day from 6:30-8 am/pm for change of shift.)  When we got back at 8:00pm we changed her into her going home outfit and headed out the door to begin a new chapter in our lives...Parenting Without Supervision.  AHHHHHHH!

Adorable little onesie...fit for a newborn!

Adorable little jeans...fit for a 6 month old
(even though it says "newborn" on the tag)!

Boiler Up!

We came as a family of two and left as a family of three!
(Humans, that is.)

Even though this was probably one of the scariest experiences Darin & I have ever been though, our time in the NICU was made tolerable with the fantastic nurses and awesome neonatologist we met at Kingwood Medical Center.  They gave us all the information they could about Evie's health and lots of tips and tricks on how to care for a newborn.  Could not have asked for a better experience if we had to have one.