Mid-Century Mama

Okay, the truth is out. I am terrible at being a blogger. I really want to do it, along with the million other things I want to do, but I seem to forgot or not find time. I really wish I was better at it and I really will try to be, but I'm sure my next post won't be for about another month. :-p

Since my last post was so long ago I don't even know what I wrote about so I am starting fresh tonight. I will give you some back story of becoming a mommy. This post may be long so bear with me. First off, I call him T on here and on my social networking sites. We decided not to share his name publicly on the Internet since we post pictures of him. Our friends and family know his name and anyone doesn't know his personally will know him as T. (or baby T or Mr. T....yeah, I know.)

My little guy is 4 1/2 months old. That is crazy to me. Where has the time gone? How did he get so big? You are probably wondering what I am talking about since you have not even seen any pictures yet. So here are a couple for comparison.

Here I am holding T in the NICU 5 days old.

Here he is at 4 months, sitting so big, on the couch all by himself!

He is my sweet little guy! If you know me, you are laughing as my husband still does when I say things like "I love my baby boy soooo much!" "Mommy's little man!" etc. Because I used to swear up and down that I was never, ever, EVER going to have boys because they are stinky and bratty and awful. I want girls because I can dress them all cute and fun with frills and bows and ruffles, etc. I even used to say I would trade my boy in for a girl. I was that determined I did not want a boy. That all changed the day he was born,  and now I can't even imagine having girls. I love having a boy, seriously, I love it! Mainly because I love him more than I can ever explain, but also they are fun. As you can see in the second picture I can still accessorize, and I do, with socks and hats, sometimes even bibs. 

I am not great at story telling, I often get off track and tell things out of order, like I already have. Anyways, during my pregnancy I had grown to accept of the idea of having a boy and I even would refer to him as a "him" more than a "her". (Oh yeah, we did not find out the sex until he was born...see I told you I was bad at this.) The day he was born is pretty much a blur, I was 36 weeks and had developed sever preclampsia so after a day of bed rest I got a call telling us to get to the hospital to be induced. We had about 2 hours to pack and get everything ready, we got to the hospital and they got us all situated, induced me and then we waited and waited. Finally after 24 hours of labor, 8:47 on Oct. 27th I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy. Then everything was a blur, we saw him and held him, Joe took a picture to text close friends and family, our parents came in to meet him, I finally got to eat dinner, I nursed him and gave him to the nurse to take him to the nursery to finish all the things they need to do there. Then we waited and waited for them to bring him back. I kept asking about him and the nurse would say she was going to find out what was going on, but would never get back to us. 

Finally about 6 hours after they had taken him the nurse actually came back with the news that he was having apnea episodes so they needed to keep him in the nursery. I was on bed rest and could not go down there. I made Joe go take pictures of him so I could see him again. Over the night they had decided they could wheel me down there on a bed so I could nurse him. They would wake me up every 3 hours and take me down there. During the  next day we did the same thing after I was no longer on bed rest because he was still having the episodes so he still had to stay. That evening they took us to the nursery for me to nurse again and they had decided to transfer him to the NICU 45 minutes away because his episodes had gotten worse. I fought back tears, so did Joe. We didn't lose it until someone mentioned how well we were holding up. Joe called our families to let them know, I was able to be discharged (thank goodness!) and we headed home after he was packed up in the ambulance headed to the NICU. We frantically packed everything we needed for a couple nights and headed there also. 

Luckily the NICU is brand new, only about a year old, and also happens to be the one my sister works at as a nurse. T got his very own room which also had a little area with a couch and closet. The couch doubled as a bed where one parent could stay. In another part of the NICU they have 6 hotel-like rooms with a twin bed, a nightstand, a TV and a chair, that are available on a first-come first-serve basis and by emergency. We were lucky enough to get one the first night, so I slept in there since I had gotten very little sleep in the hospital. Joe stayed in T's room. 

Now for the quick summary of his NICU stay, which was 16 very long, tiring days. Over his time there they gave him caffeine for the apnea then ran tests to rule out such things as seizures. He had an MRI, an EEG, a feeding tube a couple of times, come tests to make sure his bowels were okay, an ultrasound. He grew out of the apnea sometime while we were there the MRI showed some areas of concern in his brain and they discovered he has Renal Reflux. They ruled out seizures and he didn't have to have surgery for his bowels. He just met a lot of doctors, had a lot of tests and the last week he was there was just trying to get the little guy to eat! The two weeks went by in a strangely slow but fast sort of way. I stayed there most nights, I think I came home about 3 or so. Joe had to start work a week after he was born so he was home much more than I was. It was a tough time, something I never imagined we would go through. I prayed a lot and was so thankful for Joe, my sister (she would come visit him on the nights she worked), my parents and his parents, our pastor and our friends. He had a lot of people praying for him and he pulled through. He is doing great now and I am loving being his mommy! 

We still get to go back to the hospital for follow-ups with his doctors there. We now know that 45 minute drive better than we ever imagined we would and will for a little while longer. 

~Little T's Mommy~

Rachel